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diff --git a/33873.txt b/33873.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d0af829 --- /dev/null +++ b/33873.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6358 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Dolly's College Experiences, by Mabel Cronise Jones + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Dolly's College Experiences + +Author: Mabel Cronise Jones + +Release Date: October 18, 2010 [EBook #33873] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOLLY'S COLLEGE EXPERIENCES *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.fadedpage.net + + + + + +[Illustration: Dolly.] + + + + +DOLLY'S COLLEGE EXPERIENCES + +BY + +MABEL CRONISE JONES + +The C. M. Clark Publishing Company + +BOSTON MDCCCCIX + + + + +Copyright, 1909 + +THE C. M. CLARK PUBLISHING CO, + +BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS + +U. S. A. + +All Rights Reserved + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + PAGE + +Dolly Frontispiece + +"My brother says that I can heat water splendidly" 9 + +Beth and Dolly were discussing it one day as they + took their usual walk 35 + +There were music and singing later in the evening 62 + +A moment later Dolly had been introduced to Beth's father 107 + +"Let me introduce you to two more of your classmates" 156 + +"Father could really get the papers by mail quite as + well, I think, Mother" 206 + +"Aren't you going to say anything to me, Dolly?" 267 + + + + +DOLLY'S COLLEGE EXPERIENCES + + + + +DOLLY'S COLLEGE EXPERIENCES + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +Sitting down on the edge of the bed, Dolly looked around forlornly enough. + +Of course, she wanted to go to college, but for the first time she +realized how dreadful it was, to be away from all the home-folks. In +all those great buildings, with their hundreds of students, there was not +a soul that Dolly knew. + +Outside the door she could hear the old girls talking and chattering +together. But she was not an old girl. She was just an insignificant +little Freshman. No one took the least notice of her. + +Her father had put her on the train and had even come part way with her. +But the real loneliness commenced after she reached Westover. + +The college bus was there, and there was a good-natured man whom the +girls all hailed as Patrick, and who seemed to belong to the college. He +was evidently an expert at picking out the students, for when he caught +sight of Dolly, he had walked up to her respectfully, and had inquired +if she were not going to Westover College. + +Then he put her safely into the bus, took her checks and looked after +her bundles. A few moments later the bus was filled to overflowing with +girls, the most of them apparently old students, for they seemed well +acquainted with each other and were chattering like magpies. Some of them +had been on the same train as Dolly, and our poor little Freshman had +looked at them then with wistful, speculative eyes. But she had been too +shy to attempt any conversation with them. + +When they reached the college, all too soon for Dolly, she had hung back +irresolutely, while the rest rushed up and embraced the teachers who +stood in the reception room, ready to receive the newcomers. + +She was feeling quite left out in the cold, and wishing heartily that +she was back in the home-nest. Only for a moment, though. Her hand +was cordially taken, and she turned to find herself addressed by a +sweet-faced little woman, much shorter than Dolly herself, with gray +hair and kindly eyes. + +"I think this must be Miss Alden. Am I right?" + +"Quite right, but I do not see how you knew." + +"Your father telegraphed that you would come by this train, and you +see, my dear, that you are the only Freshman in the crowd, so that it +did not require much shrewdness on my part to pick you out. Now let +me introduce you to some of the girls. You will soon feel acquainted +here, I know. Margery," and as a tall, rather handsome girl turned +around, she added; "I want you to meet Miss Alden, one of our new +girls. Miss Ainsworth--and here are Miss Rummel, Miss Paterson and +Miss Graves. Margery, will you show Miss Alden to 77? Your room-mate +will not be here for several days yet. She is detained by her sister's +marriage, which will occur this week. I hope you will like her; we +tried to do our best in the arrangement of room-mates; next year, you +can select your own. Excuse me now." And she turned to another newcomer, +and Dolly followed Miss Ainsworth down the long corridor. + +"You will like Westover, I'm sure," Miss Ainsworth remarked sedately; +she evidently thought it her duty to make small talk, and act as Dolly's +temporary guardian. "Of course, you'll feel lonesome at first until +you get fitted in; all the girls do, but that soon wears off." + +"Are you a Senior?" queried Dolly innocently. Miss Ainsworth seemed +so very old and so very superior, that Dolly could only think of her as a +Senior. + +Her companion's cheeks flushed perceptibly as she answered stiffly; +"No, I am not a Senior yet. Here is your room, Miss Alden. The bedroom +on the right will be yours, I suppose, as I see that they have put your +trunk there. The one on the left will be your room-mate's, and you +will use this sitting-room in common." + +After a few more words Dolly's companion passed on, and the unfortunate +Freshman wandered dolefully into her bedroom and sat down on the edge +of the bed where we first saw her. + +As a rule, Dolly and tears were strangers, but just now poor Dolly felt +unutterably miserable. Not only was she homesick, but she felt outside +all the college fun and good camaraderie of the place. + +"I ought to unpack that trunk and take off my things," she told +herself, but she felt more inclined to run out of the door, back to the +depot and on board the first train bound for her home. + +"Well, of all the forlorn damsels I ever saw, you certainly are the +worst, and I thought you looked so full of fun when I noticed you +downstairs." + +Dolly glanced up in surprise, to see a merry face regarding her from the +doorway. The newcomer was much below medium height, with a very freckled +face, very red, curly hair, and a very good-natured expression. + +"Didn't you feel forlorn yourself last year?" retorted Dolly. "Or, +if you are a dignified Junior or Senior, I suppose you have forgotten +how poor little Freshmen feel, when they are dumped in with a lot of +strangers. I am just like a cat in a strange garret." + +"You are no stranger than I," and the newcomer ensconced herself in +the only rocking-chair that the room afforded. "I'm a Freshman like +yourself, only I got here last evening. I'm Elizabeth Newby, at your +service," and she made a sweeping bow. "I saw you come in and I thought +I'd make an early call, but I _did_ suppose you would have your things +off by this time." + +"It was awfully good of you to come," said Dolly gratefully. "I'll +get my things off and brush up a bit." She turned and looked suddenly +at her new acquaintance. "How does it come that you are not homesick? +Everything must be as strange to you as it is to me, but you look jolly +and happy." + +"I am," returned the other emphatically. "You may not know it, but +homesickness is a luxury in which only the fortunate can indulge. I'm +not troubled with it. Now tell me, can I help you with your trunk? My +things are all in order. When you have fixed up your room and had Patrick +put your trunk away, you will feel that you are here to stay, and you +will begin to be more comfortable in your mind." + +"If you don't mind helping me then," and Dolly commenced to tug at +her straps energetically. + +"I want to do it. I like to be poking into other people's affairs, it +keeps one from thinking." + +"Then you are homesick, after all?" and Dolly glanced up with twinkling +eyes. + +"No, I am not. I am only homesick because I am _not_ homesick, and that +is Greek or worse to you." + +Dolly gave her companion a keen look, but said no more. There was +evidently something in the background, and Dolly surmised that +Elizabeth's home-life, for some reason or other, was not as happy as it +should be. + +"What lovely, dainty things you have for your sitting-room!" and +Elizabeth held up an armful of pretty articles with honest admiration. +"My room looks as prim as an old maid's. I never thought of these +little accessories." + +"Those are what I had in my room at home, and Mother thought that I had +better bring them. They _will_ make these rooms look quite natural." + +"They just will. I wish we were room-mates, for I haven't an earthly +thing to trim up with, and neither has my room-mate." + +"Who is your room-mate? Do you know her? Is she nice?" + +"I don't know her. Her name is Margaret Ainsworth. She's a Sophomore, +and between ourselves I don't believe that we shall have much to do with +each other." + +"Then it was your room-mate who brought me here. I thought that she was +a Junior at least." + +"Only a Sophomore, my dear, and a conditioned one at that, though to +hear her talk you would suppose that she was taking a post-graduate +course." + +"Isn't it funny that she hasn't any little decorations for your +sitting-room, as she is an old student?" + +[Illustration: "My brother says that I can heat water splendidly."] + +Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders. "I found out that she expected to +room with Charlotte Graves. They roomed together last year, you know, +just by chance. The Faculty put them together just as they are giving +us room-mates now, for I didn't know anyone with whom I wished to room +this year, and I suppose you didn't. Well, Miss Graves is the richest +girl here, and she had loads of beautiful things, so that their suite was +just a dream of beauty, according to my room-mate's account. It seems +that she was not as anxious to room with Miss Ainsworth again as Miss +Ainsworth was to room with her, and she quietly made arrangements to +have a room all to herself, and that is how it all happened. She was put +in with me at the last moment, to our mutual disgust, I expect." + +Dolly stopped in her unpacking. "I didn't know that anyone could room +alone." + +"You have to pay a steep price for the privilege, but Miss Graves can +afford it. What a dear chafing-dish. Can you cook with it?" + +"My brother says that I can heat water splendidly," and Dolly laughed. +"I don't think any girl with a brother is apt to grow conceited, +though Fred is a dear and would do anything in the world for me. I really +_can_ make lovely fudge, though, and very good tea. Mother was a little +afraid of fire because of the alcohol lamp, but I have promised to be +dreadfully careful. I have some chocolate in that box." + +"Let's make fudge tonight," said Elizabeth, enthusiastically. "That +will keep you from getting homesick. You can make it and I will eat it." + +"Can we do it? I don't know anything about the rules here yet." + +"There will not be many rules enforced this week. Professor Graydon told +me that much. She is the teacher to whom you were talking when you first +came in. I know I shall like her. I haven't made up my mind about the +others yet." + +"There, that is the last thing!" and Dolly drew a breath of relief, +"the trunks are empty anyway. What shall I do with them now, Miss +Newby?" + +"In the name of goodness, don't call me Miss Newby. I'm Elizabeth. +I'll let Patrick know that they are ready, and he will carry them off +to the trunk-room at once. I've only been here twenty-four hours, but +I've found out that this college would never run without Patrick. And +Patrick knows it." + +She started from the room on her self-appointed errand, but put her head +back to call out; "If you have any specially stunning gown, just get +it out. Tonight will be a good time to wear it. Hustle the rest of your +things away and dress." + +"Now, why--," commenced Dolly. But Elizabeth had vanished and Dolly +was questioning the empty air. + +"I suppose I had better do as she says," Dolly soliloquized. "I like +her immensely. I should be sitting on the bed dissolved in tears if +she had not come in. I wonder where she lives. Here I have told her +all about home, and Mother and Father and Fred, and she has not said +a word about herself. How long she is getting back." + +In fact, before Elizabeth returned, Dolly had put away all of her +belongings, and had donned a pretty white dress which the warm day +rendered appropriate. + +She was giving a last pat to her hair, when a knock came at the door, +and a moment later Elizabeth's face peered into the bedroom. + +"Oh, I see why you were so long returning. I concluded that you had +forgotten me and had gone off to help some other Freshman unpack." + +"No, thanks," and Elizabeth gave a little shrug that Dolly soon learned +to be characteristic. "I'm not in the missionary business. I just took +a fancy to you, and I saw that you had no friends here any more than +I did. We were two of a kind. Do you like my dress?" + +"Immensely. That shade of blue is just your color. But why are we +dressing up, please? Is this a daily performance?" + +"Hardly. The Sophomores are going to pay their respects to the new girls +tonight, and while there is nothing like hazing allowed here, there are +all sorts of tricks played that the Faculty never takes any notice of. +I thought that we might feel more ready for them if we had the moral +support of our best clothes." + +"How do you know so much? and what shall we do?" + +"I spent last evening in Professor Graydon's room, and she told me +everything that she thought a Freshman ought to know. If you want me to, +I will come over here and we can receive together. Your room is stunning +and we can certainly hold our own." + +"I thought we were going to make fudge." + +"So we shall, but we'll hide it when they come. Don't waste candy on +Sophomores, my dear." + +Dolly looked up with a sparkle in her eye. "What will they do?" + +"There's no telling. Nothing dreadful. Make us sing for them or recite, +or go through some absurdity." + +"If we refuse?" + +"They will simply let us alone, not only tonight, but during the rest of +the year. The best thing is to meet them good-naturedly, do what they +require, and turn the tables on them, if we can." + +"You must come here, of course. 'Tis a pity if a few Sophomores can +frighten us with their jokes. I know one thing that we can do, Elizabeth. +You see there is some advantage in having a brother." + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +"What? Tell me quickly. I would give almost anything to get ahead of +Margaret Ainsworth. I know that she will be one of those to come. You +must have done something, Dolly, to offend her, for she seems to meditate +vengeance on you." + +Dolly drew her brows together in a perplexed frown. "I asked if she were +a Senior, and she did--" + +Elizabeth shouted: "Of course she did. She doubtless supposed you were +trying to be sarcastic. Well, never mind. Hear that awful gong? Dinner +will be ready in five minutes now. Come down to the veranda, and I will +tell you who some of the people are." + +Dolly was quite ready to go, and as they ran lightly down the steps, +she confided in a whisper to Elizabeth her plan for the Sophomores' +discomfiture. + +"You are a genius; I am sure that will work! Hurrah! Oh, Miss Randall, I +want you to meet Miss Alden. Can't we sit at your table tonight?" + +"Of course you can, I shall be very glad to have you. Miss Alden, I know +that you are going to do fine work here, your entrance examinations were +most excellent." + +Then she passed on, leaving Dolly happy and Elizabeth surprised. "I +hadn't supposed that you were a bookworm and a student, and all that. +You don't look it." + +"Mother has always helped me and been so interested in my lessons. +It will be hard to study without her. She has always explained and +encouraged me. I shall miss her fearfully." + +"I suppose you will," said Elizabeth slowly, with a hard look on her +face that prevented further conversation on that point. + +The girls took whatever seats they wished at the table for the first few +days. The next week they would be given permanent places. + +With her new friend beside her, Dolly found the meal pleasant enough. + +Afterward, they hurried to Dolly's sitting-room and began their +preparations for making fudge. There was lots of fun and laughter over it. + +"How many do you think will come? I want just about enough pieces on +this plate to go around. If any should be left over, they might want us +to finish it, and I think that we may have had enough by that time." + +"I am sure that we shall," and Elizabeth nibbled away voraciously. +"How small you are making the pieces, Dolly." + +"No need of wasting anything. I want each one to have a piece small +enough so that she will put it all in her mouth at once. See? You did +not tell me how many guests we might expect." + +"About fifteen, I think. They go out in squads. All of them cannot +visit every Freshman, so they divide up. I heard them talking in our +sitting-room while I was dressing. They didn't know that I was there, +fortunately." + +"I'm going to shove that plate half under the paper, so--" suiting +the action to the word, "they will think we are hiding it from them. +Here are some pieces for us to nibble. Quick, sit down; take the candy in +your hand, I hear them coming." + +A knock at the door. + +"Come in." + +"Arise and open the door." + +Dolly smothered a giggle and glanced inquiringly at Elizabeth, who +nodded her head. So she crossed to the door and swung it wide. Fifteen +Sophomores in fantastic kimonos and stately head-dresses stood outside. + +"Freshies, we have come to inspect your premises. Stand aside while we +enter and examine you as regards your worthiness to remain within these +sacred precincts. Stand in front of us, so!" + +There was a moment's pause while the fifteen uninvited guests took +possession of the few chairs, window-seats and stools which the room +afforded. + +"Miss Alden, you may answer first. What is the chief duty of every +Freshman?" + +"To squelch the Sophomores," returned Dolly promptly. + +A deep groan sounded from all fifteen. "Wrong! Wrong! You have not the +first idea of your fundamental duties. We shall be obliged to send you +home, I fear. Miss Newby, answer!" + +"Most potent, grave and reverend Sophomores, the great duty of every +Freshman is to try and become a Sophomore herself, so that she may try +to impress unsophisticated Freshies with a sense of her own importance +and make everyone forget that she herself was nothing but a Freshman one +short year--" + +"Stop! Wrong! Wrong!" and a chorus of groans again broke forth. "The +obvious duty of every Freshie is to run errands for the Sophomores and +make life as pleasant as possible for them. Miss Alden, I see a banjo +on the table there. Sing something to us." + +Dolly picked up the instrument with a mock-humble bow and touched the +strings, a little uncertainly for a moment, but her touch soon became +firmer, and a malicious little twinkle appeared in her eye. + + "Oh, these Sophomores, vain Sophomores, + In all their swelling pride, + I would to them the giftie gie, + To see--" + +"Stop!" The fifteen rose majestically to their feet as Dolly, with +assumed meekness, dropped her instrument at her side. "You may expect to +hear from the faculty tomorrow. I regret that it is impossible for you +to be retained at this hall of learning. Your influence would doubtless +corrupt the other Freshmen, and teach them insubordination. You have +also been guilty of greediness. I see the remains of a repast which you +tried to conceal as we entered. You are ordered to pass that plate to +your superiors." + +Elizabeth demurely obeyed the command. The bits of fudge were small, +and there were just enough to go around. They were taken with great +stateliness and dignity, but a moment later the room was filled with +groans, coughs, shrieks and wrathful exclamations. + +"They would poison us!" "Let us be avenged!" "Choke them!" "Perish +the Freshmen!" "Water, minions! water!" + +But Dolly and Elizabeth had taken good care that there should be no water +at hand, so the unlucky Sophomores rushed away to their own rooms, +followed by the taunting laughter of the two Freshmen and many gratuitous +pieces of advice. + +"I wonder if they will try to pay us back," Dolly said, with sudden +gravity. + +"No, tonight ends it all; Professor Graydon told me so. The Sophomores +are allowed to air their new dignity this one evening, but nothing is +tolerated after tonight. I do not think they came out much ahead of us. +I must go now, Dolly, I wish I were your room-mate, but I presume that +you will have a much more congenial one than I would be." + +"I do not think so," Dolly said, with evident sincerity. "I have a +dreadful feeling whenever you mention her. Good-night, and thank you a +thousand times." + +The next few days were busy ones. Dolly had new studies planned out +for the term, and she found to her delight that she and Elizabeth had +elected the same courses. The two were congenial, though Elizabeth was +as reticent as Dolly was frank and open. Dolly had begun to hope that +her unknown room-mate would not arrive at all, but on Tuesday, when she +returned from her recitation in history, she found that Miss Sutherland +had appeared. + +In fact there was no doubt that she was there, and had been there for a +couple of hours at least. + +Dolly's dainty pink pillows, banners, and other trifles, had been +summarily displaced. She could see no vestige of them. The room was +now ornamented in a stiff sort of fashion with brilliant red tidies, +afghans, and other things which Dolly considered quite antediluvian. +The room had lost all of its dainty personality and prettiness. It +certainly looked very unattractive, and it was not much wonder that +Dolly drew a deep breath of disgust. + +The sound reached the ears of the newcomer, and she turned quickly. +Dolly's bright eyes took in every detail, the thick hair drawn back so +tightly and unbecomingly, the heavy brown dress, just the shade that +the girl with such a dark, sallow complexion should never have worn, +the cheap jewelry and the clumsy shoes. And she must room with this +girl instead of with Elizabeth--it was too bad, it was--and Dolly's +whole soul rose up in rebellion. + +"You are Miss Alden, aren't you? I am Mary Sutherland. I just came, +and I have been trying to get my things in order." + +"I see." Dolly glanced dryly around the room. "Where are my +belongings?" + +"I put them carefully on your bed, they were so pretty that it seemed a +shame to have them get soiled; red is more substantial than pink, and of +course, the two colors would not go well together--at least, I thought +not"--looking a little timidly at Dolly's unresponsive face. + +"No! I quite agree that pink and red don't harmonize, at least these +particular shades," and Dolly passed on to her bedroom and closed the +door. She sat down on her bed while angry tears rose in her eyes. She +was just beginning to make some pleasant acquaintances among the girls. +They liked to come to her pretty room and eat her fudge and drink her +tea. There had been several gay evenings. But how could she ever bring +them into such a room as this was now? It was worse than a nightmare. + +The clang of the gong reminded her that she must hurry to the lecture +on Roman art. + +She picked up her note-book and pencil, and rushed down the corridor. + +"Wait, oh, wait, my bonny maid," and Elizabeth caught her arm. "Why, +Dolly, you have been crying!" + +"Yes, I am an awful goose. But you see my room-mate has come, and--" + +"I saw her, she hardly strikes me as being your style, but she will be +quiet and inoffensive, I imagine." + +"Quiet and inoffensive?" Dolly gave a hysterical laugh. "Just wait +until you see my room; all of my pretty things are reposing on my bed +now, and that sitting-room is too awful to contemplate." + +"Dorothy Alden, are you in earnest?" + +"Yes, I am. Of course, I suppose I had taken possession of it rather +coolly, but at least it is half mine." + +"Didn't you give her to understand that?" + +"No, I didn't. I was very angry, and I remembered that Mother made +me promise to think twice before I acted, when I got furious. I shall +propose something, though, when I go back. We might take the room by +alternate weeks, or each of us trim a half of it. Which do you think +would be the better plan?" + +"Either is bad," Elizabeth said decisively. "Why, oh, why, were we not +put together? You could have had your things then in peace, and it would +have saved me all the bother I am having now. I didn't think about my +room before I came, and now that Miss Ainsworth has nothing to liven +us up with either, we look as prim as a Quaker meeting-house. I have +ordered some things, however, that will make us gorgeous. What do you say +to a yellow room?" + +"I say that it will be handsome if your room-mate leaves the arrangement +in your hands." + +"I made sure of that before I ordered anything," Elizabeth said, with +a wise nod. "She was very willing that I should do all I wished, and on +that understanding I went ahead." + +The girls had reached the lecture-room by this time, and further +discussion was impossible; but all through Professor Randall's talk, +Dolly's thoughts roamed to the room she had left. How could she +stand it? Dolly was exceedingly susceptible by nature to all artistic +effects, and anything inharmonious grated on her. + +She acknowledged to herself that Miss Sutherland did not seem aggressive, +and apparently she had not acted as she had done through any petty +spirit. As far as Dolly could judge, she was merely tactless and +tasteless. + +She and Elizabeth talked the matter over a little more as they walked +back to their rooms, but Elizabeth abstained from offering any advice. +"I'll go in and see how the place looks. I'm curious to meet Miss +Sutherland anyway." + +They found her sitting on the easiest rocking-chair, studying the college +catalogue. She rose quickly as the girls came in, and Dolly introduced +her friend. They tried to make the conversation general, but it was no +easy matter. Mary Sutherland would answer questions, and occasionally +ask one herself, but when the conversation took a wider range, she sat +by, looking out of place and constrained. + +There was a knock at the door, and Charlotte Graves entered, followed by +Winifred Paterson and Ada Rummel. They were all Sophomores, and had been +among the fifteen who had called on Dolly the first evening. + +They had swallowed the red pepper which Dolly had hid in the fudge as +best they could, and none of them bore any malice. "All things were fair +in love and college," as Charlotte Graves tersely remarked. + +The trio halted now on the threshold in open astonishment. + +"What have you been doing to your room, Miss Alden?" Winifred demanded +abruptly. "For a Freshman you showed most unusual taste, and you had +about the prettiest den out, but now--pardon me if I ask why this +thusness? It is quite too awful." + +Dolly carefully refrained from looking at her room-mate. Miss Paterson +was certainly frank to the verge of rudeness. + +"Pray have some seats, most august Sophomores. You see that red is more +serviceable than pink, and in view of the fact that we are liable to +have numerous visits from those who were Freshmen last year, and who +of course do not know how to treat delicate things with proper respect--" + +"Well, let me tell you one thing," Miss Graves interrupted, "you will +be troubled with precious few calls from anyone if you intend to make +this a permanent thing." + +Dolly's cheeks flushed. She must stop them at any cost. Despite her own +annoyance, she could not help feeling sorry for Miss Sutherland, who +evidently thought that she had made the room charming. She turned to +introduce her, but she was only in time to see her vanish into her own +bedroom. Dolly's quick ears caught the sound of a sob as the door closed. + +She forgot her own anger of an hour before and turned wrathfully on +her guests. "Commend me to Sophomores for superlative rudeness and +a total disregard of the feelings of others. These articles belong to +my room-mate. She just came. She hasn't met any of the girls yet, +and you have given her a beautiful welcome, haven't you?" Dolly's +cheeks burned like coals of fire. She spoke in a low tone so that her +words should not be heard in the adjoining room, but every syllable was +vibrant with feeling. + +The Sophomores looked ashamed. "Bring her out and let me apologize," +begged Winifred. + +"And make a bad matter worse? Not much. We will all go out for a walk +until dinner-time. I hope," added Dolly, severely, "that when I become +a Sophomore I shall not forget all my manners." + +"Come, my dear, cool down," Charlotte Graves said languidly, putting +her own arm through Dolly's. "It strikes me that you have forgotten +your manners already to talk so to your own guests." + +There was a ripple of laughter at this, and Dolly looked a trifle +shamefaced. "I was making general remarks," she said loftily. + +"Come on, we shall forgive you this once, and Winifred shall eat +humble-pie for your room-mate's benefit at the first opportunity. As +class president I decree it." + +There by tacit consent, the subject dropped. The girls had a pleasant +walk, and when the dinner-gong sounded, Dolly hurried up to her room; +she knew that she would not find her room-mate very congenial, but at +least she would not be so selfish as to let Miss Sutherland go down to +the dining-room alone, on this first night. + +As she opened the door of their common sitting-room she stopped in +amazement. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +She looked around with a gasp of surprise, and then rubbed her eyes to +make sure she was not dreaming. All of her own dainty trifles were back +in place. Every vestige of the obnoxious red decorations had vanished. + +Dolly felt a sudden moisture in her eyes. The poor girl! She knocked +lightly on Miss Sutherland's door. There was a faint stir inside, but +no response. Dolly hesitated, and then boldly opened the door. + +"Excuse me, please, for coming in when you did not ask me to, but I was +sure you were here, and you must come down to dinner at once." + +"I am not going down tonight." + +"Indeed you are," Dolly said, after one comprehensive look at the +mottled, tear-stained face before her. "The students must all be on +hand promptly for meals. I cannot take you to my table, for that is full +now, and we have been given our permanent places for the term, but I +will introduce you to Professor Newton; there is a vacant place at her +table, I know. You will like her, I am sure." + +Miss Sutherland gave her room-mate a curious look, started to say +something, changed her mind, and then got up from the bed and commenced +to brush her hair back with nervous, impatient fingers. + +"Don't do that," Dolly ejaculated suddenly, "can't you see how much +better you look when your hair lies loosely, so as to soften the outlines +of your face? Here, give me the brush." + +She took the brush and comb from Miss Sutherland's hand, pushed her down +into a chair, and worked rapidly for two or three minutes. "There, the +last bell will ring in a second and there is no time to fuss with it +longer tonight, but can't you see how much better it looks? You have +such lovely hair that it is too bad to spoil it." + +"Mother always liked it combed straight back," was all Miss Sutherland +vouchsafed, speaking in a very distant tone. + +Dolly flushed. Would she never learn to be less impetuous, she wondered, +and to mind her own business? She felt like a child of three, whose ears +had been soundly boxed. + +"There was no need, Miss Sutherland, for you to change the arrangement +of the sitting-room. Of course you have rights there as well as I." +The matter had better be settled now, Dolly thought, at once and forever. +"I suppose red and pink would hardly answer in the same room at the +same time, but we might agree on some third color together, and you fix +part of the room and I part, or else you could have charge of the +sitting-room one month and I the next. Which plan would you prefer?" + +Dolly listened anxiously for the reply. It did not seem probable that +her room-mate would feel that she could afford to buy new furnishings, +and how could Dolly ever stand the red atrocities for five months, even +if her beloved belongings were to be used for the other five? + +There was no hesitancy in Miss Sutherland's answer. "I can't afford +to waste any more money on things for my room, and I shan't put up my +mother's work for those fools to laugh at, so I guess the sitting-room, +as you call it, will likely stay as it is." + +Dolly felt uncomfortable. Miss Sutherland had a way of putting things +that made one seem very small. It was clear, from the tone of her voice, +that she worshiped her mother, and Dolly could see how the ridicule of +her mother's handiwork had hurt the girl's feelings. + +"You must remember," she said gently, "that the sitting-room is +as much yours as mine. Forgive me if I had seemed to take complete +possession of it before you came." + +"That won't matter, I guess; I don't suppose I shall be in it much, +anyway. I don't seem to belong there." + +The dinner-gong sounded at that moment, and Miss Sutherland went into +the hall, Dolly following in a very perturbed frame of mind. "I will +take you to Professor Newton now," she remarked as they reached the +dining-room door. + +"I don't reckon that you need to, I know Professor Newton," Miss +Sutherland returned, with the queer little smile that Dolly again failed +to note. + +"Oh, you met her when you came, did you? Good-bye, then, for a few +minutes," and Dolly crossed the room to Miss Randall's table, where +Elizabeth was waiting for her. Their seats were next each other, and +after the meal had fairly commenced, Dolly told her all that had +transpired up in her room. + +Elizabeth gave a soft whistle. "I pity you, my dear; you see you have +a tender conscience, and you are going to bother yourself about Miss +Sutherland all of the time. Now, if I were you, I should never give +her another thought, especially as your room has returned to its normal +condition." + +"You slander yourself," Dolly retorted, "didn't you act the part of a +good Samaritan to me?" + +"Oh, you--you are different! Don't you know that you are going to +be one of the most popular girls here? You are pretty and bright, and +friendly with everyone." + +"Hush up, Beth." + +"How came you to call me that?" + +Elizabeth's tone was queer, and Dolly turned to look at her. + +"'Beth,' do you mean? It is often a nickname of Elizabeth, you know, +and I have always loved the name since the days of Miss Alcott's +'Little Women.' Don't you like it?" + +"Yes, I like it, but no one has called me by it for years, and when you +said it just now, I felt absolutely startled." + +"I will not use it again if you would rather I did not." + +"I would rather that you did, however," and then Elizabeth joined in +the general conversation around the table. Dolly wondered if she did it +to avoid further questioning. + +The college soon settled down to the regular routine of work. Before a +month had passed, the Freshmen knew who their best students were, and who +stood a chance of being elected class officers. The other three classes +had held their elections at the end of the first fortnight, their old +officers holding over until that time. + +It was an unwritten law, however, that the Freshmen should wait for their +class elections until Thanksgiving time; that would afford opportunity +for them to get acquainted with each other, and to determine who were +the most suitable candidates. + +[Illustration: Beth and Dolly were discussing it one day as they took +their usual walk.] + +It was an all-important subject in the eyes of the Freshmen, and so, not +unnaturally, Beth and Dolly were discussing it one day as they took their +usual walk. + +"I believe that Margaret Hamilton will be elected president," predicted +Dolly. "She is so tall and handsome, she would be such a magnificent +president." + +"She knows it," returned Beth dryly. "She has been posing for it ever +since the term opened. She dresses for it, talks for it, and is always +working for it--not openly, but in a hundred little subtle ways." + +"You don't like Margaret." + +"Not to any great extent, I'll confess. I would much rather see you +class president." + +"Me? I haven't any dignity, and you know it." + +"Well, you have other qualifications that are quite as desirable." + +"I'm out of the question, so stop talking about it. There goes Miss +Hamilton now. I wonder why she always turns down that lane? It is a +private one, you know, and I'm sure she has no permission to go to the +house every day." + +"I'm positive she doesn't even know the people," Beth said, staring +after her classmate. "I am consumed with curiosity. What do you suppose +she does want, anyway?" + +"I have not the faintest idea, and I really do not suppose that it +concerns us, anyway. What do you think?" + +"Don't be snubby! Margaret Hamilton is queer in some ways, though none +of you seem to have discovered it but myself." + +"That simply shows what an imagination you have. I must go into the +library now and scribble a note to Fred. I don't see when you get +your home letters written, Beth. I must send one to Father and Mother +twice a week, or they would think that I was sick and rush on here: and +Fred, off at Harvard, demands one just as often. I told him that I +would write as long as he did, but that when he commenced to shirk on his +letters to me, I would stop. So far he has done remarkably well, and +Mother likes me to write him often, not mere notes, you know, but long, +chatty letters; she thinks that home-letters help to keep boys out of +temptation." + +"I presume they do," said Beth soberly, as if struck by a new +thought. "Possibly it would not hurt me to write to Roy, he is off at a +preparatory school." + +"Have you a brother? I didn't know it." + +"I have not been much more communicative than Margaret Hamilton, have +I? But I hardly imagine that our reasons are the same for keeping so +quiet: If there is time after our letters are finished, I'll give you +a biographical sketch of our family. Roy is my half brother, I have no +own brothers or sisters." + +And then Beth commenced to talk of something else as if she repented her +momentary confidence, and the girls went in to write their letters. + +Beth finished first. "There, the surprise that will strike Roy when he +reads that letter may bring on an apoplectic fit. 