diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/51686-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/51686-0.txt | 5983 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 5983 deletions
diff --git a/old/51686-0.txt b/old/51686-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 6a1ff1f..0000000 --- a/old/51686-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5983 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, Marjorie Dean, Post-Graduate, by Pauline -Lester - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: Marjorie Dean, Post-Graduate - - -Author: Pauline Lester - - - -Release Date: April 7, 2016 [eBook #51686] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARJORIE DEAN, POST-GRADUATE*** - - -E-text prepared by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team (http://www.bookcove.net) - - - -MARJORIE DEAN POST-GRADUATE - -by - -PAULINE LESTER - -Author of - “The Marjorie Dean High School Series,” - “The Marjorie Dean College Series,” - “The Marjorie Dean Post-Graduate Series,” etc. - - - - - - - -A. L. Burt Company -Publishers New York -Printed in U. S. A. - - - * * * * * * - -THE MARJORIE DEAN POST-GRADUATE SERIES - -A SERIES FOR GIRLS 12 TO 18 YEARS OF AGE - -By PAULINE LESTER - - MARJORIE DEAN, POST-GRADUATE - MARJORIE DEAN, MARVELOUS MANAGER - MARJORIE DEAN AT HAMILTON ARMS - MARJORIE DEAN’S ROMANCE - - * * * * * * - - -Copyright, 1925 -By A. L. Burt Company -MARJORIE DEAN, POST-GRADUATE -Made in “U. S. A.” - - - - -CHAPTER I.—ON THE SANDS - - -“It’s too perfect a night to stay on shore, girls and boys. Let’s go for -a moonlight cruise in the Oriole!” Hal Macy sprang up from the white -sands where he had been devotedly lounging at Marjorie Dean’s feet and -held out his hands to her. - -“Oh, glorious!” Marjorie gaily accepted the proffered hands. She -laughed, with the sheer pleasure of youth, as Hal swung her to her feet. -“My, what a strong person you are, Hal Macy!” she lightly commented as -she freed her hands from Hal’s lingering clasp. - -“Glad _you_ think so,” emphasized Hal. He could not help wishing -Marjorie were not quite so matter-of-fact. - -“_I_ don’t think so,” promptly disagreed Danny Seabrooke. “Macy is a -weakling; a mere muscleless infant compared to me.” - -“Oh, see here, Danny Seabrooke, you’ll have to eat that. Think I’ll -stand for any such talk? Eat it now, or else prove it,” challenged Hal. - -“I can prove it,” Danny waved confidently. “Just watch me lift Geraldine -from the shifting sands.” - -“Yes, just watch him,” drawled Lawrence Armitage. He took up a guitar, -temporarily idle on the sands, and began to strum it lightly. His deep -blue eyes rested mirthfully on Danny and Jerry. - -“Wait a second,” Danny elaborately braced his feet in the sand. “Now, -ready! Heave, heave, ho!” - -Jerry suddenly let go of his hands and dropped back on the beach. “No, -thank you.” She pretended displeasure. “I don’t care for your wonderful -assistance.” She directed a scornful glance at her would-be helper. - -“You did that on purpose,” accused Danny. “You are a cruel, cruel girl. -Suppose I had lost my balance and dug my nose into the sand?” - -“Sorry you didn’t,” was the unfeeling reply. - -“Squabbling again,” Laurie reached out a helping hand to Jerry and drew -her to her feet. Danny looked sadly on. - -“Please forgive me and continue to regard me as your friend. That’s all -I ask of you,” he pleaded with stony Jerry. - -“You talk like a popular song,” she criticized. She broke into smiles -when he knelt on the sand before her and contritely offered her his -hand. - -“Was that a compliment?” Danny grinned hopefully. - -“Why should I throw bouquets at you? Can you think of a reason?” Jerry -asked him. “I can’t think of one.” - -“Neither can I,” Danny agreed, and the squabblers burst into laughter. - -“Isn’t the moon wonderful tonight?” Standing beside Hal on the wide -strip of gleaming beach Marjorie worshipped the white night. “Leila -recites an old Irish poem about moonlight that must have been written -for this night. It goes like this: - - “The magic of yon sailing moon - Lures my poor heartstrings out of me; - God’s moonshine whitens the lagoon; - The earth’s a silver mystery.” - -Hal listened. His mind was centered on Marjorie rather than on the -quaint bit of verse she was reciting. In her white lingerie frock, her -vividly beautiful face raised toward the pale glory of the drifting -moon, her loveliness filled Hal’s boyish heart with worship. - -He would have liked to tell her that he thought her far more wonderful -than either the silvery moon or the most exquisite bit of Irish verse -that had ever been composed. Long friendship with Marjorie warned him -against such an avowal. She was so different from most girls about -compliments. She did not like to be told that she had done well, while -she positively loathed being told she was beautiful. She had a clever -way of politely ignoring a compliment, then immediately changing a -subject from personal to impersonal which Hal considered maddening. - -Since the first week in July when the Deans had arrived at Severn Beach, -there to spend a part of the summer, Hal had been trying to decide -whether or not he should allow another summer to pass without telling -Marjorie of his love for her. On that memorable autumn evening of last -year when Constance and Laurie had announced their early approaching -marriage Hal had been dejectedly certain that Marjorie had nothing to -give him save friendship. He had resolved then never to ask her to marry -him unless he should come to believe that she had experienced a change -of heart toward him. - -Lately, since Marjorie had come to stay at Severn Beach, where the Macys -usually spent the summers, Hal had been sorely tempted to break his -proud resolution. Constance and Laurie had returned from their winter in -Europe and were visiting Hal and Jerry at Cliff House, the apartment -hotel in which the Macy family lived. Their perfect happiness made Hal -wonder wistfully why it was that Marjorie could not love him even half -so fondly as Constance loved Laurie. He had been Marjorie’s faithful -cavalier for the same number of years that Laurie had been Constance’s. -Now Laurie had won Connie for his wife, while he and Marjorie were -still, as she had often said, “just good friends.” - -This disheartening thought now flashed through his brain for perhaps the -hundredth time that week. The calm friendly glance he forced himself to -bend on Marjorie as she finished quoting the verse bore no sign of his -disquieting reflections. - -“Bully for the Irish!” he exclaimed with deceiving heartiness. - -“You’re not a bit under the magic spell of the white moonshine,” she -rebuked with a laughing, upward glance at Hal. - -“How do you know I’m not?” His tones were teasing, but into his eyes had -leaped a sudden purposeful gleam which told a different story. -“Moonlight affects different persons in different ways. Wait till we -take to the launch. Then I’ll turn moony and sing sentimental songs. -I’ll give you a fine imitation of a moonstruck nut. I wouldn’t dare try -it on shore. I might be run in for disturbing the peace.” - -“Run in for disturbing the peace?” inquired a horrified voice at -Marjorie’s elbow. Danny Seabrooke peered apprehensively around Marjorie -at Hal. “Ah, I understand.” He grew apologetic. “You weren’t speaking of -me. You meant your—well—er—” Danny drew down his freckled face very -sorrowfully. “When did it happen, Macy?” - -“It hasn’t happened yet, but it will soon,” Hal promised with cool -significance. - -“I shan’t be here to see it. I’m going to take a walk up the beach with -Geraldine.” Danny hastily fell behind a few steps and took Jerry by a -plump arm. “Come along,” he urged. “It’s not safe around here.” - -“It’s safe enough for me.” Jerry briskly shook off Danny’s detaining -hand. “I’m going out in the Oriole. Hurry up, you sentimental -strollers,” she called over one shoulder to Constance and Laurie. They -had paused for a moment, hand in hand, and were raptly gazing out to -sea. “Come out of lovers’ lane and join the crowd.” - -“Have a little more regard for our married dignity, Jeremiah,” Laurie -reminded. “Kindly remember that Connie and I came down to the beach this -evening solely to look after you four children.” - -“Much obliged, but Dan-yell is the only one who needs a guardian of this -illustrious bunch.” Jerry bowed ironical thanks. - -“All right for you, Jurry-miar Macy. I tried to be pleasant with you. I -respectfully called you Geraldine. But no more!” Danny shook a -displeased finger at Jerry. “I’m going to walk beside Constance.” - -“Poor Connie,” groaned Jerry. - -“Fortunate Connie, you mean,” corrected Danny with a vast smile. “Do -talk to me, Constance. Forget your husband for five seconds. You look so -sympathetic. But you’re not.” Danny fixed an accusing glance on laughing -Constance. “You’re laughing at me.” - -“Why shouldn’t I laugh at you, Danny Seabrooke? You’re so funny and -foolish.” - -“Funny and foolish.” Danny cocked his head on one side and considered. -“Nope, that’s not sympathy. I’ll have to try again. Let me see. Marjorie -might appreciate me.” - -With a forward dive he caught Marjorie by one arm and began walking her -rapidly up the beach and away from Hal. “Good-night, Mr. Macy,” he flung -back over one shoulder. - -“Not yet,” Hal cleared the widening space between him and Danny almost -at a leap. “Now Dan-yell!” He grabbed Danny by the shoulders; spun him -round until he faced down the beach. A vigorous push from Hal’s avenging -arms sent Danny careering down the beach at a mad gallop. - -“Never touched me!” he sent back defiantly to Hal. He gave an agile -sideways bounce, barely managing to dodge Jerry, Laurie and Constance in -his headlong flight. “Good-bye. I’m never coming back!” he yelled at the -trio. - -Within the next three minutes Danny had changed his mind. “Fine night -for a run,” was his bland venture as he caught up with the three -strollers. “Only I’d rather know beforehand that I was going to take a -run. Macy is what I should call dangerous. He ought to be caged.” - -“Neither Jerry nor Danny will ever grow up,” was Marjorie’s amused -remark as Hal returned to her side. - -“I don’t think you’ve grown up much, Marjorie,” Hal burst forth with -sudden eager wistfulness. “You look just as you did the first time I -ever saw you; only you are even prettier than you were then.” - -Hal’s stubborn restraint gave way before the uncontrollable impulse to -speak his mind to Marjorie. “You were coming out the gate of Sanford -High, and I wondered who you were,” Hal went on boyishly. “I described -you to Jerry afterward, and asked all about you. She didn’t know you -very well then. I made her promise and double promise that she’d never -tell you I quizzed her about you.” - -“And she never did,” Marjorie gaily assured. “I never even suspected you -two of having had a secret understanding about just me. Jerry is a good -secret keeper. I’m glad college hasn’t made me staid and serious. I’ve -loved the good times I’ve had at Hamilton as much as I’ve loved the -work. Now I’m ready to put my whole heart into work there so as to try -to make Hamilton mean as much to other students as it has meant to me.” - -Marjorie had purposely hurried away from Hal’s very personal admission. -He now brought her back to it with an earnest abruptness which raised a -brighter color in her face. - -“I wish you’d stay in Sanford and make the old town seem as much to me -as it used to,” he said. “I have a standing grudge against Hamilton -College. Can’t help having one, even though you and Jerry do think it’s -the only place on the map.” - -“It’s the only place on the map for us until our work is done, Hal,” she -defended. “Once I thought I couldn’t leave General and Captain to go -back to Hamilton next fall. I found I was hard-hearted enough to do even -that for the sake of my work there. I’m having a gorgeous time at the -beach! Still I’m almost impatient for next week to come and bring with -it my mid-summer trip to Hamilton. You can understand, I’m sure, Hal, -how I feel about the building of the dormitory.” - -“Work can’t fill your life, Marjorie,” Hal answered with a tender, -unconscious deepening of tone. “See how happy Connie and Laurie are! -They _love_ each other. _That’s_ the real meaning of life. Not even -music could come between them and love. Could anything be more perfect -than their romance? I’ve wished always that it would be so with you and -me. I’ve wanted to tell you this for a long time, but I——” - -“I hate to complain of your sister, Macy, but it’s necessary.” Danny -Seabrooke bounced into the midst of Hal’s declaration of love. - -“I’ll disown you as my brother if you listen to what he says,” Jerry -appeared at Danny’s elbow. - -“Oh, go away off the beach, both of you!” Hal waved the contesting pair -away from him. He wished both Danny and Jerry anywhere but close at -hand. - -“Shan’t go a step,” defied Jerry. “Never think, Hal Macy, that you can -chase me into the Atlantic Ocean. _You_ may walk with Dan-yell, I’ve had -enough of him. Go ahead and untie the Oriole. I’m going to monopolize -Marvelous Marjorie for a while.” Jerry tucked an arm in one of -Marjorie’s. - -“Only for about five minutes,” stipulated Hal. He cast a half smiling, -half challenging glance at Marjorie. “I want to talk to her myself. Come -along, old Seabean,” he motioned Danny. - -The two young men ran ahead to untie the motor boat belonging to Hal -which was tied up at the Cliff House pier. Marjorie drew a soft little -breath of relief. Hal’s significant rush of words had taken her -unawares. Until now she had never failed to steer him away from anything -approaching sentiment. Tonight, however, she had sensed a certain -determined quality in his voice which was not to be denied. Hal did not -intend to be kept from saying his say much longer. - - - - -CHAPTER II.—MUSIC AND MOONLIGHT - - - “I hear your voice across the years of waiting; - Out of the past it softly calls to me: - True love knows neither ebbing nor abating; - How long, dear heart, must we two parted be?” - -sang Constance, a lingering, old-world sadness in her pure perfect -tones. For a moment after the last note died out on the white balmy -night no one spoke. Only the steady, even purr of the Oriole’s engine -broke the potent stillness which had fallen upon the sextette of young -folks. - -“That was a very sad song, Mrs. Lawrence Constance Armitage,” complained -Danny with a subdued gurgle. “It almost made we weep, but not quite. I -happened to recall in time that I wasn’t in the same class with dear -heart; that I had never been parted from dear heart, or any other old -dear. That put a smother on my weeps.” - -“Glad something did.” Laurie had accompanied Constance’s song on the -guitar. He now sat playing over softly the last few plaintive measures -of the song. - -“It’s a beautiful song, Connie,” Marjorie said with the true -appreciation of the music lover. “I love those last four lines, even if -they are awfully hopeless. I never heard you sing it before. What is it -called?” - -“‘_Sehnsucht._’ That means in German ‘longing.’ I found it last winter -in a collection of old German love songs. I liked it so much that I -tried to put the words into English. It’s the only time I ever attempted -to write verse. It turned out better than I had expected.” There was a -tiny touch of pride in the answer. - -“Connie used to sing it often for an encore last winter. Then she always -had to sing it again. People never seemed to get enough of that -particular song.” Laurie’s voice expressed his own adoring pride in -Constance. - -“I don’t wonder. The music is the throbbing, I-can’t-live-without-you -kind, same as the words. It gets even me. You all know how sentimental I -am—not,” Jerry declared. - -“Why, may I ask, does it get you?” briskly began Danny. “Why——” - -“You may ask, but that’s all the good it will do you,” Jerry retorted -with finality. “Let me take the wheel awhile, Hal. You may sing a little -for the gang. I may not admire some points about you, but I’ll say you -can sing, even if you are my brother.” - -“Oh, let me sing,” begged Danny. “You never heard me at my best.” - -“I hope I never shall.” Jerry did not even trouble to glance at the -modest aspirant for vocal glory. “Don’t speak to me, if you can help it. -Just hearing you speak might get on my nerves and make me fall -overboard.” She rose carefully in her seat in order to change places -with Hal. - -Hal had taken no part in the discussion which had followed Constance’s -song. He was leaning over the wheel, his clean-cut features almost -sternly set as he sent the Oriole speeding through a gently rippling -sea. His thoughts were moodily centered on Marjorie. Danny’s and Jerry’s -untimely interruption upon his impulsive declaration of love was in the -nature of a misfortune to him. His first feeling of vexation in the -matter had deepened into one of dejection as he listened to Connie’s -song. He could not help wondering darkly if that was the way it would be -with him. Would it become his lot to long some day for Marjorie, and -vainly, across the years? He was sure of his love for her. He was sure -it would never ebb nor abate. What about her love for him? Hal had -nothing but doubts. - -Last fall he had reluctantly come to the conclusion that Marjorie did -not care in the least for him, other than in the way of friendship. It -was only since she had come to Severn Beach that he had begun to take -heart again. He had been her devoted companion, as of old, on all of the -pleasure sails, drives and jaunts which the sextette of Sanford young -folks had enjoyed. It had sometimes seemed to Hal that Marjorie was a -trifle more gracious to him than of yore. He felt that she was fond of -him in a comradely way. He could not recall an occasion since he had -known Marjorie when she had accepted the attentions of another Sanford -boy. That was one thing he might be glad of. - -The white glory of the night, the tender beauty of the girl he adored, -her avowed enthusiastic preference for work above all else in life had -crystallized Hal’s troubled resolve to ask Marjorie the momentous -question which, somehow, he had never before found the right opportunity -for asking. And Jerry and Danny had “butted in” and spoiled it! This was -his rueful reflection as he silently allowed Jerry to replace him at the -wheel. - -“I won’t be stingy with the wheel,” he soberly assured his sister, “but -you’d better ask Dan-yell to sing.” - -“Never. I have too much consideration for the rest of the gang,” Jerry -retorted. - -“And I have myself to consider,” flung back Danny. “I wouldn’t sing if -Jerry-miar dropped to her knees on the sand and begged me to. -Understand, every one of you, I can sing, warble, carol, chant or trill. -There is no limit to my vocal powers. There was a time when I might -possibly have been persuaded to sing. That time is past.” - -“Thank you, Jerry,” Laurie said very solemnly. - -“You’re welcome,” chuckled Jerry. “Glad I could be so useful.” - -“O, don’t be too ready to laugh. I may sing just for spite,” Danny -warned. “To sing, or not to sing? That is the question.” - -“Take time to think it over, Danny,” laughed Marjorie. “While you are -thinking Connie will sing the song of Brahms I like so much. Please, -Connie, sing ‘The Summer Fields,’” she urged. “Then you’ll sing, won’t -you, Hal?” She turned coaxingly to Hal who had seated himself beside her -on one of the built-in benches of the motor boat. - -“Maybe,” Hal made half reluctant promise. He was wishing he dared take -Marjorie’s slim hands, lying tranquilly in her lap, and imprison them in -his own. - -Glancing frankly up at him Marjorie glimpsed in his eyes a bright intent -look which hardly pleased her. It was an expression which was quite new -to his face. She thought, or rather, feared she understood its meaning. -“He’ll go on with what he started to say to me the very first chance he -has,” was her dismayed reflection. “Oh, dear; I wish he wouldn’t.” - -Laurie had already begun a soft prelude to “The Summer Fields.” Marjorie -had immediately looked away from Hal and out on the moonlit sea. She had -the impression that Hal’s eyes were still upon her. She felt the hot -blood rise afresh to her cheeks. For a brief instant she was visited by -a flash of resentment. Why, oh, why, must Hal spoil their long, sincere -friendship by trying to turn it into a love affair? - -Again Constance’s golden tones rose and fell, adding to the enchantment -of the night. Marjorie’s instant of resentment took swift wing as she -listened to the wistful German words for which the great composer had -found such a perfect setting. She was glad she loved music and moonlight -and poetry and all the beautiful bits of life. She did not wish life to -mean the kind of romance Hal meant. Her idea of romance meant the glory -of work and the stir of noble deeds. - -“Now it’s your turn, Hal. It’s not fair to make me do all the singing. -Jerry claims she can’t sing, and she won’t let Danny sing. Laurie makes -me do his share of it. Marjorie can sing, but she thinks she can’t. That -leaves only you, and you haven’t a ghost of an excuse. Go ahead now. Be -nice and sing the Boat Song.” Constance ended coaxingly. - -“All right, Connie. Instruct your husband to play a few bars of it -strictly in tune and I’ll see what I can do.” Hal straightened up -suddenly on the bench with an air of pretended importance. - -“See to it that your singing’s strictly in tune,” Laurie advised. “I can -be trusted to do the rest.” Already his musician’s fingers were finding -the rhythmic introduction to Tosti’s “Boat Song.” - - “The night wind sighs, - Our vessel flies, - Across the dark lagoon.” - -Hal took up the swinging measures of the song in his clear, sweet tenor -and sent it ringing across the water. Tonight he came into a new and -sombre understanding of the song. Never before had he realized the -undercurrent of doubt it contained. Perhaps Tosti had composed the song -out of his own lover’s hopes and fears. Unconsciously Hal’s weight of -troubled doubt went into an impassioned rendering. - -Laurie and Constance understood perfectly his unintentional betrayal of -his feelings. Danny, razor keen of perception, also grasped the -situation. This time he had nothing to say. - - “And here am I, - To live or die; - As you prove hard or kind; - Prove hard or kind.” - -Jerry sat looking unduly solemn as Hal tunefully voiced the sentimental, -worshipping lines and took up the echoing refrain. When the song ended -an odd silence fell which no one of them seemed willing to shatter. -Connie and Laurie were frankly holding hands, their young faces touched -with a romance born of music and moonlight. Danny was staring intently -at Jerry as though absorbed in her management of the wheel. - -Marjorie sat bathed in moonlight, looking unutterably lovely and trying -her utmost not to appear self-conscious. She was under the blind -impression that she alone understood what lay behind Hal’s song. In -reality she understood less concerning the strength of his love and -devotion for her than did those who had been their intimate girl and -boyhood friends. She did, however, detect a certain melancholy tinge to -his singing which gave her a peculiar conscience-stricken feeling. - -“No, I don’t care to sing any more tonight,” he said, when Laurie came -out of his dream and asked him to sing an old Spanish serenade. “I’m not -in a singing humor.” - -“Poor old Hal,” Jerry was thinking as she gave the wheel an impatient -turn by way of showing her disapproval. “He does love her so! Marjorie’s -the sweetest girl ever, but she’s hard, not kind, when it comes to love. -She’s a regular stony heart.” - - - - -CHAPTER III.