"Both?" he finally said.
"I'm afraid so, Mr. Gordon. Mrs. Landford, the housemother, came upon them herself when she smelled the smoke and heard the laughter. The two young men were quite inebriated and would have been arrested if it weren't for the need to protect the reputation of the school, and, as much as possible, your own good name. However, they were brought before the local magistrate discreetly and given a sentence of probation. They are not from any area school, I might add. They are . ." She looked at me. ". . boys from the nearby village. Garage mechanics," she concluded with some difficulty.
"Christ," Daddy said.
"You can understand now why we are all this upset, Mr. Gordon."
Daddy nodded.
"I'd like this all to simply go away and the best method for that is for you to take your daughter home immediately. I'm sorry. This isn't the place for her. We can't do what we did for your daughter Olivia, I'm afraid," she added nodding at me again.
"Where is Belinda now?" Daddy asked. His face was so red, I thought the top of his head might explode at any moment. I wanted to feel sorry for him, but I kept hearing a voice inside me repeat: As ye sow, so shall ye reap.
"She's been confined to quarters and told to pack her things. We would appreciate your taking her home with the least amount of commotion possible, Mr. Gordon. I'm afraid, as you know, there is no refund when a girl is expelled, and under the circumstances, a review board hearing would only exacerbate the situation for you, and for us. I hope you agree about that," she said, her eyebrows hoisted, poised.
"Yes, yes," Daddy said. "Olivia, could you fetch her?" he asked me. "I'll bring the car around to the dormitory."
"Yes, Daddy," I said. Mrs. Elliot smiled at me.
"How are things with you, Olivia? I thought you might attend Boston University," she said. "Are you enrolled there or some similar school?"
"I didn't go on to college, Mrs. Elliot. I decided to help Daddy with his business," I said.
She turned to Daddy. "I'm sure Olivia is a great asset to you, Mr. Gordon."
"Yes, she is," he said in a voice so broken and tired, I didn't recognize it.
"How unfortunate for us all, Mr. Gordon. You have your burden to bear, your own hard road to travel," she said. Daddy nodded and looked to me.
I rose and left the office. The secretary glanced up at me and tried to smile as I hurried past her and out the door of the administrative building. I crossed the campus as quickly as I could. The classrooms were all dark, except for the music suite where the school orchestra was holding a rehearsal. The music was carried by the breeze. It seemed to fit the occasion because it was a march.
About a dozen or so girls were reading, talking and watching television in the lounge at the dormitory. They all looked up when I entered. None knew who I was because I hadn't come here with Belinda, but Mrs. Landford knew me and came hurrying down the corridor the moment she had set eyes on me.
"Hello, Olivia," she said with a small, quick smile. "How are you?"
"Not as well as I could be," I replied. She nodded and then shook her head.
"I'm sorry for your family," she said.
"So am I. Where is she?"
"Right this way." She turned and I followed her down the corridor to the next to last room on the left. "She's all ready," she said and nodded at the side entrance. "You might just want to go out that way."
"Like thieves in the night," I remarked. She took on a pained expression in her dark brown eyes and then knocked on Belinda's door.
"Who is it?"
"It's Mrs. Landford. Your sister is here for you, Belinda," she explained. It took a moment before Belinda opened the door. Just like her to make me wait, I thought. She was in her high-school jacket, the one with all the varsity letters Arnold had given her, and a pair of slacks. Her hair was brushed back and tied and her suitcases were packed and beside the bed.
"Hi, Olivia," she sang as if nothing in the world had happened. "Where's Daddy?"
"In the car, waiting," I said angrily.
"You two take those suitcases and I'll get the two small bags," Mrs. Landford volunteered.
Belinda deliberately took her time, sauntering across the room. I saw the tiny smile on her lips, the look of satisfaction. She was getting what she had wanted all along. I had no doubt she deliberately got caught. I even suspected that she might have engineered the entire disgusting event just for this purpose. I seized the suitcase.
"Let's go," I ordered. "Now."