'Twill be the very +first letter he ever had from me." + +"Has he been away from home long?" + +"This is his second year. I believe that you are aware of the fact that +I live in Philadelphia. Father is a lawyer, and he isn't a poor one, +either. He makes considerable money, but I have my own money that was +my mother's." + +"Have you any other brothers beside Roy?" + +"As I said, I haven't any brothers or sisters really. Roy is ten, Hugh +is eight, and Nell is three. I think Roy is far too young to send away +to school, and I know that his mother is of the same opinion. But Father +seemed to think that it was best." + +"What do you call your stepmother, Beth?" + +"I do not think I ever called her anything in speaking to her. Of +course, I call her Mrs. Newby when I allude to her, but that is very +seldom." + +"Isn't she nice, Beth? I don't mean to be impertinent, but you know +that I care for you a great deal, and I cannot help feeling concerned +about everything regarding you." + +"You couldn't be impertinent if you tried, Dolly, and I would answer +your question if I could. I really don't know how she would appear to +an outsider. You must go home with me sometime and judge for yourself. +She is a perfect lady, and that is about all that I feel qualified to +say." + +Beth had talked all that she cared to on the subject, and Dolly wisely +let the matter drop. Beth had told her no more than any mere acquaintance +of the family's could have repeated. She had let Dolly know something +about her family, but nothing about her feelings. It was months before +the subject ever came up again. + +As Thanksgiving time approached, the Freshmen became very much +excited over the approaching election. Several girls were mentioned +in connection with the class presidency, notably Margaret Hamilton +and Dolly herself. Abby Dunbar and Grace Chisholm would also be +candidates in all probability. + +Beth was intensely interested over the affair, and Dolly suspected her +of doing considerable electioneering. It became more and more evident, +as the time drew nearer, that Miss Hamilton and Dolly Alden would poll +the most votes. Dolly tried to keep cool and unconcerned. It was a great +surprise to her that her name should even be mentioned in this connection. + +"But you would like it--you know you would like it!" insisted Beth as +they went over the question for the final time in Dolly's room. That was +at noon on Monday, the election would be held that evening. + +"Why, yes," said Dolly honestly, "I would like it if it comes to me +naturally, but I will not beg any of the girls to vote for me. That +would spoil it all. If the girls prefer Miss Hamilton, she ought to be +elected. She would make a much better presiding officer than I." + +"I don't think so, do you, Miss Sutherland?" and Beth turned to +Dolly's room-mate who was the only other person present. + +Dolly broke in impetuously. "Don't ask Mary embarrassing questions. +She doesn't have to vote for me just because we chance to room together, +and, of course, she knows that Miss Hamilton would make a better +president than I. By the way, why don't you two drop formality and +say 'Elizabeth' and 'Mary?' It is quite time you did so." + +"I shall be very glad to do so, if I may be permitted," Beth said. Then +as she caught a slight smile on Mary's face, she added, "Very well, +that weighty matter is settled for the remainder of the college course. +You see, I did not dare to say 'Mary' so familiarly to one who is such +a wonderful scholar in biology as you." + +"That is the only thing I _do_ know, so please do not make fun of me." + +"Gracious, I would never dare to make fun of you! We all hold our breath +with awe when you recite. Really, Mary, don't look so hurt and annoyed. +We do admire you tremendously. That is such an unusual branch for a girl +to fancy." + +"You had better talk about the class election, I think," said Mary +decidedly. + +"Why? do you think it will be close?" + +"Miss Hamilton's friends are working hard. Lots of the girls had no +special preferences, but I think all of those will vote for Miss Hamilton +now." + +Beth groaned. "I am an idiot to sit still here. I shall go right out in +the highways and byways of this building, and see if I cannot accomplish +something myself." + +"You will stay here, Beth." + +"I will not." + +In the midst of the good-humored scrimmage that followed, the lunch-gong +sounded, and the girls hurried to their rooms to freshen up a wee bit +before going to the dining-room. + +It was apparent early in the evening that Miss Hamilton's friends felt +confident of victory. Their plans were well laid, and one of their number +was promptly elected chairman. + +The preliminary business was gotten out of the way very speedily. +Margaret Hamilton was nominated for the class president by Florence +Smith. Beth nominated Dolly, and then Abby Dunbar, Grace Chisholm and +Bessie Worth were quickly nominated by their friends. The tellers +distributed papers and pencils and the balloting commenced. + +Dolly found herself actually trembling with excitement. What fun it would +be if she could telegraph to Fred and sign her name, "Dorothy Alden, +President, Class '09." + +"I wish I were one of those tellers," murmured Beth. "It is simply +maddening to sit here and do nothing. Hush, there they come, Dolly. Oh, +I do hope that you were elected." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +The faces of the tellers told nothing as they entered the room, carrying +the little slip of paper that meant so much to these Freshmen. The +chairman rapped loudly for order, and a pin could have been heard drop +while the result was read: + + Miss Hamilton . . . . 145 votes + Miss Alden . . . . . 145 " + Miss Dunbar . . . . . 10 " + Miss Chisholm . . . . 9 " + Miss Worth . . . . . 6 " + +"We'll have to take another ballot," Beth said in a low tone +excitedly. "How close it is! Oh, Dolly, I do hope that you will get it." + +The tension was growing too much. Sharp things were said in undertones, +and a little bitterness was evident in the remarks that were made and +the suggestions that were offered. Dolly sat back quietly, a troubled +look on her face. Even if she were elected, half of the class would be +more or less opposed to her. There would certainly be two factions. What +could she do? What was the _right_ thing to do? What would her mother +advise? + +"I wonder if I ought to withdraw my name?" Dolly said to herself, +as another acrimonious remark was made by one of Margaret Hamilton's +admirers. "I have just as much right to run as she has, and, if she is +elected I shall not be hateful to her. I shall congratulate her, and do +all that I can to help her. I would like to be president, and yet--" + +The tellers had returned again. The result was announced amid a +breathless silence. + +"Miss Hamilton, 157; Miss Alden, 157," announced the chairman of the +tellers. "As there are 315 present, it is quite evident that someone +did not vote." + +Obeying a sudden impulse, Dolly rose to her feet. + +"Madam Chairman, I did not cast any vote, and while it may be a little +irregular for me to do so now, after the result has been announced, I +hope that I may be accorded that privilege. If so, I cast my vote for +Miss Hamilton." + +For a moment no one spoke or seemed to take in the full meaning of +Dolly's generous speech. Then there was a deafening uproar, and the +room was filled with wild cheers. Dolly had done a fine thing, and the +girls were quick to show their appreciation of it. + +As soon as the hubbub had partially subsided, Dolly was nominated for the +vice-presidency and unanimously elected. The rest of the meeting went +off smoothly. Something in Dolly's action had touched the better nature +of the girls, and they all felt secretly ashamed of their momentary +bitterness and injustice. Beth was elected recording secretary, and the +other offices were filled without ill feeling or jealousy. + +After the meeting Margaret Hamilton went straight to Dolly. "I want to +thank you for my election," she said, with outstretched hand. "You are +the most generous girl I ever knew. I was glad to be elected," with a +look in her eyes that Beth noted, but could not understand. "But I do +hope that sometime I can help make _you_ president. I shall certainly +not forget what you did." + +They talked it over afterward in Dolly's room, girl-fashion. "There was +no sense in your doing that," Beth said bluntly. "Of course Margaret +Hamilton voted for herself; if you had voted for yourself at first, you +would have been elected. Don't you see?" + +"And don't you see how much feeling there would have been in the class? +I would much rather be vice-president and be elected unanimously the +way I was, than to be president twenty times over. We can't afford to +start our Freshman year with factional feelings, can we, Mary?" + +Dolly was in the habit of appealing to Mary whenever she was present. +She had discovered that Mary Sutherland had a great fund of common sense, +and then, too, she did not like her room-mate to feel ignored. She +noticed that of late Mary was trying to do her hair up as Dolly had +done it for her that first night. She had not yet become expert in the +process, but the result was much more satisfactory than before. Dolly +noted, too, little changes in dress that softened the harsh outlines and +lent a little color to her face. She longed to offer advice sometimes, +but the remembrance of the first night restrained her. She would not +invite any snubs. If Mary Sutherland wished her help, Dolly would give +it willingly, but she was not going to make any advances again. And yet +that was just what her shy, diffident room-mate was longing to have +her do. She had not meant to repulse Dolly that first night, but she +had been feeling hurt and grieved then, her ideals were all shattered, +and out of the depths of a heart loyal to her poor hardworking mother, +had come the remark that made Dolly draw back, and that kept her from +ever proffering assistance or suggestions now. + +She and Mary saw comparatively little of each other, considering that +they were room-mates. Both were Freshmen, but while Dolly and Beth were +taking the classical course, Mary was taking the scientific. Mary's +recitations, for the most part, came during Dolly's study hours. Of +course there were the evenings, but some way Mary was very seldom in +the room during the evening. Dolly often wondered where she spent the +time, for she had no intimate friend. She was careful, however, not to +question her. They had never reached a degree of intimacy that would +permit that. + +Today Mary seemed more companionable than usual, and Dolly found, to her +astonishment, that her taciturn room-mate had been quite as disappointed +as Beth over the outcome of the elections. However, she was more ready +than Beth to acknowledge that Dolly had done the only thing that +could have secured class harmony and good fellowship. + +On Wednesday noon college would close for the balance of the week. Those +students who lived near enough could go home to eat their Thanksgiving +dinners, the rest would stay at the Hall and get up such impromptu +entertainments as the occasion suggested and their genius could devise. +Dolly was one of the fortunate ones who could go home. Mary lived west +of the Rocky Mountains, and Beth seemed to have no desire to go home. +Dolly was wild over the prospect. Fred was coming home from Harvard, +and she could stay until the early morning train on Monday. "It is +worth getting up at four o'clock," she announced decidedly. "Oh, +by the way, I'll send Fred a telegram signed 'Vice-President Class +'09.' That doesn't sound as big as 'President' would, of course, +but it will do. Patrick will take it down to the office for me. Blessed +Patrick." She scratched off her message humming gaily: + + "Hurrah! hurrah! oh, jubilation! + Two more days and then vacation; + No more Latin, no more French, + No more sitting on a hard wooden bench." + +She turned suddenly and caught an expression of utter homesickness and +loneliness on her room-mate's face. Beth was looking hard and bitter, +a look that Dolly had come to know and dread. She mentally anathematized +herself for talking of home before these two girls. Then a brilliant +thought struck her. + +"I have a bit of news for you," she announced briefly. "It may be +of interest to you. The fact is, you are both going home with me on +Wednesday." + +Her companions stared at her. "Don't be a goose, Dolly. 'Tis very good +of you to propose it, but your father and mother, to say nothing of that +brother of yours, will want all of your time. They will not care to have +strangers there whom they must entertain." + +"They will not entertain you, my dear. I am taking you to entertain a +couple of boys whom Fred proposes taking home. Don't you see how useful +you can make yourselves?" + +"Elizabeth could," Mary Sutherland replied quietly, but with a certain +wistfulness. "I would be no help at all. I never could talk to boys; +then, I have no clothes to wear, and you would be ashamed of me." + +"If you cannot entertain boys, you must learn to do it before you are +a week older. No one expects college girls to have many clothes, so that +part of the question is disposed of. I am going to send an extra telegram +to Mother now, so that she will be sure to get a large turkey. I don't +want you to go hungry when you eat your Thanksgiving dinner with me." + +"But, Dolly--" + +"Oh, will you please be still? Both of you? You interrupt me." + +"You are wasting your money by sending that telegram, and your strength +in writing it," said Beth coolly, "for I, at least, am not going." + +But Dolly had a very persuasive way of her own, and in the end both Beth +and Mary Sutherland succumbed, the latter, however, not without sundry +misgivings. "You know that my dresses are old-fashioned and I cannot +afford any new ones. Will you not be ashamed of me?" + +"Of course not," and while that was perfectly true, Dolly knew that she +could not take the same pride in introducing Mary that she could in +introducing stylish, winning Beth; for Beth, despite her red hair, was +strikingly pretty. Her freckles had disappeared with the summer, and +her gowns always fitted to perfection. She could play and sing and act. +There was no doubt, at all, but that she would prove very popular with +Fred's chums. Beth was small and slender, her eyes were a marvelously +deep blue and her complexion fair. Mary was tall, dark and awkward. Her +hair was thick, and, properly arranged, showed its full beauty. But Mary +knew nothing of the art of dressing. She felt it, and did not want her +friend to be ashamed of her. She went to the point directly, which was +characteristic of her, when she had once made up her mind on a point. + +"Will you tell me what dresses to take, and can you give me any hints +about fixing my things up? Of course, I have not the clothes that you +and Elizabeth have, but if you will help me, I will try to do the best +I can with my limited wardrobe." + +Dolly studied a moment in silence. "White always looks well, even if it +is simple. You have a couple of white dresses. They are laundered, I +know. Take both of them along, you will need them for dinner dresses. +Father always likes us to dress a little for dinner. He says it rests +him to come home and see Mother and me with something pretty on, and +we are quite ready to humor him. Then--I think--yes--I am sure that +you had better wear your blue for a travelling dress. You'll not need +anything else, for we shall be gone such a little time. Have you bright +ribbons? Never mind if you haven't. We shall all draw on Mother's +stock, she is used to that sort of thing, and doesn't mind a bit." + +"I must go down town today to buy a hat. Would you very much mind going +with me to help?" + +"Not at all. I just love to buy things, but Beth and I have been down +town so often lately that Miss Newton may refuse permission." + +"I'll fix that part," Mary said quietly. + +"You will? How confidently you say that. Professor Newton is very nice, +my dear, and I adore her, but I don't imagine that she is very easily +'fixed.'" + +Miss Sutherland looked amused. "I will go and speak to her now," was +all she said. + +She came back with the desired permission, and the two went off gaily, +while Beth went to her room to write to Roy. To Beth's great surprise, +Roy had answered that first letter of hers very promptly, and though his +letter had been the short, unsatisfactory kind that boys always write, +especially boys as young as Roy, Beth had been touched and pleased at +his evident delight over the fact that she had written to him. Since +then her missives went regularly. She felt sorry for the homesick lad. +"I wonder if Dolly's father would have sent Fred off at that age," +she said to herself. "I am anxious to see Dolly's people. Shall I like +them? Well, the vacation is not long, anyway." + +No, it would not be long, and yet there would be plenty of time in it +for the happening of various things of more or less importance to the +college lassies. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +When the train on Wednesday evening halted for a moment at the first +suburban station outside Dolly's city home, she gave a little shriek of +surprise and delight. A moment later three young men entered the Pullman +where Dolly and her friends were seated. + +One of the young men was instantly pounced upon by Dolly and given +an enthusiastic reception; meanwhile his two companions stood back +smilingly, and proceeded to scrutinize Dolly's companions very closely. + +"Oh, dear, where shall we begin with the introductions? We have all got +to be introduced, I see. Well, this is my brother, Fred, Miss Newby and +Miss Sutherland. He is really very nice, girls. I have brought him up +quite properly." + +"The bringing up was altogether the other way, as I chance to be a +couple of years my sister's senior. Now, boys, come forward." A moment +later and the girls had formally made the acquaintance of "Mr. Martin" +and "Mr. Steele." + +"I told the mater to let us meet you, and she finally consented, though +she made us promise not to loiter on the way. We got here this morning, +you know." + +"How jolly, Fred, and oh! how good it is to be at home once more," +Dolly said, as the train came to a standstill in the great station. +"Let us walk up, we can get there in ten minutes and we can talk so much +better that way. Tell me about your friends, Fred." + +"There's not time to tell you very much, but I'll give you the main +points. Steele is working his way through college. He is one of the most +popular men there. He hasn't a near relation in the world. He was +born somewhere out West. His father took a claim; dry seasons, big +mortgage and prairie fires killed the mother and the father, too. There +wasn't a cent left for Bob. He has done about everything that a boy +could do, I guess, and he has lived in every large city between here +and Kansas. He was three years in Chicago, and managed to graduate +from the High School there. Did jobs for some millionaire night and +morning for his board and a dollar a week. Wherever he lived he went +to school. That's how he managed to prepare for college." + +"But how does he do now?" + +"He won a scholarship, and then he is steward of our club. He does +private tutoring and half a dozen other things. He'll get along. He had +more invitations for Thanksgiving, I'll wager, than any other fellow +in college." + +"And Mr. Martin? Talk fast. We are almost home. You know all about the +girls, for I told you all that I could think of in my letters." + +"There isn't so much to tell about Martin, Dolly. He comes from one of +the oldest families in Boston, has lots of money, and plenty of brains, +but he is fearfully lazy. What he needs--" + +But Fred's sentence was destined to remain unfinished, for just then the +sextette came in sight of Dolly's home, and Dolly spied in the doorway +the person whom she most loved on earth. With one spring she vanished +up the walk and darted into her mother's arms. + +It was all a merry hubbub for a time. Dolly's mother seemed to Beth +just an older and more mature type of Dolly herself. Dolly's father +was there, too, and the greeting given the two strange girls was cordial +enough to make them feel at home and to dispel all restraint. + +"You boys must try to amuse yourselves without us for a little while," +said Mrs. Alden, her arm still around Dolly. "I am going to take the +girls upstairs now, and by the time we come down, dinner will be served." + +"Your old room is ready for you, Dolly, just as you left it; I have put +your friends in the two little rooms across the hall. I supposed that you +would want to be near each other." + +"You are correct, as usual, Motherdie. Come in and help me dress now. +You always used to put the finishing touches on for me, you know. Leave +your doors open, girls, so that we can talk to one another." + +"I like your friends," Dolly's mother said quietly, when the two found +themselves alone later. "Miss Newby doesn't look very happy, and there +is an expression on her face that I do not like to see on so young a +girl. I think that Miss Sutherland has latent possibilities about her." + +"Yes, and they are almost all latent as yet, but you can help to bring +them out, I know. By the way, Mother, I want to brighten her up a bit. +She must make a good impression on the boys this first night. Have you +any rose-colored ribbons? Just put them on her, won't you? There's a +dear. She cannot tie a bow any more than a sparrow can." + +"You do not need me any more?" + +"No, thanks. Oh, it is so blessed to be home, Mother. I'm going to your +room at bedtime for a long talk. Will I do?" + +"Very well," and Mrs. Alden looked with pardonable pride on the tall, +graceful figure of her daughter, straight as an arrow; the fair, happy +face, sunny and sweet, the light curling hair, the dainty white dress and +the knots of blue ribbon scattered over it, made a picture of which any +mother might well feel proud. + +When Dolly went into Mary's room, she stopped in genuine surprise. +"How pretty you do look, Mary. I am proud of you." And yet "pretty" +was hardly the correct adjective to apply to her room-mate. Mary's +face was fine, and now that she was dressed with some taste, the +possibilities of future beauty became apparent. But it was by no means +a handsome face, though it might become so in later years. + +Beth came in trailing a white cashmere behind her. Dolly laughed +mischievously. "Beth thinks that she can add several inches to her +height by wearing long dresses. She does it on every possible occasion." + +Beth retorted merrily, and the four went downstairs, where they found the +three boys as well as Dolly's father awaiting them rather impatiently. + +There was plenty of lively conversation, in which everyone took part. It +was easy to see that Dolly was the light of the house, and that she was +woefully missed by her home people. + +Rob Steele proved to be a good talker. He had been through so much in +the course of his short life, that he had an endless fund of stories on +hand for almost any occasion. He was not at all conceited, but he talked +well and easily. + +"You must have acquaintances all over the United States," Beth +exclaimed at last. "Aren't you always seeing people that you know?" + +"Not often; you see, I was hardly in a position to make acquaintances, +Miss Newby. I was doing all sorts of odd jobs, and while I will doubtless +remember the faces of the persons for whom I worked, they will not +recall me, and would certainly not claim acquaintanceship. However, I +did see a young lady on your train whose face was so familiar to me +that I bowed involuntarily." + +"I noticed you speaking to that stunning girl all dressed in brown. Who +is she, Bob?" + +"Her name is Hamilton--Miss Margaret Hamilton. I knew her just casually +in Chicago, where I stayed longer than I ever did in any other place +after Father died. We were in the same class, that is, we graduated the +same year. I saw nothing much of her at school, but I frequently caught +glimpses of her when I was sent to old Worthington's on some errand." + +"Was she a relation of that rich old Worthington who died two years +ago?" + +"No relation, she was the daughter of his housekeeper, a very nice +girl, too. Rather proud, I fancied, but thoroughly free from nonsense +and silly sentimentalism." + +It was some moments before Dolly dared to glance at her friends. + +There were significant glances interchanged, but no comments were made, +and Dolly's people did not surmise then, that the young woman under +discussion had been Dolly's successful rival for the class presidency. + +There were music and singing later in the evening, and Beth felt that she +knew for the first time, perhaps, what home-life might really mean. + +After the girls had slipped into their dressing-gowns that night, they +ran over to Dolly's room to discuss the subject that was just then +uppermost in the minds of them all--Margaret Hamilton. They halted at +the door, however, for there was Dolly enjoying a comfortable chat with +her mother. + +[Illustration: There were music and singing later in the evening.] + +"Come in, girls, I've just been telling Mother all about Margaret. I +always tell her everything, you know, and she has just asked if Margaret +ever made any statements at variance with the real truth about herself. +It is no disgrace to be poor, and I hope that we are not snobs enough to +care for that part of it; but has she been trying to pass herself off for +something that she is not?" + +There was a little silence. Mary Sutherland was the first to speak. "I +never saw much of Miss Hamilton, and so I do not know what she is in +the habit of saying about herself. The only time that I ever heard her +mention the past, was when Miss Raymond asked her where she lived. She +replied that her home had been in Chicago, but that death had broken +it up. There was nothing more said." + +"Very possibly all of that was strictly true," Mrs. Alden said +thoughtfully, "and she certainly was under no special obligation to tell +every student at Westover her private affairs. But how does she have +the means to go through college? Dolly tells me that she dresses very +nicely, although not extravagantly. I can see how she would prefer +to keep some facts to herself. Girls are not as tolerant as boys in some +particulars. Mr. Steele is popular at Harvard, despite his poverty and +struggles; but you know very well that a girl, with similar experiences, +would be unmercifully snubbed at Westover." + +"And you think--" + +"I do not know your friend, or perhaps I should say your classmate, as +I see Miss Newby frowning over the word 'friend' so it is not easy +for me to draw conclusions, but if she has merely kept still, and been +reticent on her past life, I do not see that she is open to censure. +Of course, if she has been pretending to be what she is not, that is a +totally different affair." + +"She has always been very careful, Mrs. Alden, to say as little as +possible about herself. I noticed it, and commented on the fact to +Dolly, but I do not imagine that anyone else noticed it. As far as my +observation has gone, she has told no untruths. But she certainly did +seem accustomed to all the little luxuries that rich people have. One +could notice it at table and in a hundred little ways." + +"Doubtless she was accustomed to many of those things, if her mother was +housekeeper for Mr. Worthington. He was one of the richest men in the +West, and Miss Hamilton would have had an opportunity in his house, if +she were at all adaptable, of becoming thoroughly familiar with all such +little niceties. Even at the housekeeper's table there was certainly +plenty of opportunity for Miss Hamilton to grow perfectly familiar with +the ways of the rich." + +"But where is her mother, and where did her money come from?" + +"Those are questions that we can't answer, so we might as well drop +them. I wonder where she was going?" + +"Oh, didn't you know? Helen Raymond asked her to spend the Thanksgiving +vacation at her home." + +Mrs. Alden leaned forward, a serious look on her face. "Girls, if I +were you, I should not mention this subject at school. Miss Hamilton is +your class president, she will be your president for a year to come. You +want everything smooth and harmonious, don't you?" + +"Of course we do, Mrs. Alden, and we will keep perfectly mum, but if +Dolly had only been sensible and voted for herself, there would not be +any such situation as there is at present." + +Dolly laughed. "Beth never will learn to recognize some facts; now, for +instance, that subject was finally settled long, long ago." + +"I don't see--" began Beth. + +But Mrs. Alden rose hastily to her feet. "You girls must all get to bed +and to sleep as soon as possible. The boys have plans for every moment +of the day, and you will want to feel fresh tomorrow. Dolly, you may come +over to my room for just a few minutes." + +The next morning there was a drive through the lovely suburbs of the +city, then they came back to the Thanksgiving dinner; in the evening +there was a fine concert to which Mr. Alden took them all. Friday and +Saturday were full of fun and pleasure. Sunday evening came all too soon. +Dolly was having a quiet chat in the library with Fred and her mother. +The rest were all in the drawing-room. + +"I have been very much astonished at the way our guests paired off. +Naturally, one would think that Mr. Steele would care to talk to Mary +rather than to Beth. Mary knows what hard work and life on a farm mean. +She would not be at college now, if some aunt were not paying her +tuition; she told me so. I supposed that she and Mr. Steele would have +ever so many things in common, but I never see them talking together at +all. Mr. Martin seems really to find Mary very attractive, and Mr. +Steele devotes most of his time to Beth, who is certainly his opposite +in every particular." + +"That is just the reason Steele likes her, I presume," Fred rejoined +with an air of superior wisdom. "The attraction of opposites, you know; +though, for that matter, Steele quite approves of you. He thinks you are +a remarkably nice little girl, for he told me so." + +"How horribly condescending of him," Dolly said, tilting her chin +upward. + +Fred laughed. It was great fun to tease Dolly. "He thinks you did a +remarkably fine thing in throwing the class presidency to that classmate +of yours who voted for herself. By the way, her name was Hamilton, I +remember; she wasn't that girl of whom Bob was talking the other night, +was she?" + +Dolly flushed. "Tell Fred the whole story, dear, you can trust your +brother." + +So Dolly told it, and whatever Fred thought, he kept to himself, merely +promising not to mention the affair to anyone. Mrs. Alden sent the girls +off to bed at an early hour, for, as Beth said, they must be awake at a +most unearthly time. The boys set their alarm clock in order to be up +to see the girls off. They, themselves, were not obliged to go until a +later train. + +"We have had just a beautiful time, Mrs. Alden," Beth declared that +evening. "I can't tell how much it has meant to me. I want Dolly to go +home with me as soon as you can spare her, but I suppose you will want +her at Christmas?" + +"Perhaps we could arrange a compromise," Mrs. Alden returned smilingly; +"you might stop here for a week, and then we _might_ agree to loan you +Dolly for the remaining time." + +"I do wish you would. I would be more glad than I can tell you. I am +going to consider that point settled, and I thank you a thousand times. +Dolly, I want to tell you something about that room-mate of mine when +we get upstairs. I've meant to do it all vacation, and our jolly times +have just crowded it out of my head." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +But it was not until they were on the train the next day, that an +opportunity came for Beth to tell her story. There had been a jolly, +sleepy crowd that had eaten the early breakfast and then gone down to the +station. The boys had supplied them well with magazines, flowers and +boxes of candy. To Mary Sutherland it was all like a new world--the +handsome house, the elegant furnishings, the plenty and comfort that +pervaded the whole atmosphere, and while that part was nothing at all +new to Beth, she, too, felt as if she were in a new world, for it was +a world in which the home-atmosphere was sweet and wholesome, blessed as +it was with love and mutual forbearance. + +The good-byes were all said at last, and Dolly had to wink hard to +keep back the tears. "Do you remember how homesick I was in September, +Beth, and how you came to the rescue like a good angel? What should I +have done without you? It will be only a month now until the Christmas +holidays, and I certainly ought to be able to stand it four weeks without +getting lonesome." + +"You should have seen what a forlorn object she was, Mary," interrupted +Beth. "She sat on the edge of her bed looking as if she had not a friend +in all the world." + +"In all the college, you mean, and I had not, either, until you +walked in. I shall bless you forever for that deed of humanity. Even +my room-mate was missing then; you stayed for the marriage of a sister, +did you not, Mary?" + +"Yes, and I am afraid that I was not much comfort to you after I _did_ +appear. I didn't mean to be dictatorial and horrid, but I am afraid +that--" + +"You were nothing but what was all right, Mary," Dolly interrupted. +"We were not acquainted at first, that was all." + +"I was not nice, but I meant to be, and I'll try to fit in better +hereafter. You should have had Beth for a room-mate, though I'm too +selfish to propose any change this year." + +"We can all three be good friends, Mary, so far as that goes, but I +certainly wish that some other room-mate had been allotted to me than +Margery Ainsworth." + +"You were going to tell us something about her, Beth; now is a good +opportunity." + +"Very well, only you girls must understand that I am telling this in +confidence, because I want your advice. I don't know whether it is +my duty to say anything or not. Of course, girls don't like to be +tell-tales any more than boys do, but it seems to me that the good +name of the college is more or less concerned in this, and we cannot +afford to have any girl do things which would bring us into disrepute." + +"Of course not," Dolly said energetically. "Well, what is it?" + +"In the first place, she systematically breaks all of the rules. I +cannot room with her, of course, and not know that. She probably depends +upon my good nature or sense of honor not to give her away. She never +reports any broken rule, and she goes downtown whenever she feels +inclined, and only once a month or so gets permission. I imagine that +she goes for some reason instead of shopping, for she never has any +bundles sent home. The worst thing, in my mind, was a couple of Sundays +ago. She pretended to go to church with the rest of us, but she did +not; she went off some place else and appeared again just as church was +over. She went back to the college with the rest of us. I did ask her +what she had been doing that time." + +"What did she say?" + +"Nothing very satisfactory. She wanted to know if I would like an +outline of the sermon, and she proceeded to give me the text and some +of the leading points. Of course, she heard all of the girls discussing +it at the table, for it was the day that Dr. Hyde preached, and we were +all intensely interested." + +"Where do you suppose she was?" It was Mary Sutherland who asked the +question. + +"I really have not the faintest idea. I know, though, that she was some +place where, of course, she could not have gotten permission to go, had +she asked, for otherwise she would never have run the risk she ran. The +faculty do not overlook that sort of thing readily." + +"She would certainly be suspended at the least." + +"Well, I cannot go and tell any one of the professors what she does, but +I wish something would happen to make her more careful. I don't like to +have the college girls talked about. I feel jealous of our good name." + +Beth looked perplexed and worried. All three of the girls knew that +Margery Ainsworth had violated one of the strictest rules, and she could +only have done it in order to achieve some end which the faculty would +never have countenanced. It was not pleasant for Beth to room with a +girl as utterly devoid of principle as Margery Ainsworth daily proved +herself to be. It was inevitable that they should be thrown more or +less together. Margery was no student at all, and she and Beth really had +no ideas in common. + +"This is the second secret that has come our way this vacation," Dolly +said. "Such secrets are not nice. I hope we shall not be compelled to +hear any more. First, we learned more about our president's life than +she would probably care to have us know, and now comes this, which is, +of course, a thousand times worse. As far as I am concerned, I have no +suggestions to offer." + +"As I understand the matter, you want her forced to obey the rules, +but at the same time you are not going to tell any member of the faculty +about her." + +"Of course I am not," Beth said indignantly. "That is simply out of +the question." + +"And yet, for her own sake, it would be much better if the faculty knew +something of her doings. She cannot go into town so often for any good +purpose. She may be getting into mischief that she will repent all of +her after-life." + +"Very true, still I can say nothing." + +"Will you let me see what I can do?" + +"That would be the same as doing it myself, Mary, and then trying to +sneak out of a mean act by putting it on your shoulders." + +"If you are willing to trust me, I will not tell anything definite. +I will not mention your name, or tell what Miss Ainsworth has done. +I shall merely make sure that she will be so warned and hedged in +hereafter, that she will not dare to break the rules again. And this +ought to be done, Elizabeth, both for her own sake and the sake of +the college." + +"My dear infant, do you suppose for a moment that you could make the +indefinite statement which you propose, to any member of the faculty, +and not have a full explanation demanded at once of everything that has +been done?" + +"That would be true, usually, I know--" + +"But--" Beth's voice sounded a trifle impatient--"do you think you +could manage the professors better than the rest of us?" + +"Not all of them," Mary returned serenely, "but I probably can +Professor Newton, because, you see, she is my aunt." + +"What!" The amazement in her companions' voices made Mary leap back +and burst into laughter. + +"It is true. She is Mother's sister. I really do not know why I told +no one at first. I took a notion that I didn't want the girls to know, +and Aunt Mary humored me. I am her namesake." + +"And that is where you have been evenings when I wondered so where you +were," Dolly broke out a trifle incoherently. + +"Yes, I was up in her room. I can go there any time I wish. I thought +that I would leave you and Beth an opportunity to talk and study in our +sitting-room." + +"Professor Newton must have a high opinion of me," Dolly interjected +discontentedly, "if she thinks that I drive you away." + +"You needn't worry about Aunt Mary. She knows how lovely you have +been to an awkward, green girl from the western prairies, and she is +very grateful. Now you see, don't you, that I can say just enough to +her confidentially to warrant her in warning Miss Ainsworth that the +faculty will expect different behavior from her in the future? That is +all that will be necessary, I am sure, only, of course, she will be +watched after this. I will not mention a single name, and I will not +tell anything that she has done in the past. If she behaves herself +after the warning, she will be all right. There will be no harm done, +but lots of good will have been accomplished. If she doesn't choose to +take heed--" + +"She will deserve to suffer the full consequences," declared Beth. +"Yes, go ahead, that is the best plan. Truly, I am not thinking entirely +of the college either, when I say it. While I care nothing, personally, +for Margery Ainsworth, I do not want her to ruin her whole life by some +piece of folly." + +The girls talked the subject over more fully, and the matter was finally +left entirely in Mary's hands. + +A sudden recollection struck Dolly. "No wonder that you did not care +to have me introduce you to Professor Newton that first evening; do you +remember? And of course she had saved a place at her table purposely for +you. Mary Sutherland, if I supposed you repeated to her all the nonsense +that you have heard me talk about her, I should never let you return to +college alive." + +Mary smiled, not very much overcome by the threat. "You always say nice +things about her; now, if it had been Professor Arnold--you really don't +like her at all." + +"Of course I don't. An angel from heaven couldn't suit Professor +Arnold when it comes to a Latin translation. But just to think how I +have gushed over Professor Newton. Mary Sutherland, have you ever told +her the silly things I have said?" + +"You might know that I would not repeat anything that would displease +Aunt Mary." + +Dolly looked at her sharply. "You are evading my questions, Mary +Sutherland. I just know that you have told Professor Newton how I +have gushed over her, and how deeply in love with her I am. Don't +try to fool me. I will never, never tell anything to you again. Don't +talk to me about unsophisticated girls from the country, they are +deeper than any city girl I ever saw." + +And Dolly settled back in her seat with a look of vengeance in her eyes, +that did not disturb Mary in the least. It was very true that Dolly had +fallen deeply in love with Professor Newton, after the harmless fashion +that students have. Her lessons for Professor Newton were faultlessly +prepared, and while she was a good student in all her chosen studies, she +absolutely shone in Professor Newton's classes. There was something +very attractive about this teacher. She understood girls and knew how to +deal with them. + +She had written a couple of textbooks herself, and it was generally +understood among the students that she had supported herself when +attending college. Yet she had not become hard or bitter. Her face was +strong, but sweet, and her own experience made her very tender toward +those girls who were trying to win an education against great odds. It +was to this aunt that Mary Sutherland went, knowing that she could +trust her implicitly to do the very best for all concerned. + +Beth knew that her room-mate was summoned to the president's room the +following Wednesday, and that she came back looking very angry and +half frightened as well. Evidently, whatever had been said to her was +of such a nature that she did not suspect Beth in the least. In fact, +the president (alluding, of course, to Professor Newton) had said that +"one of the members of the faculty had told her that Miss Ainsworth +was proving herself untrustworthy." Then there had followed a serious +talk in which Margery said as little as she could. She surmised that she +had probably been seen by some one of the professors on one of her many +escapades; on which one it might have been, she had no means of knowing, +and she was afraid of saying too much in extenuation or excuse, lest +she might inadvertently admit some misdemeanor of which the president was +ignorant up to this time. Therefore, she returned to her room both +wrathful and alarmed. + +Beth reported later to Dolly, that her room-mate was doing more studying +and paying more attention to the rules, than she ever had before. + +"Will it last, do you think?" queried Dolly anxiously. + +"I have my doubts. In my humble opinion, she is simply trying to throw +them off their guard now, and to induce them to believe that she does +not need watching. From several little things that have happened, +however, I am perfectly positive that the faculty is keeping a very +wide-awake eye on her. We have not many rules here, you know, but it goes +hard with any girl who attempts to break those few." + +"Yes, the mere fact that we are on our honor to a great extent, ought +to make the girls behave. I feel like being doubly careful." + +"My dear, you are hardly the same type of girl as Margery Ainsworth. She +is the sort to take advantage of any privilege. She is so very quiet +now, that I cannot help thinking there is some special reason why she is +endeavoring to throw them off their guard before the Christmas holidays." + +"They are only a week distant. Remember that you are going to eat +Christmas dinner with me, Beth. Mary will go, too, and Fred has invited +Mr. Martin and Mr. Steele for the holidays, so that we shall have the +same crowd we did at Thanksgiving time." + +"That will be jolly, but you must go home with me after Christmas. I +don't pretend that you will have as good a time in Philadelphia with +me, as I did at your home, but I want you to come. I asked Mary to go, +too, because I knew she could not afford to go way out to her own home, +but she said that she was to take a little trip with her aunt, and so I +shall have you all to myself. I'm rather glad of it, to tell the truth." + +"Yet you like Mary?" + +"More than I ever imagined that I could. I am getting to know her +better, for one thing. Of course, I shall never care for her as much as +I do for you, but she is thoroughly genuine. There is nothing mean or +underhanded about her." + +"No, there certainly is not, and hasn't she improved wonderfully in +personal appearance since she came?" + +"You are responsible for that. Since she allows you to superintend her +purchases, and tell her what colors to wear, she looks more like a girl, +and less like a relic of some former geological era." + +"Poor child, she had no opportunity to learn on the farm, and very +little money to spend for anything, I fancy." + +"All very true, and Professor Newton is a trump for giving her forlorn +namesake this chance. Of course, she pays all Mary's expenses." + +"Yes, and Mary is going to be a credit in the end to all her relatives +and friends. I wish I could say as much of your room-mate." + +"You can't. The most I dare hope in that direction is that Margaret +will not do anything to make us ashamed of her." + +But the next week proved that this hope would not be realized. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +On Thursday the girls would leave for their Christmas vacation. Dolly, +as well as Beth and Mary Sutherland, had passed their examinations in +a very satisfactory manner, and could enjoy the holidays with clear +consciences. The freshmen had been getting up a musical extravaganza +under the energetic direction of their president. There was no denying +the fact that Margaret Hamilton made a fine class president. She had +insisted upon Dolly's having a prominent part. Margaret, herself, had a +fine contralto voice, and by common vote, another of the principal parts +was given to her. Beth had a minor part, and Mary appeared only in the +choruses. + +A number of the other girls had remarkably fine voices, and all of the +leading parts were well carried. The class president seemed unusually +elated and happy. The entertainment would be given by the freshmen +in the College Hall on Wednesday evening. The faculty was invited, of +course, as well as the sophomores, juniors and seniors. It was the +first entertainment that the freshmen had given, and everyone was eager +to see what they could do. + +Professor Newton had been admitted to the last rehearsal, and she assured +the girls that it was the best thing that she had ever seen done by +any freshman class. "There wasn't a flaw in it. The idea is unique, the +costuming fine and the solo work was absolutely superb. You must have +worked hard. It will be something for all the classes to talk about for +years to come. Just do as well as you did at this rehearsal, and you +will find yourselves covered with glory, if you do not attempt anything +else in your entire college course." + +"It is all due to our president," said one of the group who surrounded +Professor Newton. "It was her idea in the first place; she adapted the +extravaganza to our class, and it is she who has made us work so hard at +it." + +"You have every reason to be proud of your work, Miss Hamilton," +Professor Newton said cordially. + +"I am tremendously proud of the girls, Professor Newton. Of course, I +could have done nothing at all if they had not been so willing." + +Just then the ringing of the gong summoned the majority of the girls to +a recitation, and Margaret added in a lower tone, "I am only afraid of +Ada Willing's last solo." + +"But why, Miss Hamilton? That is one of the best things in the entire +entertainment. It is so full of good-natured hits at the other classes +and the faculty. It is sheer, pure fun; everyone will enjoy it, and Miss +Willing has a magnificent voice." + +"But it is so uncertain. That solo should be sung well, for it is the +most unique thing that we have. Sometimes Miss Willing does it superbly, +and sometimes she does it miserably. Once or twice she has actually +forgotten the opening words, they are pure nonsense, you know, and not +very easy to remember, if a person be nervous." + +"Don't worry about it," Professor Newton advised kindly. "I am sure +you will come out all right this evening. You should rest the balance of +the day." + +"I want to go out for a little while, Professor Newton; then I shall +surely take your advice." + +Dolly and Beth had been almost the only ones who had heard this +conversation. As the two walked down the corridor, Beth said +thoughtfully: "I would be willing to wager a peanut that our president +has gone out merely to walk up Murray's lane. She goes there every +single day at this hour." + +"I don't believe it is for any wrong purpose, Beth. The lane is within +the limits that we are allowed to go. Some way I have faith in Miss +Hamilton." + +"I am not saying that I have not. But certainly she is secretive. Of +course, that is no sin, as we decided long ago; at the same time one +cannot help speculating about her, more or less." + +"I have watched her rather closely ever since Thanksgiving, and she +really has never said a word in my hearing that was untrue or false. Last +week, in Miss Dunbar's room, the subject of wealth and aristocracy came +up in some way. Miss Hamilton was appealed to. I do not think you were +present, but Miss Dunbar asked if Miss Hamilton did not consider good +breeding and refinement inseparable from wealth and family position." + +"What a snob she is." + +"We all know that. I was rather curious to hear what our president +would say. She did not say much. She is like Grant. She knows the wisdom +of silence. She told Miss Dunbar that she did not agree with her at +all. Then she made the first personal remark that I ever heard her +make. She said that as far as she was concerned, she had no wealth, and +while she was proud of her family, herself, she had no idea that Ward +McAllister would ever have admitted them to his sacred list of four +hundred." + +"Good for her. She told the truth, and yet the girls did not realize +just how true it was, I presume. She has an air about her that seems to +betoken wealth and distinction. How misleading appearances are." + +"Yes, aren't they? Well, the facts will be sure to come out some day, +for this world is small, after all, and what we learned, others will +be sure to learn, too. There is no harm at all in it, but Miss Dunbar +and that set of girls who fawn so around her, would never speak to her +again. You'll see." + +"I don't like to think that you are a true prophet, Dolly, for the sake +of our sex. Why should we be more ungenerous to Margaret Hamilton than +the Harvard boys are to Mr. Steele?" + +"There is no reason at all why we should be, and if the test ever comes, +I, for one, shall stand by her." + +"And I, too," said Beth. "Though I hope the necessity will never +arise." It did, however, and the two girls proved true to their promises. + +College Hall was crowded that evening. Friends from the town had been +invited, and everyone was anxious to see what the freshmen class could +do. Whispers of something a little beyond the ordinary had gotten out, +and all were expectant. + +There was a spontaneous burst of applause when the curtain went up, and +showed the picturesque setting of the first scene, representative of +the grove in the college grounds. The girls were at their best, and +everything went smoothly during the first three acts. The fourth act was +the last, and the most difficult singing and acting came in it. All had +gone perfectly so far, and the class president's face began to look +serene and confident. + +Miss Willing's solo was near the end. There had been no flaw up to +that point, but when it came time for her to break in with the merry, +half-saucy characterization of the other classes, there was an ominous +silence. Dolly and Beth, glancing at her, and recalling what Margaret +Hamilton had said, realized that the girl's memory had failed her +entirely, just through sheer nervousness. The president's face turned +pale. She had so wished this to be a most notable success; it seemed +imperative to her, for many reasons. She wished to please one most +dear to her, and then, too, if she could win these laurels for her +class, no matter what might happen in the future, the girls could not +be utterly ungrateful to her. + +And now Ada Willing was turning her wonderful success in to a most +disastrous defeat. It all meant so much to Margaret Hamilton. She +recalled the words perfectly herself, and longed to take the solo into +her own hands, but this was a soprano solo which she could not hope to +compass with a contralto voice. She was tasting the full bitterness of +defeat, when a voice broke out with the solo, clear, sweet, piquant--not +Ada Willing's voice, but Beth's. And Beth put a verve and daring into +the words which Miss Willing was perfectly incompetent to do. + +Verse after verse flowed on, smoothly, triumphantly. The whole hall was +shaking with unrestrained laughter. The president's color came back to +cheeks and lips. Beth had saved the day; she was doing better than Ada +Willing could have done, for she was an inimitable actress, and in her +song she rapidly personified sophomores, juniors and seniors, as well +as professors, in a manner that was perfectly unmistakable. + +The applause was so generous and long-continued, that Beth was forced +to repeat some portions several times. When the curtain went down +shortly after that, for the last time, Beth was surrounded by rapturous +classmates who were ready to fall on her neck or carry her around the +grounds, for thus saving their reputation. + +"Come and meet my mother, will you not--you and Miss Alden?" Margaret +Hamilton said after she had tried in a somewhat tremulous tone to thank +Beth for her ready wit. "I would like to have you both meet her." + +"I did not know that she was here," Dolly said in surprise. "I thought +your home was in the West." + +"We did live in Chicago until recently. Now we have no home exactly. +Mother and I are all there are in the family, and she will board here +in town so as to be near me. She might as well, there is no reason why +we should be separated by several hundred miles now." + +With much silent bewilderment, Beth and Dolly followed Miss Hamilton +to one corner of the room, where they found Mrs. Hamilton engaged in +conversation with Professor Newton. + +"Thank you so much for looking after Mother a little, Professor +Newton," Margaret said gratefully. "I was in such haste that I did not +have time to introduce her to anyone else before our entertainment," +and then she presented Beth and Dolly. + +The girls scrutinized her closely. She was dressed in black, but +with a certain quiet style that convinced Dolly that Margaret had +supervised the making of the gown. The face was not handsome, but it +was good-natured, and denoted a large amount of practical common sense. +The girls sat down on either side of her. They had their own reasons +for wanting to know more of their class president's mother. She was +evidently brimming over with pride and love for Margaret. In the +course of their conversation it became very evident that she knew +nothing of "society's small talk," or of the subjects that college +girls often bring up naturally in connection with their studies. +Nevertheless, she could talk well and interestingly on many commonplace +themes, especially when her subject of conversation related more or +less closely to her daughter. Her grammar was good, and her language +quite as choice as one usually meets with in a casual acquaintance. + +Dolly and Beth, watching their classmate closely, noticed with secret +relief that she introduced her mother to all the members of the faculty, +as well as to Miss Dunbar and to the most exclusive girls of the class. +She did it with a quiet, unassuming dignity which her two close critics +could not but admire. + +The evening was over, the entertainment was universally conceded to have +been the most unique and successful affair ever given by any freshman +class, and even the seniors owned frankly that they would be compelled +to look to their laurels next term, or they would be quite outdone by the +insignificant freshies. + +Beth and Dolly had gone upstairs, the visitors had all departed, at +least, so the girls thought. Dolly remembered a book which she needed +from the library. They turned into the wing to get it, and Dolly ran on +before to switch on the electric light which had just been turned off. +Margaret's voice, low but penetrating, reached them distinctly. + +"I told several of the girls, Mother, that you were going to board in +town so as to be near me." + +There was a startled exclamation from Mrs. Hamilton. "Indeed, Mother, +I had to do it. Of course you want to see me, and I want to see you. +If it is clearly known that you are boarding in town, I can readily get +permission to go and see you as often as I have time. And you can come +and see me every evening. As it is, I feel as if I were guilty all the +time of doing something wrong." + +"You haven't broken a single rule, Margaret. I would be just as careful +about that, as you would, yourself." + +"I know, but why should I sneak off up Murray's lane to meet my mother, +and why should you have to go there every day through the woods, when +one might just as well meet openly? It has often been almost impossible +for me to get off alone at the time you go there. Believe me, Mother, +my way is the best. I am not ashamed of you. I should not deserve any +success in life if I were." + +"I know all that, Margaret; at the same time, would you have been +elected class president or invited to your friend's house at +Thanksgiving, if it were generally known that your mother had been a +servant nearly all her life, and that your father had been merely a +coachman? Of course, he had a good education, and if it had not been +for that accident, we would have had our own little home. But when that +happened, we just had to do the best we could, and he took a coachman's +position with Mr. Worthington because that was the first thing that +offered. And he kept it all his life. But would your fine friends +feel the same toward you if they knew that?" + +"No, they would not, Mother," Margaret answered in a low and rather sad +tone. "It hardly seems fair, does it? I know that many of them would +never speak to me again. I do not consider my affairs any business of +theirs, and I promise you not to volunteer any information. On the other +hand, Mother, I cannot meet you secretly any more. If you are really +afraid that someone will recognize you here, you can stay in the town +as quietly as you wish. I know that you are ambitious for me, Mother, +and I will do the very best I can for us both. I want to succeed, too. +If I am absolutely cornered, I shall tell no lies, though. I have not +done it so far, and I shall not hereafter. I suppose the truth may +naturally be known some day, but I am not going to be ashamed of either +of my parents, and you would be ashamed of me if I were, Mother." + +"Yes, I suppose I would, Margaret, but if you can only get your +education, now that Mr. Worthington made it possible, I shall be +willing to stand in the background for four years. You were slighted +all through the public schools as soon as anyone knew that you were +just the daughter of Mr. Worthington's housekeeper, and it would be +worse here." + +"Well, never mind, Mother, if--" + +And there, to the girls' relief Mrs. Hamilton and her daughter passed +out of hearing. + +"_She_ is true blue, no matter whether her blood is blue or not," said +Dolly softly. "Confess now, Beth dear, that you are glad she is our +president." + +"She makes a good one," Beth acknowledged, and then they separated, +each going to her own room. + +A moment later, however, there was a quick tap at Dolly's door, and +Beth's excited face appeared. + +"What do you think has happened, Dolly?" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +"What is it, and has it anything to do with Mary? She isn't here, and I +haven't the faintest idea where she is." + +"It has nothing to do with Mary, but I hope Mary may be able to explain +to us. Professor Arnold is in our room, and Margery is packing up +everything she owns. They are going to take the five o'clock train +tomorrow morning for New York. You know Professor Arnold lives there, +too. She called me into my room, and spoke to me privately. She asked if +I would object to rooming with you tonight, as she would like to sleep +in my room herself." + +"Just as if Margery were a prisoner and she the jailer," said Dolly, +in an awe-struck tone. + +"That is just about the size of it, my dear. Of course, I said I was +sure you would take me in. Evidently Margery tried to slip off tonight, +thinking that amid all the excitement she would not be missed. I wonder +what she did!" + +"And they go on the five o'clock train? No Latin for us then. Professor +Arnold did not intend to go, I know, until Friday. We were to have all +of our regular lessons tomorrow morning." + +"We had better get to bed, or someone will be after us, even if today +is an exceptional time." + +"That's true, but where _is_ Mary?" + +"Here," answered Mary's own voice, as the sitting-room door opened. + +"Where have you been? Give an account of yourself." + +"I have been hearing the true story of Elizabeth's room-mate. I suppose +you know by this time that she is to go home early tomorrow?" + +Both girls nodded. + +"After our entertainment I went upstairs to Aunt Mary's room. We +were talking, when Professor Arnold came to the door. She called Aunt +Mary into the hall, and stood there for some time. I could not help +hearing a part of what was said, so, when aunty came back, she told me +the full story, and said that I might tell you. We are not to repeat +it to the other girls, but, of course, they will be told in chapel +that Miss Ainsworth has been sent home." + +"Yes, well?" + +"It seems that Professor Graydon has noticed how very restless +Margery has seemed this week. From several little things, she decided +that Miss Ainsworth would try to slip away when we were all in the +College Hall, and so she kept a careful watch on her. Patrick knew +about it, too, and when he saw her slip out of the side gate and run +off toward the city, he went after her. He met one of the maids and +sent word back to Professor Graydon. Mrs. Carruther's carriage was at +the college, and Professor Graydon got into it and soon overtook Patrick. +He was standing outside a boarding-house on Summit Avenue, looking as +perplexed as he well could look. He didn't like to go in and order +Margery out; he had no right or business to do that, and, of course, +it never would have done. So he just stood outside and wondered what +was the right thing for him to do. I reckon" (Mary still lapsed into +her favorite idioms at times) "that he was mighty glad when he saw +Professor Graydon in the carriage. She rang the bell at once and asked +for Miss Ainsworth. I imagine that there was a very stormy scene +inside, but of course Professor Arnold was in too great a hurry to tell +Aunt Mary all the details. Presently Professor Graydon came out with +Margery and took her to the president's room. They managed to get +the full story out of Margery at last. It seems that there is a young +lady at the boarding-house, a Miss Lampton, very proud and flashy and +fast; Margery knew her in New York, and the two became quite intimate +before Margery's parents found out about it. The girl has been mixed up +in several scandals. She went to Boston once in a smoking-car and smoked +cigarettes all the way. You can imagine what sort of a girl she is +from that." + +"I wouldn't want to imagine," broke in Dolly disgustedly. "How could +Miss Ainsworth ever tolerate her?" + +"Birds of a feather," said Beth wisely. "But we must let Mary tell +her story and then get to bed." + +"Yes, it is horribly late. Well, as soon as the Ainsworths found out +the sort of girl she was, they tried to break off the intimacy, but +Margery kept contriving to meet her places, and there was a brother who +was just as bad--worse, in fact. So, finally, Margery was sent here to +college to get her away from them. She was told not to correspond with +either, but there is no surveillance on the letters here, and Margery +corresponded all last year with them both, though her parents never +knew it. This fall Miss Lampton decided to come here and board for a +while. She had just gotten into a scrape that was a little worse than +usual in New York, and I suppose she thought she had better go away till +the talk blew over." + +"Has the girl no parents?" + +"No, only an aunt, who acts as sort of a figurehead, and who has no +control over either Miss Lampton or her brother. So she came here to +board last fall, and of course wrote to Miss Ainsworth as soon as +she came. That is where Beth's room-mate has gone whenever she has +disappeared in town." + +"That is certainly bad enough, but it is not as bad as I feared it might +be." + +"You haven't heard the worst yet, Elizabeth. Every little while the +brother came down, and at last he and Margery decided that they were in +love with each other, and do you know that they had planned an elopement +for this very night?" + +The girls gave a cry of horror. + +"Yes, that is absolutely true. If Elizabeth had not let me tell Aunt +Mary, so that the faculty was on guard, you see what a dreadful thing +would have happened. Now they have telegraphed to Mr. Ainsworth, and +Professor Arnold will not leave Margery until she is safe with her +father." + +"How dreadful it all is," and then, despite the lateness of