—“SOMETHING TO REPORT” - - -“Tomorrow? Let me think.” Marjorie’s dark brows drew thoughtfully -together. “Why, I’m not going anywhere, Hal.” Marjorie made an effort to -be casual which was only half successful. “I’m going to be busy packing. -I shall have to take an early train for Hamilton on Thursday morning so -as not to reach there late at night. I won’t have a minute’s spare time -Thursday morning. I’ll have to be ready as ready can be on Wednesday -night.” - -The boating party had left the Oriole once more tied to the pier and had -strolled back along the sands to Cliff House. To her surprised relief, -Hal had not attempted to renew the subject she dreaded to discuss. In -fact he had had very little to say. Responsive to this new mood of his -she had walked beside him almost in silence, smiling at the animated -discussion Jerry and Danny kept up all the way to the hotel. Laurie and -Connie were as mute as she and Hal. Such understanding silences were -characteristic of them, however. - -As ardently as he had courted an opportunity to tell Marjorie he loved -her Hal now upbraided himself for having been so stupid as to blurt out -his feelings “when the gang were around.” He would finish telling her -what he had begun to say when Danny and Jerry had interrupted. He was -resolved on that point. He was also determined that she should hear him -out before she left Severn Beach on her mid-summer trip to Hamilton. - -“Can’t you find time to go out in the Oriole with me tomorrow afternoon, -Marjorie?” There lurked a trace of stubborn purpose in Hal’s question. -“It will be our last sea voyage in the good ship, Oriole, this summer, -you know. I suppose you will go from Hamilton back to Sanford.” Hal eyed -her almost gloomily. - -Marjorie nodded. The two had reached the main entrance of the hotel a -trifle ahead of their chums. They now stood waiting at the foot of the -wide, ornamental flight of steps which led up to the central veranda of -the enormous white stone hotel. - -“I’ll try to go for a part of the afternoon, Hal,” she promised, careful -to keep reluctance out of her voice. Pinned down to answer directly she -had not the stony-heartedness with which Jerry had ticketed her. She -could not flatly refuse the invitation of her boy friend of long -standing. - -“Good work! Which part?” Hal instantly brightened. “Let us settle that -point before you have time to change your mind and back out,” he said -boyishly. - -“The very idea! You only say that, Hal Macy,” Marjorie retorted with -playful emphasis. “I’m not a mind changer, nor a backer-out, either.” - -“Beg your pardon, and double beg it.” Hal allowed a teasing note to -creep into the answer. Already he was feeling less dejected. He had been -half afraid that Marjorie might refuse to go for a last ride in the -Oriole. - -The swift unbidden reflection that Marjorie might not be quite so -indifferent to him as he had thought brought a sudden flush to his -cheeks and an odd new sense of hope to his sore heart. She could hardly -have failed to understand the import of what he had begun to tell her on -the way to the boat. Yet she had not refused to go for a ride with him -on the morrow. She must surely have guessed the hidden reason for his -invitation to her. - -“Say, what time, Marjorie,” Hal again urged. “All afternoon would suit -me best,” he added boldly. - -“You can’t have all afternoon.” Marjorie lightly objected. “I’ll have to -hurry like mad in order to squeeze the ride into tomorrow’s program. -I’ll be ready to go as soon as luncheon’s over. I must be back at my -packing by not a minute later than three o’clock. You and Jerry had -better come to our table for luncheon. Is Jerry going with us?” Marjorie -made a last attempt to ward off what appeared to be inevitable. - -“No, she isn’t. I haven’t asked her,” was the pointed reply. “Thank you, -but I won’t be at the hotel until I come up for you. I’m going to -Carver’s Island early in the morning to see a crowd of fellows I know -who have a bungalow there. You usually have luncheon at one, don’t you? -I’ll meet you in the Dresden lounge at half past one. Then we won’t lose -any of your precious time,” Hal concluded almost grimly. - -“All right,” Marjorie assented. She was glad Hal had used a mildly -peremptory tone. She had always admired his courteous, but positive, -manner of settling a matter. - -“Why in such a hurry?” Laurie questioned indolently as he and Constance -now mounted the steps. “You two walked ahead of us as though you were on -a training hike. Is that the way to appreciate a heavenly night like -this?” - -“It is when it’s after ten o’clock and one has to be up and doing by -seven tomorrow morning,” flung back Marjorie. “You forget, Mr. Laurie -Armitage, that _I’m going away, day after tomorrow_.” She emphasized -each word with a vigorous bob of the head. - -“No; none of us have forgotten that, Marjorie,” Laurie bent a sudden -warm friendly smile on her. - -“We’re going to miss you dreadfully, Lieutenant.” Constance put an arm -around Marjorie. The two stood and swayed back and forth schoolgirl -fashion. - -“Not half so much as I shall,” Hal voiced frank regret. “Marjorie is a -real pal. I’m going to miss her at every turn and corner. I’m going to -annex myself to the Armitage family and become a pest after Marjorie -goes.” - -“Go as far as you like, old man,” Laurie invited. “Connie and I will do -our best to amuse and cherish you.” - -“Cherish! Ah-h-h!” gurgled Danny who had just come up with Jerry. “Such -a sweet word! Did anybody ever hear Jurry-miar say it to me?” He rolled -his eyes and clasped his hands. “Silence? What? Don’t all speak at once. -No? I thought not.” - -“No one ever _will_ hear me say it to you,” Jerry told him in a tired -tone. - -“How ought I to receive such a remark?” Danny eyed her dubiously. -“Answer me, Jurry-miar.” He leaned far forward and stared fixedly at -Jerry. - -Her stolid expression deserted her. She had to laugh at the ludicrous -set of Danny’s freckled features. “Oh, never mind,” she conceded. “Let’s -be amiable to each other for ten minutes. I’ll hold the stop watch.” - -“U-h-h-h!” Danny simulated collapse. “This is so unexpected. Hurry up, -gang. Let’s go to the palm grotto for ices. If we hustle, Jur—I mean, -Geraldine and I can sit at the same table without snapping at each -other. Come, boys,” he beckoned grandly to Hal and Laurie. “Gentlemen -will be treated to ices as well as ladies. Think of that!” He smirked -patronizingly at the two young men. - -“I oughtn’t linger longer,” gaily demurred Marjorie. “Truly, Danny, I——” - -She went to the palm grotto, however, marched there between Hal and -Danny. During the enjoyable half hour the young people spent over the -ices Hal was his usual jolly, light-hearted self. Marjorie welcomed the -change in him from sombre seriousness to his old care-free manner. When -she left him with a friendly good night at the door of the Dean’s -apartment she could have almost believed him to be the Hal of her high -school days, had not the memory of his earnest words flashed across her -brain. She could still hear him saying: “I’ve wished always that it -would be so with you and me,” in the eager, impassioned fashion which -awoke no responsive echo in her heart. - -She stepped into the living room her usually bright face so pre-occupied -that it at once caught Mrs. Dean’s attention as she smilingly glanced up -from the magazine she held. - -“I won’t qualify for the early bird class in the morning, I’m afraid,” -Marjorie said with the merest suspicion of a smile. “Never mind; I’m -going to get up early even if I do lose some sleep.” - -“Was that what made you look so sober as you came in, Lieutenant?” Mrs. -Dean asked, amused surprise in the question. - -“Did I look very sober?” Marjorie quickly countered. - -“_Very_,” emphasized her mother. - -“Well,” Marjorie paused, “I felt sober. Where’s General, Captain?” She -glanced questioningly toward the next room. - -“He and Mr. Macy motored down to Logan Beach this evening to see a game -of chess between two expert players, both friends of Mr. Macy’s. He’ll -hardly be home before midnight.” Mrs. Dean continued affectionately to -watch Marjorie. - -“Oh-h-h.” Marjorie dropped down on a low chair. For a moment she sat -plaiting little folds in the soft white evening scarf, now fallen into -careless disarrangement across one shoulder. “Oh,” she said again. -“Er-oh, dear! I’ve something to report, Captain. I wish I hadn’t. I -couldn’t report it to General as I can to you. It’s about Hal. He’s -going to ask me to marry him. I _wish_ he _wouldn’t_.” - -The vehemence with which Marjorie voiced the disquieting report brought -a shadowy flash of concern to her mother’s face. It faded instantly into -a distinctly humorous expression. - -“How do you know Hal is going to ask you to marry him?” she quizzed, her -eyes twinkling. “You’ve heard the old sad tale of Miss Betty Baxter who -refused Captain Jones before he axed her.” - -“Oh-h, Captain!” Marjorie made a laughing open-armed rush at her mother. -“Stop making fun of me. My case isn’t a bit like silly Miss Betty -Baxter’s. What an idiotic person she must have been! You see, dearest,” -she slid an arm about her mother’s neck. “Why—Hal——” Her color mounted -to her white forehead—“began to ask me down on the beach tonight. Then -Danny and Jerry came up to us. _They_ didn’t know what he was saying to -me, of course. He surprised me, too.” - -Hesitatingly, Marjorie went on to tell her captain of her talk with Hal -on the beach which had led up to his impulsive declaration of love. It -was not easy to repeat, even to her mother. She had taken a stand behind -her mother’s low-backed chair, arms dropped forward. One hand patted a -light tattoo on her mother’s shoulder as she talked. Presently her voice -trailed off into silence. Her head went down against her mother’s neck. - -“Bring over the low stool, Lieutenant,” Mrs. Dean ordered in her -briskest “army” tone. - -“Yes, Captain.” Quick as a flash Marjorie’s arms dropped from her -captain’s shoulders. She left a light kiss on her mother’s soft brown -hair, then marched across the room for the stool. She set it down at her -captain’s feet, saluted and stood at rigid attention. - -“Break ranks. Discipline seems to be still alive in the army,” Mrs. Dean -observed with a smile. - -“It is.” Marjorie settled herself on the cushioned stool and leaned her -elbows on her mother’s knees. She looked up inquiringly, face between -hands. “What is it, Captain? You haven’t said _one_ word of what you -think about—about Hal and me.” - -“I’m thinking for a moment of what I had best say.” Mrs. Dean looked -fondly down at the lovely colorful face raised to her own. - -For an instant neither spoke. Then Mrs. Dean said with kindly -deliberation: “If you loved Hal in the same whole-hearted way in which I -believe he loves you, General and I should be glad of your engagement to -him. General thinks Hal a man among young men. You know how much that -means. We have occasionally discussed your long friendship with Hal and -his entire devotion to you. We know that you do not love him. We are -sorry that you cannot return his great affection for you.” One hand -strayed caressingly over Marjorie’s curls. There followed another brief -interval, then: “We wish you to be true to yourself, Lieutenant. That is -the order of the day.” - -“Dearest and best,” Marjorie reached for her mother’s hands, took them -in her own and fondled them; “why, oh, why didn’t I fall in love with -Hal as Connie did with Laurie? I don’t know why. I’ll have to tell him -so tomorrow and it will hurt me almost as much to say it as it will hurt -him to hear it. He’s been such a splendid comfy friend. I can’t bear to -say ‘no’ to him, and I can’t say ‘yes.’ It’s a hard detail, Captain, but -I must face it as a true soldier should. All I can do is tell Hal -frankly, but in the best way I can, that I don’t love him and never -shall.” - - - - -CHAPTER IV.—I CAN’T GIVE YOU UP, DEAR - - -“Let me conduct your marvelous majesty to a seat beside the wheel.” Hal -offered his hands with a motion of exaggerated gallantry. He caught -Marjorie’s hands in his own and half swung her down from the little pier -and into the motor boat. - -“Thank you, gallant and distinguished skipper,” was Marjorie’s blithe -response as she sat down on the small cushioned bench nearest the wheel, -guided by Hal’s devoted arm. - -“I had no idea you appreciated me so highly.” He managed to keep up the -light, bantering tone he had first used. It was not easy. What he longed -to say to her as she turned her vivid, sparkling face toward him was: “I -love you. I love you.” - -“Why shouldn’t I appreciate you?” Marjorie merrily insisted. She was -relieved at Hal’s apparently light mood. She hoped it would continue for -at least the greater part of the ride. She preferred to ward off the -dreaded talk as long as she could. She had agreed with her captain that -Hal had the right to be heard; that it was not fair to him to evade -longer an understanding with him. - -“I don’t know. Why should you?” countered Hal. - -“For two splendid reasons. You’re taking me for a ride in the Oriole. -Besides, you called me ‘marvelous majesty,’ which is a most flattering -title. Oh, Hal Macy!” Marjorie exclaimed with animated irrelevancy; -“isn’t this the most heavenly blue and white and gold day? Blue sea, -blue sky, white clouds and golden sun!” - -“It’s a peach of a day,” he tersely agreed. Marjorie’s declared -appreciation of himself brought a half ironical smile to his lips. As -usual, it was like that of a child, grateful for benefits. “What port?” -he inquired briefly of her as he started the Oriole away from the pier. - -“No port,” was Marjorie’s prompt choice; “just a little run out to sea.” - -“Right-o.” Hal obediently headed the Oriole seaward. “Look at the -crowd!” He indicated with a sweep of an arm the flock of white-winged -sail boats and motor launches which thickly dotted the dimpling water. -“Every fellow at the beach who owns a boat seems to be out with it -today.” - -“It’s an ideal day for boating,” Marjorie found herself tritely echoing -Hal’s opinion of the weather. Still she could not on the instant think -of anything else to say. Her usual fund of gay, amusing conversation had -deserted her. She was too honest of spirit to pretend that which she did -not feel. - -“There’s no danger of a sudden squall, either.” Hal’s interest in the -weather appeared to deepen. “This day is what I’d call an old reliable. -Storms hardly ever blow up out of such honest-to-goodness blue skies as -these.” - -“That’s true.” Marjorie inwardly derided herself for being such an utter -stupid. She tried to make herself believe that it was only Hal, her boy -chum, with whom she was out boating. She could not. The young man at the -wheel whose familiar handsome features were touched with an intensity of -purpose quite foreign to them was all but a stranger to her. In the past -she had had only rare, disquieting glimpses of the intense side Hal was -showing today. - -A flat, uncomfortable silence suddenly drifted down upon them. Hal’s -courteous attempt to talk trivialities, simple because he knew that was -what Marjorie preferred him to do was a failure. He had come to the -place where he could no longer continue to hide his heart from her. - -The silence between them continued; deepened. Both had begun to feel the -tensity of the situation. Both had tried to talk pleasantries and both -had failed. Hal occupied himself with sending the Oriole scudding -cleverly in and out among the numerous pleasure craft, large and small -which dotted the course he was steadily taking toward quieter more aloof -waters. - -Now and again they were briskly hailed by the occupants of other passing -boats. Hal lightened momentarily as he answered the merry salutations, -then relapsed into somber gravity. - -“What a lot of people you know at Severn Beach, Hal.” Marjorie was glad -to find her voice again. Hal was waving an acknowledgment to a noisy, -rollicking crew of young men in a passing power launch who had sent out -a ringing hail to him. - -“I only know a bunch of yachtsmen and a few other fellows.” Hal -disclaimed popularity with a shrug of his broad shoulders. “The Clipper, -my racing sailboat, is better known along this coast than I am. Oh, but -she’s a winner!” Hal brightened with pride of ownership. “She won every -race I entered her for last summer. She’s won two this season, and she’s -entered in a spiffy race the yacht club is going to pull off in a couple -of weeks. You’d better stay at the beach and see it. I’ll take you -aboard for the race, if you’ll stay.” Half laughingly, half pleadingly -he offered this bribe. - -“That would be glorious; to be in a real race!” Marjorie looked her -regret. “You’re always so good to me, Hal; always planning some -perfectly dandy stunt just to please me. But you know how it is about -Hamilton. I feel it truly a sacred obligation; my work there, I mean. I -couldn’t allow personal pleasure to come before it.” - -“No; nor love, either,” Hal burst forth with a hurt vehemence which -brought the hot blood to Marjorie’s cheeks. “I beg your pardon, -Marjorie,” he said almost immediately afterward. “I spoke on impulse. -Still, that’s the way I feel about your going back to Hamilton next fall -when I love you so dearly and want you to marry me. I wish you cared -even half as much for me as you do for your work at Hamilton. But you -don’t care at all.” - -“I do care for you, Hal, as one of the best friends I have,” Marjorie -protested, raising her brown eyes sorrowfully to Hal’s clouded face. - -“I know,” Hal rejoined a shade less forcefully. “I value your -friendship, Marjorie, more highly than I can say. But friendship’s not -what I want from you, dear girl. I love you, truly and forever. I’ve -loved you since first you came to Sanford to live. I’d have told you so -long ago but you never gave me an opportunity.” Hal paused. He regarded -Marjorie wistfully; questioningly. - -“I—I know it, Hal,” she admitted reluctantly, but with her usual -honesty. “I—I haven’t wished you to talk of love to me. There were times -last winter”—she stopped in confusion—“when I thought you cared—a -little. I—I wasn’t sure.” - -“Be very sure of it, now.” Hal’s reply was a mixture of tenderness and -dejection. - -“I don’t want you to love me, Hal,” Marjorie cried out almost sharply in -her desire to be emphatic. “Last night, after what you said to me on the -beach, I couldn’t help but be sure. I—I told Captain of it. I always -tell her everything. Captain is sorry I don’t love you. She and General -are fond of you. They’d be happy if we were—if we were—to become -engaged.” Marjorie spoke the last words hesitatingly. - -“I’m glad you told your mother. You know how fine I think both General -and Captain are.” Hal fought back the hurt look that threatened to -invade his face. He gripped the wheel until his knuckles stood out -whitely against the sun-tanned brown of his hands. - -Marjorie caught a glimpse of the unhappiness which sprang straight from -her old comrade’s sore heart and into his eyes. - -“There; I’ve hurt you, Hal! Truly I never meant to!” she exclaimed in -quick contrition. - -“Never mind me.” Hal made a gesture of self-depreciation. “It isn’t your -fault because you can’t find it in your heart to love me.” He forced a -smile, proudly trying to conceal his own desolation of spirit. - -Her eyes remorsefully fixed on him the smile did not deceive Marjorie. -Hal’s tensity of feature informed her of the weight of the blow she had -just dealt him. - -“Please, please, Hal, forgive me!” she begged with a sudden excess of -pained humility. - -“Forgive you? For what?” Hal bent a fond questioning glance on -Marjorie’s troubled face. - -“For—for—not loving you,” she faltered. “It hurts me dreadfully to know -that I must be the one to make you unhappy. Forgive me for seeming to be -so hard and unsympathetic about love. I’ve never thought of it for -myself. It has always seemed vague and far away; like something not a -part of my life. I know the love between Connie and Laurie is wonderful. -I can appreciate their devotion to each other. I have the greatest -impersonal reverence for love and lovers. But for me life means endeavor -and the glory of achievement.” - -The voice of ambitious, inspirited youth sang in her tones, half -appealing though they were. Came an embarrassed stillness between them. -Hal’s face, strong, even stern in its self-repression was turned partly -away from her. The bleakness of his suffering young soul peered forth -from his deep blue eyes as he stared steadily across the dimpling -sun-touched waves. - -“Nothing matters in life but love. To love and to be loved in return,” -he said slowly, but with a kind of fatalistic decision. “You’ll love -someone, someday, even though you can’t love me.” The shadow on -Marjorie’s face deepened as she listened. It was almost as though in a -flash of second sight Hal were telling her a fortune she did not care to -hear. “When love truly comes to you, then you’ll understand what you -can’t understand now,” he ended. - -“I don’t want love to come to me. I don’t wish to understand it,” -Marjorie made sad protest. “Since it isn’t in my heart to love you, I -should never wish to love any one else. You’re the finest, gentlest, -truest boy _I’ve_ ever known, Hal, or ever expect to know.” - -Hal’s half averted face was suddenly turned toward Marjorie. Across it -flashed a rare sweet smile which lived long afterward in her memory. -“It’s as I told you last night, Marjorie Dean. You haven’t grown up.” -Tender amusement had mercifully broken into and lightened his gloom. -“You only think you have,” he said. Marjorie’s naive avowal had brought -with it a faint stirring of new hope. - -“Yes, Hal, I’ve grown up,” Marjorie began seriously. “It’s not——” - -“You’ll never really grow up until love finds the way to your heart,” -Hal interrupted with gentle positiveness. “I hope when it does it will -be love for me. I can’t give you up, dear. I’m going to call you ‘dear’ -this once. I’d rather have your friendship than the love of any other -girl in the world. I’m going to wait for you to grow up.” - - - - -CHAPTER V.—A WARM RECEPTION - - -“Hamilton! Hamilton!” Marjorie Dean smiled to herself. Her expressive -brown eyes grew brighter as the lusty call echoed through the car. One -hand tightened about the leather handle of her traveling bag with the -impatience of one who was longing to be free of the limited confines of -the car. She peered alertly out of the open window at the familiar -railway platform which lay deserted in the warm glory of a mid-summer -sun. How strange it seemed to see the good old platform so bare and -empty! - -“Not a sign of Robin,” was her disappointed reflection. “What’s happened -to her, I wonder? I’m evidently first here after all. She can’t have -arrived yet or she would surely be out on the platform watching for me.” - -The three or four persons, whose destination was also Hamilton were now -moving down the aisle toward the car’s upper door. Marjorie did not -follow the orderly little line of passengers. She turned and hurried to -the opposite end of the car impatient to be out of the train. She was -glad to be the only one to leave the car from that end. - -“Oh-h-h.” She drew a half sighing breath of sheer loneliness. “What a -dismal old place!” - -She ran lightly down the car steps, eluding the brakeman’s helping hand, -and came to an abrupt stop on the deserted platform. She stood still, -casting a faintly disconsolate glance about her. It was hard, indeed, to -believe that this empty space with the warm friendly sunshine streaming -down upon it was Hamilton station, endeared to her by the memory of many -happy meetings and cheerful goodbyes on the part of student friends. - -“What had I better do?” was her next thought. “What a goose I was not to -tear Jeremiah from the beach and bring her with me. Robin’s missing from -the picture. That means I’ll have to be on the watch for her. How I’d -like to walk in on Miss Remson at Wayland Hall this afternoon! Wouldn’t -she be surprised, though?” - -Marjorie cast a meditative glance toward the staid drowsy town of -Hamilton. Robina Page, her classmate and partner of the good little firm -of “Page and Dean,” as their chums liked to call them, had written that -she would meet Marjorie at the station. From her handbag Marjorie -extracted Robin’s latest letter to her. She glanced it over hurriedly. -Yes; it read: “Friday afternoon, July 25th. I’ll be at the station to -meet the three-twenty train. Don’t dare disappoint me.” - -“It looks as though I’d be the one to meet the trains,” she murmured -under her breath. Always quick to decide she made the choice between -waiting patiently in the station building for the next train Robin could -arrive on, or seeking the grateful coolness of the Ivy, in favor of the -dainty tea shop. The train Robin might be on would not arrive until -five-thirty. - -Picking up her traveling bag which she had momentarily deposited on the -platform Marjorie moved briskly toward the flight of worn stone steps -leading to the station yard. - -“If Robin shouldn’t be on the five-thirty train I suppose I’d best go to -the Congress Hotel and stay there until tomorrow. If I should go on to -the campus alone, I’d miss seeing her; that is, if she should arrive -tonight. I’ll fairly absorb time tables and meet all the trains tonight -except the very late ones,” was Marjorie’s energetic resolve as she -swung buoyantly along the smooth wide stone walk. The brief moment of -depression which she had felt at sight of the empty station platform had -now vanished. She was again her sunny self, animated and bubbling over -with the desire for action. - -She was so intent upon her own affairs she quite failed to see three -laughing faces frame themselves suddenly in a screened window of the -station. Almost instantaneous with their appearance they were withdrawn. -Their owners made a noiseless, speedy exit from the waiting room and -flitted through the open doorway which led to a square of green lawn -behind the building bounded by cinder drives. - -Giggling softly as they ran the stealthy trio gathered in a compact -little group at a rear corner of the building which Marjorie must pass -on her way across the yard to the street. - -“I’ll relieve you of that bag, lady,” croaked a harsh, menacing voice. -The bag was snatched from Marjorie’s hand in a twinkling. - -“Hands up!” ordered a second voice, only a shade less menacing than that -of the first bandit. - -“Boo, boo-oo, woo-oo-oo!” roared a third outlaw. The final “oo” ended in -a sound suspiciously like a chuckle. - -Completely surrounded by an apparently merciless and lawless three -Marjorie had not attempted to retrieve the traveling bag. Instead she -had pounced upon the smallest of the bandits with a gurgle of surprised -delight. - -“Vera Mason, you perfect darling! Where did you come from, Midget, -dear?” Marjorie laughingly quoted as she warmly kissed tiny Vera. - -“Out of the everywhere into the here,” Vera carelessly waved an -indefinite hand and smiled up at Marjorie in her charming, warm-hearted -fashion. - -“And you, Leila Greatheart! So you’ve turned highwayman! I am pretty -sure that I am the first victim. Very likely you planned with your -partners in crime to practice on me. Give me my bag, you old villain.” -Marjorie shook a playful fist at Leila. - -The widely smiling Irish girl merely reached out her strong arms, -gleaming whitely against her dark blue gown, and gathered Marjorie into -them. She kissed her on both cheeks, then placed a finger under -Marjorie’s chin and gazed admiringly at her. - -“Beauty is Beauty, at home or abroad,” she declared lightly. “And it’s -myself that has longed for a sight of you, little, beautiful -lieutenant.” - -“Don’t monopolize the victim,” protested an aggrieved voice. Robin Page -now made an attempt to pry Marjorie free from Leila’s close embrace. - -“Robin Page, you wicked girl! So this is the way you meet me at the -station!” Marjorie hugged and kissed Robin with fresh enthusiasm. - -“You will kindly blame these two rascals here for the hold-up,” laughed -Robin. “This pair, Lawless Leila and Vera, the Midge, are quite capable -of dark deeds. Aren’t those names I made up for them dandy? I’m going to -write a play this year, a real melodrama, and have them play the leads -under those very names. That’s an inspiration born of this hold-up,” she -added in her bright fashion. - -“And to think I was ever sad a minute over you three blessed geese!” -Marjorie looked from one to another of her chums, her eyes bright with -affection. “I thought of you all as I was leaving the train and was so -sorry that you were, as I supposed, so far away. And all the time you -were hanging around a corner fairly aching to hold me up. Oh, I’m so -glad to see you! I’ve been looking forward to seeing Robin, but I never -dreamed such good fortune as this was in store for me.” - -“She means us.” Vera gave Leila a significant nudge. - -“She does that,” Leila purposely lapsed into a brogue. “And it’s -something grand I’ll be saying to her yet, but not till I know myself -what I’m going to say.” - -“Oh, never mind the blarney. Just tell me how you happen to be here,” -begged Marjorie, tucking an arm into Robin’s. “Not one letter have I had -from either of you since the Dean family went down to Severn Beach, and -only one apiece since college closed. I may not be a prompt -correspondent, but——” - -“Tell