“Don’t interrupt me when I’m speaking.” Miss Gordon raised her voice. Maud and Mollie exchanged a look of concern. Their teacher never raised her voice. “Monday afternoon you will be kept after school. We are going to have a ruction—a trial—to determine the cause of all of this and you may call upon witnesses.”
Maud dropped the bouquet she was holding. She had heard of other schools having mock trials but she’d never imagined Miss Gordon would do it. Maud remembered how Annie had threatened her in September. Would she dare? Seeing how Annie had pushed Clemmie off the chair, Maud wasn’t sure what else the girl was capable of.
After that drama, the classmates quietly concentrated on getting the hall ready. By evening, the rain had stopped and, as Miss Gordon had foreseen, many villagers arrived. Mr. George Simpson told Miss Gordon that the hall looked rather “quaint,” while Mrs. Simpson turned to Maud and said, “Don’t be too hard on yourself if you make a mistake. Not many young people are practiced in public speaking.”
Maud tried to smile back, nervously running her hand over the sleeve of her dress. Grandma had helped Maud make a new outfit based on a pattern she had seen in the Young Ladies’ Journal. While Grandma still didn’t approve of the bustle, she did allow Maud an accordion sleeve, because the Young Ladies’ Journal had said it was in fashion for girls ages eleven to fifteen. The dress was made from a dark green and blue tartan that even Grandma said was becoming. Maud wouldn’t let Mrs. Simpson take anything away from this evening.
She looked out at the chairs, which were starting to fill up, and saw her grandparents sitting at the back.
“Good luck,” Nate said to Maud before the program started. He went to sit toward the back with Jack. Maud and Mollie sat in the front row with the rest of the presenters. Pensie and Lu were there—and Quill and Mary. Pensie had come over to give Maud a hug for good luck and beamed at how Maud had incorporated her ribbon onto the hat.
Maud was grateful to at least be sitting beside Mollie, who was going to perform one of Shakespeare’s songs from As You Like It. Mollie’s voice and dramatic flair certainly added to her rendition, but Maud was so nervous that it was difficult to give her friend her full attention.
All too quickly it was her turn. “The next recitation is by Miss Maud Montgomery,” Mr. Simpson said and sat down.
Maud closed her eyes and focused on steadying her legs. As she was making her way to the front, Clemmie said, a little too loudly, “There she goes!”
Maud stopped. First Mrs. Simpson and now Clemmie! She would not allow that girl to shake her foundation. She stood straight and rolled her shoulders back, somehow making it to the platform as the audience clapped politely.
Staring out into the crowd, she felt as though all of Cavendish was there waiting to see if she would fail. Maud looked for her grandparents and her cousins. Her gaze then fell upon Nate, who had the audacity to wink!
Trying not to giggle, Maud breathed in deeply. Trembling, she was sure she was going to forget a word or miss a line. She began. And, as she spoke, each line fell upon the next with ease.
A child, with tender, wistful eyes
Tripped softly through the shade
Of whispering trees, nor sought the spots
When Maud reached the last line and lifted her hand up in a dramatic fashion, it was as though her voice was coming from someone else, filling the room.
And then it was over. It went so quickly she hardly remembered anything. It was quiet for a few moments, and then Nate stood up, whistled, and lead a standing ovation. Even her grandparents clapped politely.
After the performance, Maud and Mollie stayed together while people congratulated them. One of Mollie’s admirers, an awkward fellow from Mayfield, George Robertson, tripped over himself to tell her “How she did that poetry well.” Mollie smiled sweetly (as she was always polite) and then pulled Maud toward someone who didn’t make “her stomach feel as if she’d drunk cod liver oil.” They bumped into Pensie, who had been fighting her way through the crowd to get to them.
“That was well done, Maudie!” She embraced her. “Quill and Mary were quite impressed.” She looked over at Mollie, as if she had just noticed she was there. “You were good too, Amanda.”
Mollie murmured thanks and looked away.
Maud didn’t want them to fight. “I’m so glad you came,” she said. “With your guest.” She nodded to where Quill was standing off to the side, talking with Jack and Nate.
“Of course I’d come,” Pensie said, ignoring Maud’s teasing. “Your big night. We’ll celebrate the next time you stay over.”
Maud felt a bit guilty that she hadn’t spent as much time with Pensie lately as she had with Mollie. They still walked together in the evenings when the weather cooperated, but she hadn’t slept over since that weekend after the journal incident.
“Someone gave you quite the standing ovation,” Pensie said, a little too loudly, pointing to the back of the hall. The warm feeling evaporated, and Maud looked quickly around to see if anyone had heard. Why would Pensie embarrass her? She was usually so careful.
“Well, Quill is waiting for me,” Pensie said. “I’ll see you tomorrow evening.” And she kissed Maud on the cheek and left.
Her grandparents came over next and said that Miss Gordon had organized a “very nice affair.” Maud knew it wasn’t in their nature to compliment her directly—or she might get airs—but she had hoped that just once (on an occasion such as this) they would have. Still, they had come and that was something.
After the students helped Miss Gordon take down the decorations, Maud lingered longer than was probably necessary. Now that she was supposed to meet Nate, she wasn’t sure it was such a good idea. What if Grandma had overheard Pensie? But it was too late: she and Mollie had already accepted the invitation and, despite all of her reservations, Maud had been looking forward to another walk home.
The Four Musketeers had decided that they would meet in front of Nate’s house, and as Maud and Mollie approached, the boys emerged.
“As promised, we have kept our solemn vow to take you home once again.” Nate bowed.
“In plain English, we are here to walk you home,” Jack said, following his friend’s gesture.
Maud and Mollie giggled.
Again they paired up, and Maud took in the late autumn stars and the full moon as she and Nate talked of books and the lecture and her plans to go to school and write. He made her promise to write him everything that happened at the trial at school. “If I’m going to be a lawyer, I should know the goings-on,” he said.