the hour, +the girls talked the matter over until there came a light tap at their +door. + +Professor Arnold looked in. "We are not going to be very strict tonight +with you freshmen, after you have just achieved such a triumph at your +entertainment, but there is really reason in all things, and I advise +you to have your light out and to be in bed within five minutes." + +"Yes'm," three voices responded meekly, and then there was hurried +scrambling and the freshmen settled down for the night. + +The next afternoon saw the three girls at Dolly's home. The following +day brought Fred and his two friends, and there was a lively time until +Christmas. + +Christmas morning found them all down in the library, bright and early. +The subject of Christmas gifts had troubled Dolly a little, because she +feared lest Mary and Mr. Steele might feel that they had no part in the +good times. + +"You see, mamma, that I want to give Mary something as nice as I do +Beth, but I know that Mary has hardly any money to spend for presents, +and I do not want her to feel mean or awkward about it. And then there is +Mr. Steele; he certainly cannot afford to do much in that line, either, +and yet, of course, we want to remember him. What shall we do?" + +"Just get what your good sense dictates, without thinking of their +presents at all. You do not give for what will be given to you. You give +for the pleasure of giving. Don't think of that phase of the question. +As for Mr. Steele, I feel that we owe him more than we can ever repay." + +"How so, mamma?" + +"He has great influence over Fred, and he has certainly helped him to +keep steady at college." + +"Oh, mamma, you do not mistrust Fred?" + +"I know how much Fred likes a good time, dear. Sometimes he takes it +without thinking of consequences. I rather dreaded college for him; but +he is growing much more independent and self-reliant." + +"Fred is a darling, and you know it, mamma." + +"Of course, but I can see his weaknesses, and so I am glad that he has +taken a liking to Robert Steele. I intend to do my best to have this +Christmas one that he will like to remember." + +There could be no doubt at all but that she succeeded. There was a +load of pretty remembrances for everyone. Rob Steele had been bothered +somewhat, too, over the question of gifts. Fortunately, while not an +artist, he had some skill with brush and pencil, and after considerable +cogitating, he devoted his few spare moments to painting some dainty +marine views in water colors; he had these inexpensively framed, and +told himself that he would not worry; he had done the best he could, +though, of course, his trifles were not to be mentioned in the same +breath as the elegant presents which Martin would buy. + +But on Christmas morning, Bob Steele found that his little gifts received +much more attention than the handsome ones that Dick Martin had given. +And even Mary Sutherland, with all her supersensitiveness, never thought +of comparing the relative value of the inexpensive books she had given, +with the very beautiful muff, handkerchiefs, ribbons and laces which +she found in her Christmas corner. + +There were no heart-burnings and no jealousies. The only drawback to +the day, as Fred declared, was the thought that the party would be +partially broken up on the morrow. Dick Martin was going back to Boston. +Mary would join her aunt at college for a little trip, and Dolly and +Beth would leave for Philadelphia. Fred grumbled considerably at such a +scattering of the congenial party, but there was no help for it. Rob +Steele would stay with him until Harvard reopened, and Dolly and Beth +might be able to stay over night on their way back to Westover. + +[Illustration: A moment later Dolly had been introduced to Beth's father] + +When Dolly found herself actually on the train next day, bound for +Philadelphia, she wondered more and more to what kind of a home she was +going. Beth grew more quiet and sedate as they neared the city, and +the reserved, rather hard expression which she had partially lost of +late, was intensified. + +As they entered the main gate at the Broad Street Station, a tall, +handsome man took Beth's valise from her hand and bent to kiss her. A +moment later Dolly had been introduced to Beth's father. A carriage +was waiting for them outside the station, and as they drove to Beth's +home, Dolly scrutinized Mr. Newby's features closely, trying hard to +find therein the explanation of much that had mystified her in Beth. + +He was evidently a man of culture and brains. Dolly could not imagine +him in a temper or exhibiting any lack of self-control. Why did he and +Beth not chatter more familiarly, though? He was asking questions about +the college in the same fashion that he might have asked them of Dolly +herself, and Beth was replying in the same formal, courteous way. Even +Mr. Newby's kiss of welcome at the station had seemed a perfunctory +duty-kiss, not at all like the spontaneous ones given by Dolly's father. + +And Beth could chatter fast enough! Why wasn't she doing it now? Though, +if Dolly had only known it, both Beth and her father were making a great +effort to have the conversation lively and animated. + +Dolly had gained no light when they reached the pleasant suburban home +where the Newbys lived. On the broad veranda she could see a lovely, +gracious woman and three children. + +They must be Roy, Hugh and Nell, she knew. The carriage drove rapidly +up the lawn along the smooth driveway. Mrs. Newby hastened to meet +them. She kissed Beth a little wistfully, Dolly thought, and gave Dolly +herself a very cordial, hearty welcome. The children were well-mannered +and decidedly attractive. Dolly fancied that Roy did not look very +strong. Mrs. Newby took them upstairs presently. She had given the girls +adjoining rooms, and went in with them to see that everything was in +perfect readiness. The house was roomy and delightful, and Dolly drew +in a deep breath of surprise and enjoyment. "How nice your home is, +Beth. You funny child, never to have told me anything about it." + +"I'm glad you like it. How about the people in it?" + +"How do I like them, do you mean? Why, I have hardly seen them yet, you +know, but I think that you must feel proud of your father; and Mrs. Newby +has one of the sweetest faces I ever saw. The children seem very nice, +and you know how I love children." + +"Yes, I know--well, I am glad if you like us and our home." + +That was all Beth said. Dolly watched quietly and shrewdly. Something +was ajar, and she longed to know if it were not something that could +be adjusted. Whatever it was, it was spoiling Beth's life. But she could +see nothing. Beth was as reserved as ever, even in her own home. Both of +her parents seemed to treat her more as a guest than as a daughter of +the house. Her wishes were consulted, and she was deferred to more as a +stranger would be, Dolly thought, than as a daughter whose preferences +they were supposed to know. + +Everyone was polite and courteous. It was not a household that would +ever tolerate quarreling or strife. Yet there was something lacking. +They all seemed anxious that Dolly should have a good time, and there +were many pleasant little plans for her entertainment. Dolly grew to like +them all, but she was especially fond of Mrs. Newby. She often wondered +why Beth did not adore her stepmother, she was so gracious and kind, so +just and generous. + +The vacation days passed all too rapidly for the girls. They would go +back the next day, and Dolly was no nearer discovering the "rift within +the lute" that served to make the music mute, than she had been on +the day of her arrival. She concluded that she would never be any wiser, +but that evening an incident happened that gave her a glimpse of Beth's +hidden life. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +It was Nell's fourth birthday anniversary, and the child was to have +a little party in the afternoon; in the evening Mrs. Newby had arranged +for a small farewell party for Beth and Dolly. Both affairs would be +more or less informal, but they would be none the less enjoyable for +that reason. Nell was wild with delight. + +Fifteen of her small friends had been sent pretty invitations, and she +told everyone of the wonderful birthday cake that Bridget had made, and +that would have four little wax candles on it for her to blow out. + +"I don't like that part of the program myself," Mrs. Newby remarked in +a low tone to the two girls. "I am always so afraid of some accident; +but I really believe that Nell would feel she had not been given a party +at all, if she did not have her birthday cake and her four candles." + +"Don't worry, Mrs. Newby," Dolly said comfortingly. "If you chance +to be out of the room when the wonderful cake comes in, Beth and I will +watch Nell carefully until the candles are extinguished." + +"Thank you, Dolly. I presume I am foolish, but such dreadful things do +happen, you know." + +Dolly assented, and then in the bustle of preparations for the two +parties, which unfortunately came on the same day, she forgot all about +her promise. Afterward, she reproached herself bitterly for her neglect. + +The day was bright and sunny. The small folks had had a glorious time, +and were now sitting around the table enjoying Nell's birthday feast. +The sandwiches and other substantials had been passed, and Mrs. Newby had +gone into the kitchen a moment to see about the ices. Dolly and Beth +had been waiting on the little people and enjoying the fun as much as +they. The butler brought in the grand birthday cake and put it in front +of the small hostess. Then he, too, went into the kitchen. Nell looked at +her cake for a few moments in silent rapture, enjoying the exclamations +of admiration which she heard from all her little guests. Suddenly it +seemed to her, that one of the candles leaned a little to one side. She +stretched out her hand to straighten it. Instantly a flame leaped up +from the thin white fabric of her sleeves. In a second it had sprung +to her curls and the children were shrieking in horror and affright. + +In another second Beth had pulled the child from her chair, wrapped a rug +around her, and crushed the flames from the pretty curls with her own +unprotected hands. + +It was all over before Peter had reappeared with the ices, but the cries +had reached Mrs. Newby, and with a dreadful premonition she had rushed to +the dining-room with her husband, who had returned early from his office, +in honor of Nell's birthday. + +As they entered, Beth was unwrapping the rug from Nell. The flames were +extinguished and the child was safe, though the fright had completely +unnerved her, and she was sobbing hysterically. + +Her dainty dress was burned, and her curls were singed in front, but that +was the extent of the damage. + +Mrs. Newby caught her child to her arms in a gush of unspeakable +thankfulness, while Dolly poured out her remorse and sorrow with a flood +of tears. + +Mr. Newby stood by, looking more shaken than Dolly had ever believed +possible for so self-contained a man. He questioned Dolly and Beth +closely, and when the full particulars of the accident had been told, +he put his arms around Beth and called her his "brave, sensible +daughter;" but his voice trembled and Dolly was sure there were tears in +his eyes. + +Peter waited on the little folks for the remainder of the meal, while +Mrs. Newby carried Nell off to change her dress and to look after Beth's +hands. They were badly burned; not seriously, however, and while Beth +might suffer considerably from them for two or three weeks, there would +probably be no permanent scars. Mr. Newby had insisted on summoning a +physician at once, despite Beth's protests. Her hands had been dressed, +and she had been told that she must consent to be waited upon for the +next week or two like a baby. + +"But I must go back to college tomorrow, Doctor, that is a positive +fact." + +Dr. Thornton looked rather grave. "If you are careless, Miss Newby, your +hands will be permanently scarred. They should be dressed every day, and +you should use them as little as possible." + +"I do not think that I can consent to your going, Beth," said her +father gravely. + +"And I cannot consent to staying at home, Father," Beth returned +decidedly. "Dr. Randolph, our college physician, will dress my hands +for me every day. I promise to be very careful." + +"If you are willing to have her go," Dolly said anxiously, "I will +do everything that I can for her during the next two or three weeks. +I feel as if this were all my fault, anyway, for I had promised Mrs. +Newby that I would look after the birthday cake. Then I was attending +to something else when it came in and I forgot all about it. If it had +not been for Beth--" She stopped shudderingly. + +"I know that you would do all you possibly could for Beth," Mr. Newby +said slowly. "Still I do not feel that she ought to go." + +"I must, Father," and Beth turned away with an air of finality, as +if the matter were settled once for all. Mr. Newby said nothing more +at the moment, but he looked far from satisfied. He followed Beth from +the room presently, leaving Dolly and his wife alone, for Baby Nell had +fallen asleep and the tiny guests had all gone home. + +Mrs. Newby turned to Dolly with tears in her eyes. "Elizabeth has saved +me from a lifetime of sorrow, but she will not even let me thank her. +If she only loved me--" She broke off as if afraid to trust her voice. + +Dolly broke in impetuously: "I do not see how anyone can help loving +you, Mrs. Newby." + +Mrs. Newby smiled rather sadly. "I cannot blame Beth at all, nor myself, +either, for that matter. I believe I will tell you about it, Dolly, if +you care to hear. I have never discussed the subject with anyone before, +but Elizabeth's coldness and want of affection have been very hard to +bear." + +"Yet you said that you did not blame her, Mrs. Newby?" Dolly said, a +little wonderingly. + +"And I do not. It is rather strange that I should be mentioning this +subject to you at all, when you are such a mere child yet; but you +understand Elizabeth, and she seems more like a girl with you than I +ever saw her before. I have tried to give her everything that I have +fancied she wanted, but there were some things that I could not give +her--that she would not let me give her. I do not know whether Elizabeth +has ever talked to you about her own mother or not. She must have been a +very beautiful woman; she and Elizabeth were passionately devoted to +each other. They were always together, and I have been told by the +old servants here in the family, that they seldom saw such absolute +love as Elizabeth gave her mother. She deserved it, for she was an ideal +mother in every respect." Mrs. Newby stopped and caught her breath. +The hardest part of her story was still to be told. + +"She caught a cold the fall that Elizabeth was nine years old, and it +developed into pneumonia. In a week she was dead. They feared at first +that the child, too, would die; but her mother had had a long, loving +talk with her after she knew that there was no hope of her recovery. +Exactly what she said to Elizabeth, of course, no one ever knew, but her +Christian faith was one of her most marked characteristics, and she must +have succeeded in imparting it to her child in a very vivid manner, +for while Elizabeth grieved intensely, her grief was more like one who +sorrowed for a person gone on a long journey, than like one bereft by +death. Of course, everything that her mother had said or done was sacred +in her eyes. She did not like anyone to touch her room, her chair, or +any of her belongings. That was all perfectly right and natural. And +now, Dolly, comes the hard part of my story. I cannot tell it without +seeming to censure my husband, and yet I presume that he thought he +was doing all for the best. He and I have never discussed the subject +since the first night when I came to this house. I learned the truth +then, and I know that I spoke to him very bitterly and harshly. Since +then the subject has not been mentioned between us; nevertheless, it has +been a cloud on all our married life. I would not be telling you all +this so frankly, Dolly, if I did not want you to understand Elizabeth +fully, and to help her. She is honest as the day. I often feel hungry +for her affection. I shall never be satisfied without it, but the manner +in which I came here rendered it impossible for me to win her love." + +Mrs. Newby paused again, and Dolly waited in growing bewilderment. + +"The winter after Elizabeth's mother died, Mr. Newby went west on +business. He met me there. He was lonesome, and we were congenial in +many ways. He came west several times, and we became engaged. We were +married quietly the next summer. There were no invitations because of my +mother's recent death; we sent announcement cards, but that was all. Of +course, I knew that John had been married before, and that he had a +daughter. What I did not know was that his wife had been dead less than a +year, and that Elizabeth knew nothing of his marriage. Dolly, I believe +that many men are cowards in their own families. I cannot imagine why +my husband acted as he did. I can see Elizabeth's startled, shocked +face yet, as her father took me into the house and told her that he had +brought her a new mother." + +"Hadn't the servants told her?" + +"They did not know of it either, Dolly, as I learned later. The child +then was shocked and stunned. She said very little, but I heard her +cry herself to sleep that night and countless nights afterward. A little +tact would have saved all the trouble. If she had been told kindly and +tenderly beforehand, that her father was lonely, and that he was going +to bring me here--not to be a mother to Elizabeth--but to be a friend +and helper to them both, there would have been no trouble. As it was, +the child was too hurt ever to care for me. My chance of winning her +affection had been lost. Had things been different, there would have +been no trouble. Had she been old enough then to understand matters, I +should have told her the truth. But she was too young then. Can you +wonder, Dolly, that I felt bitter and heartsick that night? I spoke +very angrily to John, and that did not mend matters in the least." + +Dolly slipped her hand into Mrs. Newby's. "I am so dreadfully sorry, +for it all seems to me to have been so needless. I hardly see why Mr. +Newby did not tell both you and Beth everything." + +"He was afraid to tell Elizabeth, my dear, for he felt at a disadvantage +with her. He did not want to take the time and patience necessary to +make her see the subject from his standpoint. In fact, he meant to +have his own way, and he did not mean to run any chance of obstacles +being placed in his path. He was afraid to tell me the truth for fear +I would insist upon delaying our marriage, and I certainly should have +done so. Had we waited a little, and had Elizabeth come to visit me +first, my married life would have been a very different thing. John had +his own way, but I think that he found that it hardly paid in the end. +Selfishness does not pay in the long run, Dolly." + +"I wonder, Mrs. Newby, that you never explained things to Beth when she +grew older." + +"As I said, Dolly, she was too young at first to tell her the facts +of the case. She was merely hurt and heartbroken then. As she grew older +and comprehended the situation better, she judged me more harshly. How +could she believe I had married her father in less than a year from the +time of her mother's death without knowing that fact, and how could she +know, too, that I had supposed her to be a mere baby, not older than +Nell, at most, whose love could be won after our marriage instead of +before, as should have been the case with her? There has never been a +time when I felt that I could tell her, and yet, in justice to myself, I +wish that she knew." + +"Won't you tell her now, Mrs. Newby? I do wish you would." + +"It is too late," Mrs. Newby said despairingly. "One cannot alter the +habits and feelings of years at a moment's notice." + +"But still--" + +"Never mind, Dolly, I understand now--for I was guilty of listening. I +did it purposely, Mother--I couldn't help it. Will you forgive me? When +I came back, you had commenced to talk to Dolly, and I heard my name. I +stopped, for I wanted to hear what you were saying; it was a dreadful +thing for me to do, of course, but I'm not a bit sorry. I am awfully +stupid to have lived with you all these years, and yet to have supposed +you were such a person as I have always pictured you in my thoughts. I +wonder if you are going to forgive me at this late day--" + +And then Dolly slipped out of the room, glad to the inmost depths of her +heart that things were getting "straightened out" as she phrased it. + +Mr. Newby had had two sensitive natures with which to deal in the days +gone by, and he had not appreciated the fact in the least. One of the +persons had been only a child, and he had not counted on her as being a +definite influence at all. _There_ he had made a great mistake. + +Even after his marriage, however, if he could have had the courage to +tell his story frankly to Beth, and confess his loneliness to her, she +would have viewed the matter in a different light. Mrs. Newby knew +that in his so doing, lay her only hope of winning the child's heart; +but she was proud, too, and if he would not do this voluntarily, she +would not beg him to do it. And so, during all these years, for lack of +the word never spoken, she and Beth had missed the mutual love and +helpfulness which they might have given each other, and which would have +made their lives so much sweeter and brighter. + +Despite the accident of the afternoon, the evening party was a great +success, and Beth, much to her open disgust, found herself regarded as +something of a heroine. + +Once during the course of the evening, Mr. Newby heard Beth address his +wife as "Mother." A new light had come into his eyes at the time, and +a look of quiet determination. The look was still there when he sought +his wife in the library after their young guests had gone. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +She was putting the room in order, and he stepped to her side as she +stood by the table. "Christine, are matters all right at last between +you and Elizabeth?" + +"Yes, John, I think that they are." + +"It is all my fault that they have ever been any other way. I was +selfish, at first, in my fear lest you would ask me to postpone our +wedding day; then, afterward, when I saw what a grave mistake I had +made, I was too cowardly to take the blame myself and explain matters +to the child as I should have done. There was a sort of tacit deceit on +my part, Christine, for which I have paid very bitterly. You have made +our home beautiful, but, because of my folly, there has been that one +jarring note in it." + +"It is all right now." + +"But no thanks to me. However, I am going to have a talk with Beth yet +tonight. I shall not excuse myself; what is the worst thing in my own +eyes, Christine, has been my cowardice in not facing the subject fairly +long ago and telling Elizabeth that you were not in the least open to +censure. The fault was all mine, but I have left you to bear the blame." + +This was so absolutely true that Mrs. Newby made no reply, but she looked +at her husband with a very forgiving smile as she laid her hand on his. + +"You are an angel, Christine. Some women would never forgive me." + +She laughed a little tremulously. "I know better, my dear, than to +expect perfection from a poor, frail man. I am not an angel myself, +as you know very well." + +"I don't know it at all," he retorted, bending to kiss her. "I hear +Elizabeth in the drawing-room. I shall see her before she goes upstairs. +Christine, you are perfectly happy now?" + +"No," she replied promptly, and evidently to his surprise. + +"Then tell me the trouble at once." + +"I am worried about Roy. He is too young to be sent away to school. I +presume it answers very well with some children, but he needs me." + +"But the public schools are so far away from us, dear, and I thought +that he was hardly strong enough to stand the strain of the two sessions +there. I did not know that you objected to his going. You said nothing, +you know, to that effect." + +"You seemed so very sure that it was the right thing to do, and I did +not know but it might turn out better than I feared. But he dreads the +going back unspeakably. I found him crying about it last night, and I +cannot consent to his return." + +"Then he certainly shall not go," Mr. Newby returned promptly. "But +what do you propose to do with him?" + +"He can have some private lessons here at home. I shall see that he has +enough to do, but not too much. Boys of that age need a mother, John." + +"I presume so," Mr. Newby returned ruefully. "So far as I can see, I +have made a mess of about everything that I have attempted to manage." + +"Don't slander yourself; I would not let anyone else say that of you, +most assuredly, and, besides, it is not true, John." + +"I am not at all sure of that, Christine." Then he kissed her again, +and went in search of Beth, with whom he had a long talk, despite the +fact that it was then after midnight. + +After all, Beth did not return with Dolly. Mrs. Newby frankly owned +that she should feel very anxious if Beth went off to college before her +hands had healed, and Beth found herself the next morning watching her +stepmother unpack her trunk, while she herself was quite rejoiced over +the fact that she should have another week or two at home. So Dolly went +back alone. + +Beth came ten days later, and Dolly knew, from the expression of +contentment and happiness on her face, that she was now enjoying the +blessing which a real home and home-love can give. + +The term was a busy one for all the girls. They had come to college, +for the most part, at least, because they were inspired by a genuine +love for knowledge. They had their times of recreation, of course, and +their merry evenings in Dolly's room when they again made fudge and +tea. Nevertheless, there was plenty of good, hard work done, and the +Easter holidays found them all ready for a brief rest again. Mary went +home with Dolly, and Beth would stop for one night on her return to +college; but now, strangely enough, as it seemed to Beth herself, she +could scarcely wait to get home. + +Beth had roomed alone since Margery Ainsworth's expulsion, and while +Dolly often longed to get permission to move her possessions across the +hall, and become Beth's room-mate, she was too truly fond of Mary by +this time, to wish to hurt her feelings. So, while the girls often wished +that they could room together, it did not seem possible, for the freshmen +year at least. + +As commencement time drew near, the other students began to make +arrangements for the next year. Rooms and room-mates were chosen, and +everything gotten into readiness for the ensuing term. Dolly and Beth +were talking it over one day, rather lugubriously, in Beth's room. + +"All the other girls have settled their plans, and I have been hoping +that Mary would say something to me. She must know that we want to room +together. Of course, I like her, but not as much as I like you. I am +going to speak to her today, Beth." + +"I really think that that is the only thing left to be done; but we +don't want to hurt her feelings, Dolly." + +"I'll try not to do that, Beth, but we must settle affairs." + +However, Mary herself introduced the weighty topic that evening, when the +three were making tea. + +"Of course, I know that you two girls want to room together next year, +but I hope that you have not spoken for a room yet." + +Dolly flushed a little. "We would not be very apt to make any +arrangements without telling you, Mary. You ought to know that we +don't do underhanded things." + +"Why, Dolly, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings at all, but I supposed +you would room together. That was settled long ago, wasn't it? But I +have a little scheme, too, that I trust you will like." + +"Tell us about it," and Dolly looked a trifle ashamed of her +unnecessary heat. + +"Aunt Mary has her bedroom and sitting-room, of course, to herself, but +opening onto her sitting-room from the other side is a small storeroom. +The president says that I may have that as a bedroom if I wish, and I +can use Aunt Mary's sitting-room. They will fit it up this summer. The +college needs more rooms, anyway. Now beyond my room are some lovely +rooms for you girls, if you want them. What do you say? I don't want +to be selfish, but it did seem to me that it might be a lovely plan." + +"Lovely? It is grand! Superb! You are a duck and a darling, Mary, to +have thought of it." + +"Dolly thinks that she will be near Professor Newton now, and she would +be willing to room on the roof to effect that," said Beth mischievously. + +But Dolly was too elated to mind Beth's teasing. "We'll make all sorts +of pretty things this summer. By the way, Beth, where do you intend to +spend the summer, anyway?" + +"Father says that Mother and I may decide that weighty matter. We have +been in the habit of going to the seashore, but he fancies that some +other place would be better for Roy, although the child is very much +stronger since Mother has had him at home under her eye." + +"Then, Elizabeth Newby, I will tell you what to do. Mother writes that +Father has taken the same cottage at the Thousand Isles that we had last +year. You must come there, too. We can have an ideal time. Fred likes +fishing and yachting. He will be away part of the summer, but will be +with us at first, and a crowd of his friends, too. We can have glorious +times! Hurrah!" + +"Hurrah!" echoed Beth, for the idea caught her fancy. "We shall +certainly do it! Mother will agree to whatever I propose. I wish you +were to be there, too, Mary." + +But Mary shook her head contentedly. "I know it is much more beautiful +than our farm, but I don't believe that even a sight of the Alps would +induce me to miss my visit home." + +"Of course not. But you see, fortunately, Dolly and I mean to take our +families along. What a good time we shall have! I wonder if Professor +Newton wouldn't like to make us a little visit? It is beautiful there, +and the ride on the steamers, out and in among the islands on a moonlight +night, is as lovely as anything in fairyland." + +"Go and ask her, Dolly, run right off! Someone else may get her promise +first!" + +"Be still, Beth! Do you think that she would like to go, Mary?" + +"I should certainly suppose that she would be delighted. By the way, +as we are only insignificant freshies still, and have no receptions or +other grand functions on hand like the other classes, she wanted to know +if we would spend Tuesday evening with her." + +"Will we? Of course we will! When did she ask us? Why didn't you tell +us before?" + +"She gave me the message this afternoon, and you have really not given +me a chance to tell it before." + +"What a libel. Say to her that we will go; no doubt of that, is there, +Dolly? Let us put on our best gowns and do justice to the occasion. Is +anyone else invited, Mary?" + +"We are to go immediately after dinner, and a couple of hours later, +Miss Hamilton and some fifteen others will arrive. We must help entertain +them. You know there is nothing special on hand for Tuesday evening." + +"We should go, anyway, no matter where else we were invited," declared +Dolly with decision. "By the way, girls, the year is practically over, +and our president still goes on her way serenely, and the very snobbiest +girls in the class adore her." + +"I am glad. We don't want any class rows, and you know very well how +Abby Dunbar and Helen Raymond would act, if they knew the truth. Though, +after all, I cannot see what difference it makes." + +"Where is she going this summer? Do either of you know?" + +"I asked her yesterday. She is going home for three or four weeks with +Abby Dunbar. After that, she and her mother are going to some quiet +country place." + +Beth gave a sudden laugh. "You know, Mrs. Hamilton never comes to the +college, but Margaret goes to see her almost daily. Abby Dunbar must +have seen her on the evening of our entertainment, for she told me that +she admired Mrs. Hamilton _so_ much; it was such a pity that she was +an invalid! Margaret has never said that she was an invalid, you know. I +suppose Abby just concluded that she must be, because she leads such a +quiet life." + +"She does it entirely for Margaret's sake, I'm sure. Not that Margaret +asks her to do it, but she fears to meet people who knew her when she +was a servant. Abby approves of her, because she dresses well, and is at +the most aristocratic boarding-place in Westover." + +"There is just one thing that I should not do, were I Margaret," said +Beth slowly. "Knowing Abby Dunbar as well as she does, she must be +confident that Abby would not take her home, did she know that both of +Margaret's parents had been servants the greater part of their lives. +Knowing that, I think that Margaret does wrong to go." + +"Isn't that a matter of standpoints? Margaret may reason that _she_ is +the one invited, and that who or what her parents were, need not concern +any person save herself. She would not deny the truth if questioned, +but she sees no use in advertising it. I must say," concluded Mary, +energetically, "that I agree with her." + +"Well, in her place, my dear, I should accept no invitations except such +as I were sure would be given, even if all the facts were known." + +"I hope they will not be known for the next three years, at least. By +the way, do you both thoroughly realize that when we return this fall, +we shall not be insignificant freshmen, but lofty sophomores? That we +shall not be lonely and homesick and have no one to whom to talk, and +that we can haze the newcomers?" + +The girls laughed. + +"What bliss awaits us! By the way, Dolly, you must be our president next +year." + +"I don't know," began Dolly, but Beth broke in; + +"No, she can't be. Don't look so surprised; I am wiser now than +formerly, and I want Dolly to be president in our senior year. I find +that it is an unwritten law that the same person cannot be president +during two years. It seems to be the opinion that there is plenty of +good material for officers in the class, and that it would be piggish +for one person to be president twice. It doesn't make any difference +about the other officers, for they are not so important. I am glad, +now, that Margaret Hamilton was elected last fall." + +"And I am glad that you confess it at last, Beth. Listen a moment! Let +us go and see what all that hubbub in the hall means. Even for the last +week of college, it seems to me there is a dreadful amount of noise." + +"There certainly is, and it behooves us to investigate." + +A louder scream from the hallway made the girls rush out unceremoniously. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +At the farther end of the corridor, a crowd had gathered, and the three +girls hurrying there, found that the commotion issued from Charlotte +Graves's room. + +Charlotte was explaining; "It was my exasperating lamp. It has always +been wobbly, and tonight, when I chanced to hit the table, it went over. +I might have known enough to pull a blanket off the bed, and smother it; +but, of course, I just stood here and screamed. Then Margaret Hamilton +came in and put it out. That's what it is to have presence of mind! +I always was a fool when there was anything to be done. I tell you what, +Miss Hamilton, those freshmen knew what they were doing when they elected +you class president. If I'm not brilliant myself, I can recognize a good +thing when I see it." + +"Miss Graves, I tell you what you must do in sheer gratitude to the +freshmen--invite us all in and get out those delicious cakes and pickles +of yours. You ought to treat." + +"That is certainly so, come along, all of you. Sit on the floor if you +can't find any other place to sit," and after the girls had properly +bestowed themselves, she got out her jars and boxes, for Charlotte was +fond of good things and always kept an unlimited supply on hand. + +"I trust you understand," she said severely, "that the rest of you +freshmen are only here out of compliment to your president. I don't for +a moment consider the rest of you her equal in anything. As she has the +misfortune, however, to belong to the class of '09 instead of '08, we +must put up with the rest of you, I suppose, for her sake." + +There was a chorus of groans from the freshmen, and Charlotte's voice +was drowned in an outburst of animated retorts. Under cover of the fun, +Abby Dunbar said to Dolly, who chanced to be sitting next to her on the +window ledge; "One can see that Margaret is a true aristocrat. It shows +in every move she makes, and every word she says." + +"Do you think so?" + +"Why, yes, indeed. Surely you have noticed it? Mamma is always so +careful about my associates, but she cannot help being perfectly +delighted with Margaret. Don't you like her?" + +"I certainly do." + +"I thought you must, for you were so good last fall at the time of our +class elections. Margaret has made an ideal president." + +Then the conversation became general again, much to Dolly's relief. +In some way the subject branched off to military men, and Margaret was +appealed to. + +"Were any of your relatives army men, Miss Hamilton? And don't you +think that they are the finest men in the world?" + +"I have not been blessed with many relations, Miss Fox, and so I have +not had the chance to have military men in my own family and to know them +intimately, as some of you have done. Of course, I admire them. Some of +my ancestors were in the wars of 1776 and 1812, but I never saw them. My +own father was anxious to be a military man and he entered West Point. +He had a splendid record there, and was in love with the life, when he +met with an accident out yachting that ruined his health, left him a +trifle lame, and forced him to give up all thoughts of a military life. +He never got over the disappointment." + +There was a general expression of sympathy, and Margaret found herself +the target for more questions than she cared to answer. In such a babel +of voices, however, it was easy to disregard any which she did not choose +to hear, so that she extricated herself serenely from a position which +Dolly knew to be rather trying. + +It was late, and as Charlotte's cakes and pickles had been demolished, +the girls separated presently. + +"You think that Margaret's story was quite true?" Beth asked as they +slowly paced the corridor on the way back to their rooms. + +"I'm sure of it. Of course, her ancestors may have been privates in the +wars of 1776 and 1812, but still they would have been soldiers all the +same." + +"But about her father?" + +"I imagine that he won his West Point cadetship by a competitive +examination. You know those appointments are given in that way. He may +have been very poor, indeed, but if he stood highest in the examination, +he would certainly receive the appointment. When he left West Point he +evidently had no friends to help him to a good position, and so he took +the first honest work that he could find, at least, I imagine that such +was the case." + +"You are about right, I'm sure. Poor Margaret. I don't know why I pity +her, though. She seems quite capable of holding her own. She is worth +a score of Abby Dunbars." + +"Miss Dunbar will either be a freshman next year, again, or else become +a special student. I understand that the stupid ones who fail in their +examinations, usually linger on for a year or two as 'specials,' so +that they can say they have been at Westover." + +"And Miss Dunbar has failed?" + +"Flatly." + +"I'm glad that we got through, Beth, and Mary is all right, too. I +was rather worried about Mary's mathematics, to tell the truth, but +her aunt gave her some coaching at the last. She is so thankful that +she will not have to take them next year." + +"And I like mathematics better than anything else. I shall take an extra +course in it." + +"You will be sure to win the senior prize for that branch, Beth. I am +a little like Mary, however. I shall not take more mathematics than I +absolutely must." + +"We'll not take mathematics, or anything else, for three blessed +months." + +"We shall have jolly times, my dear, see if we don't." + +And they certainly did. In Dolly's eyes, at least, the evening spent +in Professor Newton's room was more important than the commencement +exercises themselves. Professor Newton had taken a quiet moment to thank +Dolly for her real kindness to Mary during the year, and Dolly thereupon +had summoned courage to beg Professor Newton to visit her during the +summer at the Thousand Isles. The invitation had been accepted, and Dolly +felt that her cup of happiness was running over. + +Mrs. Newby was very glad to accede to Beth's wishes for the summer; and +the girls had a delightful time, for Mr. Newby was fortunate enough to +secure the cottage adjoining the one which Dolly's father had taken. + +Fred brought a crowd of college chums again, and there was plenty of +yachting and fishing. In the evenings there were lovely rows on the St. +Lawrence, and music and singing. + +The girls were provided with kodak cameras, and every week they sent a +group of pictures to Mary. She had started for her home on the day that +college closed, but she wrote regularly, and her letters, which seemed +at first quite stiff and formal, grew toward the end of the vacation to +be as chatty and bright as those sent her by Beth and Dolly. + +Professor Newton's visit had been postponed until the last fortnight, +and when she came, she found a comparatively small crowd at the Alden +cottage. All of Fred's former visitors had left, but Dick Martin and +Bob Steele had come down for the last part of the vacation. The former +had spent his time in the woods of Maine, while Robert Steele had been +doing hard work in a law office in Boston; for he had fully made up his +mind that he would be a lawyer. He would have a hard time, but he was +becoming accustomed to hard times, and his innate grit and indomitable +pluck would doubtless carry him triumphantly through. + +Roy had grown brown and healthy during the summer outing, and Mrs. Newby +declared every day, that she was under infinite obligations to Dolly for +suggesting their coming to the place. + +Beth and her stepmother had grown to know each other well, and Beth +was devoted to Mrs. Newby. It seemed as if she were anxious to make +up in some way, for those miserable years that were lost to them through +a wretched misunderstanding. Mr. Newby seemed younger and brighter +than Beth had ever known him before. While he said but little, his wife +realized that he, too, had paid a heavy penalty during those years, and +that now he was rejoicing in the real family love and good fellowship +that pervaded his home. + +Professor Newton looked at them all with interested eyes. It seemed +strange enough to her that Robert Steele, whose history she knew, should +find Beth so congenial. While there was plenty of depth to Beth, she +usually showed strangers only the froth and sparkle of her character. +However, the two seemed to understand each well, and to be the best +of friends. One day Professor Newton heard Mr. Newby suggesting that +Rob spend the next summer in Philadelphia and read law in his office. +Naturally enough, the young man grasped the opportunity eagerly. It was +a chance which many young men of wealth and social position coveted, +and it had come to him unsolicited. Professor Newton could not help +wondering if Mr. Newby quite realized what he was doing, but she had +no right to interfere, and she was not even sure that she would have +interfered if she had had the right. + +Despite the happy summer-time, the girls were not sorry to return to +college. They were sophomores now, and could afford to look down on the +green freshmen who seemed so forlorn and lonesome. Beth and Dolly fixed +up their rooms in a gorgeous and artistic manner. Dolly's chafing-dish +still held a conspicuous place. Beth had one, too, this year, and their +room bade fair to be one of the most popular in the building. + +Mary was next door, and just beyond was Professor Newton's sitting-room; +for the girls had been able to carry out the plan that Mary had proposed +at the close of the freshmen year. + +Margaret Hamilton looked into their room as they were giving the +finishing touches. + +"May I come in, or are you too busy to talk?" + +"As if we were ever too busy to talk to our president," said Dolly +promptly, pushing her guest down into an easy chair. + +"I shall not be president after this week, you know, and that is what +brought me here. Who is your candidate for the place?" + +"Not Dolly," said Beth promptly. "I have set my heart on her being +president during our senior year." + +Margaret's brow cleared. "She would make a capital president for our +last year, and I pledge myself to work for her. Now, as she is out of +the question, for the present, I want to tell you that my candidate is +Elizabeth Newby." + +"How perfectly absurd!" That was Beth's exclamation, of course. + +"It is not absurd, and I want you, please, to listen to me. She can be +elected, for the girls have not forgotten how grateful they were to her +for saving our reputation at the entertainment last fall. There is no +other strong candidate. Of course, ever so many names will be proposed +in as large a class as ours, but the only one who will carry many votes +is Hazel Fox." + +"Hazel Fox!" the girls both exclaimed aghast. + +"Yes, and you see what I mean. She is not the person for the place. We +could not feel proud of her in any way. She barely escaped conditions +this year, and I don't suppose she will ever get through the sophomore +year with a clean record. The class is so grateful to Elizabeth, that +she could be elected almost unanimously. What do you say?" + +"Never mind what Beth says, I say that it is a 'go.' I'll work +for her with all my might and main. I'm sure she will be elected! Of +course, you will be made chairman of the executive committee." This was +a position which the classes had uniformly given the retiring president. + +"I do not know. The girls may want someone else elected." And Dolly +told herself that Margaret never felt sure of her hold on her classmates. +She felt that Margaret would feel more secure if every bit of her +history were known; probably, too, she would be happier. + +They talked over the coming elections at some length, and had just +decided upon the list of candidates whom they would favor when Mary +entered. The news was told to her, and she endorsed Beth's candidacy +very heartily, despite the fact that Beth herself persisted in regarding +the whole matter as a huge joke. + +It was impossible, seemingly, for Beth to realize that she was actually +popular with the girls, that her many little deeds of quiet kindness, +and her bright ways, had won her a warm corner in every heart. The matter +was talked over again after Mary's entrance, and then Mary announced a +bit of news herself. + +"We have an addition to our class. Did you know it? Miss Van Gerder +was a freshman two years ago, and was a fine student, I believe; but +she was not here last year because her mother's health was poor, and +they went to Europe. We shall have one of the largest sophomore classes +ever enrolled here. I am glad that she is to be one of us, aren't you?" + +"Do you know her first name and in what city she lives?" Margaret +asked, ignoring Mary's question. + +"She lives in New York, and her first name is Constance." + +Something in Margaret Hamilton's tone had caused all three of the girls +to look at her intently. There was no disguising the fact that she was +startled and dismayed. All of them realized that Miss Van Gerder must +have known Margaret in the old days in Chicago, and all three felt sorry +for her now. Her position was not enviable. She showed little of what +she felt, however, and soon after returned to her own room. + +Dolly and Beth were passing along the lower corridor to the dining-room +that evening, when they heard someone exclaim; "Why, Margaret, how glad +I am to see you! I did not know what had become of you after you left +Chicago!" + +The speaker was a tall, stylish girl, whom they knew to be Miss Van +Gerder. At least, she appeared to like Margaret, and Dolly saw Abby +Dunbar's eyes sparkle at this unmistakable proof of her friend's +"aristocracy," for Constance Van Gerder was the daughter of one of the +richest men in the country, and neither Miss Dunbar, nor anyone else at +the college could claim the wealth or social distinction of the Van +Gerders. Her face was not handsome, but Dolly liked it; it was fine +and clear-cut. A face that was too noble for petty motives or mean +ambitions. + +Margaret had no time to say more than a few words in reply, when the +second gong hurried them to the dining-room. Dolly tried to gain Miss Van +Gerder's side and sit beside her at the table, for as yet the permanent +places had not been assigned, and the students took whatever seats they +wished. + +Dolly found herself foiled, however, in this attempt, by Abby Dunbar, who +had evidently determined to make the most of the opportunity, and who +kept beside her new classmate until they took their seats at table. Beth +and Dolly were opposite them, but Margaret was at another table at the +far end of the room. + +"Miss Van Gerder looks kind," whispered Beth to Dolly. "If we only +sat next to her, so as to prevent her saying anything during this meal, +there would be no further danger. After dinner I shall carry her off to +our room and tell her the whole story. Oh, yes! you needn't look so +surprised. I'm not acquainted with her, but I shall do it anyway. You +must mount guard outside, during the scene, and not let anyone else come +in." + +"If only she does not say something, all unconsciously, during the +dinner! I feel on pins and needles myself. What must Margaret feel?" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +"Margaret has pluck and pride. She will hold her head as high as ever, +no matter what Miss Van Gerder may choose to say, and if there be any +snubbing to be done, she will do it as effectually as Abby Dunbar." + +"Very true, but to think that the two are rooming together!" + +"Yes, I confess that, in my opinion, Margaret made a mistake there. I +should not have accepted any favors or any invitations from that girl +had I been Margaret, but that is her affair, after all." + +"Look! Look quickly, at Abby Dunbar's face," whispered Dolly +excitedly. "The murder is out! I would give a dime to hear what she is +saying. There! Miss Van Gerder realizes that she has said something +she will regret. I suppose Abby was pumping in the very persistent way +she has, and Miss Van Gerder merely answered her questions. Oh, how +could she have been so thoughtless, though? She might have known that +Westover is one of the snobbiest colleges in the world." + +"There is no use trying to head her off now," Beth declared +disconsolately. "Still, I mean to have my talk with her anyway. If +it be possible to repair the mischief, she will do it. Miss Dunbar is +glaring at Margaret as if she would like to murder her!" + +"Do you suppose that she remembers all the speeches she has made about +Margaret's aristocratic bearing? If she acts as contemptibly as I expect +she will, I shall repeat some of those speeches for her benefit. I've +been treasuring them in my memory." + +"I wish this meal would come to an end." + +To the two impatient girls, anxious to find out just what Miss Van +Gerder had said, and what she would do in amends, dinner seemed a most +interminable meal. It came to an end at last, however, and Beth, with +her usual directness, walked at once to Miss Van Gerder. "Will you +please come to my room a few moments? I wish very particularly to see +you. I am Elizabeth Newby, and I am very fond of Margaret Hamilton," and +Beth was speaking the truth when she made that assertion, for she had +come to like Margaret as she had not expected that she ever would. + +Miss Van Gerder rose instantly, despite Abby Dunbar's exclamation of +annoyance. She had not been able to hear what Beth said, but she was not +at all ready to resign her claim on the new arrival. + +"Please don't go, Miss Newby. Miss Van Gerder has just been telling +me the most awful thing about Margaret Hamilton, and to think I begged +her to room with me, and took her home with me this summer, and that we +made her class president, it is too awful--and--" + +Miss Van Gerder paused a moment, a rather dangerous light in her eyes. +"I shall be glad if I can persuade you to relinquish your claims on +Margaret, for I want her as a room-mate myself." Then she passed on. + +Beth squeezed her arm ecstatically, regardless of the fact that they had +never been even introduced. "You are a darling, but, oh, what possessed +you to tell that girl anything about Margaret?" + +"How do you know I did? Oh, I suppose you were watching us. I noticed +your eyes on us all through the meal. How do you happen to know anything +more about Margaret than her room-mate?" + +"That is what I want to tell you. Will you come in, please? This is my +room. Let me introduce you to two more of your classmates--my room-mate, +Miss Alden, and Miss Sutherland, our star student in biology. No, +don't go, girls." + +"I thought that I was to keep intruders out." + +"We will just lock the doors, and pay no attention to any knocks. +Now, Miss Van Gerder, if you please, we will tell you first, what we +know about Margaret and how we learned it; we are the only ones in the +college who do know anything more than she has seen fit to tell. But +don't imagine that she has said that she was anything that she really +wasn't." + +"I am glad of that, now tell me your story." + +So Beth told it, with various interpolations by Dolly and Mary; she +repeated both Rob Steele's story and the conversation which she and +Dolly had chanced to overhear on the night of the freshman entertainment. + +[Illustration: "Let me introduce you to two more of your classmates."] + +Miss Van Gerder drew a deep breath. "I shall never forgive myself for +the mischief I have done, but I will do my best to repair it. Let me +tell you what I know of Margaret's family. In the first place, Mr. +Worthington was my great-uncle, and I visited at his Chicago home very +often, so that is the way I came to know Margaret. I never saw very +much of her, for she was in school or busy helping her mother, and, +of course, I was going to teas and receptions, and such things, when I +was there, although I wasn't much more than a child. Mrs. Hamilton was +uncle's housekeeper for years, and after his wife died, he depended on +her entirely for things not often entrusted to a servant. He had no +children. Mrs. Hamilton was a farmer's daughter; she is a good, +sensible, honest woman. She has always been very ambitious for Margaret, +and that is not strange, for Margaret has a fine intellect. She +inherits it from her father. He was a farmer's boy and came from the +same locality as Mrs. Hamilton. They knew each other as children, and +went to the same district school. There Mrs. Hamilton's education +stopped. Mr. Hamilton, however, had made up his mind, as a boy, to go +to West Point. He had no political influence to help him, so he studied +with all his energy and might. He finally went to the city, obtained +employment at a boarding-house to do work out of schooltime, and so +he managed to gain a thorough foundation. He knew that his only chance +of getting to West Point at all, lay in his ability to outdistance +other boys in a competitive examination. So I suppose no boy ever studied +harder than did he." + +She stopped a moment to look at the interested faces of her auditors. +"His chance finally came and he was ready for it. A congressional +appointment was offered the boy who stood highest. Mr. Hamilton won it. +He went to West Point, and for nearly three years he did fine work. +While he was there, his father died. His mother had died long before. His +father was ill for months before his death, and Mr. Hamilton sent home +every cent that he could spare. At Easter time in his third year he +was invited, with some other West Pointers, to spend the day with an +acquaintance up the Hudson. They got permission and went. I do not know +who their host was, but he was not a West Pointer. During the afternoon +he took the cadets out in a sailboat. I presume he knew enough of +boats ordinarily, but he was drunk that day; he would not let any of +the other young men take charge, and so, when a little gust of wind +came up, the boat went over. The others escaped with a ducking--even +the drunken fellow who was solely responsible for the accident; but +Mr. Hamilton struck on a rock, on the boat, or on something--no one ever +knew just how it happened; anyway, the boys had hard work saving him, +though he was a fine swimmer. When they pulled him into the boat, he +was insensible. For weeks they thought that he would not recover, and +when he did get well, it was only to learn that he must resign his +cadetship. There had been an accident to his spine which rendered him +totally unfit for a cadet's life." + +"How horribly, horribly sad." + +"It was sad, and he wished thousands of times that his companions had +let him drown. He would not give up hope until he had spent every cent of +money he possessed in consulting specialists. But they could do nothing +for him. He drifted to Chicago, perfectly unfit for any heavy work. He +tried several things and had to give them up. Then uncle chanced to +advertise for a coachman. Mr. Hamilton answered the advertisement, told +uncle his story, and stayed with him from that time until his death +about six years ago." + +"And Mrs. Hamilton?" + +"He had very few friends, and all the time that he was at West Point he +had corresponded with Mrs. Hamilton. They had always been good friends; +she must have been very pretty as a girl. When uncle heard that they +were to be married, he fitted up a tiny coachman's house in the rear +of his grounds. He liked them both very much. Afterward, he induced Mrs. +Hamilton to come up to the house and act as his housekeeper. He came to +depend upon her more and more." + +"But where do you suppose their money came from?" + +"Uncle left Mrs. Hamilton seven thousand dollars. He knew that Margaret +wished to fit herself for a teacher in the higher grades, and he always +meant to help her through college. The money was intended partly for +that purpose, I am sure. Margaret probably refused to come unless her +mother would stop working. After she has graduated here, she can easily +secure a position, and support them both. They will have plenty of +money to last until then, for Mrs. Hamilton must have saved considerable, +too. Uncle paid her generously." + +"I think that your story of her father is very sad. With his education +it does seem as if he could have secured some clerical work or some +position in a bank." + +"There are eight hundred applicants for every such place; besides, +Mr. Hamilton could not sit in a cramped position, writing; he had to have +a certain amount of outdoor life, though he could not walk far. Really, +his work at my uncle's, suited his health admirably, though it was +hard for him to take a servant's position; there is no doubt of that. +Uncle was kind to him, and made the position as easy as possible, still +there was no denying the fact that he was a coachman. One day a young man +came to visit uncle while I was there. It turned out that he had been at +West Point while Mr. Hamilton was a cadet. Margaret's father felt +horribly disgraced, though there was no reason why he should. He had to +meet Lieutenant Maynard, and it hurt his pride fearfully to act the part +of a servant toward his former classmate. He always felt rebellious and +bitter. He wasn't big enough to realize that 'a man's a man for +a' that.' I suppose it is hard to keep that fact in mind under all +circumstances, and I have no business to be preaching, for I would +probably feel more bitter than did he, if I should ever be similarly +placed. As long as his own ambitions had been defeated, he became +ambitious for Margaret. She was to have a fine education, and to be a +professor in some college. She had a few school friends, but not many +intimates. Her mother felt that she was slighted at school." + +"And yet," Beth could not resist saying reproachfully, "you have made +it even worse for her here." + +"Yes, but you must believe that I did it all unwittingly. I never +gave a thought to what I was saying. I shall never forgive myself for my +carelessness. It came about naturally enough, though. Miss Dunbar seemed +intensely interested in Margaret, and kept asking questions until I was +rather out of patience, particularly as I was trying to listen to a +story which Professor Newton was telling. She wanted to know where I +had met Margaret and if I knew her very well. I said that I met her at +my uncle's home in Chicago. Was Margaret visiting there? No, she lived +there. Oh, then she was some relative of my uncle's? And I carelessly +said no, that her mother had charge of uncle's house. I should have +thought twice before speaking, if I had not been giving my main attention +to Professor Newton. As soon as I had made the remark, there seemed +to be a volcanic eruption at my side, and I thought that Miss Dunbar +would have hysterics on the spot. She said that she regretted the +fact that Margaret was her room-mate; that she was not accustomed to +rooming with servants, and, of course, she will be awfully disagreeable +to her. I took a double room, but I intended to be alone. Now, however, I +shall ask one of the professors to allow Margaret to come in with me. +The sooner that is done, the better for all concerned. I wonder to +whom I had better go?" + +"Go to Professor Newton," said Dolly promptly, "and take Miss +Sutherland with you. She is Professor Newton's niece, and can help you +out, if you need any assistance, but I do not suppose you will." + +"Thanks for the suggestion. I shall get the permission first, but +possibly Margaret will not care to room with me after the hornet's nest +I have raised. I wonder, Miss Alden, if you would ask her to come here +while Miss Sutherland and I are interviewing Professor Newton?" + +"I shall be very glad to do so. It will be much better to have your +talk here, than in her room, where Abby Dunbar would be liable to +interrupt you at any moment. And, Miss Van Gerder, do not feel too +conscience-stricken over your inadvertence. For my part, I believe +that Margaret will be glad, after the first fuss is over. No one, +then, can accuse her of sailing under false colors. Everything will +be perfectly open and aboveboard." + +"It is good of you to say so, but I am sure that your room-mate does not +hold that opinion. At least, I made no mention of her father. I presume +that would be a still harder thing for Miss Dunbar to overlook." + +"I think," said Dolly persistently, "that it would have been better +for all concerned, if you had said that Mr. Hamilton was your uncle's +coachman. Then everything would have been told at once, and Margaret +would have no future disclosures to dread." + +"I think I was sufficiently stupid as it was;" and then Mary and Miss +Van Gerder went off to see Professor Newton, while Dolly went in search +of Miss Hamilton. + +She did not fancy the errand much, for she had a premonition that Miss +Dunbar might also be in the room, and that a scene would be inevitable. +And she was not wrong. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +As she drew near Margaret's room, she caught the sound of excited +voices. Abby Dunbar's tones reached her, high-pitched and shrill. + +"You have been a fraud, nothing but a fraud, from beginning to end. +You have imposed upon us all. There is no use trying to carry it off +with such a high hand! You led us all to suppose that your people were +respectable, and so we took you in, and now it seems that your mother +was nothing but a servant, and--" + +"And perhaps you would also like to know (as you evidently are not aware +of the fact as yet), that my father was a coachman. I am exceedingly +proud of them both, and--" + +"I don't see how you dare to stand there and face us! Let me tell you +one thing, though--" + +Dolly ran hastily down the hall. She could stand it no longer. Her +indignation burned hotly for Margaret. Why were girls so much narrower +than boys? Rob Steele had been a coachman and errand-boy, and even a +bootblack. He did not hesitate to say so; and yet, with possibly a very +few exceptions, none of the students at Harvard treated him with any +the less respect for it. But Margaret-- + +Dolly paused in the doorway, almost breathless. "Oh, Margaret, we are +going to have a little impromptu tea in my room--Miss Van Gerder, and a +couple of others. I have been sent for you. Please come!" + +"You do not know that you are inviting the daughter of a coachman and +a housekeeper, Miss Alden. It is time for people to know exactly who and +what our class president is. She has been sailing under false colors +long enough." + +Margaret stood pale and cold during this tirade. The room was full of +sophomores--Abby Dunbar's sympathizers, as was very evident. + +"Oh, yes," said Dolly carelessly, "of course I've known all about +Miss Hamilton's parents since early in our freshman year, but I didn't +see what difference it made. Are you going to ask us all to write out our +ancestral history for your benefit? I'm afraid that we are too good +republicans here to do that for you. By the way, Margaret, Miss Van +Gerder is going to beg permission of Professor Newton for you to room +with her. In fact, she has gone to her now, and she wants to coax you +into the plan." + +Dolly threw this little bombshell with secret glee. If Miss Van Gerder +intended taking Margaret up, how could these girls, with not a tithe of +her wealth or standing, urge their petty reasons for snubbing Margaret? + +She carried her off before there was time for further controversy. There +should be no more ill words said than she could help. It is hard to +unsay harsh things. It is much better to prevent their being uttered at +all. There would doubtless be enough said at best, but Dolly felt that +her prompt action had probably prevented a few bitter flings anyway. +At the door of her room Margaret detained her. Dolly had chattered +all of the way down the hall. Margaret had not uttered a word. Now she +looked steadily at Dolly. + +"Are you not laboring under some delusion or excitement? I had better +give you the details of our family history before I go in." + +"Nonsense! I have known your history, as I said, since the Christmas +holidays. What does it matter? Come in, and Beth shall make tea for us." + +"But do tell me how you knew." + +"I will tell you everything, only come in," and Dolly gave her a +good-natured push into the room where the others were waiting for them, +for Mary and Miss Van Gerder had already returned with permission for +Margaret to change rooms, if she desired. + +"I sincerely hope that you do desire, for I really want you, Margaret." + +"You are very good, Miss Van Gerder." + +"Now stop right there, Margaret. Whether you room with me or not, you +shall not be formal. My name is Constance, and you know it very well." + +"I never called you by it," said Margaret steadily. + +"I hope you will now. Please don't spoil the entire year for me. If you +will consent to share my rooms, and let me make up for my thoughtlessness +in so far as I may, you will be doing me a great favor." + +"I do not see why you should not have said what you did; it was the +truth, and there was no reason why it should not have been told. You must +not feel that you owe me any reparation. That is not true. So far as +I am concerned, while the present moment may be a little disagreeable in +many respects, I cannot altogether regret what has occurred. Mother, +naturally, will feel sorry, but there cannot be further disclosures, +for I filled in, for Miss Dunbar's benefit, all the details that you +had omitted. She knows that Father was your uncle's coachman, and--" + +"And he was a good one, and we all liked him. What a tempest in a teapot +this is! Now be sensible. You are going to be my room-mate as a favor +to me. I beg it. That is settled. I shall see that Patrick comes and +moves your trunks this afternoon, and as soon as we have had some of +Miss Newby's tea, we are all going over to your room to help you carry +the lighter things. There is no need to bother packing those." + +"Of course not," said Beth readily. "We shall be delighted to help +you. With five of us at work, we shall have everything moved in half an +hour." + +Margaret looked only half-satisfied. She had pride, too. If Constance +Van Gerder was taking her in a spirit of self-sacrifice, she had no +intention of becoming her room-mate. Things would not be pleasant, but +she could stand it, even if she _were_ ostracized. + +But Constance read her easily, and without referring again to the +subject, she soothed her wounded pride and contrived to let her know +that she was actually wanted. + +A little later they all started for Margaret's room to aid her in +the "moving process." The room was still filled with Abby Dunbar's +friends, and they were evidently much excited. + +Constance included them all in the cool little nod that she gave on +entering. "You must not bear malice against me, Miss Dunbar, for +stealing your room-mate. I did not know that she was at Westover, so I +made arrangements to room alone, but now I must put in my claim. My +right is the prior one, for I have known her so much longer." + +Constance had been talking against time. She wanted Margaret to leave +the room with her load of small articles. There was just one word that +she intended saying to these girls on the subject they were discussing; +then she intended to have the matter closed forever, so far as she was +concerned. + +Abby Dunbar herself gave the opportunity for the desired remark, just +as Margaret passed from the room. + +"Are you actually in earnest? I did not believe you could mean it! Have +you asked her to room with you? Of