me nothing.” Leila put up a defensive hand. She was laughing -behind it. “Isn’t it I who know my own failings?” - -“You ought to know by this time that you are a flivver as a -correspondent,” Marjorie condemned with pretended severity. “I thought, -when I did not hear from you, that you and Midget had really gone to -Ireland for the summer. You know you talked of taking the trip last -spring. I supposed——” - -“I was busy pointing out the Blarney Stone to Midget and capturing -banshees and leprechauns for her to play with,” interposed Leila. “No, -Beauty; not this summer. Truth is truth. We did talk about a visit to -the Emerald Isle during the summer, but Commencement morning changed all -that. Midget and I planned then to come to Hamilton instead and give you -a mid-summer welcome. Why, Midget and I said to each other, should we go -gallivanting about old Ireland when the good little firm of Page and -Dean would be working their dear heads off at Hamilton?” - -“Why, indeed?” echoed Vera. “We’re here to stay as long as you and Robin -stay.” - -“We’ve been at Wayland Hall for a week waiting for you two promoters to -appear. We didn’t know the exact date of your appearance, or which one -of you would appear first,” Leila informed Marjorie. - -“You talk as though Robin and I were a couple of rare elusive comets,” -Marjorie joked. - -“You’re a couple of rare, elusive P. G.s whose present mission is to -lighten and gladden Leila’s and my declining years,” retorted Vera. -“That’s the real reason you came to Hamilton this July, though you may -not have suspected it. Of course, while you’re here, and we’re here, we -won’t object to your doing a few kindly little stunts for our Alma -Mater.” Vera endeavored to appear extremely condescending. Instead she -looked so utterly happy that Marjorie wrapped her arms about the dainty -little girl and embraced her all over again. - -“I reached here just one train ahead of you, Marjorie,” Robin now said. -“I was held up, too, and forced into a conspiracy against you. It -happened to be more convenient for me to take an earlier train. I -intended to meet yours anyway—you know the rest.” Robin gestured -eloquently toward Leila and Vera. - -“Yes, I know the rest,” Marjorie repeated fondly. “I also know something -else. I was bound for the Ivy when three footpads waylaid me. Just to -show you what a forgiving spirit I have I will invite those three -footpads to a feast at the Ivy. I’ve had nothing to eat since early this -morning and I’m famished. There was no dining car on the train.” - -“Ah, let me be the Irish lady to give the feast,” wheedled Leila. “My -gold burns in my pocket when it’s too long there. Midget has far more -money than she ought to have. All week we have led a cat and dog life, -grumbling and sputtering about which of us should treat.” - -“All right. You’re so smooth. I can’t resist you, this once. I hereby -invite you all to dinner at Baretti’s tonight,” stipulated Marjorie. -“I’ve gold of my own to spend. Just as General put me on the train this -morning he put an envelope in my hand. I opened it after the train had -started. In it were two fifty dollar notes and a funny short letter from -him telling me to call the money the Marjorie Dean Entertainment Fund. -He ordered me to spend it just for good times. I must obey my general, -you know. When I come back to Hamilton next——” - -A sudden jubilant clamor from her chums drowned her voice. - -“Aha!” Leila paused in the middle of the walk and waved a triumphant -arm. “What do I hear?” - -“Uh-h-h; but that’s good news!” Robin made a show of collapsing from -sheer relief. - -“Is it really settled. Marvelous Manager?” Vera cried with some anxiety. - -“Now you may tell me, Beauty, what I said last June you would say.” -Leila was radiant at the good news. - -Marjorie laughed. “You are a soothsayer, Leila Greatheart,” she said, -obeying Leila’s joyful command. “Yes; it has all been settled.” Her own -features reflected the good cheer of her friends. “I’m coming back to -the campus in the fall.” - - - - -CHAPTER VI.—IN LOVE WITH WORK - - -“To the boldest bandit belongs the spoils.” Leila lifted Marjorie’s -traveling bag from the walk, took hold of her arm and began steering her -across the grassy station yard to where a smart grey car stood on the -drive. - -“I’ll let you tug it along to punish you for being a desperado. It’s a -heavy old thing. Fifteen minutes ago I didn’t know where it and I would -stop for the night. Now, thank goodness, and you girls, we can all go to -Wayland Hall.” Marjorie smiled over her shoulder at Robin and Vera who -were walking behind them. - -“What a love of a car!” she exclaimed as they neared the trim gray -roadster. “I’ll make a guess. It’s Vera’s. Somehow it suggests her.” - -“Yes, it’s Vera’s. Have you noticed? My eyes are turning green with envy -of Midget,” Leila declared darkly, then showed her strong white teeth in -a roguish smile. “Her father sent her this dream of a car from Paris. -He’s been painting at his Paris studio since early last spring. The -roadster came the week after we left Hamilton. I was with Vera in their -New York house. We were trying to decide what we should do to amuse -ourselves until time for our trip here. Then the car came. We were so -proud of it! We wanted the world to see it and us in it. We went on a -motor trip to the Adirondacks. We stayed for two weeks with Vera’s aunt -at her camp. She was horrified because we came in the car without a -chaperon. And I must tell you the truth! Neither of us remembered there -was any such person to be considered when we started out with the car.” -Leila threw back her head and laughed. - -“We didn’t have one going back, either.” Vera had caught what Leila was -saying. “Luckily for us, my father thinks Leila and I can be trusted to -take care of ourselves. We motored back to New York City and from there -to Hamilton.” - -“So we did. And it’s here we are stopping again, like a set of statues -in the sun, when we might be on our way to the Ivy.” By common consent -the four had again grouped themselves on the walk opposite the roadster. -“Come with me. Don’t be dwadling here when there’s news to be told and -news to be heard,” Leila rallied. She motioned Marjorie to the car and -ceremoniously opened a rear door for her. - -“Right-o!” Robin exclaimed, preparing to take the front seat of the -roadster beside Vera. “I’m simply perishing for a real opportunity to -talk. It seems ages and ages since college closed. Yet it is only a -month. I have scads of things to tell you girls. Phil wanted to come -with me. We had the trip all planned and her trunk was partly packed. -Then three girl cousins descended upon the Moores for a visit. Poor Phil -had to stay home and help entertain them. I’ll tell you more about her -when we are at the Ivy.” Robin turned in the seat to say this much as -Vera started the car. - -As the roadster sped away from the station drive and swung into Herndon -Avenue, Hamilton’s main thoroughfare, Marjorie glanced slowly from one -side of the street to the other. A happy little smile played upon her -lips. Next to Sanford, her home town, she loved the staid college town -of Hamilton. She loved it for its wide ornamental streets and stately -green-lawned residences. Like all else which bore the name of Hamilton -it seemed in some strange elusive way to partake of the fine character -of its founder, Brooke Hamilton. - -Presently she reached up and removed the white straw hat she wore. She -gave a satisfied little intake of breath as the cool afternoon breeze -blew gently in her face, lifting the thick clustering curls which framed -it and blowing them back from her forehead. Her lovely features wore the -untroubled, child-like expression which had ever made them so beautiful. -Behind that beautiful untroubled face, however, was the resolute, -indomitable spirit of a pioneer. It was that very spirit of endeavor -which had made her a force for good at Hamilton College since her -enrollment as a student of that institution. - -After four years at Sanford High School, Marjorie Dean and four of her -intimate girl friends had chosen Hamilton College as their Alma Mater. -What happened to them as students at Sanford High School has been -recorded in the “Marjorie Dean High School Series,” comprising: -“Marjorie Dean, High School Freshman,” “Marjorie Dean, High School -Sophomore,” “Marjorie Dean, High School Junior” and “Marjorie Dean, High -School Senior.” - -The account of their doings at Hamilton College may be found in the -“Marjorie Dean College Series,” comprising: “Marjorie Dean, College -Freshman,” “Marjorie Dean, College Sophomore,” “Marjorie Dean, College -Junior,” “Marjorie Dean, College Senior.” - -During Marjorie’s senior year at Hamilton College she and her particular -friends became interested in a plan to provide Hamilton students in less -fortunate financial circumstances than themselves with suitable quarters -in which to live. The fact that such students were making great personal -sacrifices in order to obtain a college education had aroused the -sympathy of Marjorie and her associates. - -What began as the raising of a fund by which to make the way easier for -the strugglers gradually led to a more ambitious plan on the part of -Marjorie and her allies. They dreamed of a free dormitory for needy -students which they determined by steady conscientious effort should -some day be realized. - -With the coming of Commencement which had seen Marjorie and her loyal -supporters graduated from Hamilton College had come also the unexpected -gift of a valuable piece of property as a site for the new dormitory. -The donor, Miss Susanna Hamilton, was the great-niece of the founder of -Hamilton College, Brooke Hamilton. While the eccentric old lady had been -prejudiced for many years against the college board, she was, on the -other hand, a warm friend of Marjorie Dean. During Marjorie’s sophomore -year she and Miss Susanna had met by accident. Later, Miss Hamilton had -learned to love the sunny, gracious lieutenant. As a result of that love -had come Miss Susanna’s amazing concession. - -During their senior year in college Marjorie and Robin had turned their -attention to the giving of plays, concerts and other pleasing -entertainments. These amusements had been welcomed by the Hamilton -students and the two successful promoters had reaped a goodly sum of -money for the dormitory project. The Nineteen Travelers, a confidential -little band which included Marjorie and Robin, had also contributed -several hundred dollars to the dormitory fund by the curtailing of -personal expenses, elimination of all but a few luxuries and the -practicing of self-denial in the matter of dinners and spreads. - -The presentation by Miss Susanna Hamilton of the site for the dormitory -had made the way clear for the erection of the building in the not far -distant future. - -At the time of her graduation Marjorie had been fully aware that hers -and Robin’s beloved enterprise would require their presence on the -campus the following autumn. The real work of their project was yet to -come. Robin was free to return to Hamilton. Marjorie had not been -certain that her general and her captain would be willing that she -should remain away from home another winter. She had left college for -Sanford unable to assure her classmates who were to return the next -autumn as post graduates that she would be then among them. - -“So my prophetic Celtic bones did not lie,” Leila said with teasing good -humor. “Ah, Beauty, but was not Leila the wise Irish woman? Did I not -prophesy that your general and your captain would be sending you back to -college?” - -“Of course you did. Your prophetic Celtic bones told you how utterly -unselfish they were,” Marjorie returned warmly. “We didn’t exchange a -word about my coming back as a P. G. while they were on the campus -during Commencement week. One evening soon after we were home Jerry and -Lucy came over and General said he had very important orders for the -Army. He read us a ridiculous notice, ordering us to report at Hamilton -College for post graduate duty, not later than October first, by order -of General and Captain Dean. Jerry and Lucy made such a racket over it -that General threatened to lock them in the guard house for boisterous -conduct.” - -Leila listened, immensely tickled by Mr. Dean’s army tactics. Marjorie -continued to tell her of Jerry and her doings. She said nothing, -however, of Jerry’s brother. Entirely fancy free, Marjorie had never -spoken confidentially of Hal to any girl save Constance. Jerry would not -have ventured to ask Marjorie a personal question concerning him, -intimate as the two girls were. - -“Why, Leila,” Marjorie said presently, going back to her superior -officers, “after the girls went home that night I had a long talk with -General and Captain. I found they considered it my first duty to come -back to college. General pretended to be very threatening. He dared me -to try to stay at home and see what would happen. I don’t like to be -away from them, Leila, but I love my work. And it’s only begun on the -campus. It will take us a long time to pay for the dormitory. I may be -old as the hills by the time it is paid for,” was her jocular -prediction. “If I’m a tottering last leaf when that happens, at least I -will have grown old in a good cause.” - - - - -CHAPTER VII.—SCENTING MYSTERY - - -Vera was now bringing the roadster to a stop before the Ivy. - -“Hello, old stand-by!” Marjorie raised a cheerful hand of greeting -toward the familiar, one-story white stucco building. Its ornamental -bungalow effect was made even more attractive by the traits of English -ivy which wandered across the front of the shop and were trained above -the door and the narrow-paned windows. - -“Not another car parked here; glorious! This is a positive streak of -luck!” congratulated Vera. - -“The Ivy is popular with tourists this summer,” Leila informed Marjorie -and Robin as the girls sauntered up the wide white stone walk four -abreast. “This is the first time since we came back that we have been -able to park in front of the shop.” - -Entering the tea room they steered a straight course for one of four -alcove tables. During the college year these tables were difficult to -secure unless engaged beforehand. All four stood empty now. A brief lull -in the mid-afternoon business of the Ivy had found the prosperous shop -temporarily deserted. - -“Who ever before saw an alcove table at the Ivy empty?” commented Robin -as the chums seated themselves. - -“It’s almost as still here today as in chapel after Prexy has read out -an amazing notice,” declared Vera lightly. - -“Observe how soon that chapel-like atmosphere will depart. We are here,” -Leila reminded. - -“No; this beatific state of sweet silence is due to be shattered this -very minute,” Robin agreed. - -“Right you are, Robin. It’s a grand palaver we’re about to have. Let us -order the luncheon before the gabble party begins,” proposed Leila. -“Consomme, chicken à la king, potato straws, cucumber salad and whatever -your sweet tooth demands for dessert? Yes?” She turned inquiring eyes on -her friends. “And a pot of tea, of course?” - -“It suits me. I wish I were going to eat that dandy luncheon this -minute. I’m so hungry,” sighed Marjorie. - -Vera and Robin echoed Marjorie’s wish. The waitress obligingly promised -to hurry the consommé to the hungry quartette and retired briskly -kitchen-ward. - -“Now who is going to start the gabble ball rolling?” playfully demanded -Vera. - -“You and Leila. Tell us about the campus.” Marjorie and Robin answered -in the same words, and together. They both laughed. “One heart, one -mind,” Robin quoted. - -“It’s the same dear, green old stamping ground,” Vera answered with -proud fondness. “Only it almost gives one the blues to walk from one end -of it to another without seeing any of one’s pals. Now for news. Let me -see. Kathie is coaching four would-be-freshies who are staying at Acasia -House. They’re in for entrance exams. Miss Remson has been away for a -month, but she came back to the Hall the day Leila and I put in an -appearance there. I sha’n’t tell you a thing about Miss Remson’s -vacation trip. She wants to tell you herself. She said so.” - -“What an odd busy little woman she is.” Robin smiled at mention of the -brisk little manager of Wayland Hall. “I love her funny abrupt ways. She -is so original.” - -“Jerry named her Busy Buzzy almost as soon as she first saw her when we -went to Wayland Hall as freshies,” reminisced Marjorie. “Muriel was -quite fascinated by the name and those two villains went on calling Miss -Remson Busy Buzzy behind her back for a long while. I was always afraid -she might hear them say it, but thank goodness she never did. Muriel -used to call Hortense Barlow, her roommate, Mortense. She and Jerry had -the naming habit very hard that year.” - -Muriel’s name brought a grin to Leila’s face. “That rascal,” she said -with a chuckle. “What might she be doing these fine summer days? Is she -coming back to college, Beauty? When we asked her last June about it she -would tell us nothing. All she would offer was: ‘I can’t say. I’ll have -to think it over.’” - -“She’s still saying it,” Marjorie echoed the chuckle. “She won’t tell -even Jerry and me what she intends to do about coming back. Jerry says -she is only trying to tease us, but I think she has a reason for saying -she is uncertain about it. She’ll tell us when she is ready and not a -minute before. Muriel has always been just so.” - -“I’ll tell you all a bit of news,” put in Robin. “Elaine is going to be -married. Her engagement will be announced next month. She is——” - -Three voices rippled an astonished “Oh-h-h.” Three faces reflected the -smile with which Robin had announced the news. Elaine Hunter, during her -four years at Hamilton, had been the most popular girl at Silverton -Hall. - -“Who is Elaine going to marry, Robin?” asked Vera interestedly. “He’ll -have to be a wonder to be worthy of her.” - -“A delightful young civil engineer. His name is Kingdon Barrett. It is a -real romance,” Robin went on eagerly. “When Elaine was a tiny girl and -this Mr. Barrett a small boy they used to go to the same beach every -summer with their parents. They played together on the sand and were -good friends. Then the Barretts went West and Elaine never saw her boy -playmate again until Commencement. He was visiting Prexy’s son and saw -her name on the Commencement program. He actually picked her out among -the graduates. The moment he had a chance he had Prexy Matthews, who -knows her family well, introduce him to her. He told her who he was. -They promptly fell in love and now they’re engaged. Can you beat that?” -Robin spread open both hands in a challenging gesture. - -“We can not. Nor is it likely that we shall try. I have no wish to fall -in love, for isn’t it true that I might never be able to fall out again? -It is a pit that I shall keep my feet well away from,” declared Leila -with unsentimental wisdom. - -“I can’t imagine you in love, you ridiculous girl,” Vera’s infectious -giggle went the round of the table. - -“Ah, if I were; and what a fine frenzy I should be in. Like this,” Leila -rolled her eyes, put on a lovelorn expression and struck her hand to her -forehead with tragic force. She immediately rubbed her hand. “Arrah, but -I have a hard forehead,” she remarked ruefully. - -The return of the waitress with the consomme put a momentary check on -the animated rolling of what Vera had whimsically called the “gabble -ball.” The instant the hungry girls began their soup they resumed -conversation. While Leila and Vera had many news items germane to the -campus to relate, none of them were of moment. Robin had much concerning -herself and Phylis Moore, her cousin, now a senior, to tell. Marjorie’s -news centered on Jerry’s, Lucy’s, Muriel’s and her own doings during -vacation. Of Ronny she had almost no news to relate. She had received -but one letter from her since Ronny had sped West to her beautiful ranch -home in California. The news of Elaine Hunter’s engagement was, thus -far, the banner surprise. - -“Oh, girls, have you seen Miss Susanna since you came?” was Marjorie’s -concerned question, as the four lingered over the dessert of maple -mousse and _petit fours_. “I’ve been trying to ask you that question -from the first, and haven’t.” - -“Now what makes you think we have seen her?” countered Leila with an -elaborately innocent air. - -“That means you have,” Marjorie translated, “and you,” she pointed an -accusing finger at Leila, “and you,” the finger moved on to Vera, “are -trying to keep something from me. I know _you’re_ not guilty, Robin. -_You_ look innocent. But this pair look suspicious; oh, very -suspicious.” - -“Now, Beauty, on your honor, do I look as though there was anything I -could refuse to tell you, provided I knew it?” ingratiated Leila, her -bright blue eyes a-twinkle. She appeared to be wrestling with a secret -mirth which threatened to overrun her mischievous face. She now made -mysterious signs to Vera whose smiles were also in evidence. - -“You look too tantalizing for words. So does Vera. Oh, I know you both!” - -“So you take us for a precious pair of rogues; eh, Beauty!” Leila made a -smiling failure of trying to appear reproachful. “Never mind. Midget and -Leila forgive you. Bring forth the mystic writing, Midget. May Beauty’s -bad opinion of us fly away on swift wings!” - - - - -CHAPTER VIII.—WHITE MAGIC - - -“So that’s the reason for these nods and becks and wreathed smiles!” -Marjorie made an energetic grab at the square creamy envelope which -Leila was waving slowly back and forth before her eyes. “I’ll assume -it’s for me,” she said as her fingers closed around it. Leila purposely -allowed the envelope to slip through her hand. - -“Oh, it’s from Miss Susanna!” Marjorie gave a little joyful cry. “Now I -know you must have seen her. There’s no stamp on the envelope.” - -“Might not Jonas have brought the letter to the Hall?” Leila suggested. - -“He might have, but he didn’t,” Marjorie cannily retorted. “You’ve been -to Hamilton Arms.” Her eyes sparkled with the pleasure of her guess. - -“So we have,” Vera corroborated as though quite surprised at the fact. - -“Yes, ‘So we have,’” mimicked Marjorie as she hastily tore open the -envelope and drew out the letter it contained. “I’m going to read you -Miss Susanna’s letter. I shouldn’t, to pay you for teasing me. But, as -Muriel loves to say, ‘I’m always amiable when I’m not peevish.’ I’m sure -Miss Susanna would like you to hear it,” she added more seriously. She -began: - - “Dear Child: - - “How glad I shall be to see you again. I am looking forward - earnestly to your return to Hamilton. I must remind you of - your promise to spend at least a part of your time with me - at the Arms. I am sending you my greetings and love by two - trusted messengers. I wonder if you will be as greatly - surprised and delighted to see them as I was? Will you come - to the Arms as soon as you conveniently can after you arrive - on the campus? Bring Robin Page and Leila and Vera with you. - Pardon the fond impatience of - - “Your devoted friend, - Susanna Craig Hamilton - -“How dearly she loves you, Marjorie,” Robin said unenviously. “But then, -how could she help it? So do we all. You have reason to be proud of -having annexed the last of the Hamiltons to your train, Marvelous -Manager.” - -“I had nothing to do with it. No one could annex Miss Susanna to -anything,” Marjorie disclaimed, shaking her head in sturdy fashion. “I -always loved her from the first. She was like an odd, rare, lonely -little bird to me. She was wonderful to me for her own dearness and -still more wonderful because she was Brooke Hamilton’s great niece.” - -“You’ve had nothing to do with any good work that has gone on on the -campus in the past four years,” Leila agreed with satiric emphasis. “So -you say. Now tell me, which of us could have softened Miss Susanna’s -heart to the college? Never think you are not of small use in the world, -Beauty.” - -“I decline to think of it at all,” Marjorie evaded. “I’d rather think -about when to go to see Miss Susanna. Why can’t we go to the Arms today? -We’ve had such a late luncheon. Suppose we hurry along to the Hall, see -Miss Remson for a little while then go to Hamilton Arms? By that time it -will be six o’clock and Miss Susanna will have had tea. We can stay with -her until about eight and stop at Baretti’s to dinner on the way to the -Hall.” - -“Fine, fine!” applauded Vera, “more marvelous managing by M. M. Dean.” -At the same time, happening to catch Leila’s eye the two exchanged -significant glances which Marjorie intercepted. - -“There, I caught you exchanging eye messages!” she exclaimed in triumph. -“You know something I ought to know that you haven’t told me.” She -glanced quickly at Robin. “No, Robin doesn’t know this time, either.” - -“What is this odd talk I’m hearing?” Leila inquired guilelessly. “Have I -a thousand secrets because I give Midget a friendly eye-beam?” - -“That was more than a merely friendly eye-beam,” disagreed Marjorie. -“Besides, Midget had the mate to it ready.” - -“Did she, indeed?” Leila’s black brows lifted with exaggerated interest. -“You will have it that we are a designing pair. Only the stars know -we’re not that. My luck is poor.” Leila sighed heavily. “How can I prove -my words. Not a star will be around until tonight.” - -“You’re worse than designing. You’re a fake,” emphasized Marjorie. - -Leila received the assertion with the broad, ingenuous smile for which -she was famed on the campus. “I believe you, Beauty,” she said with an -admiring candor which produced ready laughter. - -“We ought to make a start for the campus, girls.” Robin consulted her -wrist watch. - -“Away we go. Remember this is my feast.” Leila was on her feet, the -luncheon check in one hand. - -“Remember the Baretti dinner is to be mine,” Marjorie impressed upon her -companions. “The Dean Entertainment fund _must_ be used, you know.” - -“Don’t forget the grand banquet at the Colonial tomorrow night,” Robin -announced in a managerial voice. “You’re not the only person on the -campus with an entertainment fund.” - -“My treat will be a dinner at Orchard Inn,” Vera promised. “You two -girls have never been to Orchard Inn. Wait until you see it.” She grew -enthusiastic. “Leila and I just happened to discover it while we were -out driving. There; that’s all I intend to tell you about it.” - -“Is not Midget cruel?” Leila shook a disapproving head. - -“Is not Leila aggravating,” retaliated Vera, imitating Leila’s tone. - -“Since you ask outright; yes, to both