Some other girls and a teacher
"Hello, madam," you say. "I'm Maria and this is
Bridget. We're new girls."
"Welcome," the teacher says flatly. "I am Mrs. Matilda
Hedwig Fishburn, headmistress--Ellen Brown herself was my grandniece.
These other girls are Charity, Elizabeth, Della, Victoria,
Marguerite-Anne, and Charlotte." The teacher claps her hands
twice.
"Charity!" she says. "Take Maria and Bridget in to get
their uniforms, quickly!"
Charity--a redhead with gray eyes and pink cheeks--steps out from the
group. You and Bridget follow her, and when she is sure Ms. Fishburn
is out of earshot, Charity says,
"Everyone says really rotten things about this school, I know,
but it really isn't so bad."
Your response?
You and Bridget are now standing in a living room full of polished
furniture and those portraits you read about in books--you know, the
kind with stern older men and women dressed in dark clothes. In this
room are also about half a dozen other girls--all wearing the same
green and blue plaid skirts and crisply pressed white blouses, and a
tall, blue-eyed, gray-haired teacher. Bridget still looks a little
nervous, so you decide to take the lead and introduce yourself.