course, we understand that you did +it in a charitable spirit, and because you are sorry for her position +here, since she has been found out, but--" + +"Excuse my interrupting you. I have asked Miss Hamilton to room with +me because her companionship will be a pleasure. I had to coax rather +hard before she would consent. There is just one other thing to be said. +Our sitting-room is common property, and I shall never care to see anyone +there who is at all discourteous to Margaret!" + +With that she turned away and picked up a pile of Margaret's books. +She had made a telling speech and she knew it. Constance could not be +unaware of the influence she exerted socially, by means of her mere name. +The girls would not wish to shut themselves out from all the privileges +of her room, and there would be no more open acts of aggression so far as +Margaret was concerned. Of that Constance felt assured. At the same +time it was certain that Margaret would be subjected to many petty +slights and snubs and wounds. But she would have to endure those, and +her nature was too fine to allow of her growing bitter because of them. + +There was gossip and much quiet talk, but Constance Van Gerder's +determined stand put an end to open insults and recriminations. Two +days later, there was another subject for gossip, also, for Margery +Ainsworth had been readmitted to college on "probation." Such a thing +had rarely been known before, and the stigma of disgrace attaching to +such students as were on "probation" was great. It was understood +that they were under special surveillance, and the many privileges +accorded other students were withheld from them. Of course, Margery had +come back as a freshman. The girls had heard that Mr. Ainsworth was +intensely angry with Margery, and had declared that she must stay at +Westover until she graduated, if it took a hundred years. She was to +room with a freshman, and, judging from her expression, she had come +back reluctantly and rebelliously. Dolly and Beth talked it over, and +wondered what good end Mr. Ainsworth could hope to effect by sending her +to college, when she was in such an obstinate frame of mind. + +"At least, she has diverted the attention of the girls from Margaret, +and, Beth, I like her more than I ever supposed I could. Didn't she +preside with dignity at our class meeting last evening, though? No one +would ever have guessed how some of the girls stormed at her only a few +days ago." + +"'Tis fortunate that she has Constance Van Gerder as a loyal friend. +To tell the truth, I think that she is relieved now. There is nothing +for her to hide or cover up. We must see Constance about the class +elections, though. They will come in two days, and I am positive that +Abby Dunbar will try to prevent Margaret's being elected chairman of +the executive committee. That is a position which has always been given +to the retiring president, and certainly Margaret has done enough for +our class to deserve the honor. It would be a shame to slight her." + +"Yes, it would. Constance is in her room now, I think, and Margaret will +be at the literature lecture. Come, we will see her at once." + +Constance was very glad to promise her help to the girls, and the +work commenced that day in earnest. They soon found that Abby and her +particular coterie had been hard at work for some little time, but +Margaret's supporters labored with a will, and went to their class +meeting with hopeful hearts. + +"I am anxious about two offices," Dolly confessed to Miss Van Gerder +as she walked down the hall toward the room in which the meeting would +be held. "I want to see Beth elected president, and I want Margaret +made chairman of the executive committee." Some way, rather to their +own astonishment, Beth and Dolly found themselves on very intimate terms +with Miss Van Gerder. The three, with Margaret, made a very congenial +quartette. + +Mary Sutherland felt at a disadvantage before this girl, whose father's +name was a world-wide synonym for wealth. She was never at her best +when Constance was present. She utterly refused to go to her room, and +Dolly finally lost all patience with her. + +"You must have a very low opinion of yourself, Mary Sutherland, if +you think that a few dollars are worth more than you are. Can't you +see what kind of a girl Constance Van Gerder is? Of course, she knows +that she is immensely rich, but she is not silly. She doesn't dress +extravagantly, or load herself with jewelry. In fact, there are a dozen +girls here, who spend more on dress in the course of a year than she +does. Her gowns fit to perfection, and they are always made in good +taste, but she doesn't care for such things. She is forever doing +quiet, lovely things for other people. Your aunt told me that she thought +Miss Van Gerder would take up college settlement work. Whether she does +or not, she will not be a useless butterfly of fashion." + +"There is no use my trying to know her better. We have nothing in +common. I am poor and she is tremendously rich." + +"You mean that you are vilely proud, Mary Sutherland. If you were not +so proud, you would see how gracious and lovely Constance Van Gerder is. +It is just as much a crime for a poor person to be proud as for a rich +one. Why can't you be yourself, and enjoy Constance and her bright ways +as Beth and I do?" + +But Mary refused to listen to reason, and drew more and more into her +shell. College had only been in session a short time now, but it was +evident that Mary was going to isolate herself, despite all that Dolly +and Beth could say, and despite Dolly's exasperated appeals to Professor +Newton. There was a strong vein of stubbornness in Mary, and much as +she loved her aunt, she declined to argue this matter with her. "The +girls had been good to her last year, because Dolly had been compelled +to room with her, but she was not their kind, anyway, and she wasn't +going to force herself in where she was not wanted." + +Professor Newton and the girls had given up the effort in despair, and +Mary was left to gang her ain gait. The sophomore elections had been +deferred a little for one reason and another, and it was now the end of +the third week. + +If Margaret's friends had worked hard in her behalf, the opposition had +been working hard, also, and before the meeting had advanced far, Dolly +began to lose heart. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +When things were fairly under way, Dolly nominated Beth for the +presidency. Half a dozen other nominations were made, but the result +was very satisfactory to Beth's friends, as she was elected by a large +majority. + +Constance was made vice-president without opposition, and the rest +of the balloting went smoothly enough until the executive committee +was reached. Then Constance made her first little speech, nominating +Margaret for the chairmanship, and putting forcibly before the class, the +good work that she had done as president, and "for which," Constance +concluded with significant emphasis, "we want, most assuredly, to show +our gratitude now, in the only way possible." + +Abby Dunbar was immediately nominated by Grace Chisholm, and then, as +no other names were mentioned, the balloting proceeded. + +Beth felt more nervous over this, than she had when her own name was +up for the presidency. Constance had done her best, and there was no +doubting her influence; still, the balloting was secret, and might not +some of the girls leave Constance under the impression that they would +vote for Margaret, and now, when the time had come for the voting, cast +their ballots for Abby Dunbar? Constance would not be able to tell what +girls had kept faith with her, and what ones had not. + +"I would never do for a politician," Beth confided to Dolly in a +whisper. "I am too nervous and excitable; see how cool Constance is, and +Margaret, too." + +"Yet Margaret will feel it bitterly, if she is defeated under these +circumstances; and as a class we ought to be ashamed of it if she _be_ +defeated, for it will be an open acknowledgment of the fact that we care +more for dollars and cents, than we do for genuine worth and ability. I +shall be ashamed of the sophomores if Margaret is not elected." + +The class had lost some of its members, and had gained several new ones, +so that at this time it numbered an even three hundred. Even Margaret, +with all her self-control, began to show the strain before the tellers +appeared. + +The chairman was an enthusiastic admirer of Margaret, and her voice +vibrated triumphantly as she tried to announce in a perfectly calm tone, +the result of the voting: + + Margaret Hamilton . . . . 153 votes. + Abby Dunbar . . . . . . . 147 votes. + +There was a moment of utter silence, then Constance started the applause +which grew and grew until it became an actual uproar. Even those who +had voted against Margaret, now, with few exceptions, joined in the +applause, for Constance's keen eyes were sweeping the room, and not +a girl present wished to be ranged in open opposition to her. It was +she, and she alone, who had carried the day for Margaret. + +Margaret realized the fact, and, while she was grateful, she felt stung +and hurt. Constance found her in tears when she went to their room +sometime after the meeting had dispersed. Tears, with Margaret, were +a rare thing. Constance knew what they meant this time, although she +affected not to. + +"You see, Margaret, that you were elected, despite your declaration that +you would not be. Aren't you ashamed of the little faith you had in your +friends?" + +"It was your friends who elected me, Constance, not mine. I am in no +danger of making any mistake on that point. Do you suppose that I do not +know how you have been working for me?" + +"What of that?" + +"If you had been as poor as I, how much influence would you have had? I +am not ungrateful to you--please do not think that--but I have been +treated to such a succession of slights all of my life, that I cannot +help feeling a wee bit bitter. I was not elected tonight because of +any gratitude or liking that the girls have for me, but merely because +you--Constance Van Gerder, who will one day be one of the richest women +in this country--have chosen to befriend me, and so asked those girls +to vote for me. If it were not a cowardly thing to do, I should go +away from here to some other college. I would take care to proclaim my +full history the very first day I was there, and I would not attempt +to make a single friend." + +"That would be a cowardly thing to do. Next year neither Abby Dunbar +nor Grace Chisholm will be here. They will never manage to get through +the sophomore work. They are the only ones who are your active enemies, +and they are such, merely through spite and jealousy. You are a good +student, Meg; do your best for your mother's sake and for mine, too. +I want you to carry off some honors on Commencement Day." + +"I will do my best for you; you have done so much for me that I could +not refuse to try, at least. I think I shall get permission to run down +and see my mother for an hour. Professor Newton may think it too late +to go, but I would like to tell Mother that I was elected. I should not +have let you propose my name at all, if it had not been for her." + +"Then you would have been a big simpleton. I am positive, Meg, that +Professor Newton will not listen to your going out tonight, but you can +telephone to your mother. Will not that do?" + +"And have Abby Dunbar and all the other girls hear me? I couldn't +possibly. If the telephone were not just inside the reception room where +the entire college can hear what is said, I might do that." + +"I see. Don't trouble yourself. It is out of the question for you to go +to town tonight at this hour. Professor Newton would consider you crazy +to ask, but I can appreciate your mother's anxiety, and I am going to +telephone to her. It will give me great pleasure to do this, and the more +of Abby's friends that are within hearing, the better." + +"You are very kind, but--" + +Constance had gone unceremoniously, and Margaret's expostulation was +cut short. + +As Constance had predicted, the little tempest created by the revelation +of Margaret's family history soon died down. Of course, it was only +Constance's strong influence which brought about this result; none of +the girls wished to cut themselves off absolutely from her acquaintance, +and Constance made it very plain that those who showed the least +discourtesy to Margaret were no friends of hers. + +Poor Mrs. Hamilton had been almost heartbroken when she first learned of +Margaret's troubles, but Margaret herself had made as light as possible +of them, and the fact that she was now Constance's room-mate, reconciled +Mrs. Hamilton to everything. + +The sophomore year was generally conceded by both the students and the +faculty, to be the hardest year at Westover College. While the girls +whom we know managed to have some good times in a quiet way, they found +themselves, for the most part, kept very busy. + +Mary Sutherland drew more and more into her shell, as Beth and Dolly +grew more intimate with Margaret and Constance. Dolly complained of +it repeatedly to Professor Newton. "Mary acts as if we did not have +love enough to go around. Just as if Beth and I couldn't care for her +now, because we like Margaret and Constance Van Gerder. I wonder if she +thinks that love is measured out by the quart, Professor Newton, and that +Beth and I have exhausted our supply?" + +"You must be patient with my stubborn little niece, Dolly dear; she is +her own worst enemy. Neither you nor I can say anything to her now. She +is wilfully losing lots of enjoyment out of these college days. She has +made no new friendships, for she thinks too much of you and Beth to do +that. In truth, she is jealous and unreasonable, but she fails to see it. +She might as well demand that God's blessed sunshine shall illumine +only a few places. Some things grow by the using. Our power of loving +is one of those things, Dolly. God's love reaches all the infinity of +His creatures, and yet its depths are boundless. It is immeasurable. +Sometime Mary will learn this." + +At Thanksgiving time Dolly carried Mary off to her own home. Beth could +not be persuaded to stop this time. She thought of last year, when she +had had no desire to go home at all, and could not but marvel at the +difference in her feelings now. In truth, Beth was making up for all +those years of repression and coldness, by the wealth of love which +she lavished upon her own people. And they returned it a thousandfold. +Dearly as Mrs. Newby loved her own dainty little Nell, she knew that +this child was no dearer to her than was Beth. + +Mary had gone home with Dolly half under protest, but Dolly would listen +to no excuses, and Professor Newton urged her so strongly to accept the +invitation, that Mary finally went. Dolly felt confident that this brief +visit would serve to clear away the clouds that had come between them; +but in this she was disappointed. Some way she saw little of Mary, +after all. Did Fred monopolize Mary's society--the two were certainly +together a great deal--or, had she enjoyed Dick Martin's indolent +witticisms and quiet humor so much that she had neglected Mary? She felt +rather uneasy about it, and promised herself to atone at the Christmas +holidays. But when the Christmas holidays came, there were new plans for +all. + +Margaret was to go home with Constance for the entire vacation. She +had demurred about leaving her mother, but Mrs. Hamilton had insisted +strongly that she should go for the whole time. "It is not as if you +were where I could not see you every day, dear. Of course, I would love +to have you with me, but just now I would much rather have you visit +Miss Van Gerder." And Margaret, seeing that her mother really meant +what she said, yielded the point, and went home with Constance. + +There was to be a house party at Constance's for the last week of the +vacation. Dolly and Beth were invited as well as Hope Brereton and Hazel +Browne. + +"I don't know Miss Sutherland well enough to ask her to be of our +party," Constance said to Dolly. "She is so far away from home that I +would like to ask her if I felt better acquainted. I don't see how you +ever came to know her. She absolutely repels all advances." + +Dolly laughed, although she was inwardly provoked with Mary. What good +times she was cheating herself of! Could she not recognize genuine +goodness when she saw it? What made Mary so blind and obtuse in these +days? "Mary is just like a chestnut-burr on the outside," she replied +now to Constance. "Sometime she will get tired of pricking all of her +friends, and then everyone will see what a genuine heart of gold she +has." + +"I hope she will shed the burr soon, for her own sake. People do not +like to get stung and pricked when they approach her in a friendly +manner." + +"I have preached until I am tired. We must leave her alone now. I am +going to take her home with me, and Mother intends keeping her after I +go on to your house. She is quite in love with Mother, and is as nearly +demonstrative with her, as it is possible for Mary to be with anyone. We +shall be a very congenial party at your house, Constance. You always do +manage to get together people that suit." + +"I am afraid that you will take back that remark when you know of one +more invitation that I want to give today." + +"What in the world do you mean?" + +"Don't be stunned, but I want to have Margery Ainsworth. Shall I?" + +"The idea of asking us whom you shall invite to your own home! How +absurd!" + +"But you don't like Margery." + +"I hadn't known that you did either," Dolly said frankly. + +"I have felt a little sorry for her lately. We have seen more or less +of each other all our lives; we both live in New York, and as children +we went to the same kindergarten, and we have seen each other with some +frequency during all the in-between years. Just now Margery is not having +an easy time. Instead of being a junior, as she would have been in +the ordinary course of events, she is only a freshman, but I have learned +that she is doing extra work and has taken some extra examinations. She +hopes to come into our class as a full sophomore after Christmas." + +"I wonder what has roused her so. She was never a student in any sense +of the word, last year." + +"She knows that her father is earnest in his determination to have +her complete her course here, and so she is resolved to get through +as quickly as possible. She has lost one year, but there is no reason why +she should lose two. She is discovering unsuspected capabilities for +study in herself; you must have noticed that she takes no recreation +and has no friends. She is settling down into a mere 'grind.'" + +"Margery Ainsworth, of all people!" + +"It is strange. She does not love study any better than she once did, +but she has an indomitable perseverance when her will is aroused. Just +now she is determined to get through college as soon as possible, and to +maintain a good standing. I cannot see why Mr. Ainsworth is so resolved +that she shall graduate from here. She is an only child, and her mother +is an invalid. He must have some weighty reason for sending her off, +when she would be such a comfort to her mother." + +"It must hurt her pride fearfully to be under constant supervision, +not to be able to go where other girls go, and to feel that she is not +trusted." + +"It is hard, most certainly, but Margery brought all that on herself. +One cannot do wrong without meeting the penalties for it, in some way +or other, even in this life. But if she succeeds in making the sophomore +class, she will come into it with a clean page turned. I happen to know +that the faculty means to give her a chance to wipe out old scores." + +"And you want to help the girl? Well, you don't suppose that any of +the rest of us would be so mean-spirited as to make objections? If you +think that, you had better withdraw our invitations." + +"Don't talk nonsense, my dearest Dolly," Constance said indolently. +"I am too fatigued to argue with you." + +"Then come and have a walk, Con. Beth is working away at some problem in +her advanced trigonometry that it would make me ill even to read over. +I have come to have an added respect for Beth this year, when I see how +deliberately she picks out all the mathematical courses. It would not be +possible for me to do that. It tasks all of my mathematical resources +just to keep account of my own allowance." + +Con laughed. "You excel Beth in some other things, so that you may +consider yourself even. By the way where is Margaret? I would like her +to go with us." + +"We might look into the library. She may be there," and Dolly made +a mental note of Constance's unfailing watchfulness and care for her +room-mate. + +As they drew near to the library, it became evident that Margaret +_was_ there. The other occupants of the room were Abby Dunbar and her +immediate coterie of half a dozen friends. For the most part, Abby had +preserved a haughty coldness toward Margaret, although she indulged +in petty meannesses and flings at her, whenever she imagined that she +could do it without Constance's knowledge. She had no intention of +cutting herself off absolutely from Miss Van Gerder's acquaintance. + +Today, however, she had just chanced to learn of the house-party at +Constance's home. She was not invited, and Margaret was! She was so +full of wrath and indignation, that she forgot her usual caution. She +commenced talking to her friends in a tone which would easily reach +Margaret, and she contrived to put all the bottled up venom of the past +term into her words. To all appearances Margaret heard not a syllable. + +Just as Constance and Dolly approached the library, Abby turned, not +seeing them, addressing a remark directly to Margaret. + +Margaret turned toward her, a quiet scorn in her brown eyes. "Miss +Dunbar, if you were unaware of some things when you invited me to your +house, we are certainly quits, for I have since learned facts concerning +your family which would have prevented my ever putting a foot inside +your house had I known them before." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +She looked steadily at her classmate for a moment. Constance and Dolly +had paused in the doorway. Margaret did not need their assistance. +Something in Margaret's tone made Abby recoil with a sudden, +inexplicable apprehension. Yet, after all, what could that girl say +to hurt her--Abby Dunbar? + +"I believe that by this time you are all rather well posted on my +family history. Consequently you know that my father was a West Point +cadet, and but for a useless accident, caused by a drunken acquaintance, +he would, in all probability, be alive today, and be an officer in +the regular army. His health was ruined, his hopes in life destroyed, +and himself and my mother forced into menial positions, because an +acquaintance to whose home he had been invited, was too drunk to manage a +yacht, and too drunk, also, to let anyone else take the management in his +place. The boat capsized, as you know. The only person injured was my +father. I had rather today," and Margaret's voice rang out clear and +strong, "be his daughter--the daughter of an honest servant--than be +what you are--the daughter of a man whose drunken folly wrecked the life +of as good and noble a father as ever lived." + +There was a silence that made itself felt. "How dare you? It is not +true! you know it is not true!" + +"I am not in the habit of telling falsehoods or of making statements +about which I am not sure. Suppose you ask your father about the matter? +He will, perhaps, enjoy telling you of it. Until a week ago, neither +my mother nor I knew who your father was. You may be sure that, if I +had known, there would have been no inducement strong enough to take +me inside your home." + +Margaret turned to leave the library, and all her auditors became +aware then, that Constance and Dolly had been standing in the doorway. +Constance spoke a few low words to Margaret, took her arm, and, with +Dolly following, walked down the hall. + +Abby watched them a moment, and then burst into a flood of tears. In her +heart she had a terrible conviction that Margaret's story was true. She +must write and ask, not her father, of course, but her older brother. + +She remembered what a dread her father had of yachts, and how fearful +he had been lest her brother should come to use liquor as freely and as +carelessly as many college boys do. He was a charitable man--very +charitable, and what was it that she had once heard him say, when +her mother had mildly remonstrated against a piece of benevolence +that seemed actually prodigal in its lavishness? Surely he had said +something to the effect that there was one debt which he could never +hope to pay, now, in this life, and that he must atone, if possible, +in other directions. Her mother had seemed to understand, and had +said no more. + +She must write to her brother that night, and tell him the whole story; +no, not quite all. She need not say anything about her recent treatment +of Margaret, for she had an instinctive feeling that Raymond would +disapprove her conduct in emphatic terms. + +She hurried to her room with a few petulant words to her friends, and +scribbled off a lengthy and not over-coherent letter to her brother. + +She waited for the reply anxiously. It came in an unexpected form. +There was a note from her brother, to be sure, but her own letter he had +handed directly to their father, and the answer was from Mr. Dunbar. +Margaret's story was true. Hamilton was not an uncommon name by any +means, and he had never surmised, when he talked with his daughter's +friend during the past summer, that she was in any way related to the +man whose life he had practically ruined. + +Hamilton had disappeared from West Point; he had tried to trace him +in vain, for he had been told by the congressman to whom Hamilton owed +his appointment, that the lad was friendless and penniless. He had left +no stone unturned in his search, but the result had been fruitless. It +was his fault, alone, that Margaret's father had been forced into +such a humble position in life. Hamilton had possessed the brains and +power to make himself a name in the army; but all of his tastes ran in +that one direction, and when he found himself forced to leave West +Point, there was practically nothing to which he could turn. He was +glad to learn that Mr. Worthington had been generous to the Hamiltons in +his will, and he was also glad that his own daughter had acted the +part of a friend toward Margaret. It was something for which he felt +peculiarly grateful. He wanted Abby to be sure and bring both Margaret +and her mother home for the coming holidays. He was writing to them by +the same post, and Abby must add her persuasions to his. + +The letter made Abby most uncomfortable. Why had she written home +anything about Margaret? During the last days of school, she watched +anxiously to see if either Margaret or Constance would broach the +subject. Nothing was said, and Abby was compelled to wait until she +reached home to learn that her father's invitation had been briefly +declined, Margaret stating that she had already accepted an invitation +for the holiday season, and that her mother did not feel equal to going +among strangers alone. No word of comment was offered further, though +Abby knew that her father had written a long letter full of remorse and +grief. + +They discussed it the evening after Abby's return. "I am going to see +Miss Hamilton in New York next week," Ray announced decidedly. "That +letter does not sound like her one bit. You can't go, Pater, because +of that unlucky fall you got on Wednesday, but you may trust me not to +make a botch of the affair. I was charmed with Miss Hamilton last summer, +but that letter is evidently written under some sort of constraint. It is +no reply to yours." + +"I cannot blame her in the least, Ray, for feeling bitter toward me." + +"Perhaps not," Raymond said regretfully. "Still I intend to see her. +You have no objections, Father?" + +"No. The matter cannot drop here, and for the present I am unfortunately +tied to the house." + +"I would not go if I were you, Raymond," Abby interposed. "It will +give her a chance to snub us." + +"I don't understand you, Abby; I thought that you and Miss Hamilton +were warm friends. You haven't gushed about her as much this term as +formerly, but I did not know that you had quarreled." + +"We are not as good friends as we were. I am dreadfully disappointed in +her. She is not the girl I had supposed her." + +"It is rather odd that you didn't tell us something about this in your +letters. Miss Hamilton seems to be good enough for Miss Van Gerder, even +if she is not for you. I intend to see her, Abby, and that is all there +is to the matter." + +It was with no comfortable feelings that Abby saw him depart for New York +on the next Tuesday. Thursday brought her a short note from him. + + I don't wonder in the least that you objected to my coming + here. Miss Van Gerder has given me the history of the past + term. I do not feel proud of the part my sister played. + Father and I will have hard work undoing the mischief you + have wrought. R. D. + +That was all that Abby heard directly, but she knew that her father +and Ray had vainly tried to get Margaret's promise to spend the Easter +recess with them. No allusion was made to the matter when the girls were +back at school once more. Abby heard Constance's friends talking of +the gay time they had had, and she more than half envied them. Dolly +seemed brimming over with fun and spirits. She had had a thoroughly +enjoyable time at home and afterward in New York. Dick Martin had run +down for several days, and Fred had called on New Year's. Constance was +an ideal hostess. Mary had spent the time at Dolly's home, and had +joined Dolly on her return to college. Mrs. Alden had vainly tried to +accomplish some good by ridiculing Mary's feeling toward Constance Van +Gerder. She owned to Dolly that she had effected nothing. "I think that +one or two caustic remarks Fred made did more good than all my lengthy +talks." + +But, to all appearances, Fred had not accomplished much, either, for +Mary refused to go walking with the girls when Constance was to be of +the party, and she would not visit in their rooms save at times when she +knew that Constance had a recitation. She was not going to be patronized, +she declared, and Dolly vowed in disgust that she would never mention +the subject again. + +Nothing of any special interest happened through the next two terms. +The four girls were growing to be extremely popular. Beth made a capital +president, and the little quartette composed of herself, Dolly, Margaret +and Constance were coming to be generally known as the "diggers." +There were students more bright than they, perhaps, in some particular +branches, but there were no harder workers, and none who were more +reliable. + +Beth, to her extreme disappointment, had not been allowed to go home at +Easter time, for Nell was suffering from an attack of scarlet fever. She +had implored her mother to let her go anyway, but Mrs. Newby had written +a most decided and positive negative. "I am anxious and troubled about +one daughter now, dear, I cannot stand the thought that another one +is exposed to danger, too. We are strictly quarantined, and if you +came, you could not return to college for several weeks. We have a +good trained nurse, and Nell's case is not severe. Be patient, Beth, +and do not ask to come. It is such a relief to know that you are safe." + +Beth had resolved to stay at the college during the short Easter +recess--she was not good company for anyone, she declared--but Dolly +carried her off despite her protests. Mary stayed with her aunt, and +Constance took both Margaret and her mother home this time. Mr. Dunbar +had come, himself, to see Margaret, but she would make no promises. +Raymond had told his father something of Abby's treatment of her +room-mate, after she had become aware of Margaret's lack of social +position. + +Mr. Dunbar rarely exercised any parental authority; Abby had always +found him indulgent and kind. On this occasion he had been more stern +than Abby had believed it possible for him to be. He had insisted +upon an apology being made to Margaret, and Abby dared not refuse. It +had been a farce, however, for she had offered her apologies under +compulsion. At present the relations between her and the "diggers" +were coldly civil. Abby would not return to college the next year. She +was a poor student, and had cared more for the fun of college life than +for the knowledge that she might acquire. It was already arranged +that she should travel abroad with a maiden aunt of her mother's. + +Nell had recovered from her attack of scarlet fever, but Hugh and Roy +had both come down with it. They were all convalescent by Commencement +time, but the family physician was anxious for a change of air for them +all. So, it had been decided that they should again spend the hot weather +among the Thousand Isles, as all three of the children were eager to go +there. + +Mr. Alden had talked of going to the seashore, but he found both Fred and +Dolly so energetically opposed to the project, that they, too, went +back to their cottage at the Thousand Isles. Dick Martin spent a couple +of weeks with Fred, and Rob Steele was occasionally sent there on some +important errand by Mr. Newby, in whose office he was now reading law. +Mr. Newby vibrated between his office and the Islands, and Rob Steele +was sent back and forth with papers that needed signing or personal +revision. + +"Father could really get the papers by mail quite as well, I think, +Mother," Beth said one evening when the two were having a comfortable +talk. + +"I think so myself, but he probably wants to give the boy a little +breathing space. 