questions. We couldn’t help -thinking it, but we were too polite to say so,” declared Robin. “We’ve a -grievance of our own against those two. Haven’t we, Marjorie?” - -“I should say we had.” Marjorie laid stress on her reply. - -“Ah, no; you only think you have,” retorted Leila. - -A flash of familiarity came with the words “you only think you have,” -but to Marjorie’s brain only. Now she remembered. That was precisely -what Hal had said to her on their last boat ride when he had declared -that she had never grown up. Her merry look, born of her companions’ -repartee, faded, to be replaced by a faint pucker of brow. To think of -Hal meant to recall the hurt expression on his handsome features as she -had last seen them. - -Quick as they had been to seek the cool inviting hospitality of the Ivy, -the re-united friends were now as eager to depart from it upon their -light-hearted way to the campus. - -“I’m going to hit up a pace,” Vera slangily informed them, swaggering up -to the roadster in an exact imitation of a racing motorcyclist she had -recently seen. - -Under her small practiced hands the smart roadster was presently -whisking through the town of Hamilton at a rate just escaping that of -speeding. Soon they had left the dignified town to its late afternoon -drowsing and were skimming along Hamilton Highway. A short stretch of -straight road then the highway began to wind in and out among the -collection of handsome private properties known as Hamilton Estates. -They were beautiful old-style manor houses for the most part surrounded -by green rolling lawns and ancient trees. - -“Oh, girls!” Marjorie called from her place on the front seat beside -Vera. She and Robin had exchanged places for the ride to the campus. -“Doesn’t Hamilton Arms look wonderful? As if it were trying to show -summer off at its very best.” - -“There’s not another place among Hamilton Estates that compares with the -Arms,” was Vera’s positive opinion. - -“And why not? Didn’t Brooke Hamilton plan it?” Leila made loyal demand. -“Now maybe he knew Nature better than she knew herself. I have sometimes -thought so.” - -“What a splendid tribute to him, Leila!” was Marjorie’s admiring cry. “I -must save that to tell Miss Susanna. How she will love it.” - -“Ah-h.” Leila’s affable grin appeared. “Now you begin to take account of -my smartness.” - -“It seems almost unfriendly not to stop and go to Miss Susanna now, but -I hate to disturb her before she has had her tea,” Marjorie commented -with concern. - -“Don’t worry, Beauty,” Leila said. “We’ll be coming back before long. -We’ll not ’phone her from the Hall. She has a taste for surprises. She -only knows you are soon to be here. She’ll be highly pleased to have you -walk in on her.” - -“I’ll surely do it,” Marjorie returned with a decided little nod. She -half smiled as she recalled a time when she had waited patiently to -receive a summons into the eccentric old lady’s presence. The peremptory -invitation to appear at Hamilton Arms on a certain day to tea had filled -her with the same sort of pleasant trepidation with which she would have -received a summons to a royal court. Hamilton Arms was truly Miss -Susanna’s castle, where she reigned supreme, a lonely little chatelaine -of a big house. - -The smile still lingered on the lieutenant’s lips as the car sped on and -made the last turn in the highway before the end of Hamilton Estates was -reached. Between the Estates and the campus of Hamilton College which -had now come into view lay the strip of land on which was built the row -of houses once used by the workmen who had erected the college -buildings. Of the four occupants of the roadster Vera’s eyes were the -only ones turned away from the territory at the left hand side of the -road. The other three girls were gazing in that direction with varying -expressions. Leila’s was purely mischievous. She was enjoying the -amazement which Marjorie and Robin were showing. - -“Why—what—who——?” Stupefied by what she was seeing Marjorie forgot to -greet her old friend the campus in her usual devoted fashion. - -Once, at this point along the straggling meadow road, dignified by the -name of the street, had stood a shabby row of weather-stained houses. -They had extended for a distance of what might be measured as two city -blocks. An equally straggling cross lane divided the row almost in -halves. Those above the cross lane looked more uncompromisingly ugly and -faded than ever under the afternoon sun. - -Those below the cross lane! Where were they? Where they had once stood -were now huge heaps of broken brick, plaster, boards and the debris -which always attends the tearing down of buildings. The ringing sound of -many hammers in motion, the snapping of yielding wooden beams, the -rattle of falling brick and plaster was in the air. - -Above the cross lane the upper block of houses stood intact in its dingy -loneliness. They appeared to frown upon the wreck of their companions of -years. - -Simultaneously Robin and Marjorie had raised a cry of astonishment. Vera -promptly stopped the car in order to give them a chance to view the -surprise at leisure. She dropped her hands from the wheel and with Leila -enjoyed their amazement. - -“Robin Page, can you believe your eyes?” Marjorie’s voice achieved -bewildered heights. - -“Seeing is believing. How did it happen? That’s what is bothering me.” - -“These two know.” Marjorie turned in her seat, including Vera and Leila, -in a comprehensive wave of the hand. “Now I understand what you two were -so full of laugh about. I knew you had something else on your mind -besides giving me Miss Susanna’s letter. There’s a new firm on the -campus, it seems, Harper and Mason. And they’ve been very very busy!” - - - - -CHAPTER IX.—THE FAIRY TALE PRINCESS - - -“Never blame us,” Leila said. “Weren’t those houses but a rubbish heap -the day we came, Midget?” She appealed to Vera for corroboration. - -“Why, of course they were,” emphasized Vera. “We thought you’d be -surprised to see them torn down. We were.” - -“Surprised?” Marjorie repeated exultantly. “I’m simply amazed, -astounded, dumbfounded, flabbergasted, stupefied by such a piece of good -fortune. It’s just what both Robin and I wanted.” - -“We worried during Commencement week because we hadn’t the time then to -see a firm of Hamilton contractors about having those houses torn down. -You and Vera knew that, Leila Harper. You’re implicated in this surprise -somehow,” Robin accused. - -“My word as an honorable Irishman, I had not a thing to do with it,” -protested Leila, though she laughed. - -“But you haven’t said you didn’t know who had. Never mind. I know. It -was Miss Susanna. It must have been either she or President Matthews. He -wouldn’t have had——” Marjorie paused to think of a phrase which would -describe the stately president’s disinclination to intrude upon their -project. - -“The nerve,” Vera supplied with a giggle. - -Marjorie fell suddenly silent as she watched the busy workmen moving to -and fro in their task of demolishment. The work, hers and Robin’s great -enterprise, had begun. She was thrilled by the thought of it. - -“Time to be going, Midget.” - -Leila’s voice broke into Marjorie’s dream of the glory of work and the -romance of worthy deeds. Marjorie could not tear her glance from the -fascinating scene of labor. Yes; she and Robin had Miss Susanna to thank -for this unexpected lift in their program. - -“No one but Miss Susanna could have thought of this and then gone ahead -and done it,” Vera now said in a tone that partook of reverence as she -started the car. “She wanted you and Robin to see what had been done as -soon as you set foot in Hamilton. She told us to make it our business to -lead you to it.” - -“Oh, wait until I see her!” Marjorie looked happy anticipation. Now they -were coming into full sight of the velvety green campus. “Dear first -friend, how are you?” she cried, stretching a hand of greeting toward -the spread of living green. - -Vera smiled in sympathy of the whimsical fancy. “You’re as full of -whimsies as Leila,” she said. “She can almost convince one that Ireland -is full of leprechauns and banshees.” - -From the beginning of the campus wall the distance to the central gates -of the college was quickly covered by Vera’s car. In the tonneau of the -car Robin was still busy expressing her wonder to Leila of the surprise -Miss Susanna had given them. Marjorie, however, remained silent as the -roadster neared the main entrance. She was in the grip of many emotions. -Her mind reverted to a day when she and her four Sanford chums had -entered the gates of Hamilton College for the first time as explorers, -seeking the treasures of an unknown region. - -“Remember the stranger within thy gates,” she was thinking. At first no -one had “remembered” them, to their grieved chagrin. Then had come Helen -Trent and then Leila and Vera. Their kindly offices had marked the -beginning of fellowship at a college where snobbery had been the order -of things instead of democracy which the founder, Brooke Hamilton, had -made every effort to establish. Now, at the beginning of her fifth -college year, she was returning to a Hamilton in which democracy had -become a watchword. She experienced a swift exultation of spirit in -thinking of the blessed change. - -As the car passed between the massive stone gate posts Vera slackened -speed and continued more slowly along the central campus drive. Came a -turn to the left. Wayland Hall raised its handsome gray stone height -only a few yards distant. Against the emerald of its short cropped lawn -brilliant-hued verbenas, zenias and salvia flaunted beds of luxuriant -bloom. Later in the season, cannas, gold and scarlet, and summer’s -queen, who arrives late, the ever popular dahlia, would have sway. Still -later, hardy chrysanthemums would carry on the scheme of beauty. - -Over one side of the veranda a late-flowering, creamy-pink climbing rose -trailed its double fragrant clusters. At an end of the veranda purple -and white clematis stars wove a mantle against a background of green. -The spicy scent of garden pinks and tiger lilies was in the air. Wayland -Hall rejoiced in a riot of flowers of which Miss Remson, its energetic -little manager, took tender care. The buzzing of a select delegation of -bees engaged in a honey-hunting expedition seemed the drowsing, humming -voice of mid-summer itself. - -On the veranda a small, wiry, familiar figure was watching the approach -of the automobile and waving a preliminary greeting. Miss Remson’s thin -pleasant face grew brighter with welcome as she stood at the head of the -steps, her eyes on the car as it slid onto the open space before the -house. - -Marjorie was the first one out of the car. It had hardly stopped when -she skipped agily from it and ran toward the erect waiting figure. Miss -Remson came half way down the steps to meet her and the two embraced -with joyful vigor. - -“My dear Marjorie, you are so very welcome. How I have missed you and -all of my girls this summer.” Miss Remson still held Marjorie’s hands in -hers. “So glad you are to stay at the Hall with Marjorie, Robina.” She -offered a cordial hand to Robin. “I am proud to have the illustrious -firm of Page and Dean under my roof.” - -“And what of the firm of Harper and Mason?” demanded Leila. “Ah, there’s -a firm of note! Now tell me—where can you find it’s equal?” - -“Where, indeed?” was Miss Remson’s question. - -“They’re a couple of bandits. They held me up behind the station and -Lawless Leila snatched my bag,” Marjorie accused. “While my supposed -partner, here,” she indicated Robin, “helped the daylight robbers.” - -“Shocking!” Miss Remson did not look in the least shocked. She entered -into the spirit of teasing with zest. “I must be careful not to allow -them inside the Hall. I’ll have their luggage brought down and set out -on the lawn. I had no idea I was harboring two such desperadoes.” - -“Arrah, don’t be hard on us now!” Leila became coaxingly Hibernian. “You -should be thinking of how lonely you were before Midget and I came -wandering into the Hall. Had you even a long-faced, would-be freshie for -company? You had not.” - -“I can afford to leave ‘lonely’ out of my vocabulary, now that I have -some of my old household back again.” Miss Remson exulted. - -“And for that you may escort our old friend, Bean, as Leslie Cairns -would have it, into the Hall,” Leila graciously permitted. “Midget and I -will be doing the same for our old friend Page.” Leila possessed herself -of Robin’s traveling bag. Vera doughtily insisted on carrying Marjorie’s -bag. - -“Set the bags in the hall, girls, and come into the dining room,” Miss -Remson directed as they entered the house. “I made a pitcher of -tutti-frutti nectar, your old favorite, and Ellen baked three-layer -cream cake this morning. Don’t tell me you have just had luncheon.” - -“But we have,” Robin said regretfully. The others swelled the chorus. -Vera had an inspiration. It dawned while the tall frosted glasses were -being filled. - -“Let us drink Miss Remson’s health in the nectar now and keep the cake -for a spread when we come home tonight. Shades of the ten-thirty rule! -We can’t even remember what you sound like.” - -“There ain’t no such animal,” asserted Robin. “I thought we were to dine -at Baretti’s but the mind of this aggregation seems to have changed.” - -“That sounded like Jerry. Wish she were here. Giuseppe will have to miss -seeing us tonight,” Vera said lightly. “I’m in favor of a spread instead -of dinner. I know the rest of you are or I’d have been drowned out with -objections when I proposed it.” - -“The spread will be spread right here in the dining room,” Miss Remson -announced. “I’ll expect you when I see you. You’ll find me in the -office. As soon as you’re here the party will begin.” - -“You are as good as gold to us, Miss Remson,” was Marjorie’s -appreciation. Taking up her glass of delicious amber-colored punch with -its tempting dashes of plump scarlet cherries she proposed a toast to -their kindly friend. - -“We forgot to tell you where we were going, Miss Remson,” Marjorie said -apologetically when the commotion attending the drinking of the toast -had subsided. “We’re going to Hamilton Arms to see Miss Susanna. Robin -and I feel as though we could hardly go there soon enough to thank her -for her latest perfectly splendid kindness to us. You must know about -it?” She fixed inquiring eyes on the manager. - -“Yes; Leila and Vera told me. We thought you would go to see her first -of all.” - -“I wish you were going with us,” Marjorie said regretfully. - -“This isn’t the age of miracles,” the manager retorted with dry humor. - -“Some have come to pass. There are sure to be more some day.” Marjorie -chose to take this hopeful view. She knew of no two persons whom she -would rather bring together than Miss Remson and Miss Susanna Hamilton. -She wished each to discover and appreciate the other’s manifold virtues. -Miss Susanna, however, refused to extend her acquaintance on the campus. -Aside from the two or three formal interviews she had had with President -Matthews none but the nine girls who were Marjorie’s intimates had been -accorded her favor. - -“Into the midst of the toast drinking now dashed a slender, brown-haired -girl in a white linen frock. Her color ran high with happy anticipation; -her eyes were dancing. Marjorie set her half-filled glass of nectar on -the table in time to prevent a spill and gathered in the newcomer. - -“Katherine Langly, and such a whirlwind! Who’d ever suspect you of being -faculty?” she cried. “Leila was going to telephone you.” - -“Who told you to come here? Now I know you met a leprechaun hiding -behind a tree on the campus and he whispered in your ear and slipped -away.” Leila looked uncanny wisdom. - -“I never saw sign of one, but I did see old Amos. I was over at -Wenderblatts and he came there to mow the lawn. He’d been mowing the -campus just below the Hall and he told Lillian and me that he had seen -Miss Dean and some more young ladies getting out of a car in front of -the Hall. As soon as I heard I ran for the Hall. Lillian had callers so -she couldn’t come. She sent her dearest love.” Katherine poured forth -this explanation with an animation she had never possessed in her -freshman and sophomore days at Hamilton. - -Marjorie watched her in fascination. She was well content with the -change in Katherine. Once she had been a sad, subdued, retiring mouse of -a girl. She had now blossomed into a lively, high-spirited young woman. -The youngest member of the faculty she was respected by her colleagues -for her brilliant mentality. She had also won high honors in the Silver -Pen, a literary sorority, as an author of unusual promise. - -Kathie’s arrival was the signal for a second round of nectar. - -“I’ll have to be it, much as I hate to,” Vera presently mourned her tone -particularly despairing. - -“What is it you must be? Nothing your Celtic friend can save you from,” -was Leila’s solicitous but rash promise. - -“A time clock,” sighed Vera. “I’m the only one of this fivesome who has -any idea of the value of time. If we don’t start for the Arms soon it -may be Miss Susanna’s bedtime before we arrive there.” - -“You must go with us, Kathie,” declared Marjorie. “The more Travelers, -the merrier. We’re five of the old crowd, and I think it’s great to have -even that number together again.” - -“Of course I’ll go. You don’t think I’d let you run off to the Arms -without me, do you?” Kathie’s eyes sparkled with the gaiety of the -occasion. - -“We’d never do that; never-r-r!” Vera assured with a dramatic roll of -“r.” - -“You must have known what Robin and I did not know until this -afternoon,” Marjorie said happily. “When were you at the Arms last, -Kathie?” - -“Last Tuesday afternoon to tea. Yes, I knew.” Kathie flashed Marjorie a -radiant look. “I was so glad. It was splendid in her.” - -Before Marjorie could reply Vera called out a second warning. “Shoo, -shoo, shoo!” she cried, whisking in and out among her chums and -relentlessly driving them toward the dining room door. Laughing, Miss -Remson strolled after the fleeing, giggling girls. - -The little manager was about to call a last word to the party as they -began to descend the steps when the purr of an approaching automobile -brought all eyes to bear upon it. One of the railway station taxicabs -was now coming to a stop before the Hall. The instant it stopped the -driver sprang from it to open the tonneau door. Next a girl in a silver -gray dust coat and close-lined gray hat which suggested Paris emerged -from the machine. She cast a slow unhurried glance toward the group on -the veranda, then turned toward the driver in leisurely fashion and -addressed him. - -He dived into the tonneau, reappearing with a large leather -label-spattered bag. The new arrival handed him his fare with the barest -glance at him. He picked up the bag and started with it toward the -veranda. She followed him, wearing an expression of such utter boredom -it impressed itself upon the knot of girls to whom she was a stranger. -One other point also impressed them. That point was her unusual beauty. - -It seemed to Marjorie that she had never seen a girl so beautiful, and -in such an unusual way. Her thick fine hair was like pale spun gold as -it showed itself from under her small hat. Her skin was dazzling in its -purity. Her eyes reminded Marjorie of the sea on a calm day. Only she -could not be sure whether they were blue or green. Her features were not -small but were admirably regular. She carried herself with the lovely, -indifferent grace of a princess. Into Marjorie’s fanciful mind suddenly -popped the old-time fairy-tale beginning: “Once upon a time there was a -lovely princess.” - -“Now whom have we here?” muttered Leila in Marjorie’s ear. - -Marjorie could not reply. The girl had reached the steps and was now -composedly mounting them. She paid no more attention to the group on the -steps than if they had not been there. She made an authoritative motion -to the taxicab driver to place her bag on the veranda floor beside the -door. She found the bell and rang it, looking even more bored. - -As the stranger’s fingers pressed the electric button Miss Remson -stepped to her side. “I am Miss Remson, the manager of Wayland Hall. -What can I do for you?” she asked courteously. - -“Oh, are you Miss Remson?” She regarded the brisk, little woman with -indolent blue-green eyes. Her sweet, indifferent drawl went perfectly -with her unconcerned appearance. “I am Miss Monroe. You have my father’s -correspondence. I am here a trifle earlier than he mentioned in his -letter to you. That need not signify,” she added carelessly. - -Careful not to intrude the Five Travelers had moved on down the steps -and away from the Hall. Vera had parked the car farther down the drive. - -“What a perfectly beautiful girl!” Marjorie softly exclaimed when they -got out of earshot of the Hall. - -A murmur of agreement answered her. - -“I suppose she’s a would-be,” speculated Vera. “Still, she can’t be. -Miss Remson said yesterday that she didn’t intend to take any would-be’s -until the week before the entrance exams. Then, only those who had -applied for board at Wayland Hall. She never takes stray would-be’s.” - -“Whoever she may be, she comes from afar,” informed Leila shrewdly. “Her -traveling bag is English, via Paris. She has the bored air of the -English, but, set me down in the streets of Paris, and I’ll soon be at -the shop which furnished her hat and coat. If it is not one in the Rue -de la Pais called L’harmonie, then I am no witch woman. The latest color -plates they sent me show a coat like that gray.” - -“Perhaps she is a friend of Miss Remson’s,” was Kathie’s suggestion. - -As the five had not heard the brief exchange of words between the -stranger and the manager they impersonally concurred with Kathie. Again -hustled into the roadster by Vera they soon dropped the subject of the -beautiful arrival at the Hall for the more personal one of Miss -Susanna’s gracious and unlooked-for help in the dormitory project. - -Meanwhile, at Wayland Hall, Miss Monroe of London and Paris was lounging -gracefully in a roomy willow rocker in the living room. She was -appraising her surroundings through two limpid, but distinctly shrewd -blue-green eyes and mentally ticketing them “not half bad.” - -In her office Miss Remson was frowning as she industriously consulted -her letter file for the desired correspondence. The perturbed manager -was very certain that she had not agreed to admit Miss Monroe, or any -other strange young woman, to Wayland Hall in the middle of the summer. - -She gave a kind of annoyed cluck as she finally found the desired -correspondence between herself and the newcomer’s father, who had signed -his letters, “Herbert Cecil Monroe.” They had been written from a Paris -address and had been accompanied by satisfactory references. In them, -however, her permission had not been asked, nor had she agreed to admit -the daughter of her correspondent to Wayland Hall before the formal -opening of Hamilton College. - - - - -CHAPTER X.—AT THE ARMS - - -“Where is she, Jonas?” Marjorie raised a cautioning finger. She hardly -breathed the question for fear of Miss Susanna’s proximity. - -“She’s up in Mr. Brooke’s study, Miss Marjorie,” Jonas replied in -equally guarded tones. Miss Susanna’s faithful retainer of years, the -old man stood the center of the group of charming youthful visitors. He -was smiling his vivid, crinkled smile as though he was thoroughly -enjoying the invasion. - -Contrary to expectation that Miss Susanna might be taking her accustomed -stroll about the grounds after tea, the callers had reached the house -without having seen sign of her. Jonas had answered their ring. He had -come down the wide, thick-carpeted hall to the open door in his slow -dignified fashion. His face had lighted beautifully at sight of the knot -of bright-faced girls peering laughingly at him through the screen. - -It was for Marjorie, however, that his smile was kindest. He shared Miss -Susanna’s fondness for “our young lady.” The cordial handshake he gave -her came straight from his worshiping heart. - -“She’s in the study quite a bit of late. _He_ would have liked that.” -The old man nodded with conviction. - -“I’m sure he would have, Jonas,” Marjorie heartily agreed. Her chums -smiled concurrence. They still had much of the same reserve for the -courtly, silver-haired retainer that they experienced toward Miss -Susanna. “We’d love to steal in on her there,” she said with impulsive -eagerness. “Do you think she’d care to be surprised in that way?” - -“I know she would. Miss Marjorie.” Jonas seemed very sure of this point. -A faintly mischievous expression had leaped into his keen blue eyes. He -surveyed her smilingly, as though debating something in his mind. - -“What is it, Jonas?” Marjorie was quick to catch the change of -expression. - -“There’s a sliding panel in Mr. Brooke’s study, Miss Marjorie. Miss -Susanna sits in Mr. Brooke’s chair always when she’s up there. Her back -is toward the panel. I can let you in that way, if you’d like it.” - -“We’d _love_ to.” Marjorie grew radiant. She consulted her chums with -dancing eyes. They made genial signs of wholesale approval. “Are you -sure we won’t startle her?” she asked as a prudent afterthought. - -“She’s not one to be startled,” Jonas proudly assured. “She’ll see you -as quick almost as you see her. She’s quick to see.” - -“Suppose I were to steal up behind her and slip my hands over her eyes? -Perhaps I’d better not do that.” Marjorie grew doubtful. - -“Please do. She’d think it the best kind of fun,” Jonas insisted. It was -as though Miss Susanna were a child for whom Jonas delighted to provide -entertainment. “She always says she likes adventure. She feels as though -she’d had a good many adventures since she’s known you and the young -ladies here.” - -“We have had some real ones,” Marjorie assured the old man. “All right, -Jonas. We hereby appoint you as guide of this secret expedition. Lead -on. We’ll do our best to give Miss Susanna a wee little adventure. Not -so little, either. A secret panel; that sounds thrilling.” - -“I’ll put it in the first play I write for Page and Dean this fall,” -Kathie promised. - -Led by Jonas the secret expedition tiptoed silently down the broad hall -until they came to a lift. It was situated between the library and -dining room and opened onto the second floor within a few feet of the -study. It was seldom used by the energetic mistress of the Arms. Jonas -opened its door without a sound and the five girls crowded into it, -leaving him hardly enough space in which to operate it. At the second -floor the man stopped the cage with a faint click and the adventurers -stepped noiselessly, one after another, into the hall. - -Jonas came last. He motioned the girls to follow him. Down the hall he -walked, past the study and on to a small, railed-in balcony. The balcony -adjoined the back wall of the study and formed a side of a little open -square over the library after the fashion of a patio. Exactly in the -middle of the balcony he stopped. The interested watchers saw him run a -practiced hand up and down the severely beautiful wainscoting. -Soundlessly, a smooth section of the wainscoting, between two raised -edges, and fairly wide apart, slid to the left and disappeared from -view. Its vanishment left an open space about three feet square. - -Mutely peering into the study they saw Miss Susanna seated in Brooke -Hamilton’s chair. At the left of her, on the massive table lay a goodly -pile of papers, yellowish and time stained. In front of her reposed -another pile of official-looking papers and opened letters. She was too -deeply immersed in a study of them to be aware of anything outside of -them. - -Jonas touched Marjorie’s arm. He made a motion toward the aperture. She -nodded in merry understanding. Stealthily she lifted first one foot, -then the other, over the lower up-standing part of the wainscoting. -Holding her breath she reached Miss Susanna’s chair in two noiseless -steps. Two soft hands found the old lady’s eyes and closed over them. - -“Who-o-o-o!” Miss Susanna cried out like a small tree owl. Like a flash -her own sturdy hands readied up and caught Marjorie by the arm. “I know -this game! I can guess who it is!” she cried out like a jubilant child. - -“Guess, then,” growled Marjorie in as gruff a voice as she could muster. - -“Marvelous Manager,” came with delighted certainty. This particular -nickname for Marjorie seemed always most to amuse the old lady. - -“Right-o! And who else?” Marjorie persisted, still keeping sight shut -off from the chuckling victim. - -“That’s easy,” boasted Miss Susanna. “Leila and Vera—yes—and Robin Page. -Since you’re here, child, she must be here, too. And Kathie. She’s a -fixture on the campus. Now drop those hands and let me have a look at -you,” impatiently commanded the old lady. - - - - -CHAPTER XI.—OUT OF THE PAST - - -The prisoning hands fell away from Miss Hamilton’s eyes revealing five -laughing girls clustered at one side of the historic chair in which the -old lady sat, her expression one of keen enjoyment. She immediately held -out her arms to Marjorie who slipped into them and kissed Miss Susanna -on the forehead and on both cheeks. - -“My dear, dear child. So you surprised me after all, though I have been -on the watch for you. It was all Jonas’ fault. He fixed up this scheme.” -Miss Susanna heartily returned Marjorie’s caress with every evidence of -affection. Next she motioned each of the others to her and kissed her on -the cheek, a mark of favor they had not expected from the matter-of-fact -mistress of the Arms. - -“You stole a march on me, and Jonas helped you!” she exclaimed when the -first babel of greeting had subsided. “I’m glad you found me here. I’m -going to do something for you now that I think you’ll like. Come, guess -what. You made me guess.” - -“Show us something of interest that was Mr. Brooke Hamilton’s,” Marjorie -made instant guess. - -“Um-m-m; partly right,” Miss Susanna put on a baffling expression. - -“It’s a letter, or one of those papers,” hazarded Vera. “I mean what you -are going to show us.” - -“Right again, but not altogether right.” Miss Susanna was enjoying the -moment of suspense. - -“It’s tea I can read in your eye, and I’ll guess again it’s been put off -till this time each night this week,” Leila slyly asserted. “Oh, I have -a fine reasoning power.” Leila showed her white teeth affably, “though -there are those who do not believe it.” - -“Clever Leila!” Miss Susanna clapped her hands. “You’ve guessed the -other half of my intention. I decided to have my tea late this week in -case you girls dropped in on me. Kathie said that Marjorie would -probably arrive when she came on the late afternoon train. I guessed the -firm of Page and Dean would meet at the station,” she said with humor. - -“We did,” Marjorie’s light tone grew serious. “Oh, Miss Susanna, we -_saw_, coming to the campus. We hardly know how to begin to thank you -for the help you’ve given us. It means so much to us, who wish the work -on the dormitory to progress, but even more to the girls who will live -in the dormitory when it is completed.” Marjorie had re-taken the old -lady’s hands in hers, pressing them gratefully. - -Her friends and Jonas stood looking on at the fond little scene between -the once crabbed mistress of the Arms and the gentle girl whose high -principles and unfailing courtesy had won her the friendship of the -difficult, embittered last of the Hamiltons. - -“Never mind about that dormitory business now!” Miss Susanna held up an -imperious hand. “I’ll talk with you of it some other day—perhaps.” She -broke into a smile. “Jonas,” she turned to the old man, “bring the tea -up here.” - -“I used to have tea here occasionally with Uncle Brooke when I was a -young girl,” she told her interested guests. “He had tea promptly at -half-past four every afternoon when he was at home, and usually in the -study.” - -The Travelers listened almost breathlessly for her to continue. They -were “positively greedy” for even scraps of information concerning the -founder of Hamilton. - -“All the tea he used was shipped to him from China. He never ate -anything for tea except a few small, sweet English crackers. But how he -liked tea! He would drink three cups, always. When I had tea with him he -would have Jonas bring me the choicest marmalade and conserves, and -little fancy rolls and sweet cakes. He would make an occasion of our tea -drinking.” Miss Susanna’s face softened. She smiled reminiscently. - -A pleasant silence ensued, broken only by the slight rustling of the -papers on the table which Miss Hamilton was turning over. She drew from -among the stack a long sheet of yellowed fine paper. It was spread open -and written closely on one side. - -“While we are waiting for Jonas to bring the tea,” she said, an absent -look in her eyes, “I will keep my promise and read you a letter that -Uncle Brooke intended for the Marquis de Lafayette.” - -A sighing breath went up from the listeners who were now seated about -the library table. - -“It seems so strange; to know some one who knew someone else who knew -Lafayette,” Robin said wonderingly. - -“So it does, until one stops to consider how long it was after the war -of the Revolution before Lafayette came back to visit America. He came -here in the year of 1824. Uncle Brooke was a very young man then. He was -my great uncle, you must bear in mind. Lafayette was about sixty-six -years of age when he made the American visit. He died ten years -afterward. He and Uncle Brooke corresponded regularly during the last -years of Lafayette’s life. The letter I shall read to you is, I imagine, -the draft of a letter he composed to Lafayette. It is neither finished -nor signed.” - -With this explanation Miss Susanna began in her concise utterance: - - “My Dear Friend: - - “How swiftly time passes! I can scarcely realize that almost - two years have elapsed since you visited the United States. - I had hoped to come to you in France, not later than next - autumn, but a peculiar, and what I trust may be a fortunate, - turn in my affairs makes it necessary for me to sail for - China next month. It is my expectation to remain in China - for at least a year and embark upon what promises to be a - successful business venture. - - “I am greatly concerned in thinking of you and of the future - of my country. How little I gave you mentally and - spiritually in comparison with all you gave me—the true - essence of lofty patriotism; the counsel of a mind among - minds. I shall ever keep before me your nobility of spirit; - your boundless generosity to America; your unfailing - consideration toward me. I am of the opinion that my best - effort to please you must lie in helping my country. What - does our United States need that I can give? My life? Always - at call. Yet how else may I perform my patriotic part? - - “Only to you can I confide an idea, recurring often to me - since the death of my mother, which occurred when I was a - boy of fifteen. She was an exceptional woman who, with her - two brothers, had been educated by a tutor in England. She - was a staunch advocate of the higher education for young - women. I have never since known her equal. She, herself, - being the strongest proof of her belief. Having known _her_ - can I, therefore, be less convinced of the grace and - necessity of the higher education for young America’s - daughters as well as her sons. - - “In loving memory of my mother I shall some day found a - college for young women after my own heart. I have not much - faith in polite female academies. My mind leans toward - colleges for young women, conducted in precisely the same - manner as are colleges for young men. Nor does it seem to me - that the faculty of such institutions of learning should - needs be composed entirely of women. The professors in our - colleges for young men are far more proficient in learning - than the majority of the women engaged to teach girls in the - few seminaries and academies of the United States. - - “In these painful, formative days of our republic young - women should receive the same educational advantages as - young men. Let us train them so that they in their turn may - become competent instructors. Let not their budget of - learning consist of a few polite ologies, lightly learned, - to be as lightly forgotten. I believe men have better brains - than women. Yet they lack in intuition. Women are keener of - perception. Thus it would appear——” - -Miss Susanna looked up from the paper. “That’s all,” she said abruptly. -“I suppose he made a copy of this letter, finished it and sent it to the -Marquis. I wished to read it to you because, in looking among his papers -and letters, this is the first mention he made of his dream of building -a college for women.” - -For a moment no one spoke. The spell of the unfinished letter of long -ago gripped the hearers. The generous, purposeful personality of its -writer made itself felt across the years. - -Jonas, trundling a tea wagon into the study, brought them out of the -historic past. - -“How I wish we knew the rest of it,” Marjorie said, her brown eyes -childishly wistful. - -“I wish you knew, but you never will,” was Miss Susanna’s crisp reply. -“I’ve hunted for what might be a continuation of that letter on another, -similar sheet of paper, but have never found it.” - -“It’s a glorious letter, even if it isn’t complete. It is full of hope -and courage and resolve and conviction!” Katherine’s tones rang with -admiration. - -“How beautifully he wrote of his mother,” supplemented Vera. - -“How well he wrote it all,” was Leila’s sweeping praise. “Too well not -to have——” She paused. Carried away by impulse she had forgotten for the -time the reason why the world could not have the history of a great man -and his great work. - -The sudden scarlet which flew to her own cheeks was no brighter than -that which sprang into Miss Hamilton’s. - -“I know what you meant, Leila. Even a few months ago I would have been -so cross with you for having said what you were thinking.” Miss Susanna -looked up from her arranging of the tea set on the library table and met -Leila’s eyes squarely. “I’m not—now. You may finish what you started to -say.” The permission was more like a half defiant command. It was as -though the old lady had a sneaking desire to hear it. - -“Too well not to have the world read it,” Leila repeated. “It’s of him I -was thinking, Miss Susanna. He has a right to the high place he made for -himself.” - -“I wish the _world_ knew him as I knew him—but not Hamilton College!” -the old lady cried out in petulant vexation. “I should be happy to -publish his biography if I had not the college to hold me back. The -Board is only too eager for information concerning Uncle Brooke. The -moment the world received it, they would receive it, too. The members of -that miserable Board would merely laugh at me because they had gained -their point through me in a roundabout way. Whatever concessions I have -made have been made recently, and only to please you girls. Most of all, -to please Marjorie. My reasons for turning against the Board of Hamilton -College were sound. Still, I know that in the same circumstances Uncle -Brooke would have made allowance for their despicable behavior. But I am -I, Susanna Hamilton, stubborn as a mule, so my father sometimes said. I -can revere Uncle Brooke with all my heart, but I can’t be like him.” - - - - -CHAPTER XII.—IN LINE FOR TROUBLE - - -“Truly, Leslie Cairns, you make me tired!” Natalie Weyman clasped her -bare arms behind her head with a jerk so petulant as to plainly convey -her complete dissatisfaction. She surveyed Leslie, who lay stretched at -ease on a brocaded chaise longue, with cold, displeased eyes. - -“So you’ve often said,” was the laconic return. Leslie did not even -trouble to look toward Natalie. She was not in the least concerned at -the ungracious opinion of her chum.—“Well, I mean it,” scolded Natalie. -“Why must you go running off to Hamilton in the very middle of the -summer when we’re having a good time here at Newport?” - -“Glad you hail it as a good time,” Leslie’s plain, roughly hewed -features relaxed from the stoical expression she carefully cultivated to -a half satiric grin. “I think Newport’s a dead burg this summer. Never -saw such a collection of stupids gathered in one village before.” - -“You only say that,” derided Natalie. “You’ve simply taken a notion to -go to Hamilton. Goodness knows why. You’re the most stubborn, obdurate -girl!” - -“I haven’t asked you to go there with me, have I?” The questioned -bordered on a sneer. - -“I wouldn’t go if you were to beg me to,” Natalie flashed back. - -“You’d go if I made a point of it,” Leslie contradicted with assured -insolence. She raised herself from the couch on one elbow and eyed her -friend disdainfully. - -“No, Leslie, I would _not_.” Natalie seemed very certain on this point. -“I’d not go within fifty miles of Hamilton College again after the way -we left it. I really wonder at your nerve in doing it.” - -“Going to weep over one small flivver?” Leslie grew more ironical. -“Forget it. You know how much I love to talk of it.” - -“I don’t mention it very often,” Natalie said bitterly. - -“The less often, the better. If I hadn’t business of my own to attend to -I’d go after Dulcie Vale’s scalp. Venomous little traitor!” A deep scowl -did not add to Leslie’s appearance. - -“She’s in Europe. She crossed on the same steamer with Joan Myers. She -tried to talk to Joan, but Joan couldn’t see her for a minute. I had a -letter from Joan from Paris.” Natalie volunteered this information. - -“Hm-m. Looks as though she’d keep her scalp for awhile,” Leslie observed -with grim humor. “I’ll catch her sometime—coming or going. What I’d -rather do is hang around dear old Hamilton,” Leslie put mocking sarcasm -into the last three words, “and see what I can put over on Bean.” - -“What do you mean?” Natalie looked mystified. “What could you do now? -Bean has a home, I believe. One would naturally suppose she’d go to it -after having been graduated with honors at Hamilton.” The bitterness of -Natalie’s tone indicated the jealous envy which mention of Marjorie Dean -had aroused afresh. - -“That’s as much as you know about it. I happen to know that Bean will be -in Hamilton and on the campus soon, if she’s not there already.” - -“How do you happen to know it?” Natalie’s face registered incredulity, -then curiosity. Second thought caused her to remember that Leslie had -ways of her own of finding out things. - -“Never mind how.” Leslie turned tantalizing. “‘Nuff’ said.” - -“I can’t think of anything you could do to spite Bean. You tried your -last trick when you bought that property you thought she wanted for her -precious dormitory. What happened?” was the sarcastic retaliation. - -“You’ll never be celebrated as a great thinker, Nat,” Leslie drawled, -ignoring her companion’s displeasing question. “Leave it to me to make -matters hum for Bean. I’m going to Hamilton on the six-thirty train in -the morning. I’ll have something to tell you, you’d better believe when -I come back.” - -“Oh, yes, ‘Leave it to me,’” mimicked Natalie, an angry light in her -gray-blue eyes. “You’re crazy, Leslie Cairns,” was her added scathing -opinion. - -“I’m not so much of a nut. What?” Leslie took no more umbrage at -Natalie’s rudeness than she would have at the buzzing of a fly. “Try to -get it across your brain that I’m a business shark now, Nat. Will you?” -she said with exaggerated patience. “I’ve sixty thousand dollars tied in -a hard knot in that bunch of rickety shacks just off the campus. Those -ancient corn cribs have to come down. What about my garage?” - -“That for your garage.” Natalie snapped contemptuous fingers. Leslie’s -insinuation that she was “thick” was the final drain on her patience. -“You’ll never make a go of it. It’s too far from the campus,” was her -wet blanket prediction. - -Leslie merely threw back her head and laughed in the noiseless, -hobgoblin fashion for which she was noted among her few friends. Her -silent, insolent merriment stung Natalie far more deeply than a retort -could have done. - -“Well it is.” Natalie repeated, determined to hold her own. - -The laughter died out of the other girl’s face to be replaced by a -lowering, bullying scowl. - -“I tell you it is _not_,” she emphasized in tones intended to forbid -further contradiction. “Because it isn’t in the same vicinity as the -other garages is no sign it won’t pay me to put up a garage on my new -property. I’m going to build the kind of garage the Hamilton gang will -cry for. I may run it myself.” - -“Wha-t-t!” In her astonishment Natalie half rose from her chair. She sat -down again and gave Leslie a long-suffering glance, as if she could not -credit what she had just heard. - -Leslie was enjoying her chum’s amazement. Of the eighteen girls who had -composed the San Soucians, the club of girls who had been expelled from -Hamilton College during their senior year, Natalie Weyman was the only -one who had remained friendly with Leslie Cairns. The other members of -the Sans, though betrayed into expulsion by the treachery of Dulcie -Vale, chose to place the major share of the blame upon Leslie’s -shoulders. If Leslie had not arraigned Dulcie and ousted her from the -Sans in their assembled presence, Dulcie would not have betrayed them. -Or thus they argued. Leslie, who had been their leader, became a -detested stranger. - -While Natalie Weyman had cultivated Leslie assiduously at college -because of her unlimited purse and flagrant disregard for rules, she had -grown to like Leslie for herself. Because she was thoroughly selfish she -inwardly approved of Leslie’s calloused selfishness. After the Sans’ -expulsion from college she had not failed to keep in touch with Leslie. - -At present she was entertaining Leslie at “Wavecrest,” the Weyman’s -Newport villa. Leslie had arrived there only three days before with the -drawling announcement: “I may stay, if you can rustle up some -excitement.” Natalie had gladly promised “the excitement” in the shape -of a round of smart social events. Now with her plans nicely formulated -Leslie had ungratefully taken it into her head to go to Hamilton. - -“I’ll say it once more. Be sure you get it this time. I may run my -garage myself.” - -“You wouldn’t.” Natalie shook an unbelieving head. - -“Why not?” Leslie coolly returned. “Think what an opportunity I’d have -to keep a line on the knowledge shop.” - -“Why should you care what goes on there now?” Natalie cried in -exasperation. “You’re out of it, and ought to be glad of it. I am, I’m -finding out every day that no one really in society cares much whether -one was graduated from college or not. Smart schools for girls count for -more.” - -“I care, but not in the way you think.” Leslie suddenly swung her feet -from the chaise longue to the floor. She sat very straight and viewed -her chum somberly. “I don’t care a hoot for Hamilton because it is -Hamilton,” she continued, her voice gruff. “It’s Bean’s performances -that interest me. Not one of the Sans lost out as I did in getting the -sack from Hamilton. I lost my father. He’s the only person I know that I -ever loved. I like you, Nat, even though we can’t keep on affable terms -five minutes at a stretch. But I _worship_ my father.” Leslie’s heavy -features went from merely heavy to downcast. “Bean is to blame for -everything that went against me at Hamilton,” was her sulky accusation. - -“Oh, Les, you know that is ridiculous—to blame even that little prig for -_everything_!” Natalie had truth enough in her shallow composition to -realize the utter fallacy of such a statement. - -“She was there, wasn’t she? Well, then, what more do you want?” Leslie -did not wait for her friend to answer her questions. “Bean was a -disturber. I knew she would be the instant I first saw her. I did what I -could to keep her down, but she bobbed up on every corner. Her crowd -stuck to her; mine double-crossed me. She won; I lost my sheepskin -and—my father. I’m not likely to forget that. She butted into the way -the Sans had things regulated at Hamilton and tried to turn an exclusive -college into a public school. She did it purposely. That makes her -responsible, her and her Beanstalks, for _everything_. I chose to look -at it in that way. So I’m going back to dear old Hamilton to mind my own -business and maybe snarl up Bean’s affairs a trifle. What?” - -“You are foolish to think of such a thing. Stick to your own affairs and -let Bean alone. _You’ll_ land in a snarl if you try to start mischief, -Les.” There was anxious warning in the advice. - -“Save your breath.” Leslie rose to her feet, her eyes on the jeweled -watch encircling her wrist. “I’m going to hit the down. I must be up in -time for the six forty-five train in the morning. Thank goodness I won’t -have to trail Gaylord along this time.” Mrs. Alice Gaylord, Leslie’s -hired chaperon, had been graciously given permission to visit a sister -while Leslie visited Natalie. Leslie had determined that she would make -the trip to Hamilton alone, defying convention. - -“When are you coming back, Les?” At the last Natalie gave in half -amiably to what she could not change. - -“Ask me something easier. It depends upon how long Bean lingers on the -campus. I’m only going up there now to plan my campaign. I may not pull -down my corn cribs till fall. As for landing in a snarl—not friend -Leslie.” She strolled to the door of Natalie’s boudoir, where the two -had been lounging. Hand on the door, she paused. “Bean is in line for -trouble.” Her heavy brows drew together ominously. “I told you I was a -business shark. I intend she shall know it, too.” - - - - -CHAPTER XIII.