'Tis rather hot in the city, and a few days here will +do him good." + +"Father is very kind," Beth said demurely, and her stepmother, well as +she had come to know Beth, could not tell whether she was particularly +pleased or not at Rob's coming. + +The children gained strength slowly during the summer, but when September +came at last, they were brown as nuts and as healthy as country children. + +Fred and his friends were seniors at Harvard now. Their plans for +the future were well formulated. To his father's disappointment, +Fred evinced no liking for the law. His tastes ran toward electrical +engineering, and with a sigh Mr. Alden resigned all hopes of having his +son succeed him in business. + +[Illustration: "Father could really get the papers by mail quite as +well, I think, Mother."] + +Dick Martin had determined to be a doctor; there was no special need +for him to work at all, but despite his surface indolence, there was +no actual laziness about him, and he wanted to do a man's work in +the world. He told Dolly of his plans that summer. He was rich enough not +to need any income from his profession, and while he would not turn +away rich patients, he intended to practice among the poor almost +exclusively. He would charge as little as possible; less even than the +medicines would cost; but, except in cases of really abject poverty, he +thought it best to charge a mite, so as not to pauperize his patients +and make them lose their self-respect. + +"I've thought about this matter considerably. It seems to me that the +physicians who do the most among the poor, are the ones who are not well +off themselves, and who cannot afford either the time or the means for +such a practice. The rich fellows generally have a practice among their +own class, and they do not need the fees at all. I do not like to +give money outright, except in rare cases, but I can give my services +when I become qualified; if I do not charge them the same fees that I +shall my richer patients, they will never know the difference. I mean +to provide the medicines myself, and to fill my own prescriptions. I +can do it more cheaply, and then I shall be sure that they get the +stuff. Half of the time the poor have no money with which to have +prescriptions filled. What do you think of the plan?" + +Dolly considered it a noble plan and was not backward in saying so. Beth +thought that Dick seemed much more gratified by Dolly's approbation than +by her own, which was quite as frankly expressed. But she was careful not +to say so to Dolly. + +The girls were juniors now, a fact that they found it hard to realize. +College seemed like a second home to them when they returned, and they +went over every nook and corner of it with real affection. Several girls +had dropped out of the class, as was only to be expected, but they had +gained some new members also, so that they were still the largest junior +class ever enrolled at Westover. They numbered 291, but Abby Dunbar and +three of her most intimate friends had dropped out. + +Mary kept her old room. Constance and Margaret were room-mates again, +so were Dolly and Beth. Even Mary was inveigled into the little reunion +which they held in Dolly's room on the night after they all returned. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +They had talked over the summer holidays quite thoroughly, when Beth +brought up the subject of class elections. + +"We want Dolly for president next year; we shall want Margaret as +editor-in-chief of the _Chronicle_ (the _Chronicle_ was a college +monthly managed entirely by the senior class, although contributions +were frequently accepted from members of the other classes), we want +Constance for class historian, too, and Mary ought to be on the executive +committee; as we shall want so much then, I think that we had better +keep in the background this year, don't you?" + +"Is that all you want, Beth?" Dolly questioned dryly. + +Beth ignored the protests that Constance and Mary both were making +regarding their fitness for the positions to which Beth wished them +elected. + +"I do not want too much, and I do not want more than I mean to get +either! If we work for the other girls this year, they can afford to help +us next. I was president last year, and of course I am still president +for a few days yet. After I go out we will all keep in the background +during this junior year, for really we are not pigs." + +"So glad you told us that; some people might think we were," murmured +Dolly. Beth gave her a vigorous pinch and went on calmly. "You girls +are just the ones for the places I named, and we want our best material +to the fore during our senior year. None of you have any special +candidates at heart this year, have you?" + +"I do not want to interfere with any of your plans for Dolly's election +next year, Beth, but I would be glad if Margery Ainsworth could be +elected to one of the minor committees this year." + +"Now, in the name of common sense, why do you care about her?" + +"I feel sorry for the girl, Beth. She is studying well now, she has no +special friends, and a little honor like that would do her an immense +amount of good." + +"Do you really like her, Con?" + +"I am not sure that her character is enough settled yet for me to +say. Of course, I do not care for her as I do for you girls here, but +I feel immensely sorry for her. Her pride is hurt continually. She will +either develop into something strong and good, or else grow unlovable +and unloving. Let us help her this wee bit, girls. Her pride is being +wounded all of the time now, and a little recognition by her classmates +may come at just the right time." + +"Oh, if you want us to do missionary work, Con, and put it on high moral +grounds--" + +"Be still. I just ask you to do a nice little thing for a girl who feels +that she has no friends. And you will do it, too." + +"Will I?" and Beth looked mutinous. Constance smiled serenely. She was +sure of Beth's help when the time should come. + +The girls all felt that the one who was made president, during this, +their junior year, should be both capable and popular. Either Constance +or Dolly could have been elected, had they so chosen, but Constance +utterly refused to consider the matter, and Beth would not hear to +Dolly's being nominated. It ended with the election of Hope Brereton, +and the "diggers" were not represented at all in the offices, with +the exception of Beth, who was made chairman of the executive committee +since she was the retiring president. Margery Ainsworth, to her own +intense surprise and gratification, was put on the entertainment +committee. + +It did not take long for the girls to settle into their former grooves +again. The old friendships were cemented, and some new ones were formed. +Mary retreated again into her shell, and Dolly felt more than once +like shaking her. In other ways Mary had improved materially. She could +not afford handsome dresses, but those that she had, were becoming in +color and soft in texture. Her hair was arranged to show its real +beauty, and while she was far from being a pretty girl, she had a fine, +intelligent face, and the promise of future beauty. She was looking +forward to the time when she could teach, and earn money to lighten the +burdens on that western farm. + +Just before Thanksgiving time, the sophomores gave a little entertainment +to the juniors. Mary came into Dolly's room one day with a wry face. +"I fear that I shall not be able to attend that entertainment which the +sophomores are giving us." + +"I would like to know why?" + +"We shall have to wear some sort of evening dress, I suppose, and the +only thing that I have is my white." + +"That would be just the thing," said Constance, who chanced to be +present. + +"It's not very elegant, but it would do, only I have not got it. I sent +it to Mrs. O'Flaherty three weeks ago to be laundered, and it hasn't +been sent back yet." + +"Write to her." + +"I have. I've sent her a dozen missives. But she does not answer." + +"Go and see her." + +"She lives too far away." + +"Then try one more note; make it pathetic and appealing and stern and +threatening all in one. That will surely bring the dress." + +"Very well, I will." + +But as she was about to commence the note, Mary decided, that after all, +she had better go herself. She dressed rapidly, and started out alone. +Either Dolly or Beth would have gone with her willingly, but she would +not ask them. Mrs. O'Flaherty lived at the farther side of Westover. +Mary found herself out of breath and impatient when she reached there. +She was about to knock when the door opened, and Constance came out, +Mary's dress in her arms. + +"I was going to take the liberty of carrying your dress to a woman whom +I know. She will do it up beautifully for you, even on this short notice. +Mrs. O'Flaherty is ill--too ill to answer your notes or to think about +your dress at all." + +"Then I had better go in and see her a moment." + +"You can do no good, I am sure." + +"Perhaps not, but still I will go in; if you can wait for me just a +moment, I will relieve you of that bundle." + +"There is really nothing to be done, Mary, and Mrs. O'Flaherty is just +falling asleep." + +Mary made no comment, but went directly in, taking care, however, to +move more gently than usual. Mary was not a quiet person ordinarily, +being the last one that an invalid would care to have in a sick room. She +wondered angrily why Constance had tried to prevent her from entering. +If she were as rich as Constance Van Gerder, she would do something +for poor Mrs. O'Flaherty. She was too poor to do anything herself, +but at least she could show a little sympathy! Full of indignation +against Constance, Mary was pushing into the tiny house, when her way +was suddenly barred. + +Looking up, she recognized Dr. Leonard, the leading physician in +Westover. "I cannot let you in, Miss Sutherland. Mrs. O'Flaherty has +some kind of a low fever. I cannot tell just what it will develop into +yet, but I could not allow you to run the risk of going in there." + +"But is there nothing I can do? The woman is so horribly poor. I'm not +rich myself, but--" + +"She will be all right now. Miss Van Gerder has gotten hold of her. +She just chanced to learn today, that Mrs. O'Flaherty was ill, or she +would have had me here before. You need not worry, Miss Sutherland. Miss +Van Gerder will do all that is necessary. She has given me money for +food, fuel and nurse. I can call upon her for as much more as I need. I +wonder if you girls up at the college know half the good that Miss Van +Gerder is doing with her wealth?" + +"No, we don't," Mary said shortly, and then, ashamed of her curtness, +she lingered to make some more inquiries. + +Constance was waiting for her by the gate. Mary took the bundle from her +arms, despite Constance's remonstrances. "You are not going to carry +my bundles, when I am along, at least. If you will tell me where that +other woman lives of whom you were speaking just now, I will try to hunt +her up." + +"I can take you there, but she lives on such a funny back street that I +cannot well give you any directions." + +"How do you know all these people? I have never been to Mrs. +O'Flaherty's house before, and I should not have gone this time, +if my dress had been sent home on time. Did you go because of what I +said today? I would really like to know." And Mary meant it. + +"Yes, I suppose I did, but there is nothing very wonderful about that. I +concluded that she must be sick or in trouble, when you failed to hear +from her, so I looked her up." + +"And you, probably, had never heard of her before, while she has been +doing my laundry work ever since I came to Westover. It strikes me that +I have been both thoughtless and selfish." + +"You have been busy," Constance said gently, "and then, in a certain +sense, I feel as if these cases were my work just as much as Greek +and History. Mother does not believe in indiscriminate giving. She +believes in personal investigation as far as possible. That takes +longer, of course, and is much more bother, but she has made me feel +that I have no right to waste my money (even if I do have more than +most girls), by a lazy way of giving. What I give carelessly to some +unworthy person who asks aid, may really belong by right to someone +else who is deserving and whom I would have found, had I investigated +personally. Do you see what I mean? I cannot help everyone, and so where +I _do_ help, I want my money to do good, not harm." + +"Your way must cost a great amount of time and trouble." + +"It often does, and that is my real, personal part of the giving. I +cannot take credit to myself for giving the money which comes to me with +no exertion on my part." + +"What shall you do when you are out of college and in society?" + +"I never expect to be in society, as I suppose you understand that +term. I have no particular fondness for receptions and germans and +balls. One tires of it all fearfully soon. I shall do some sort of +college settlement work, but I shall not undertake it until I feel +better prepared than at present." + +"Dolly always said that I never knew anything about you, and she was +right. In your place I know that I should just be getting all of the good +times that I could for myself. I'm afraid that I should not care for +much except the frivolous part of life. It is well that I am poor, and +not likely to see much gaiety, because it has an irresistible attraction +for me. You would not imagine it, would you?" + +But Constance could understand perfectly how Mary's hard, prosaic life +on the western farm had caused her to think with deep longing of the +bright, fashionable world in which she had no part or lot. Constance's +comprehension was so perfect, and her sympathy so delicate, that Mary +grew bitterly ashamed of the narrow feelings and jealousy which had +marred all her sophomore year. There should be no more of it, she told +herself sharply. Mary was not afraid to face facts when she once met them. + +She owned, now, that she had been jealous of Dolly's open admiration +for Constance. Then she had called Constance proud and unfeeling. Who had +stood Margaret Hamilton's friend? Who was helping Margery Ainsworth to +regain her self-respect? Who had gone to Mrs. O'Flaherty on the first +hint of sickness? And had not the doctor declared that the college girls +were ignorant of the greater part of her charitable deeds? + +"I believe that I have been a big snob," Mary told herself. "We can +only be measured by our inclinations and our deeds. Certainly, even in +proportion to my limited means, I have done far less good than Constance. +It never occurred to me, for instance, to look up Mrs. O'Flaherty for +her own sake, because she might be ill. I only thought of getting my +dress." + +Mary never resorted to half-way measures. She now gave as frank and open +admiration to Constance as did any of the "diggers;" Dolly and Beth +rejoiced over her conversion. + +But Beth said, "If she felt at all toward Constance as I now feel +toward Margery Ainsworth, when I see Constance wasting her sweetness +in that direction, I can sympathize with her. Mary was rather jealous of +your affection for Constance, Dolly, and while I do not think that I +myself am jealous, I surely hate to see Con lavishing time and patience +on Margery." + +"You are sure it is wasted?" + +"Yes, I am. Don't forget that I was Margery's room-mate. I flatter +myself that I know about all that there is to know concerning that young +lady." + +"Yet I think that Constance is a tolerably good judge of character. +There must be latent possibilities in Margery which you have never +discovered." + +Beth shook her head obstinately, but that very day proved the correctness +of Dolly's conclusions and made Beth resolve to be more charitable in +her judgments. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +That evening Dolly was wishing for some one's note-book on Greek art, +that she might make up a lecture she had lost because of a headache. +Beth noted rather anxiously that Dolly had many headaches in these days. +This was something new. Until very lately, Dolly and headaches had been +strangers. + +The junior year was conceded by everyone to be the easiest year in the +entire course, so Beth did not believe that Dolly was working too hard. +Yet she seemed tired so much of the time! She had been so anxious that +athletics at Westover should be revived, but now, when an effort was +being made in that direction, Dolly took only a languid interest in the +matter. Beth helped her in many little ways, and hid her increasing +anxiety, although she was fully determined to write to Mrs. Alden, if +Dolly did not grow stronger within a short time. + +Beth looked up as Dolly was expressing her wish for the notes on +Greek art. She, herself, was not taking that course, for she preferred +logarithms and abstruse calculations, to the marvels of the Parthenon. + +"I'll get you Margery Ainsworth's note-book, Dolly; she has full notes +on everything, the girls say." + +"Yes, her book would do splendidly, if she will loan it, but I ought to +get it myself. There is no reason in the world why you should be running +my errands in this fashion." + +"I like it, so don't talk nonsense," and Beth went off briskly. + +She gave a little tap at Margery's door, then entered, thinking that +she had heard Margery speak. When she was fairly in the room, however, +she saw Margery lying on her couch, sobbing as if her heart would break. + +"Why, Margery, what is the trouble? have you had bad news? Do tell me." + +Margery sat up hastily. Beth was not the person whom she would have +selected as her confidant. "I have just received a letter from Father. +He has been crippled in business for some time by the recent bank +failures, and now he has lost everything." + +"Oh, Margery, I am dreadfully sorry." + +"Mother is such an invalid that it will be hard on her. She has a little +money of her own, not much, but enough, Father says, to pay up every +cent he owes and to keep me here until I graduate." + +"It must be a comfort, Margery, to feel that he will not owe any person +a cent." + +"Yes, it is," with an irrepressible sob, "but, oh, I want to be at +home helping, but Father says that I can help best by going through and +graduating. He was afraid of this, and that was the reason he was so +determined that I should graduate here and be prepared to teach. Mother +may need to depend upon me entirely some day, for, of course, Father +is not young any more, and we have no near relatives; no one, at least, +upon whom we would ever call for help." + +"You must be proud of the fact that your father can depend upon you, +dear." + +"There is not much to be proud of. Just think, Beth, if I had not wasted +so much of my time, I should be graduating this year. Now I cannot be of +any help for nearly two years. That is the bitterest part of all. We +have never been rich people, but Father made a comfortable living for +us. I ought to have realized that it cost a great deal for him to send me +here, and I should have made the most of my time--but I didn't." + +"No one could have done better than you have been doing lately, +Margery." + +"But I cannot make up that lost year. That is the dreadful part of it. +Repentance doesn't take away the consequences of one's folly, does +it? We have to pay for it all. Just now, when I ought to be in a position +to help at home, I am only an added burden. Father has seen this coming +for years, but I did not know it. He lost many thousands of dollars in +a great bank failure four years ago. He has never quite recovered from +that blow. If there had not been several failures lately, though, among +people who owed him money, he would have managed to pull through." + +"But you knew nothing of all this, Margery, so do not blame yourself +too severely." + +"I knew that Father was not rich, and I ought not to have wasted my +time. I know that I must graduate now, if I would teach, but it is +dreadfully hard to think that I must use up my mother's little pittance +for it." + +"But she wants you to take it, dear, and I am sure that the best thing +you can do for your parents, now, is to be cheerful and happy. You +will probably have many long years in which to work for them both; and +really, Margery, you are working for them now just as truly as if you +were earning money for them." + +But even Beth's bright reasoning failed to console the girl, and Beth +went back to Dolly feeling quite downcast. + +"There, if I didn't forget your book! Let me tell you the news and then +I will go back and get it." + +"Never mind the book," said Dolly when Beth had told the story. "I +feel too wretched to use it tonight. I wish you would tell Constance, +though. She may know how to comfort Margery a little, and perhaps she can +devise some plan for helping her." + +But while Constance was sympathetic and kind, she could think of no way +for assisting Margery just then. "When she is ready to teach, I can +help her, I am sure. I think it likely that she may be able to get a good +position in one of the fashionable boarding-schools in New York; then +she will not be obliged to leave home." + +So Margery's friends did all that they could for her in a quiet way, +but, after all, they could not carry her burden, and Margery felt in +those days as if life were a hard thing. + +Dolly's headaches had grown no better; they had become perpetual, until +Beth, in frightened desperation, wrote to Mrs. Alden. Before her mother +reached the college, however, Dolly had been removed to the hospital, +and several of the other students were developing symptoms of the same +malarial fever that had attacked Dolly. + +"There is much of this disease in the lower portion of the city. I have +been attributing the trouble there to bad drinking water, but that hardly +seems to account for the outbreak here, because your drinking water is +wonderfully clear and pure." + +"We are often in that part of the city, though," Beth said, "and we +almost always get a drink at the fountain." + +"That accounts for it, then. How often have you been in the habit of +going to that part of Westover?" + +"Nearly every day. You know that we are required to take outdoor +exercise." + +"We must see that no more mischief is done," the Doctor said, with a +grave face. + +But although the fountain was removed and a new system of drainage +introduced, the mischief was already wrought, so far as Dolly was +concerned. All of the girls liked her, and were ready to do all in +their power to make things easier for her when she returned once more +to her classes. Her illness was not serious, but it was tedious and +wearisome. Constance copied her own literature notes into Dolly's book, +and Margery copied the Greek art. The professors did everything in +their power to smooth things, but Christmas found Dolly pale and thin, +and utterly aghast at the work she must take up; for the half-yearly +examinations to which the juniors were treated would come at the end of +January and she was far from being prepared. + +"I wonder if I hadn't better give up college altogether, Mother? It +will break my heart to do it, but, honestly, I do not see how I can ever +make up all this work. I lack the energy to attack it. It is not merely +the work that I have missed, either, during these three weeks since I +have been in the hospital. I could not do good work for several weeks +before that. To think of Beth's graduating, and my not even being in +college then," and Dolly tried to wink away the tears which would come, +for Dolly was not strong yet. + +Mrs. Alden had stayed throughout Dolly's sickness, and now she looked at +her daughter thoughtfully. "I want to do the best thing for you, +Dolly, and, as far as I am concerned, I feel like bundling you up and +taking you home for good. I wrote Fred to that effect, but he says that +you will not forgive me in after years if I do it. He has a plan of his +own, and you shall hear it. Then you can decide for yourself what to +do. You are old enough to make the decision unaided. Fred wants to +bring home Rob Steele for the holidays. There will be nearly three +weeks. He says that Rob has been overworking fearfully, and is in +danger of breaking down. Rob refuses to come, because he says that he +is already under so many obligations to Fred. He is as obstinate as a +mule, your brother declares. So Fred proposes that you take home your +note-books and whatever else you need, and let Rob coach you up in the +mornings. He can make him come under those circumstances. He wants me +to tell you that Rob is a splendid coach, and that he will fix you up so +that you can go back in January with a free mind. You can give your +mornings to study, and have plenty of time for fun beside. What shall I +tell him, Dolly, dear? I must write at once." + +"I believe, I actually believe, that I could do it in that way. Beth +wanted to help me, but we do not have the same studies, and I knew how +anxious she was to be at home, too. This plan will help Mr. Steele, and +Fred will like that." + +"Yes, Fred will like that, for he is fond of Rob, but, most of all, he +will like helping you, Dolly. Fred is proud of his sister. Can you do +this without overtasking yourself? Health must come first." + +"I know I can. It was mostly the thought of sitting down to the horrid +old books all alone; I merely didn't have the courage to face the +prospect. This will improve matters. I would rather do it than not--much +rather. I am considerable of a baby since I have been sick, Motherdie, +and I dreaded going at the work that will have to be done. At the +same time, I couldn't bear to fall behind the class. Fred is a jewel." + +And so the matter was settled, to the delight of all. Beth's face looked +brighter than it had since Dolly's illness. "I just could not stand +it to have you drop out, Dolly. Tell Fred that he is the nicest young +man I know, to think of this solution of the difficulty. You will get +through all right, I know!" + +And Dolly did get through, for she worked faithfully during the holidays. +Rob Steele was about the best person she could have had to help her, +and, as Fred surmised, he agreed to go willingly enough, when he found +that there was work for him to do. When vacation was over, and Mr. +Alden tried to pay him, however, he bluntly refused to take a cent. +He was so positive in his refusal, and so hurt that the offer was even +made, that the subject was dropped. + +Margaret and Mary had gone home with Constance. Several of the other +girls had joined the party later and Margery Ainsworth had been with +them for a couple of days. Beth and Dolly had been invited, but Dolly +could not spare the time from her studies, and Beth would not go without +her. Besides, as she told Mrs. Newby: "I like home better than any other +place, so what is the use of running off the moment I get here?" + +"We like to have you with us, dearie, but we must not be selfish. If +you are really happy here at home, we shall be glad to keep you. Nell +and the boys have been looking forward to vacation time very eagerly. You +know, though, that you would have a gay round of pleasure if you should +go to Constance." + +"But I am not going, Mother, and that is positively settled. You need +not say another word unless you want to get rid of me." + +"That is so likely!" + +So Beth and Dolly spent their holidays this time in their own homes, and +while they would have enjoyed the good times which Constance gave her +friends, they doubtless went back to their studies all the fresher for +the quiet rest they had had. + +Dick Martin had run down to see Fred on New Year's Day. He pretended +to feel much hurt and slighted when he found that Rob Steele had been +coaching Dolly all vacation. + +"Why didn't you ask me? I was in need of such a job, and I would have +done it for much less than Steele! Next time you want help, don't forget +me." + +"Have you any references from former pupils?" Dolly asked maliciously. + +"Now, I call that a very unkind speech. If you are going to doubt my +ability, I have nothing more to say, of course; still, next time you need +help I do hope that you will give me a chance. I mean it, Miss Dolly." + +"I trust that there will be no 'next time.' A few such setbacks as +this, and I should be obliged to leave college." + +"I sincerely hope there will not be, either. Now I would like a promise +from you, and I hope you will not refuse to grant it. I have been +intending to speak about it for some time." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +"Well?" + +"You want to see your brother graduate?" + +"Of course I do. We have not made any definite plans as yet, but I have +been counting on being at Harvard for all of commencement week, if I can +manage to get permission. Fred wants me to bring Mary and Beth, too." + +"That will be fine, but don't you see that Fred cannot do justice to +three young ladies? Let me do the honors of Harvard as far as you are +concerned. Come, now, promise!" + +Dolly shook her head. "Fred is a model brother, and I am sure that he +would be utterly disgusted if I should make any such promise as that. I +think that he will be equal to the three of us, but I shall be glad if +you will assist him in his onerous duties." + +"You are not very generous to me, but when you find Fred engrossed with +Miss Sutherland, and entirely oblivious to the fact that he has a sister, +I will forgive you, and take you under my protecting care." + +"Fred will not forget me." + +Her companion laughed mischievously. "I would like to make a wager on +that point, but I know that you never bet--so all I can do is to wait for +the future to prove me a true prophet." + +During the busy weeks that followed, Dolly thought of his words more +than once. Was it possible that Fred cared particularly for Mary? She +did not think so. She hoped not, too, for she knew Mary well enough to +be sure that that young lady wasted no thoughts upon Fred, or upon any +other young man. + +"All Mary cares for," she told herself half-angrily, "is biology, and +her own family. She has her future mapped out, and she expects to teach +forever and forever. Fred need not waste a single thought on her, and +I do not believe that he does, either." + +But when commencement time approached, and Fred was so plainly cast +down over Mary's refusal to go to Harvard, Dolly began to think that +she might be wrong in her conclusions. Fred had the matter so much at +heart that he bespoke his mother's influence, and Mary at length gave +a reluctant consent. + +"But I have nothing to wear that is new and pretty, Dolly, and you will +be ashamed of me." + +The conversation took place in Professor Newton's room, and she +interposed at this point. "You must have a new white dress, Mary, and +it shall be my present to you. We will get a very pretty one, and +with what you have already, Dolly need not be ashamed of you." + +"As if I would be, anyway," Dolly protested reproachfully. + +But Professor Newton realized that a new dress may give a girl a +certain self-possession and ease, so she was determined that her niece +should have at least one gown that would be becoming and suitable. Mary +grumbled, over the waste of money, as she termed it, but her aunt +quietly silenced her, and sent her off to Harvard, hoping that, for +once in her life, Mary would act like a young girl instead of an old +woman, and would get as much pleasure out of the week as Beth and Dolly +did. + +Probably, to the majority of visitors, the Commencement that year was +like other Commencements, but Dolly was sure that it was much more +brilliant than anything ever before held at old Harvard. + +Rob Steele had won substantial honors, and both Fred and Dick Martin had +earned their degrees. The boys saw that the girls had a share in all the +fun that was going on. + +Westover would not close for another fortnight, but examinations were +over, and the girls could enjoy themselves with an easy mind. Dolly found +herself depending upon Dick Martin rather more than she had expected to +do. + +"Am I not a better prophet than you thought?" he asked one day when +Fred and Mary had disappeared. + +"I am afraid that you are." + +"Afraid! I beg your pardon, but I do not understand you. I imagined +that you would be quite pleased to find that Fred appreciated Miss +Sutherland." + +"But she does not appreciate him!" + +"You are sure?" + +"Positive." + +Dick gave a low whistle. "I never thought of that phase of the subject, +I'll confess. Fred is such a good fellow that I supposed anyone would +like him." + +"Mary likes him, but that is all. He certainly cannot vie in interest +in her mind with biology." + +"Poor Fred." + +Dolly sprang up. "I am not going to worry about Fred. Mary and he are +good friends, and Fred is far too young yet to think of anything else." + +Martin indulged in a long laugh. "Don't let him hear you, or he will +think that you do not appreciate his years and new dignities. As a matter +of fact, more than fifty per cent. of the students here are engaged." + +"How unutterably foolish." + +"Why, pray?" + +"Because they are too young to know what they want, or what kind of +women they really like. If they studied harder, they would not be getting +into so much mischief." + +"Then you think the boys should wait until--" + +"Until they are not boys," finished Dolly abruptly. "Come and let us +hunt up the others." + +And for the remaining days of the visit, Dolly was unapproachable, though +why she acted just so, was a matter which she herself could not have +explained very satisfactorily. + +There had been considerable discussion over the summer plans. The Aldens +and Newbys went to the Thousand Isles finally, though Mr. Alden insisted +that another year they must try the seashore. + +Rob Steele had gone directly from Harvard to Philadelphia, and was +working hard in Mr. Newby's office. He had not broken down during his +senior year, but he had been very near doing so. Later in the summer he +and Fred might go camping for a fortnight in the Adirondacks, but he +refused all invitations to the Islands. "He could afford neither the +time nor the money, for such a delightful outing." + +Constance and her mother had gone to England for the summer. Margaret +Hamilton and her mother were spending the warm weather at a pleasant +farmhouse near Westover. Dolly and Beth heard from both the girls +frequently. + +Margery Ainsworth had found tutoring to do--and was perfectly happy in +consequence. She begged her father to let her try and find some work +the next year; she was sure that she could find something which she was +capable of doing, but her father would not listen. + +"My health is none too good, Margery, and when I am gone, I want to +know that you will be able to take care of your mother well. You cannot +do that now. You are not fitted for any special thing. You would be +compelled to work for a low salary, and when hard times came, you might +find yourself without any position at all. I should like to give you +a couple of years of post-graduate study, too, but that is impossible +now." + +So Margery yielded, knowing in her heart that her father's plan was +really the wisest, and promising herself to utilize every moment. Yet +she hated the thought of drawing upon their small reserve fund for her +college expenses. + +It was Professor Arnold who finally came to her assistance. College had +opened and the work of the year had fairly commenced. Professor Arnold +was none too popular with the girls, principally for the reason that +none of them understood her well. She was exacting in the classroom, and +indolent students received small mercy at her hands. Yet when people +once penetrated beneath her reserve, they found her lovable, charming +and sincere. + +She knew Margery Ainsworth's circumstances well, and since the girl's +second entrance at college had watched her keenly. Now she went to her +with a proposition that filled Margery with the keenest gratitude. "Miss +Ainsworth, could you manage to take the Latin classes in the preparatory +department? You are perfectly competent to do the work, and if you think +that you can find the time and if you care to undertake it, what you do +there will balance your expenses here." + +There was no doubt that Margery would find the time. What wouldn't +she do for the sake of paying her own way? So she undertook the work +eagerly, and wrote a joyful letter home. Mr. Ainsworth shook his head +rather dubiously over it. He