—AN UNGRACIOUS BEAUTY - - -True to their word the five Travelers left Hamilton Arms at a quarter to -nine o’clock in order to spend a little time with Miss Remson before -retiring. On the way to Wayland Hall the letter written by the master of -the Arms in the heyday of his youth to the Marquis de Lafayette, his -mature counsellor and friend, formed the chief topic of conversation. - -“One might call that letter the cornerstone of Hamilton,” Leila said -thoughtfully. - -“Yes,” chimed in Vera. “Lafayette seems to have been the favored -confidant of Mr. Brooke’s magnificent idea. At that time many of the -country’s ablest men did not believe in the higher education for women. -He was unique for those days.” - -“It was because he loved his mother so dearly that he could understand -what a college would mean in the training of girls,” was Robin’s sober -conjecture. “I hope he copied the letter and sent it.” - -“Oh, I am sure he sent it,” Marjorie sprang into ready defense of her -idol. “I imagine he always tried to finish whatever he set out to -accomplish. Otherwise he could never have become the founder of Hamilton -College. - -“It seems strange to hear read a letter from one great man of long ago -to another. Lafayette seems longer ago in time than he really was. My -uncle has a letter which was written by George Washington. It describes -a horse Washington offered a certain man for sale. The horse’s name was -Magnolia. My uncle bought the letter from a dealer in rare books and -letters. I’ll write him and ask him to send me a typed copy of it,” -Robin volunteered. - -“Do; then I shall believe that Washington was no fairy tale. When I was -a little girl didn’t I believe that he belonged in an American fairy -tale? It was my old nurse who told me that he was an American king who -had cut down one hundred cherry trees at a stroke and who went to war in -an invisible coat of mail so that he was never hurt. She had ideas of -her own about him.” Leila gave an enjoying chuckle. - -It was the signal for more chuckles from her companions. It was -difficult to say which was more diverting, Leila’s droll remarks, or her -inimitable manner of making them. - -A brief lull in the conversation followed laughter. Marjorie broke it. -She said with sudden irrelevance: “I’m not curious to know Miss -Susanna’s grievance against the Board. I only wish it could be adjusted. -It doesn’t seem right that Mr. Brooke Hamilton, who gave his time and -heart and soul and spirit to such a noble enterprise, should remain a -mystery. Miss Susanna feels so about it at times. She has said so to me. -But there are more times when she doesn’t; when she thinks only of her -own grievance,” Marjorie ended ruefully. - -“That’s the most I ever heard you say on such a ticklish subject, -Beauty.” Seated beside her in the tonneau, Leila laid a light hand over -one of Marjorie’s. - -“I don’t know whether it is the most I’ll ever say, or not,” Marjorie -responded. “I’d rather not say it to Miss Susanna, but I would if I felt -that I should,” she continued with honest conviction. - -Kathie, occupying one of the small seats of the tonneau, now leaned -forward. “Professor Wenderblatt told me the other day that there had -been several changes made in Board members since Miss Susanna’s -disagreement with them. I wonder if she knows it?” she said -speculatively. “If she doesn’t, and were to be told of it, perhaps it -might make a difference in her attitude.” - -“I’ve never mentioned the Board to her. She has always spoken of it -first to me, and then not often. I’m sure it would displease her if I -were to speak of it first to her. It’s too hard a matter for me to -decide just now. She’s been generous to Hamilton through us in the way -Mr. Brooke would have been. I couldn’t bear to displease her. It would -seem so ungrateful. On the other hand, there’s our Alma Mater. We -children should stand bravely for her welfare,” Marjorie reasoned -loyally. - -“I believe it will all work out for the best.” Katherine was steadily -hopeful of tone. “I think what Epictetus said about such conditions is -consoling. He said: ‘Do not choose to have all things happen as you -would have them happen, but rather choose to have them happen as they -will. Then shall the current of your life flow free.’” - -“Thank you, Kathie.” Marjorie’s half pensive features brightened -wonderfully. “That’s an inspiring quotation, and I shall learn it this -instant so as to have it handy to cheer me when I need to be ‘chirked’ -up, as Delia our maid says. Please repeat it, and slowly.” - -Katherine obligingly repeated the quotation several times. Marjorie -repeated it softly after her. Leila was so busy leaning forward, talking -in Robin’s ear she did not hear it. - -“All passengers kindly get out of this car and walk. Step lively.” -Vera’s voice, raised to a mild shout, broke in upon the bit of -memorizing the two were earnestly engaging in. She had brought the -roadster to a stop before the main gates of the campus and was now -cheerfully inviting her companions to vacate it. - -“A nice way to take us out to ride,” Leila grumbled. “Are we not good -enough to be carried to our own doorstep? What a treacherous disposition -you have, Midget. Now I have found you out, and in time. I thank my -stars.” Leila left the car in her most leisurely manner. - -“Oh, hurry up, slowpoke,” giggled Vera, taking hold of Leila’s arm to -forward her progress from the car to the drive. “Robin likes my -disposition. She hasn’t found me out yet. She and I are going to take -the car to the garage. Anybody else want to go, too?” - -“Not I. I know when I’m unwelcome.” Leila tossed her head with a haughty -air. - -Katherine and Marjorie, far from resenting the sudden order to “get out -and walk” were already strolling slowly up the drive. Leila turned her -back on Vera with a great show of scorn and overtook the strolling two. -They found Miss Remson on the veranda, seated in a large willow rocker -which made her appear unusually small. - -“Back at last,” she greeted in her lively tones. “What cheer? Was it -dinner at Baretti’s or tea at Miss Hamilton’s?” - -“Miss Susanna had a late tea on purpose for us,” Marjorie replied. “Life -has been one glorious succession of eats today since I got off the train -at Hamilton station.” This with an accompanying sigh of utter -well-being. - -“Don’t forget the spread,” the little manager reminded. “It’s ready.” - -“So are we,” declared Katherine brightly, “or we shall be when Vera and -Robin come from the garage.” - -“No true Hamiltonite could resist a ten o’clock spread even if she had -been lunched, toasted and tea’d,” Marjorie cheerily asserted. - -“No one could resist Ellen’s cream cake, either. I know that,” -supplemented Kathie. - -Vera and Robin presently returned and the quintette accompanied Miss -Remson into the dining room where the “ten o’clock spread” awaited them. -There was not only Ellen’s delicious cream cake but dainty sandwiches -and fruit salad as well. Though none of them were actually hungry, a -spread was a spread on any occasion and therefore not to be passed by. - -As they sat about one of the smaller tables, enjoying the little -good-night feast, Miss Remson said with a kind of hesitating abruptness: -“Girls, I have broken my rule of rules for the first time since I -undertook the management of Wayland Hall. I have accepted a freshman far -in advance of the regular opening of the Hall.” - -Interest flashed strongly into five pairs of eyes fixed on Miss Remson. -The grim set of the little woman’s jaw indicated her evident displeasure -with herself at the departure from her few iron-clad rules. With the -half chagrined admission came to each girl simultaneously a remembrance -of the stranger they had seen in the late afternoon when leaving the -Hall for Hamilton Arms. - -“Do you mean the girl who came here this afternoon in a taxi as we were -starting for the Arms?” Vera lifted the silence that had ensued after -the manager’s remarks. - -“She is the one I mean.” Miss Remson nodded slowly and without -enthusiasm. - -“The fairy-tale princess!” Marjorie exclaimed involuntarily, then -laughed. - -“She had that look, I grant you,” Leila agreed. “Only it’s from Paris -she comes, and not out of a fairy tale.” - -“Correct, Leila. She arrived at New York City yesterday on a French -steamer, and came straight from New York to Hamilton. Early last spring -her father wrote me, applying for admission for her at the Hall to begin -with the week before the opening of college and during her college year, -provided she should pass her entrance examinations. Instead of abiding -by the agreement which I made with him her father has sent her to the -Hall several weeks too soon. There is nothing to be done in the matter -save to allow her to remain. She tells me that her father sailed for -Africa several days before she sailed for the United States. He joined -an exploring expedition up the Amazon River.” Miss Remson’s face -registered her disapproval in the matter. - -“Don’t worry, Miss Remson,” Marjorie comforted. “We will take this -would-be freshie under our august P. G. wings and bring her up a credit -to Hamilton.” - -“The five Travelers to the rescue!” promised Robin with a wave of the -hand. - -Leila, Vera and Katherine were equally ready to extend a welcoming hand -to the stranger from across the sea. Miss Remson surveyed her guests, a -bright smile gradually driving away her annoyed expression. - -“You girls are more hospitable than I. I ought to be ashamed of myself. -I must try to live up to you.” She paused, then proposed: “Suppose you -go to her room and invite her to the spread? She has number 8.” - -“You’re a jewel, Miss Remson.” Vera patted one of the manager’s hands. - -“Nothing like social eats to promote acquaintance,” nodded Robin. - -“Come on.” Leila was already half way to the door. “Let us visit our -would-be in a body and speak to her as with one voice. What shall we -say, so that we may all say the same, and not gabble at her like geese?” - -“I don’t fancy the concert invitation plan,” Vera objected. “You do the -inviting, Marjorie. You’ve a wonderful way with you.” - -“So have I,” Leila hastily assured Vera. “Never forget that, Midget. I -will praise myself rather than not be praised.” - -Laughing and joking the five post graduates hurried lightly up the -stairs and down the second floor hall to room number 8. Nor when Vera -knocked lightly on the door had it been decided as to which one of them -should be spokesman. - -The girl who answered the knock seemed lovelier to her callers than when -they had seen her alighting from the taxicab that afternoon. She wore a -pale primrose negligee which fell in straight soft folds to her feet. -Its flowing sleeves dropped away from her white, rounded arms and the -collarless cut of the negligee brought out the beauty of her shapely -throat. Her peculiarly colored eyes roved from one face to another. They -held a certain veiled inquiry not far from insolence. She was silent; -evidently waiting for her callers to speak first. - -“Good evening.” While Marjorie had not consented to begin the making of -friendly overtures with the prospective student she felt impelled to -break the silence. “We are having a spread downstairs in the dining -room. Miss Remson is giving it. Won’t you join us?” she invited with -pleasant directness. - -“Oh, no, thank you. You could hardly expect me to come down _en -deshabille_.” Contempt for invitation and callers lurked faintly in the -answer; a contempt which the girls felt rather than heard. - -“That need make no difference,” Marjorie composedly returned. “There are -no persons other than ourselves and the servants in the house. You know -how purely informal a spread must be in order to be a success.” - -“I don’t enjoy spreads,” came the indifferent reply. “Besides sweets -late in the evening are so hard on one’s complexion.” One of the blonde -girl’s white, beautifully kept hands found the door and rested against -the knob. Whether by accident or design was hard to say. - -“I am sorry you do not care to come,” Marjorie said with the gentle -courtesy which never seemed to fail her in the face of rebuff. “Pardon -me for being so remiss. Let me introduce my friends and myself to you. -Miss Remson has told us that you are Miss Monroe.” - -The indifferent expression on the girl’s face appeared to increase -rather than diminish. She merely stared at the group and said not a -word. Marjorie felt uncomfortable embarrassment seize her. Nevertheless -friendliness continued in her tone as she named her chums to the other -girl. Miss Monroe had the grace to acknowledge the introduction. She -nodded carelessly to each girl in turn, the air of furtive contempt -which had visited her at sight of the callers returning. - -“We should be glad to show you about Hamilton and the campus,” Vera -rallied to Marjorie’s assistance. “We are visiting Miss Remson for a -short time. We shall return to college in the fall and shall live at -Wayland Hall. So we shall be your neighbors. Miss Harper’s and my room -is 10. We are using our old room now, and it will be ours again when we -come back in the fall.” - -“I expect to try for the sophomore class.” Miss Monroe crested her -golden head. “I hope to escape the odious freshman class. I detest the -bare idea of being kept down. Thank you for your offer to show me -about.” She favored Vera with an inconsequential smile. - -“You are welcome.” Vera tried to keep reserve out of the response. She -did not enjoy being snubbed, either. - -“You are sure to like Wayland Hall. It is the oldest and has been -reckoned as the favorite house on the campus.” Leila now broke into the -conversation. “All of us except Miss Page have lived here since we -entered Hamilton. We are P. G.’s.” Leila gave the information in a -perfectly level tone. There was an inscrutable light in her bright blue -eyes which Miss Monroe did not miss. She colored slightly and hastily -looked away from Leila. - -Her remarkable blue-green eyes wandered to Marjorie again and rested -curiously upon her. In that instant’s survey she saw what she had not -yet allowed herself to note. She saw a girl whose claim to great beauty -was as strong as her own. The discovery did not contribute to her -happiness, but she was too clever to allow even a shade of rising -jealousy to cross her beautiful face. - -“I suppose ‘P. G.’ stands for post graduate?” she returned with a -questioning inflection. “I really know very little of American colleges. -I am sure I shall find college such a bore. My father insists that I -shall become a student of Hamilton. So tiresome in him!” - -The five Travelers still stood in a half circle outside the door. Miss -Monroe had no intention of inviting them in, it appeared. - -“We’ve had the very happiest kind of times in college,” Robin was quick -to defend her Alma Mater. “One gets out of college precisely what one -puts into it. You’ll feel differently about it after college opens and -everything is in full swing.” - -“If we can help you at any time to feel at home here, or can do anything -for you to add to your welfare, please let us know. We were strangers -here, too, once upon a time.” Marjorie smiled sunnily at discourteous -Miss Monroe. There was finality in her little speech. “Miss Remson will -expect us back,” she said to her companions. - -“You are very kind. I daresay I shall get on here.” Miss Monroe moved -her shoulders indifferently. “I prefer France or England to America. Of -course it’s bound to seem very ghastly here for a while.” Sullen -discontent lived for an instant on her pretty features. Marjorie’s -friendly offer seemed to annoy rather than please her. - -“Not half so ghastly as though you were condemned to an English private -school for girls.” Leila assured with a flash of white teeth which -appeared the extreme of affability. Her companions read into it another -meaning. They knew if the haughty newcomer did not that Leila was -blandly watching the self-centered girl measure off the rope with which -to hang herself. - -“I don’t in the least understand your meaning.” There crept into Miss -Monroe’s voice a decidedly petulant note. - -“I know that very well, indeed,” Leila replied with smiling -imperturbability. “I was born in Ireland and half educated in Europe; -partly in England, partly in Paris. The other half, the more important -half of my education I received at Hamilton College. The best I can wish -for you is that you may find at Hamilton what I found. I shall be glad -to make Hamilton seem less ghastly to you, if I can. Good night.” - -Leila turned away from the door. Characteristic of her was the virtue of -finality. She could not dwaddle over a situation. - -Her retreat was a signal to the other four girls. They made -conscientious effort to say good-night as pleasantly as they had saluted -Miss Monroe. She, on the contrary, began to show a first faint sign of -interest in her callers. Leila’s information caused the Irish girl to -rise in her opinion. She decided that she might be entertained by a -little further talk with her. - -“Will you—er—won’t you——?” She spoke directly to Leila’s back as the -latter continued to move slowly down the corridor. Leila did not turn -her head. Marjorie, walking behind her heard and turned her face toward -the girl in the doorway. Again Miss Monroe subjected her to a -protracted, nearly hostile stare. Then she went into her room and closed -the door with a force that was anything but indifferent. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV.—A TRIAL OF PATIENCE - - -During the few steps down the stairs and back to the dining room no one -spoke. At the door Vera relieved her pent-up feelings by softly -exclaiming: “Stung!” bringing one small hand down smartly upon the -other. The unaccustomed slang from dainty Midget cleared the snubbed P. -G.’s cloudy atmosphere with a soft chorus of giggles. - -Miss Remson listened to Kathie’s account of their defeated errand with -“Hum!” “Why, the idea!” and “Too bad!” Kathie had not said a word to -Miss Monroe save to acknowledge the introduction Marjorie made and -“Good-night.” She now simply repeated the conversation as nearly as she -could, placing no unfavorable stress on Miss Monroe’s rude reception of -the quintette. - -“The way Kathie has told you about our call is the way we are all trying -to feel about it,” Marjorie said earnestly. “As good P. G.’s we must -overlook more than ever what we may think is out of place. Miss Monroe -isn’t used to American girls, I suppose. Perhaps she thinks we are too -eager, or that we haven’t elegant repose, or——” She glanced inquiringly -at her friends: “I don’t know what she thinks.” - -“Let me say it for the rest of you. I have known a few like this girl in -England, but none so pretty. She will be pleasant? Ah, yes; but who -knows when?” Leila flashed a canny smile. “She did not ache to know us -tonight. Her taste will not have improved by tomorrow; nor for many a -long day.” - -“Never mind; we’re not sensitive plants,” was Marjorie’s light -assurance. “Our haughty, fairy-tale princess may change her mind about -us later.” Marjorie made light of the snub in order to soothe Miss -Remson’s wounded pride at the rudeness offered her favorite students. -“Maybe she is so upset over having to come to America to college, when -she doesn’t wish to, that she can’t be very cordial to any one.” - -“Good little Lieutenant, you keep the first tradition better than I.” -Leila dropped a fond arm over Marjorie’s shoulder. - -“Certainly, I don’t, silly.” Marjorie’s energetically protesting tones -suddenly ceased. - -Silvery and sweet on the scented night air came the chimes’ familiar -prelude. Followed the stroke of eleven, clear, solemn, individual in -tone. To Marjorie it was as though her second Hamilton friend had come -to say a soothing good-night to her after a “trying hike.” While she had -kept on a strictly even keel during the short call on Miss Monroe she -had secretly winced at the other girl’s insolent reception of her and -her chums. - -While the chimes sang away the hurt she sat listening to them and trying -to clear her brain of all ungenerous thoughts. Her face burned as she -recalled the steady way in which Miss Monroe had looked at her. She -understood the reason. While Marjorie was absolutely without vanity, she -could not pretend that she did not know her own claim to beauty. For -four years she had been hailed frankly at Hamilton as the college -beauty. Far from flattered, she ducked the title whenever she could. -Always in her mind lived the quaint charge delivered by the judge at the -beauty contest which she had won during her freshman year. - -“Brede ye, therefore, sweet maid, no vanitye of the mind, but say ye -raythere, at even, a prayer of thankfulnesse for the gifte of Beauty by -the Grace of God.” - -Strangely enough the ancient sentiment had popped into her mind at sight -of beautiful, golden-haired Miss Monroe. With it had come a kindly plan -of her own. She promised herself that she would put it into action as -soon as she came back to Hamilton in the fall. - -As a result of Miss Hamilton’s energetic effort on behalf of Page and -Dean, the willing firm found themselves more willing to work than -overcrowded with it. More the secretive old lady ordered Marjorie and -Robin to do nothing but have a good time with their chums for the next -three days and not dare to come near the Arms or even call her on the -telephone. Her emphatic message to them was: - -“Come to the Arms to seven o’clock dinner, all of you, next Sunday -evening. That means be at the Arms by three in the afternoon. Perhaps -you may hear something to your interest.” - -Robin and Marjorie had not yet been nearer the cherished site than the -point on Hamilton Highway from which they had viewed it on the day of -their arrival on the campus. They delicately refrained from examining -the work at close range until they had talked with Miss Susanna and -received her sanction. - -“We can well afford this layoff,” Robin had blithely declared to -Marjorie. “Thanks to Miss Susanna we’re miles farther ahead with this -work than we dreamed of being.” Marjorie patiently agreed with her -though the two laughed as each read the longing for action in the -other’s face. The promoters were brimming with the buoyant impulse of -youth. They yearned to get directly in touch with the big doings on the -newly purchased property. Absolute belief that Miss Susanna had done -better for the enterprise than they could have done had served to put a -loyal curb on their natural impatience. - -Meanwhile the five Travelers were deriving untold satisfaction from -their reunion. Kathie’s mornings and early afternoons were occupied in -coaching her aspiring freshmen. She could always be counted upon for -late afternoon and evening. Leila and Vera had nothing to do save please -their chums, incidentally pleasing themselves. Marjorie and Robin talked -importantly about being “laid-off” and took occasion to make the most of -it. - -Sunday afternoon saw them leaving the campus in Vera’s car, radiant with -health and good looks, which their delicate summer finery intensified. A -“bid” to the Arms was always a red letter occasion. They were bubbling -with light-hearted satisfaction. Miss Susanna, seated in a high-backed -rocker on the ivy-decked veranda, appeared to catch the spirit of their -gaiety. She got up from her chair and waved a book she had been reading -in energetic salute as the roadster rolled up the drive. She was wearing -a soft white silk dress, turned in a little at the neck and fastened -with a priceless cameo pin, oval and set with a double row of pearls and -rubies. - -“Now doesn’t she look like the pleased old child?” Leila murmured to -Marjorie as they left the car. - -Marjorie had time only for a quick nod. She quite agreed with Leila. The -touch of grimness usually present on Miss Hamilton’s face had given -place to a childishly happy look which was good to see. - -No one of the five Travelers were ever likely to forget that particular -afternoon chiefly because of the peculiarly charming “youngness” of -spirit exhibited by Miss Susanna. It fascinated them all. It was as -though she had gone back over the years to girlhood. - -They spent the afternoon out of doors, at first roving about the -magnificent breadth of lawn with their vivacious guide. She had plenty -of interesting bits of the history of the Hamiltons to relate, called to -mind at sight of a particular tree, shrub or nook of special vernal or -floral beauty. - -Later, they gathered in a quaint Chinese pagoda set in the midst of a -group of graceful larches. There Jonas brought them tea and sweet -crackers, all Miss Susanna would allow them to have on account of the -approaching dinner hour. While they sipped the finest Chinese tea and -nibbled crackers she told them of how Prince Tuan Chi, a Chinese noble -and a friend of Brooke Hamilton, and her great uncle had themselves -built the pagoda during a summer the young Chinese lord had spent at -Hamilton Arms. - -“All that happened before my time,” Miss Susanna concluded with a sigh. -There was a far-away gleam in her bright dark eyes. “Uncle Brooke used -to tell me such tales when he and I took our walks about the Arms. -Sometimes he would choose to walk with Jonas instead of me. Jonas was -like a younger brother to him. How hurt I used to feel,” she declared -with a smile of self-mockery. - -Thus far she had made no mention of the topic dear to Robin and -Marjorie. Each time she spoke, in her crisp enunciation they pricked up -mental ears. Each time they were doomed to vague disappointment. Still -they could not fail to treasure every word she related concerning their -idol, Brooke Hamilton. - -“What time is it, Marjorie?” Miss Susanna finally asked. She cast a -glance at the sun making its leisurely descent down the western sky. “My -guess is—let me see—ten minutes past five.” - -“It’s seven after. I should say you can guess time!” Robin opened -surprised eyes. “Beg your pardon, Marjorie,” she apologized. “I know -you’re not dumb.” - -“Considering you are Page and I am Dean, I’ll forgive you,” Marjorie -assumed an important air. “Aren’t the firm of Page and Dean one?” - -“They are,” Robin replied solemnly as though taking a vow. - -“Which reminds me,” broke in Miss Susanna, “that I have some business to -transact with this distinguished firm, even if it is Sunday.” There was -a suggestion of eager stir in her announcement. - -Marjorie felt an all but irresistible desire to ejaculate “Ha-a-a!” in -one long relieved breath. It was coming at last. Robin wished she dared -steal one glance at Marjorie. Instead she sat very still, a -faint-breathing figure of expectation. Leila, Vera and Katherine watched -Page and Dean and smiled. They, and they alone, knew how great had been -the suspense of the promoters. Leila, ever full of fancy and mysticism -wondered imaginatively if, somewhere in a world of light beyond the -stars, Brooke Hamilton lived and watched with approval the carrying on -of his beloved work. - - - - -CHAPTER XV.