feared that his daughter was undertaking +more than her strength would permit, but he did not like to forbid the +plan definitely, and so Margery went on with the work. There were many +times when she was so tired that it did seem as if she could not prepare +her own recitations for the next day, but she never quite gave way, and +she never once regretted the fact that she had undertaken the extra +duties. + +Professor Arnold kept a watchful eye on her, although Margery was not +aware of it, and she became more and more certain, as the year went +by, that Margery was just the person that Madame Deveaux would want +the next year, at her exceedingly fashionable school in New York. +One of the teachers would leave at the close of the present year, and +Madame had already asked Professor Arnold to secure someone for her. So, +although Margery did not know it, her way was being made plain and +easy. Constance, too, had been thinking of Margery, but when she found +out, accidentally, what Professor Arnold's plan was, she said nothing +more, merely resolving to make Margery's holidays as pleasant as +possible. And Margery would be happy in her work, knowing that she +was helping her home folks and was making the best atonement possible +for her former folly. + +Class elections passed off smoothly. As Beth said, she had not planned +things for two long years just to fail at the last moment. Beth's +"ticket," as Dolly insisted on calling it, was carried through +triumphantly, and without any hard feelings on the part of any one. + +So Dolly was elected president, Margaret was editor-in-chief of the +_Chronicle_, Constance was historian, and both Mary and Beth were on +the executive committee. Beth had objected decidedly when her name was +proposed, but she was so capable and energetic, that her classmates +really wanted her in that all-important place. + +The majority of the girls had their plans more or less well defined for +the next year. Margaret had already given her name to the faculty as an +applicant for a school, and it was hardly to be doubted that she would +get what she wished. Westover ranked so high among colleges, that its +graduates were in demand every place, and each year brought the faculty +scores of letters, from both public and private schools, asking that +one of Westover's graduates be sent them. + +Constance would take a couple of years of post-graduate work before +going into the College Settlement. Several of the others expected to be +back for one year at least, Hope Brereton, Hazel Browne, Ada Willing and +Florence Smith. Some of the others, too, perhaps, but neither Dolly +nor Beth felt that they could be spared longer from home. Beth knew +how much her stepmother and the children looked forward to the next +year, and so, although she did wish at times that she might be back at +Westover for some special work in mathematics, she did not entertain the +thought seriously, for the boys really needed her, and her father said +that they were lonesome at home without her. She would help to make her +home as pleasant as she could, and she would do some earnest work with +her music. Without doubt there would be enough to keep her busy! She +would find plenty of duties when she came to look for them. + +Dolly knew that her father and mother felt that they had spared her as +long as they could. Fred would still be away for several years, for +he had decided to take a thorough course in electrical engineering in +Boston. Dick Martin was studying medicine there, so that the two saw +considerable of each other. + +Mary Sutherland was hoping for a place in the preparatory department the +next year, so that she could teach, and yet do extra work in the line +of biology. + +"Why, Mary Sutherland," Dolly exclaimed, when Mary first confided this +plan to her, "I should think that you knew all there was to be known +about that subject now." + +Mary stared at her friend in honest horror. "I could never know all +about it, Dolly, if I should live as long as Methuselah and study day +and night. I don't know enough to try and teach anything about it yet, +but sometime I hope I may." + +"Fred can't hope to compete with biology, so far as Mary is +concerned," Dolly told herself emphatically, for by this time she +acknowledged that Dick Martin had been correct, and that Fred's +interest in Mary was more than a friendly one. It seemed strange +enough to Dolly that this was so, for Mary was not pretty, and she had +none of the little accomplishments which usually attract young men. +Now, if it had only been Beth! and Dolly sighed dismally. It would have +been so lovely to have Beth for a sister; of course, she liked Mary, +but she could never care as much for her, or for anyone else, as for Beth. + +While all of the girls were anxious to be at home, they dreaded the +leaving of college and the breaking up of the ties which had bound +them so closely for four years. It seemed as if time had never rushed +on as swiftly as during those last months. Class Day and Commencement +were upon them almost before they realized it. Dolly had made a very +dignified, impartial president, and the class was delighted at its +own good judgment in selecting her. + +The _Chronicle_ had flourished under Margaret's management; it had +contained more bright and witty things than ever before, and Beth heard +some of the juniors groaning over their patent inability to keep the +magazine, during the ensuing year, up to its present standard of merit. + +Beth repeated the remark with much delight to Margaret. "It has been a +great success, girls, and we owe it all to Margaret. She has put soul +and life into it. In fact, I think we can be proud of our record all +the way through college; we have the largest class ever graduated; we +certainly have some of the brightest students that were ever within +these walls, we have the most unique entertainments of any class, and +the _Chronicle_ has never been as good as it is this year." + +"How we apples do swim!" said Dolly mockingly. + +"You are as proud of this class as I am, and you know it, Dolly Alden! +Professor Newton told me the other day that the faculty was perfectly +satisfied with us. We have some actually brilliant students here. Look +at Amy Norton, for instance! She is a phenomenon. Our choir is fine, and +altogether," Beth wound up emphatically, "we are just about as nice a +class as you can find any place." + +"We are nice," Dolly conceded, "but, Beth, let me tell you that our +pride is going to have a fearful fall in one particular." + +"I don't understand you." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +"I am talking about the athletic contests that come off the first of +Commencement week. We simply shan't be in it. Vassar, Wellesley, Smith, +and all the others, seem to be in great shape, but we shall disgrace +ourselves." + +"But, Dolly dear, we must do tolerably well, or we should never be in +the contests at all. There were scores of colleges that tried for a place +and we were one of the six successful ones, so we must certainly be able +to do something." + +"You would not be feeling so confident if you took more interest in +athletics. We should never have won a place at all except for Ruth +Armstrong. She was superb at everything; running, jumping, +throwing--everything. It was she, and she alone, who won us our place +on the list. She was simply phenomenal, but, as you know, she isn't here +this year, and there is no one at all on whom we can count. Vassar +is sure now of one event, and the Cornell girls will get another, that +is positive. I had hoped that we could do something in the running +contests, but Rose Wilson has twisted her ankle, so the only thing in +which we stood the least show is out of the question." + +"Well, Dolly dear, with six colleges represented, and only three events +to come off, everyone could not win." + +"Of course not, and now Westover will not be one of the lucky three. +We shall not even win second place in anything! In short, we are in such +bad shape that I wish we had never tried to revive athletics here at +Westover. The other colleges have been working in this direction for +years, and it was absurd for us to compete with them." + +"Don't worry; I think that we have won honor enough simply by being +admitted to the competition. Lots of colleges are envious of us." + +"They will not be very long," said Dolly soberly. + +There was really nothing to be said that could comfort Dolly. All that +she asserted was only too true. None of the quartette were on the +athletic teams, but all of the students had been discussing the coming +contests with grave faces. + +"If we had not made the absurd rule that only Seniors could be in these +contests, we might do something even yet. There is rather good material +among the freshmen and sophomores." + +"But the other colleges only admit the seniors, so we could not be +allowed to pick from all the classes. If only Ruth Armstrong were here!" + +But Ruth, just then, was climbing the Alps, with no thought of her former +classmates who stood in such dire need of her. + +"Tell me once more on what contests you have finally decided." Of +course, it was Mary who asked the question; any other girl would have +known. + +"The idea of your not knowing!" + +"Well, you have changed your minds so often, and I have been so busy +with my new experiments, that I do not think it wonderful that I am not +posted. Tell me, Dolly." + +"The faculties limited us to three contests. I felt indignant at the +time, for I wanted a dozen, at least, but now I am ready to bow to their +superior wisdom. The more contests there are, the more defeats there +would be for us." + +"But how have you finally settled it?" + +"We have settled and unsettled matters a dozen times, but our last +decision is really final; there will be running and jumping, and, last +of all, a boat race." + +"And we do not stand a show?" + +"Not a ghost of a show for even second place," and Dolly sighed. Being +president, she felt as if the honor or disgrace of the college rested +on her. + +Mary broke the silence at last. "I have not gone in for athletics since +I have been here, because I don't care for such things, but I can do +considerable in the running and jumping line. I can't row at all, and I +would be no good there, but if you want me to try and help you out in +the other things, I will." + +"Why, Mary Sutherland, and you never said a word before! But you must +be awfully out of practice. Do you actually think that you can save us +from total disgrace?" + +"I don't know what the girls at the other colleges can do, so I am +hardly prepared to say how much I can aid you, dear. I am not so +fearfully out of practice, either. Every summer I have been kept in +trim by my brothers, and really I can beat them both at running and +jumping, when I am in good condition." + +"But that was nearly a year ago, Mary." + +"I know, but I have been to the gymnasium every night after my +experiments. I have done all sorts of running and jumping there just +to tire myself out so that I could sleep. No one has ever seen me at +that time, and I never thought of your really needing my services. I +expect that I have been horribly selfish." + +"You are just angelic now, for I know that you were planning to do a lot +of extra work with Professor Reimer during these last days of college, +and you would rather be with him than helping us out of a hole." + +That was so very true that Mary blushed. She had felt reluctant to even +mention her prowess, but a second thought had made her ashamed of her +hesitancy. What had not Dolly and these other friends of hers done to +make college life pleasant for her during the past four years? Mary +herself could not get up much enthusiasm with regard to the athletics. +If there were a scientific contest now! + +"Come up to the gymnasium, girls, and I will get into my suit and +show you what I can do. As I said, I practice almost every evening, +for after the laboratory work I am so wide awake that I could never +go to sleep at all. I found that out long ago. I would just lie in +bed and think out different experiments. Of course, the next day my head +felt like lead, and I was as stupid as an owl. So I resorted to the +gymnasium. There is no trouble any more about my sleeping, for I tire +myself out physically before I stop. Now, just wait a moment. I hope you +will not be disappointed after all my boasting. I really do not know +whether I am better than the rest of the girls you have picked out or +not. I suppose I must be pretty good at running and jumping, because +the boys think so, and they are usually very chary of their praise +where sisters are concerned." + +But after the first five minutes there was no doubt in anyone's mind as +to Mary's superiority over all the other girls. She was really fine. +Dolly's drooping spirits rose with a bound. + +"I shall love you forever for saving the day for us, Mary. You are not +out of practice a bit, but still you will let Mr. Thornbury have all +your extra leisure until the games come off, won't you? I hate to ask +it," Dolly went on hurriedly, for she knew that this would involve the +giving up of all the extra laboratory work which Mary was doing. "But +you will do it for the sake of the college, will you not?" + +"Oh, yes. If I am going to go into this thing at all, I want to do my +best. I didn't see the trial competitions last year, but you and Beth +did. How do I compare with the girls from the other colleges?" + +"You do better than they did then, but I hear that they have been +practicing hard ever since." + +"I will do my very best, Dolly; perhaps we can win a 'second' after +all. Mr. Thornbury shall give me all the drilling and training that he +wishes to. My examinations are all over, and I really do not have to do +a single thing more. I was doing the extra work with Professor Reimer +just because it was such a wonderfully good chance." + +And Mary, true to her word, gave up all her time to gymnasium work. All +of their friends came flocking to Westover for Commencement week. In +fact, the closing ceremonies occupied nearly ten days. + +All of the "diggers" had won their degrees, and also, rather to +their astonishment, a place on the "honor" roll. Beth, as everyone +expected, had taken the mathematical prize, Mary had been awarded the +special prize given occasionally for exceptionally fine work along +scientific lines, Margaret had won a year's study abroad for the +highest average throughout the entire course. Margery received an +honorable mention for her work, but she was not eligible for any +prize, as those were open only to students who went straight through +the four years' course, and Margery had not done that. There was an +archaeological prize that went to Helen Stetson, and several other +prizes or scholarships in post-graduate work that went to girls who had +excelled in some special line. + +The friends of the "diggers" were more than satisfied with the work +that had been done by them. It seemed to Dolly as if everyone had come +to Westover that she had ever known. All of Beth's relatives and +hers, even to the third and fourth cousins. Constance's people were +there, of course, and they did not fail to exert themselves to make Mrs. +Hamilton comfortable and at ease. Her delight and pride in Margaret +were something beautiful to see. The prize which she had so unexpectedly +won, changed Margaret's plans somewhat. She would go to Girton for a +year's study; her mother was also to go; there was money enough for +that, for neither of them had been extravagant during these four years +just past. A fine position was already promised Margaret on her return. + +Mary had secured the coveted place in the preparatory school at Westover, +and had arranged to do special work at the college next year. She had +been very sober when the other girls had been talking about Commencement +and their friends who were coming. It seemed hard to Mary that her +father and mother could not be there. But she knew that such an expense +was simply out of the question, and she tried to be content. + +Then a most wonderful thing happened, just a fortnight before +Commencement. Some one (Mary suspected Constance, though she never knew +surely) had sent Mr. and Mrs. Sutherland two railroad tickets to +Westover and return; there were Pullman seats enclosed, too, for the day +on which they should depart, and so, after all, Mary's father and mother +were present. And if their hands were toilworn and their clothes very +old-fashioned, Mary did not care. After all, in the great throng no +one's garments were noticed very particularly. It was only the +graduating class that was especially scrutinized, and it was hard to +tell whether the girls looked more enchanting in their white, filmy +dresses or in their caps and gowns. + +Class Day, with all its gayety, passed off brilliantly. Constance made +a fine historian; Hazel Browne read the class poem, and it was very +generally conceded, even among the old graduates, to be one of the best +things that had ever been read in the old Westover Hall. It was pungent +and witty, without being at all bitter or malicious. + +Dolly presided on all the numerous occasions necessitated by Commencement +week, with a pretty dignity and grace that more than one person found +very fascinating. + +The weather was perfect, sunshiny and bright, but not overpoweringly hot, +and the exercises went off with a smoothness that made Dolly wild with +satisfaction and delight. + +"You are getting altogether too proud, sister mine," asserted Fred. +"If Westover should actually happen to win something in tomorrow's +contest, there will be no living with you." + +"I am proud of the girls and of the college, and of everything connected +with it." + +"To tell the truth, I am rather proud of you! I don't wish to make you +conceited and all puffed up with vanity, but really, Dolly, you make a +first-class president. We are just brimming over with pride. Can't you +see how satisfied Father and Mother are looking? You owe me something +for getting Rob to coach you last year. I verily believe that you were +just about ready to give up then." + +"I was, for a fact, and I shall be grateful to you all my life, Fred, +for what you planned. Just think of missing this," and Dolly drew a deep +breath. + +"It would have been too bad, that's sure," affirmed Dick Martin, who +chanced to be present. "I never saw a more ideal Commencement. Perfect +weather, lovely girls and original programs. How did you ever manage +it all so smoothly, Miss Dolly? I see that your special friends captured +the choicest prizes and scholarships. Was it all a prearranged plan? +Things went your way--you could hardly ask anything more than you and +your friends got." + +"Yes, I could," and Dolly sobered down. "The athletic contests come +tomorrow, the very last thing on our program. We could not get them in +before, and perhaps it is just as well, for I do not expect that we +shall win any glory." + +"I thought Fred said that Miss Sutherland was to save the day for you?" + +"She is our only hope; the rest of the girls do not amount to anything. +But Vassar and Smith, to say nothing of Cornell and Wellesley and Mount +Holyoke, have been boasting so securely since they arrived that our +hopes are now below zero." + +"You are anxious to win?" + +"Very. Westover has been out of all athletic contests for so long that +we want to get our place again, and if our own particular class could +achieve that, we should feel that we had nothing more to ask." + +"I should say you wouldn't have, for your class is leaving a great +record here, that is sure. I have faith in your friend. I believe that +she will help you out, despite all the boasting of the others." + +"I hope you are right. I do hope it. I shall be so glad, so glad--" + +"So glad, that you will grant all sorts of favors?" her companion +asked, as they sauntered slowly over the lawn. Fred had disappeared +in search of Mary. + +"Yes, quite glad enough to do anything for anyone," asserted Dolly +recklessly. A moment later she caught her breath, and wished she had +not said just that. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +"I am going to remind you of that tomorrow evening," Dick said quietly. +"I am confident now that Miss Sutherland will come off victorious." + +Dolly was glad that a bevy of girls surrounded them just then, demanding +all the latest information with regard to the contests on tomorrow. She +slipped away from her companion soon, and managed to hold him at a +distance until the next afternoon, when the great events came off. The +best places for seeing had been reserved for the seniors and their +friends, so when Dolly took her place by her mother, it was not at +all strange that Dick Martin should be seated on the other side of her. + +On the opposite benches were the friends of the other competitors, and +college flags and college cries were much in evidence. Cornell and +Vassar seemed particularly confident, and as Dolly heard their shouts +and noticed their jubilant flags, she grew despondent. + +Beth was sitting just back of her. "Don't give up before we fairly +commence, Dolly. We have just as much right to shout as they have. Mary +did magnificently this morning." + +"And don't forget that you are to take a walk with me this evening, +and I'll tell you then what I want you to do for me." That was Dick +Martin. + +"Oh, don't you know that tonight we give a supper to the visitors from +the other colleges? I can't go with you possibly." + +"I mean to have my walk either before or after; you shall not snub me +in that fashion." + +But Dolly pretended not to hear. Her eyes were on the smooth stretch of +road in front of her. They were jumping, yes--Mary was not as good at +that as she was at running. + +Dolly slipped her hand into her mother's. + +"It is a very good thing that such events as this come only once in a +lifetime. I am too excitable to stand the strain equably like Constance." + +"Once in a lifetime is quite enough, I'll agree," said Mrs. Alden, +looking rather anxiously at Dolly's flushed cheeks. "I shall be glad to +have you safely at home, where I can keep you quiet and have you rest." + +"Yes, Mother," said Dolly, not really hearing a word of what Mrs. +Alden was saying. "Oh, look! Wasn't that splendid of Mary? Do cheer +her, Mr. Martin. Louder! Louder yet! Mary has gone farther than any of +them, but I am afraid of Miss Smith of Vassar. That is she now! Oh!" A +despairing note in her tone as Miss Smith made a better record than +Mary had done. "How dreadful! But Mary has won us a second at least, +and that is really more than I dared hope." + +"Cheer up, then. There are two more chances for you." + +"We do not stand the slightest chance in the boat race, and I am afraid +that Mary cannot do any better in the running. Still I am grateful for +what she has won for us. We shall not be disgraced, at least." + +"Now watch!" as the runners lined up in position. "I have a +presentiment that you will feel jubilant when this race is over." + +And it became evident, almost from the first second, that Westover would +win. Mary's pride was fully roused. She knew how anxious her class was +to come off victorious in one of the contests at least, and she did her +very best, but her best was needed, for Cornell was very close behind her. + +The cheering and yelling were almost deafening. Really, Mr. Alden said, +it was quite as bad as one of the Harvard football games. He didn't see +to what the girls' colleges were coming, if this sort of thing continued. + +But Dolly and Beth, to whom his words were addressed, heard not a +syllable of his raillery. They were too intent on waving their flags +and cheering Mary. Westover had covered herself with glory, and Dolly +could go home tomorrow with not a wish ungratified. + +Fred hurried up to his people. "Mary saved the day for you, didn't she? +She is having a regular ovation down by the Oaks. Shall I take you to +her, Dolly?" + +"Yes, yes, I am wild to see her and thank her. The idea of Mary's being +the one to come to the rescue so nobly. I always knew she was a dear! You +need not save my seat for me, Mother, I would rather not see the boat +race at all, we stand no show there." + +And Dolly whisked down from her high seat of honor as president of the +class, and ran in search of Mary, whose father and mother could not +comprehend the importance of all the athletic contests, but who were +nevertheless filled with very pardonable pride at their daughter's +triumph. + +When Dolly reached the Oaks, Mary had disappeared, and the most diligent +search in grounds and rooms failed to reveal her. + +Dolly wandered back disconsolately just in time to hear the crowd +cheering for Wellesley, who had won the boat race, with Vassar a close +second. + +"They can have their victory, and welcome," Dolly said contentedly to +Dick Martin, who joined her just then. "We have all we want. I must go +now and see if the tables are all in readiness for tonight." + +"I just heard Miss Newby declare that everything had been done, so I +hope you will walk down to the end of the grounds with me. Can't you +do that, Dolly? I have been trying to get a moment with you for a long +time. I must go back to Boston at eight o'clock, and this is my last +opportunity to talk with you." + +[Illustration: "Aren't you going to say anything to me, Dolly?"] + +"Well," with an unaccountable hesitation in her manner. "I suppose +that a class president ought not to run away like this, but if you will +not take me far--" + +"I want to take you all along life's journey, Dolly. Is that too much +to ask? You know what I hope to do, what my plans are and how I am +longing to do a little good in the world. Will you help me? I think I +have cared for you ever since the first time we met. Aren't you going +to say anything to me, Dolly?" + +Dolly's brain was in a whirl. How could she tell? Yet, did she want +him to go off and never come back? No, no, she knew she could hardly +endure that. And Dick, not knowing what her silence meant, and fearing +that a bitter disappointment was in store for him, leaned down to look +in her face. Dolly smiled up at him tremulously, and Dick had the answer +he wished, although no words were spoken. + + * * * * * + +Late that night Dolly sought out her mother for a word. "I could not go +to sleep tonight without telling you, Mother, but--" + +"I understand, Dolly, Dick has spoken, hasn't he? I knew that he would, +for he wished to do so a year ago, but I think he feared a refusal then. +We have known his feeling for you for a long time, Dolly dearest, and +I know that he will make your life very happy. But he must let you stay +with us for a long time yet." + +"Of course," said Dolly hastily. "Of course, why, I would never, +never go off from you now. Dick will not be through with his medical +studies for two or three years yet. You will have me at home a long +time, Motherdie." + +"We can't have you too long, Dolly; we would like to keep you always, +but that is impossible, evidently." + +And then Dolly turned consoler, and there was a long, long talk, despite +the fact that it was in the wee small hours, and that they were all to +take a railroad journey that day. + +Dolly got up at last reluctantly enough, but she stopped even then when +she reached the door. + +"Mother, did you notice Fred late last evening? What was the matter with +him? He looked so grave and sober." + +"He has not told me anything at all, Dolly, but I imagine that he has +spoken to Mary." + +"Oh, Mother, couldn't he see for himself that Mary cares nothing for +him? The poor boy!" + +"I am sorry for him, dear; I feared that he would speak too soon, but +it was best to say nothing. Fred will not give up easily, and in time +Mary may come to appreciate him. Now she does not give a thought to +anything beyond her plans and her work." + +"I do not believe that she will ever change," and Dolly went to her +room with her own new joy tinged with sadness as she thought of Fred's +disappointment. + + * * * * * + +It is more than two years later. The class of '09 had been holding a +reunion in New York. A number of the members lived in that city, and +others were within easy access of it. So Constance had proposed that +there should be semi-annual reunions at her home for as many as could +come. Several of these reunions had been held now, and the girls enjoyed +them, perhaps even more than the yearly gatherings at Westover during +Commencement week, when they did not really have time to compare notes +and gossip, as they liked to do, over all the little happenings of the +past year. + +This time there seemed even more news than usual to be talked over +and discussed. Sarah Weston would sail the next week for India as a +missionary, Grace Egle was studying medicine, Ellen Terence and Kate +Seaton were doing work on New York newspapers, and were doing it well, +too. Margaret had run off for a day from the well-known college in which +she had a good position; Mary was there, too, but after the holidays +she would go west, for she had accepted the chair of Biology in a new +woman's college just started there. One of the girls was singing in a +fashionable church, though, when she used that adjective, Beth protested +vigorously. + +"I think that it is horrible to speak of a fashionable church. I know +that it is often done, but a church that merits such an adjective cannot +be a church in the true sense of the term." + +There had been some lively talk on the subject after Beth's remark, +and the girls had enjoyed it, for it seemed like the old days at +Westover, when they were constantly picking each other up and holding +conversational tilts. + +Another of the class was doing lyceum work as a public reader. Still +another had opened a kindergarten, and many more, like Beth and Dolly, +were filling quietly and efficiently the little niches at home which +sadly needed them. + +For the most part, college life had broadened all of the girls, so that +none of them were entirely content to lead a perfectly useless life of +fashion and gayety. Constance herself had gone into college settlement +work, just as she had planned to do long before. + +After the rest of their classmates had gone, Mary and the "diggers" +(for the old name seemed still to cling to them) stayed for a cosy chat +with Constance. Beth and Dolly, indeed, would stay for a couple of days +longer. + +They were sipping tea, which Constance had insisted on making, when her +sharp eyes caught the gleam of a new ring on Margaret's finger. "Who +gave you that, Meg? Are you keeping secrets from your crowd? I wouldn't +have believed it of you." + +Margaret flushed richly. "I truly meant to tell you girls before I left +tonight, but it was not easy to tell someway. It is absurd to think of +it, but really, I am going, if nothing happens, to be Abby Dunbar's +sister some day." + +"Margaret! how lovely! no, not that you will be her sister, but that +you will be Raymond Dunbar's wife, for he is as broad and generous and +fine as she is petty and narrow." + +"I congratulate you with all my heart, Meg, and I am so glad that Abby +married that Englishman and will live abroad. Raymond is just the one man +in all the world that you should marry." + +"Thank you a thousand times, girls," Margaret said heartily when she +had been duly kissed and hugged. "But you know really, that he is much +better and nobler than I. It is so, and you need not try to contradict +me. I thought at first that he was trying in this way to atone for his +father's youthful faults, but--" + +"But you do not think so any more," Dolly said shrewdly, looking at +her friend's changing face. + +"No, I do not," Margaret owned softly. + +Constance looked around on the other faces. "Now I wonder if any more +of you are hiding weighty secrets. If so, confess!" + +"How about our hostess, herself?" retorted Beth quickly. + +Constance smiled serenely. "I have absolutely nothing to confess. I +feel like a grandmother, with all this talk of engagements and marriage +going on around me. I am outside of it all. Margery Ainsworth and I +will probably be the old, staid spinsters of the class; we have found +work enough to fill all our lives. By the way, Dolly, how long is Mr. +Martin going to consent to wait for you? You have been engaged a couple +of years now." + +"More than that, and his patience seems about exhausted," Dolly +acknowledged with a frank blush. "So I presume that you will receive +our cards immediately after Christmas." + +"It is your turn, now, Mary. What have you to say for yourself?" +Constance continued mercilessly. + +"Absolutely nothing beyond what you already know. I have the position +which I have coveted all my life, so, of course, I am quite satisfied." +Despite Mary's words, however, there was a new tone in her voice, +which made Dolly resolve to catechise her later. Something had happened, +but Dolly could not make out what. + +"Your turn now, Elizabeth," commanded Constance. + +Dolly laughed mischievously. She alone knew that Beth really had some +news to tell. "Shall I spare your blushes and help you out, dear? She +has only been engaged two days now, so that she cannot carry her new +honors as sedately as--" + +"As some people who have worn an engagement ring for two years and a +half," Beth interposed. "I'll tell my own story, Dolly Alden. Father +has offered to take Mr. Steele into partnership this summer, and--" + +"And the daughter thought it such a good scheme that she is going to +do likewise," Dolly interjected, and then after the first burst of +astonishment was over, the girls had a long talk over their plans and +hopes. + +It was a couple of hours later before Dolly found the quiet opportunity +that she wanted for speaking to Mary. + +"Aren't you ever going to be good to Fred, Mary? He is one of the very +best boys in the world." + +"I know it, and it doesn't seem fair to him that he should be wasting +his time and thoughts on me." + +Dolly looked at her friend keenly. "You and Fred have some new +understanding. Aren't you going to tell me what it is?" + +Mary looked troubled. "It is not an understanding at all, and I cannot +have you think that, or Fred either. I have promised to write to him, +and he says he will not take my final answer for a couple of years. It +does not seem fair to him--" + +Dolly interrupted her with a kiss. "Don't worry your tender conscience. +Just leave it all to time, and to Fred. If he is contented, you can +afford to be." + +And to herself Dolly added: "Fred has the wisdom of the serpent; Mary +cares more for him than she realizes, and he will win her in the end." + + + + +SELECTIONS FROM LIST OF + +The C. M. Clark Publishing Co. + +WINDING WATERS. By Frances Parker. + Illustrated. Cloth. Price, $1.50. + +Author of the two big Western successes: "Hope Hathaway" and "Marjie +of the Lower Ranch." This is the first work from the pen of Miss Parker +in four years. You will find in her new strong and compelling story of +the Great West many startling disclosures of our land that will rouse +criticism and interest. + +TRACT NUMBER 3377. By George H. Higgins and Margaret Higgins Haffey. + Spendidly Illustrated. Cloth. 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