—OUT OF THE NIGHT - - -“What I have to say is particularly for Page and Dean though any and all -Travelers are welcome to hear it,” Miss Susanna’s bright, bird-like eyes -danced as she fondly surveyed her flock. A spot of vivid pink had -appeared high on each cheek. She was like a youngster about to make a -special confidence. - -“To begin with,” she said, “it was not my business to meddle with the -affairs of Page and Dean. I have no excuse to offer. I meddled -because—well—I felt the need of meddling. Jonas egged me on. He’s every -bit as much to blame as I.” She gave the gleeful chuckle which the girls -loved so much to hear. “You two rising promoters did not know a certain -man I know, and have known for years. Perhaps he is my real excuse for -meddling.” The little old lady tilted her head reflectively to one side. - -“That man is Peter Graham,” she continued. “The Grahams are one of the -old Hamilton families. Peter Graham’s wife, Anne Dexter, and I were -chums. I was Anne’s sole attendant when she married Peter. They never -achieved riches as Uncle Brooke did. They were lucky in love, but have -been unlucky in business. Peter is still a builder, graduated from a -carpentership. As a young man he wished to study architecture. Then he -married and lost track of his ambition in trying to be a creditable -family man. He had a natural genius for planning houses and large -buildings and did well when he could secure a contract. Hamilton is -chiefly made up of old houses, mostly colonial, and staunchly built. I -used to advise Peter to go away from here and establish himself in a -large city where contracts were more plentiful, but Anne did not wish to -leave Hamilton. Once I offered to help him and hurt his feelings -dreadfully. When you talked of building a dormitory I did not at first -think of Peter. After you girls had left here last June it flashed -across me one afternoon as I was taking my walk that Peter’s chance had -come at last.” - -An audible breath of approval ascended from the attentive listeners. -They were already deeply enough interested in Peter Graham to be in -sympathy with his upward struggle. - -“I knew I could trust Peter to give you his best in all ways,” was the -positive declaration. “His bid for the entire operation—tearing down the -old houses, preparing the site for the new building and erecting the -dormitory was moderate in comparison with the figures I received from -two widely known firms of builders. As you children have resolved to -clear away the debt you will incur in building the dormitory you can do -no better than trust the operation to Peter Graham. Jonas agrees with -me. At first I thought of writing you about it, Marjorie. I found I did -not feel like writing. I decided to tell you and Robin when you came to -Hamilton. Time was flying, with nothing done. I sent for Peter and told -him what I wanted. I made him happy. I know you are pleased with the -progress he has made. But I don’t know what you think of Jonas and me.” -She stopped with a half embarrassed laugh. - -“There is only one thing we could think.” Marjorie’s face glowed with -devotion. “You and Jonas must feel about Hamilton as Mr. Brooke Hamilton -felt. You’d have to, in your heart, or you couldn’t have done such -wonderful things for the students to come.” - -“No such thing,” contradicted the old lady in an odd, harsh voice. “I -mean, the way I feel about the college. Jonas is Uncle Brooke’s man, -heart and soul. He still nurses all of Uncle Brooke’s plans for Hamilton -College. Let us have it understood, here and now, that if a dear little -friend of mine, Marjorie Dean, had not interested me in the plucky way -she and her chums were fighting to turn that snob shop on the campus -into a democracy, I’d not have lifted a finger for the benefit of -Hamilton. As it turned out, Marvelous Manager’s way was his way. So I -managed to please both,” she ended, her tone softening. - -“Truly, Miss Susanna, that is the nicest compliment I ever had.” -Marjorie showed such obvious delight at being ranked with the man she so -reverenced that Miss Susanna’s own crinkly smile broke forth. - -“Glad you liked it.” She continued to smile. Marjorie regarded her -eccentric benefactor with utter devotion. Miss Susanna was flowering -forth into graciousness as a peach tree breaks forth into rosy bloom in -early spring. The others were watching the devoted pair and smiling -their approval. - -“You had better come to tea tomorrow afternoon, Robin and Marjorie,” -Miss Hamilton now invited. “I’ll send for Peter Graham to come, too. -Then you can talk matters over with him. There’ll be no papers to sign. -Our word is as good as Peter’s and Peter’s is as good as ours. Don’t cry -because you’re not invited to tea,” she humorously consoled the -uninvited trio. “I’ll invite you to tea one of these fine days and leave -out Page and Dean.” - -“You wouldn’t be so mean,” protested Robin. - -“Wait a while and see,” teased Leila, nodding with lifted brows at Page -and Dean. - -Having confessed her part and Jonas’ in starting the building of the -dormitory ahead of time, Miss Susanna had a great deal more to say on -the subject. When Jonas came to remove the tea things she sent him to -the house for a bundle of plans and specifications. These she spread out -on the rustic table and began an explanation of them to her young -friends. - -“There’ll be some water color drawings for you to see before long,” she -made lively promise. “Peter will do them himself. He is very clever in -that line.” - -In spite of the fact that the supposedly crabbed mistress of Hamilton -Arms mingled little with the business world she had a shrewd practical -idea of values. She had listened carefully to her old friend, Peter -Graham, when he had gone over the plans and specifications with her. Now -she was ready to pass the information she had gained on to the five -Travelers. So absorbed were they in listening as she unfolded the -cherished enterprise to them they lost all idea of time. Jonas’ deep -gentle announcement: “Dinner time, Miss Susanna,” reminded them that -afternoon had slipped into evening. - -It seemed to them that the end of a perfect day had indeed arrived when -Miss Hamilton led the dinner procession of three couples into the tea -room instead of the dining room. More, she explained that Jonas was -proficient in Chinese cookery. Under his direction the cook would serve -them with a real Chinese dinner. - -It began with shark-fin soup and celery hearts, went triumphantly on -through chicken mushroom chop suey, chow mein, rice, cooked as few other -than the Chinese can cook rice, and costly Chinese tea. It ended with a -very sweet dessert of preserved kumquats, crystalized ginger, almond -cakes and barley candy. Jonas had spent the greater part of the day -preparing the feast from recipes which he, Brooke Hamilton and the young -Chinese lord, Prince Tuan Chi, had tried out with laughter and good -cheer in the immense old-fashioned kitchen of the Arms. - -After dinner Miss Susanna martialed the girls into the music room to -sing for her. Robin was immediately besieged by all to sing. - -“Oh, no,” she demurred. “I’ll play for all of us to sing.” She began to -play softly a song they all knew. They could not resist the lilt of it -so they sang in concert. Several others, equal favorites followed. - -“I’ve struck,” Marjorie declared at the end of a fascinating waltz song -from a recent musical success. “Not another note.” - -“So have I.” There was an understanding glint in Leila’s eyes. She -rolled them meaningly at Vera and Katherine, then toward Robin. Two more -reinforced the strike. Robin gave in and soon her glorious high soprano -was filling the room with melody. She sang several of Miss Hamilton’s -favorite selections from grand opera. Then she balked, insisting that -each of the others should contribute a solo. - -Miss Susanna gave a sudden funny little cackle of laughter and agreed to -do her part. The strikers could do no less. Each performer was to play -her own accompaniment. “If you can’t play it, play at it,” stipulated -Robin. - -Leila came first with what she announced was an old Irish chant. The -accompaniment had a great deal of heavy rumbling in the bass, the chant -rose in a heart-rending wail which threatened with every succeeding note -to burst bounds and become a wild howl. It was finally drowned in a gale -of laughter as Jonas, not understanding the situation, suddenly appeared -in the doorway, amazement written on his face. - -Vera sang “Sweet and Low” so prettily she was encored and sang a baby -song she had learned in the kindergarten. Her lisping baby accents set -the party to laughing afresh. Katherine sang a charming little song she -had learned in first year Greek. Marjorie sang “Won’t you walk a little -faster?” from “Alice in Wonderland,” to a tune which her general had -fitted to Carroll’s immortal words when she was a youngster. It so -charmed her hearers that within twenty minutes they were caroling “Will -you, won’t you?” in gleeful chorus. - -Miss Susanna, however, contributed the star selection. She sat down -before the piano with a good deal of chuckling, played a kind of -rambling prelude and in a light, but tuneful voice proceeded to sing of -the woes of one, Lord Lovell. According to the song, which was composed -of many sing-sing verses, each ending with a ridiculous repetition of -the last word of the last line, Lord Lovell was extremely unlucky in -love. The longer she sang, the wilder grew the mirth of her audience. -The final “spasm,” as Miss Susanna afterward named it, told of the -untimely death of both Lord Lovell and his lady fair and of how they -were buried in one grave with sweet briar bushes planted above them. -According to the song: - - “The sweet briars grew till they reached the church top; - And there they couldn’t grow any higher; - And so they formed a true lovers’ knot, - Which all true lovers admire-rire-rire; - Which all true lovers admire.” - -It was after ten o’clock when the concert ended and half past ten before -the Travelers had said good-night to the mistress of the Arms and were -on the road to the campus. They had left Miss Hamilton, gay and smiling, -immensely inspirited by their visit. - -Vera had asked Leila to take the wheel going to the campus. “I want to -be a lady instead of a chauffeur for a change,” she plaintively -explained to Leila. - -“It takes more than sitting on the back seat of the car resting your -hands and face to be a lady, Midget,” was Leila’s discouraging response. - -Marjorie had elected to ride beside Leila. The two girls were trying to -remember the words and at least part of the tune of “Lord Lovell.” Robin -had said that she thought she could arrange it as a funny quartette. -Miss Susanna had offered to find the music to it in an old book of hers. - -“Look out, Leila; here comes a car, and fast, too,” Marjorie warned in a -low tone. They were at the narrowest part of the highway which lay -between them and the campus. - -Leila had already seen the approaching car and was keeping her own side -of the pike strictly. Came a flare of white lights. Marjorie cast an -alert but incurious glance at the other car. She drew a sudden audible -breath and said softly, but sharply: “Leila, did you see who was in that -car?” In the same instant the car to which she referred glided on into -the darkness of the summer night. Quickly as it had passed their -automobile Marjorie had had a full glimpse of the driver of the other -car. A young woman had the wheel whose dark irregular features were only -too familiar. For reasons best known to herself, Leslie Cairns had -returned to Hamilton. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI.—ENCHANTED? - - -During the busy days which followed the dinner with Miss Susanna, the -firm of Page and Dean proved themselves worthy of the name promoters. -Their first meeting with Peter Graham was the beginning of earnest daily -consultations with him. Not a day passed that did not find them on the -ground where their work was going steadily forward. They were a wise -pair of promoters who left the management to Mr. Graham and never -annoyed him by interfering with his arrangements. Part of the workmen -were from the town of Hamilton, the other part from a colony of -dark-faced foreigners who lived in the eastern section of the town. - -Robin declared enthusiastically after her first morning spent at the -site that just to see the men at work was inspiring. The minds of the -two young women had been trained to grasp the principle of a problem or -operation. It was not long before they had become familiar with the work -in hand and understood much of it in detail. - -Peter Graham was quietly happy over the rapid progress which was being -made in the demolishment of the row of old houses. For years he had -waited and longed for “a big chance.” Now it had come. He was devoted -hardly less loyally to the building of the dormitory than were Robin and -Marjorie. - -Leila and Vera spent the days thinking up pleasant amusements for Page -and Dean’s leisure hours. They were usually on hand with the roadster to -take the pair of promoters to and from the site and for long drives -afterward. They simulated a respect for Page and Dean which was -flattering, but not genuine. They gave each other much loud advice about -breaking in on a rising firm during business hours. Neither followed -either her own or the other’s caution. - -Since their kindly but unsuccessful attempt to welcome Doris Monroe to -Wayland Hall and Hamilton College, none of the Travelers had ventured -further friendly overtures. The four girls at the Hall breakfasted -early. Miss Monroe invariably breakfasted as late as she could before -the close of the breakfast hour. Once or twice they had met her -sauntering into the dining room as they were leaving it. - -A half smiling, indifferent nod, intended to include the four was -indicative of her lack of interest in her recent callers. Occasionally -one or another of the chums would chance to encounter her about the Hall -or on the campus. She met them with the same slighting manner; only a -remove from discourtesy. - -“Miss Monroe of London and Paris has the manners of neither,” Leila -delivered this unflattering opinion of the aloof student one Sunday -afternoon. The chums had just encountered Miss Monroe on their way -toward the east gate and the garage. “She is as rude as Leslie Cairns -used to be. What a fine time the two could have together. One has no -more politeness than the other.” - -“She is so lovely, even though she isn’t a tiny bit cordial,” Marjorie -said charitably. “It seems too bad that we can’t find a way to charm our -fairy-tale princess.” - -“Let her strictly alone,” was Leila’s succinct advice. “She would not be -grateful to us for our trouble.” - -“I can’t help agreeing with you, Leila,” Kathie said frankly. “Later she -may thaw and decide she would like to know us. If that should happen, -we’re not small-souled enough to resent past snubs.” - -“Neither do we belong to the Royal Order of the Doormat,” Leila -retorted. “She will have to turn most gracious if my wounded Irish pride -is to be soothed.” Leila’s accompanying grin indicated precisely how -greatly her sensitive Irish pride had been hurt. - -“Do let us talk of something more interesting than that enigma,” Vera -said with a patient sigh. “Why she should treat four learned P. G.’s and -a member of the faculty as though they were presuming freshies and she a -senior is something I shall not attempt to puzzle out. Where to this -afternoon, children? How about straight north on Hamilton Highway with -an evening stop for dinner at Orchard Inn?” - -A chorus of “Fine”; “Bully”; “Ducky” and “Right-o,” rose in answer to -her solicitous inquiries. - -“Oh, dear; I wish I didn’t have to go home Wednesday,” came rather -disconsolately from Marjorie. “I’m anxious to see Captain and General; -as anxious as can be. But the work here is so fascinating!” - -“I don’t admire your choice of subject, either,” Vera declared -critically. - -“All right. Miss Midget Mason. I’ll try not to mention it again,” -Marjorie obligingly promised. “You seem to be another sensitive soul; -something like Celtic Leila.” - -“Oh, I am,” Vera assured, then out rippled her merry little laugh. -“Vera’s Own Variety,” Marjorie had playfully named it. - -“I’m overdue at home now. Can’t help it if the subject is painful to -you, Midget. I have to say that much.” - -“Marjorie has a date with her superior officers. Robin’s overdue in -Virginia. Two plus two make four. And the moral of that little sum, my -dears, is: What’s the use in teasing ’em to stay?” propounded Kathie. - -“What, indeed? Since Robin must go and Kathie must stay what is to -become of Midget and me?” Leila’s attempt at looking forlorn was -short-lived. She could not keep a sober face. - -“Now what do you know that I don’t?” Marjorie demanded. Leila’s smiles -were directed to her. - -“Listen to the witch woman, Leila.” The Irish girl reached for one of -Marjorie’s hands and peered at the pink outspread palm. “You are going -on a journey——” - -“Of course I am. I know that. Tell me something I don’t——” - -“Treat the seeress with more respect. You are going on a long journey in -a car. Might it not be a roadster? You——” - -“Oh, see here. I can tell my own fortune as well as that,” objected -Marjorie. - -“Not yet. Now be more civil. I am no ordinary person,” Leila rebuked. -“On this journey you will be in the company of a small, fair woman. She -is considered a good driver. Ha! I see also a tall, dark woman. She is -Irish, and sits beside you in the tonneau. The journey is long, but——” - -“You said that before,” Kathie put in mischievously. - -“Now did I?” Leila beamed more broadly. - -“Never mind the rest of that fortune. I need my hand.” Marjorie caught -Leila around the waist and hugged her with vigor. - -They had reached the garage now and were standing near the doorway -waiting for Vera and the roadster. - -“You and Vera are going to Sanford with me, you darling!” was the -delighted lieutenant’s cry. “It will be the greatest lark imaginable—to -go home in the roadster. How I wish Robin and Kathie could go, too.” - -“Sorry,” Kathie’s one word of regret spoke volumes. - -“So am I,” echoed Robin. “I’m going home with Marjorie at Christmas if I -can. I know you girls will have a gorgeous time.” - -As the five took places in the car they talked of the trip Leila had -planned to Sanford and of the engagements they had made previous to -Wednesday. On Monday evening Miss Remson and the five post graduates -were to be entertained at dinner by President and Mrs. Matthews. Tuesday -afternoon and evening were to be spent at Hamilton Arms. What with -luncheon at Baretti’s on Monday at one o’clock and luncheon the next day -at the Lotus their time was well filled. - -While the roadster was traveling the stretch of highway which formed a -complete southern boundary of the college campus the chums again -happened upon Miss Monroe. To see her was to admire her beauty afresh -without inquiring into her failings. The sleeveless frock she wore, a -delicate French creation of pale green silk and filmy white net, served -to enhance the astonishing whiteness of her throat, shoulders and arms. -Under the pale green lining of a white parasol which she held between -herself and the too-ardent sun, her eyes shone forth, deeply -mysteriously green. There was artistry in the rather simple waving and -coiffing of her spun gold hair. White silk stockings and white suede -slippers completed a costume which made her appear so charmingly lovely -the chums found themselves regretting her lack of sociability. - -“It is too bad not to ask her to go with us,” Marjorie said in a low -tone to Leila. “I imagine she is out for a walk today because she is -lonely.” - -“Let us see. I will be the first to disregard my own advice.” Leila rose -to the occasion wholly to please Marjorie. - -“Oh, Leila, I’d rather you——” - -Leila leaned forward and said: “Stop the wagon, Midget.” She flashed -Marjorie a smile of utter good humor. “Don’t worry, Beauty. I shall not -groan with broken bones.” - -Miss Monroe was strolling along the time-worn stone walk of the college -which lay between the highway and the campus wall. On the other side of -the highway was only a footpath. Her attention fixed on the opposite -side of the highway she had not noted the stopping of the roadster. She -turned her eyes ahead only when she had come up within a few feet of it. -Her face darkened with annoyance. She half turned as though about to -bolt in an opposite direction. Then she tossed her blonde head and -advanced along the walk. - -“Good afternoon, Miss Monroe,” Leila leaned out of the car. “We’re off -for a ride and dinner at Orchard Inn. Won’t you come with us?” Leila -conscientiously endeavored to put persuasive friendliness into the -invitation. - -“No.” Miss Monroe stopped short and shook a decisive head. “I don’t care -in the least for that sort of treat. Thank you.” A chilly smile -flickered only to die on her lips. - -“We’re going to have luncheon at Baretti’s on Monday——” Marjorie spoke -the rest of the invitation into the air. Miss Monroe had gone on, -apparently without having heard it. - -“I have no patience with that girl!” Vera broke out indignantly as the -discourteous student continued to put distance between herself and the -carload of girls. In her vexation Vera allowed the car to stand for an -instant. - -“Uh-h-h!” Leila was cautiously going over her arms, shoulders and hands -for broken bones. “Keep your temper, Midget. Your Irish friend is still -alive. So is Beauty; who thinks she is talking to someone, and finds she -has been talking to the wind.” - -“Better luck another day. I decline to abandon the field of honor,” -Marjorie said with cheerful undauntedness. “I believe the fairy-tale -princess has been enchanted by a wicked wizard and is under a magic -spell. Some day I’m going to break the spell.” - - - - -CHAPTER XVII.—“BLONDIE” - - -Doris Monroe glanced in contemptuous fashion at the roadster when, a -moment or two later, it sped past her on the highway. Far from being -appreciative of the helpful spirit which had lived in spite of the -rebuff she had given the Travelers, she felt instead that she had an -actual grievance against them. She had chosen to take offense at the -time of the evening and the informality which had attended their call on -her. For this she had labeled them as ill-bred; _gauche_; stupid. She -had seen plenty of American girls in England and on the Continent. She -thought she detested them. In reality she did not. Her trouble began -with herself. She had always been so completely wrapped up in herself -that she now had no interest in any other girl of her own age. Secure in -her unusual beauty she lived only to please Doris Monroe. Marjorie’s -whimsy concerning Doris as an enchanted princess under the spell of a -wicked wizard was nearer truth than fancy. Self was a powerful wizard -likely to keep the spoiled girl in bondage indefinitely. - -Her mother had died when she was five years old. Her father, an -American, of English descent, had won considerable prestige as an -explorer. London or Paris was home to him, however, when he returned to -civilization from his long expeditions into the Tropics. When at home he -had paid a fair amount of attention to the bringing up and educating of -his daughter. When on a trip he had left her in the care of a governess -or at a private school for girls. She had had a succession of -governesses. She had attended both English and French Schools. Of -college, particularly college in the United States, she knew nothing. -The fact that her father had suddenly decided to ship her to Hamilton -College before going on the Amazon expedition was still a sore matter -with her. - -She had arrived on the campus in much the same spirit as a stirred-up -porcupine, ready to launch a shower of quills at the first person who -chanced to offend her. She was bitterly angry with her father for -sending her to college and she transferred that anger to Hamilton as -soon as she arrived at Wayland Hall. She despised her room, the campus, -Miss Remson—most of all she detested the five P. G.’s who were -altogether too ready to become friendly. - -Doris was not looking forward to the opening of the college as a relief -for loneliness. All her short life she had been so well satisfied with -herself for company that she had rarely made acquaintance with other -girls. Of the joys of having a chum she knew nothing. While she -considered the campus “a ghastly dull spot” she had no happy -anticipations of the “mobs” of girls which she dreaded to see invade it. - -She was thinking of this not far distant calamity, which she could not -avoid, as she walked sulkily along the highway wondering what to do that -afternoon by way of amusement. Those stupid girls had acted as though -she were a beggar to whom they were trying to be kind. Her red lips -curved scornfully at thought of their stupidity. She decided she would -take a taxicab into the town of Hamilton. She hoped she would meet “the -cheeky things” on the way. It would prove to them that she could go -driving if she chose. What to do in Hamilton she did not know. Go to a -tea shop for an ice, perhaps. - -She presently hailed a taxicab returning from a trip on the campus, an -only, but lovely occupant. Half way to town she passed a white roadster, -which, though conspicuous, compelled her admiration. It was driven by -Leslie Cairns, to whom Doris paid not the slightest attention. Leslie, -on the contrary, stared hard at Doris. During the week she had now been -in Hamilton she had seen Doris twice; once at the Lotus; once near the -campus. - -The defeat of her unscrupulous plan to prevent Marjorie Dean and Robin -Page from obtaining the site they desired for the dormitory they -purposed to build had not discouraged Leslie Cairns. She owned property -next to the dormitory site presented by Miss Hamilton she had reflected, -with her strange hobgoblin smile. Through Lola Ester, who had been -graduated in the same class with Marjorie, she had learned that Marjorie -and Robin were to return to Hamilton during the summer in the interest -of the proposed dormitory. Leslie had decided immediately that she, -also, would return, and had laid plans accordingly. - -In itself the idea of building a garage on her land after it had been -cleared of the row of old houses had not specially interested Leslie. -She had used the garage prospect merely as an excuse for buying the -property away from the girls she disliked. Now she had a fresh incentive -to proceed with it. It would give her untold opportunity to keep in -touch with the undertaking of which Marjorie Dean was the strongest -power. Further, she would hear the news of the college; possibly meet a -few students who might amuse her. - -If Leslie Cairns had been graduated from Hamilton College, instead of -having been expelled from it she would have probably lost all interest -in it. Her contrary disposition caused her to value, too late, that -which she had irretrievably lost by her own unworthiness. Not for worlds -would she have confessed that she cared a button about the forfeited -diploma. Nevertheless, she cared. The diploma would have meant her -father’s proud favor. It was galling to her to know that she had been -the one to close the gates of Hamilton College against herself. That -particular bitter reflection boosted her interest in Hamilton as nothing -else could have done. It also strengthened an ignoble desire toward any -malicious mischief which her willing hand might find to do. - -The day before leaving Newport she had bought the smart white roadster -which she was now driving and had ordered it to be driven to the town of -Hamilton. It had not arrived until a week later and she had been obliged -either to hire a car temporarily or walk. She had been driving the hired -car on the Sunday evening when she had passed Vera’s roadster on -Hamilton Highway. - -Sight of Leslie Cairns’ uncomely face, suddenly appearing out of the -darkness, had surprised, but not dismayed, Marjorie. Leila had been -concerned by it to the extent of exclaiming sarcastically: “Now why was -I not at the station to meet her?” None of the other three girls had -glimpsed her in that instant of betraying light. It was not until the -quintette were crossing the campus to the Hall from the garage that -Leila told them the news. Girl-like they had exclaimed over it. With the -exception of Leila they had spoken of Leslie Cairns far more kindly than -she deserved. Leila was, what she liked to call herself, “a good Irish -hater.” She and Leslie had entered Hamilton College in the same autumn. -She had often said candidly to Marjorie and her chums that she detested -Leslie more thoroughly than any other girl she had ever known. - -Leila had joined the fight for democracy at Hamilton, which Marjorie and -her Sanford friends had made during their freshman year, chiefly because -she enjoyed thwarting Leslie Cairns and the other San Soucians. Later, -when she had come to know and understand Marjorie’s fine nature, her own -really great soul responded to it. She had fought then for democracy -because she loved Marjorie and believed in fair play. She continued, -however, to hold and be proud of her animosity toward Leslie Cairns. - -The old saying: “There’s many a true word spoken in jest” seemed on the -way to be proven so far as Doris Monroe and Leslie Cairns were -concerned. Leila’s satirical opinion of the “fine time” the two might -spend together because of their common lack of courtesy was on the way -to come to pass. Leslie had decided in the moment when her car passed -the taxicab holding Doris that she wished to meet “Blondie,” as she -mentally named the other girl. - -Leslie’s wish became her law whenever she could encompass it. She turned -the white roadster about as soon as she could and sent it speeding in -the direction taken by the station taxicab. She caught sight of the dark -blue taxi as she whizzed around a curve with reckless speed. That the -road chanced to be clear was her good fortune. She smiled to herself, -muttering: “No more of that kind of business. I’ll be apt to let myself -in for trouble. But I had to pick up that taxi.” - -With the blue taxicab now in sight and her car close behind it Leslie -began to speculate on Doris’ destination. “I’ll say she’s bound for -eats; either at the Lotus, or the Ivy.” - -“The Ivy it is?” she surmised triumphantly as the taxicab continued on -down Herndon Avenue and up Linden Avenue. “I’ll watch her into the Ivy; -then I think I’ll stroll in there, too. My guess—she’s on the campus, -stuffing for her entrance exams. She’s certainly not visiting Remson or -any other of the campus aggregation of frumps. I think it’s my duty to -get acquainted with Blondie.” - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII.—A CONGENIAL PAIR - - -A satiric smile still lingered at the comers of Leslie Cairn’s unlovely -mouth as she entered the Ivy in her careless, near-slouching manner. The -irregular plainness of her features was more pronounced than usual by -reason of the stunning afternoon frock she wore of expensive creamy buff -material. Unlike the severe style of sports clothes she affected it had -the feminine lure of soft folds and exquisite creamy buff Persian -embroidery. Her full white throat rose gracefully from the round open -neck. The very short sleeves would have shown a pair of well-rounded -arms had she not worn long gloves to match her gown. Her French-heeled -slippers of the same material as her gown and the silk embroidered -hosiery of palest buff completed her “foolish rig” as she slangily -dubbed it. She was without a hat and her hair had been waved and -artistically dressed. - -Doris had already settled herself at a side table in the tea room and -was perusing the menu with an air of boredom. Leslie, advancing toward -the other girl, decided that “Blondie” was as pretty as Bean, if not -prettier. She saw triumphs ahead of the supposed freshie if she did not -“flunk her exams.” Already a daring plan had entered her scheming brain. - -As she dropped casually into the place at table directly opposite Doris -the latter raised her eyes from the menu card. Very deliberately the -strange greenish eyes took stock of Leslie. Leslie returned the survey -with one equally prolonged. The two girls forgot etiquette and stared at -each other like two curious children. Such they were; two children of -impulse, both spoiled by neglect and indulgence. - -“Pardon me,” Leslie broke the spell in the smoothest of tones. “I am -sure I have met you before. Let me think.” She pretended to ponder. -“Wasn’t it at the fancy dress ball Mrs. Russell Fennimore gave at her -town house last March? It was a rather jolly affair. What?” - -“No.” The monosyllable was decided. Leslie’s imported gown commanded a -certain respect from Doris. “I am not yet in society,” she volunteered, -not without interest. “I’ve not been presented at Court.” - -“Oh-h!” Up went Leslie’s shaggy eye-brows. “You are English,” she placed -flattering stress on the last word. “Isn’t that ripping?” - -“No, I’m not English.” Doris sighed. “I wish I were. I’m of English -descent, though.” She brightened a little. - -“So am I,” glibly asserted Leslie, “but I’d rather live in America than -in England. I’ve been across the pond a dozen times.” - -“I prefer either England or France to the United States,” Doris said -somewhat stiffly. “Paris is my favorite of all cities.” - -“It’s not bad.” Leslie turned faintly patronizing. “Give me New York -above them all. Don’t you like New York? What.” - -“I don’t know it,” Doris was forced to admit. She colored faintly. -Leslie’s impassive features and nonchalant air of self-possession were -very disturbing to her. In the face of them she found it hard to keep up -an indifferent pose. She experienced a contrary desire to talk to Leslie -and find out who she was. Since her advent on the campus she had seen no -one else she had come nearer to approving. Still she had no intention of -allowing this beautifully dressed, ugly stranger to patronize her. - -“You aren’t really a bit English,” she now said sweetly to Leslie. “I -mean in the way you talk. You use a few common English words and phrases -in the English way; but they sound American.” - -Leslie’s brows began to draw together as Doris launched this “nervy” -criticism. All of a sudden her face cleared. She treated Doris to one of -her odd silent laughs. Here was a girl after her own heart. “Blondie” -evidently had no more compunction than she about hurting another -person’s feelings. She was keen-witted enough to see that she must -travel a wary road to friendship with her “find.” Doris was sufficient -unto herself. - -“Have you ordered luncheon?” she asked irrelevantly, ignoring Doris’ -unflattering opinion. “The chicken a la king is particularly good here.” -Leslie picked up a menu card and busied herself with it. - -“Thank you. I believe I _will_ order it.” Doris waited for Leslie to say -something else. - -Leslie had nothing to say. She beckoned to a waitress and proceeded to -carry on a wise consultation with her concerning the items on the menu. -Doris began to feel ill at ease. Her brief exchange of talk with Leslie -had filled her with a sudden desire to continue the conversation. - -The waitress, having written down Leslie’s order, turned inquiringly to -Doris. - -“Chicken a la king,” Doris began confidently, without looking at the -menu, “and——” she glanced at Leslie. Leslie had taken a small white kid -note book from a strap purse she carried and was industriously making -notes in it with a tiny white pencil. - -“Why don’t you duplicate my order?” Leslie was not too busy to miss -Doris’ hesitating tone. “I know what’s good to eat here.” - -“I will, thank you.” Again Doris found herself answering Leslie with -almost meek politeness. - -“That’s good.” Leslie closed the little book, put it and the pencil in -the purse and straightened her shoulders in a faithful imitation of her -father. Believing that Doris would eventually prove useful to her she -cleverly resolved to treat “Blondie” as her father might have treated a -business subordinate who was his social equal. - -While waiting for the luncheon to be served the two reached slightly -better terms. Doris told Leslie her name, her father’s name and a little -concerning her life abroad. Leslie introduced herself by name, but gave -Doris no other information save that her father was a millionaire -financier. Leslie was deliberating as to how much of her Hamilton -history she should tell Doris. If she expected to become friendly with -“Blondie” she must acquaint her with a glossed over account of her -expulsion from college. Sooner or later Doris would be sure to hear an -echo of it on the campus. - -“How do you like Wayland Hall?” Leslie inquired, when, in the course of -conversation Doris remarked her residence there. - -“I don’t like it at all,” Doris shrugged her dislike. - -“It’s the best house on the campus. I lived there for almost four years. -I ought to know.” Leslie came out boldly with the information. - -“You did!” Doris laid down her salad fork and surveyed Leslie with -genuine astonishment. “Then you were graduated from Hamilton College. -Were you graduated last June?” - -“No,” Leslie gained dramatic effect by a slow, pensive shake of the -head. Her loose-lipped mouth tightened into pretended regret. “I was -preparing to be graduated a year ago last June. A senior, supposed to be -my dear friend, started a hazing story about me and sixteen other girls. -We were all members of a very exclusive club. We asked the girl who made -the trouble for us to resign from our club. She had circulated untrue -stories about us on the campus. For pure spite she wrote a letter to -Prexy Matthews, claiming that we hazed a junior on a certain winter -night. - -“You see,” Leslie continued with elaborate earnestness, “on St. -Valentine’s night the juniors always give a masquerade ball in the gym. -Before the dance the maskers walk around on the campus and kid one -another and any one else who happens to cross the campus without a mask. -Even the faculty are fair game for kidding. Some of us started to have a -little fun with a prig of a junior by the name of Dean. We bothered her -a trifle; nothing to speak of. We got away with it O. K., but we had a -traitor in our own crowd. She told the biggest gossip on the campus -about it. We held a club meeting, called her down and asked for her -resignation. Then she put Prexy on our trail. We were all expelled from -college only a few weeks before we would have been graduated. I might -have saved myself—I don’t know.” Leslie put on a self-sacrificing air. - -Doris’ earlier indifference had completely vanished with the knowledge -that Leslie had been a student at Hamilton. Her interest increased as -Leslie continued her narrative. - -“If any such trouble had happened to me I’d never wish to see Hamilton -College again,” was Doris’ view of the matter. “Most girls are so -deceitful. I wouldn’t go to the pains to be. I think it’s snaky to be -deceitful, even in little things.” - -“Yes, isn’t it?” Leslie cheerfully concurred. “I’m glad you feel so -about it. It is hard to find a really sincere girl whom one can trust.” - -Doris was not specially impressed by Leslie’s remarks. Under her -fairy-tale princess exterior she possessed a stolid side of character -which did not respond to flattery. She knew she was beautiful. She did -not need the assurance from others. She believed herself not deceitful. -Leslie’s opinion of her sincerity did not matter. - -“There’s a Miss Dean at Wayland Hall now,” Doris remarked, her interest -still hovering over Leslie’s story of the hazing. - -“That is the one,” Leslie said impressively. “I knew she was somewhere on -the campus. I supposed she would be at Wayland Hall. All I have to say -of her is—well——” Leslie made an effective pause. “I’d prefer to say -nothing,” she ended with a sigh. - -“I have met her, and the girls she goes with. One of them is of the -faculty; four are post graduates. I do not like any of them,” Doris -announced with flat finality. “I _detest_ Miss Remson.” - -A crafty gleam appeared in Leslie’s small dark eyes. Here was better -luck than she had hoped for. “I understand the way you feel,” she nodded -with deceitful sympathy. “I had three years at the Hall with Miss Dean -and her bunch. It was more than enough for me. As for Remson——” Leslie -spread her hands in a deprecatory gesture—“She’s hopeless.” - -“I can’t endure her,” Doris agreed with more energy of tone than she had -previously used. “She imagines herself of such importance. She is merely -an upper servant.” The girl’s short upper lip lifted in scorn. - -Miss Remson had bitterly offended Doris by paying no attention to her -after she had snubbed the five Travelers. The wise little manager had -decided to let the supercilious young woman work out her own salvation. -She spoke courteously to Doris when she chanced to encounter her about -the house, but not one word of pleasantry did she offer. Long experience -with girl nature had taught her the value of such a course in a case -where false pride, instead of good breeding dominated. - -“Think of me!” Leslie leaned confidentially forward toward Doris. “I -stood her and that baby-booby bunch of Be—er—Miss Dean’s friends for -years. Of course I had a dandy pal. That helped a whole lot. Then the -Sans, our club gang, were a zippy bunch. We all had cars at Hamilton. -Some of the girls had two chug wagons apiece. Money was no object. There -were scads of coin behind our gang. All the Sans’ governors were -millionaires, most of ’em multi-millionaires, hitting the financial high -spots.” - -Stung by Doris’ criticism of her imitation of an English drawl Leslie -had wisely dropped it. Instead, she began flavoring her remarks with -slang by way of impressing her companion. Leslie had shrewdly appraised -Doris during the luncheon. She now believed that she understood -“Blondie” and would be able to manage her. - -“I wanted my maid to come here with me, but my father wouldn’t let me -have her,” pouted Doris. “Celeste would have been better company than a -lot of stupid students.” - -Leslie forgot the rôle she had essayed to play of light good humor. Her -famous scowl, heavy and disfiguring showed itself. Blondie was not -impressed by her slang, her troubles or her money. “You don’t want a -maid at college,” she scoffed gruffly. “I wouldn’t be bothered with one, -even coming here from Newport. I sent my maid on a vacation.” - -“I wish Celeste were with me,” Doris obstinately repeated. As if -determined to be contrary she continued. “There’s one girl at the Hall -that I’d not call baby-booby. She is really distingué. I don’t recall -her name. She said to me that she was born in Ireland and——” - -“Leila Harper!” was Leslie’s interrupting exclamation. “She is clever as -a wizard, and a terror. She’s crazy about Miss Dean and her gang. Look -out for her. I don’t care to gossip, but perhaps I’d better tell you -some things about that crowd. You ought to know them. After luncheon why -not take a spin with me in my car? Maybe you’ve seen it. It’s white, and -a dream. I’d love to have you come along.” - -Leslie had forced back her rising irritation and turned pleasant again. - -“Thank you, but——” Doris hesitated. She regarded Leslie with a -thoughtful, innocent air which was a mask she assumed. Behind it she -studied Leslie’s ugly, almost grotesque features and the expensive -luxury of her costume. Self, the little inner deity Doris worshipped, -bade her accept the invitation and enjoy the ride. If she did not -approve afterward of Leslie it would be easy enough to snub her roundly. -“I’ll come with you. It’s no end kind in you to ask me,” she accepted -without enthusiasm. - -“So glad to have you.” Leslie managed to keep sarcastic inflection out -of her reply. She was already beginning to discover that Blondie was -“certainly a selfish proposition.” Still, try as she might where could -she have found another girl so well suited to her purpose? - -“Great work,” she congratulated herself as the two girls emerged from -the Ivy to where the white car stood in all its creamy, glittering -glory. “Blondie is down on Remson, can’t stand Bean and the Bean stalks -and she lives at Wayland Hall. She knows me and we’re going to be -chummy. It’s as good as a private wire between me and the Hall. Can you -beat it?” - - - - -CHAPTER XIX.—GENTLEMAN GUS - - -“Marjorie Dean-n! Oo-oo; oo-oo! Mar-r-jo-r-ie D-e-an!” - -Marjorie turned sharply as the long resonant call was borne to her ears -on the crisp fall air. Speeding toward her across the campus came a tall -girl, hands cupped to her lips. She was running with a certain -individual, energetic swing of body which Marjorie recognized as -belonging to but one student at Hamilton. Sight of her brought a sunny -smile to Marjorie’s somewhat serious face. - -“Gussie Forbes,” she cried, “are you really here at last. She held out -both hands to the tall handsome sophomore whose own face was radiant. - -“I am, but I’m surprised to think that I ever reached here.” Gussie -grasped the welcoming hands and shook them with vigor. “I’ve been at -Wayland Hall about fifteen minutes. I asked where you were, first thing. -Miss Remson said she thought you were somewhere on the campus, so out I -hustled to try to find you.” - -“Faithful Gussie. What can I do to reward such devotion?” laughed -Marjorie. - -“Come back to the Hall with me and be the feature of a rejoicing bow-wow -in Flossie’s and my room,” came the prompt return. “We’re all simply -perishing to see you and the rest of the Sanfordites. Is Miss Lynde -back? I never dare call her Ronny, though I think she’s a perfect dear.” -Gussie linked an arm in one of Marjorie’s and began towing her gently -toward the Hall. - -“Ronny’s here. She stopped at Sanford for us on her way from California. -Jerry, Lucy, Ronny and I came back together. Muriel’s not coming back -this year.” - -“Oh, dear!” wailed Gussie. “That’s bad news. Muriel is such a lot of -fun. I only knew her well toward the last of the college year, but we -were getting quite chummy.” - -“We’re all sorry Muriel isn’t with us.” Marjorie’s face fell at the -remembrance. “We’re going to miss her dreadfully. We tried to coax her -to come with us, but she said ‘no’ and wouldn’t give a reason for saying -it. She’s been very mysterious about it.” - -“Haven’t you the least idea of why she isn’t coming back?” questioned -Gussie curiously. - -“No. She insists that she isn’t engaged to be married. That would be her -strongest reason for not coming back.” - -“Aggravating old goose,” was Gussie’s fond opinion of Muriel. “Look out -she isn’t simply kidding you. I’ll bet she’s engaged.” - -“You asked for Ronny. There she is now on the steps.” Marjorie waved a -gay signal to Veronica Lynde, who answered it in kind. - -“She sent me a set of ducky postcards from Lower California this summer. -I was so surprised. I never thought she’d do that.” Gussie spoke humbly. - -“You’ve a bad case of too much respect for Ronny,” laughed Marjorie. “If -she discovers it she will give you a good shaking.” - -“I wish she would,” sighed Gussie. “I’d feel more at home with her -afterward. I behaved like a savage to you last year. I’m sure Miss Lynde -hasn’t forgiven me for that. She was pleasant with me after I turned -civilized, but never friendly.” - -A smile dimpled the corners of Marjorie’s mouth. “It’s all right,” she -cheered downcast Gussie. “You’re friends with Ronny, only you didn’t -know it. She loathes writing letters, or even postcards. You’ve had the -sign and seal of her friendship.” - -“Ha-a-a-a! Tell you that’s fine news,” Gussie instantly brightened. - -As the two girls neared Ronny she came down the steps and advanced to -meet them. “So glad to see you again.” She greeted Augusta with a warmth -which completely assured the doubting sophomore of her friendliness. - -“And what have _you_ been doing, Miss M. M. Dean?” she humorously -interrogated Marjorie. - -“I’d started for Silverton Hall to see Robin and Phil. Phil has a great -idea she wants to tell Robin and me about. Now the great idea will have -to wait. I’m going to a pow-wow in Gussie’s room.” - -“No one invited me to a pow-wow.” Ronny turned reproachful eyes on -Gussie. “I enjoy pow-wows far more than Marjorie does.” - -“I invite you to one this minute. Excuse my seeming neglect. I’ve been -at the Hall just long enough to set down my luggage and start out to -find Marjorie. Double delighted to find your Highness, too.” Gussie made -Ronny an exaggerated, respectful bow. Now sure of Ronny’s approval she -entered blithely into the spirit of Veronica’s teasing remarks. - -“Will you ask Jerry and Lucy to come and meet the gang in my room?” -Gussie was in a pleasant flutter of excitement as the trio reached the -second floor of the Hall. “Flossie went for Leila and Vera. They’re -probably at the party now.” - -“I’ll answer for Jerry, and trot her to the pow-wow directly,” Marjorie -promised. - -“Lucy’s still in our room. I think. You may expect us.” Ronny returned -Gussie’s salute with one equally extravagant and disappeared into her -room. - -“She’s a perfect love! I won’t need that shaking after all,” Gussie -confided to Marjorie with sparkling eyes as the two separated briefly. - -Marjorie hurried lightly down the hall and opened the door of Room 15. -“Hello, Jeremiah,” she greeted; “Gussie Forbes is back. We’re invited to -a pow-wow in her room this very moment.” - -“Well, well, well; you don’t mean it.” Jerry Macy looked up with an -incredulous grin from the letter she was writing. - -“Yes, I do mean it.” Marjorie pounced upon Jerry and tried to pull her -up from her chair. Jerry grinningly braced herself and remained firm. - -“You can’t do it, Marvelous Manager. I’m someone you can’t manage. So -Gentleman Gus is going to have a pow-wow! Shall Jeremiah attend it, or -finish her letter? Which? What?” Jerry had applied the nickname -“Gentleman Gus,” to Augusta Forbes because of the number of male rôles -the tall, broad-shouldered sophomore had played in campus shows during -her freshman year. - -“You’ll attend it,” was Marjorie’s threatening prediction as she began a -fresh onslaught upon her apparently stationary chum. “If I can’t haul -you up from that chair I’ll go for reinforcements. Then we’ll see -what’ll happen.” - -“Just see what’s happened already.” Jerry sprang up from the chair. -“Why, Bean, respected Bean, excuse me. I nearly tipped you over, didn’t -I?” she innocently apologized as she bumped smartly against her -roommate. - -“Oh, never mind. You don’t know any better,” Marjorie made charitable -allowance as she tucked her arm in Jerry’s and moved resolutely toward -the door. - -In front of the closed door of Gussie’s room Marjorie smiled and raised -a finger. Inside a merry babel of fresh young voices told them the -pow-wow was in full swing. Marjorie tapped lightly on the door. No one -answering, she turned the knob and she and Jerry entered the room. -Ronny, Lucy, Leila and Vera formed a group around which the five -sophomore chums known to their friends as the Bertramites had gathered. - -At sight of Marjorie and Jerry a mild shout went up from the assembled -nine. Gussie made a jubilant dash from the group to receive them. - -“For goodness sake, girls, moderate your whoops of joy,” cautioned -Flossie Hart when she could make herself heard above the commotion. “The -Hall is full of young and timid freshies. This warning isn’t meant for -you P. G.’s,” she laughingly excepted. “Only the Bertramites are -included in it.” - -“A pow-wow is a pow-wow. I’m surprised at you, Floss,” reproved Calista -Wilmot with a giggle. - -“Remember eats are necessary at a pow-wow. Trot out whatever you happen -to have in your suitcases that’s eatable,” Gussie ordered. “I’ve a -five-pound box of chocolate nuts. Next? That means Floss, Calista, -Charlotte and Anna. The rest of you are company and have to be -entertained.” - -Gussie cleared the center table with one or two energetic sweeps of the -arm. Her chums began a prompt diving into bags and suitcases for their -contributions to the feast. Calista produced a pasteboard box of -macaroons, Flossie one of salted almonds, Anna a sweet grass basket of -stuffed dates and Charlotte Robbins a box of home-made maple and -chocolate fudge and a large jar of tiny sour pickles. - -“There.” Gussie arranged the toothsome array of delicacies on the table -to her satisfaction. “Here’s to our noble P. G.’s,” she proposed, -flourishing an arm. “Long may they wave. Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!” - -The five Bertramites came out lustily on the hurrahing. The room rang -with their gleeful shouts. - -The echoes of them had hardly died out before the six guests were -returning the compliment quite as vociferously. They continued to make -plenty of pleasant noise as they sampled the sweets and rushed from one -topic of girl interest to another. - -“Someone is rapping on the door.” Leila’s quick ears were the first to -catch the sound. - -“I’ll go.” Gussie hurried to the door, a pickle in one hand, a square of -maple fudge in the other. She transferred the pickle to the fudge hand -and opened the door. - -“Why, Miss Remson!” Her eyes widened in surprise. “Come in. We’re having -a jollification. You are just in time for it.” - -“Glad to join in the fun.” The manager’s tones were utterly friendly. -“I’m the bearer of wet-blanket news, though. Miss Monroe, next door to -this room, has just complained of the noise going on here. She has an -examination in mathematics tomorrow and insists upon quiet so that she -can study. I’m sorry, children.” A good-humored smile overspread her -face. “You’ll have to try to play more quietly.” - -“Why, the idea! We haven’t been here an hour yet, and it’s so early in -the afternoon!” Gussie burst forth half resentfully. “Pardon me, Miss -Remson. I don’t mean that for you. I mean it for fussy Miss Monroe, -whoever she may be. Talk about pure freshie nerve!” Gussie’s eyes -traveled the group of now silent students for sympathy. She found it in -the common expression of blank, half-sheepish surprise written large on -her friends’ faces. - -“Miss Monroe isn’t a freshman, Augusta,” the manager corrected gently. -“She is trying the examinations this week which will admit her to the -sophomore class. I explained to her that you and Miss Hart were -sophomores, hoping she might make allowance.” - -“A would-be soph, and complaining of the sophs! What a loyal addition to -the sophie class she will be,” Florence Hart cried sarcastically. - -“Not wishing to be too inquisitive, Miss Remson, may I ask if Miss -Monroe insisted you should come and tell us what a noisy crowd we were?” -Leila inquired smoothly. - -“Yes, Leila; she did,” the little woman replied in her concise way. - -“Now why, I wonder, did she not come and tell us herself?” Leila’s tones -were silky, but her blue eyes had narrowed. - -Miss Remson laughed. “Clever Leila,” she regarded the Irish girl with -approbation. “I may as well tell you girls frankly. Miss Monroe put it -to me as my duty to reprimand you. I hope you won’t consider my enforced -word of caution in the nature of a reprimand,” she ended with the -independence of affection. - -A chorus of loyal assurances went up which caused her to raise a -premonitory hand and incline her head in the direction of the next room. -After stopping long enough to eat a square of fudge and two pickles with -true schoolgirl appetite she left behind her an ominously quiet crowd of -girls. - -“A nice reputation you have as a P. G., Jeremiah Macy.” Jerry severely -addressed herself in the mirror of a dressing table. “Just think”—she -turned accusingly toward Lucy Warner—“even Luciferous Warniferous, the -Sanford sage, got a hot shot for being too boisterous.” - -“Don’t blame me. Blame the company I keep,” chuckled Lucy. - -“Luciferous Warniferous couldn’t be boisterous if she tried,” defended -Ronny. “She hasn’t said half a dozen words since I led her into this -room. I know she hasn’t whooped once. Can you whoop, Luciferous? That’s -what I’d love to know?” Ronny peered owlishly at Lucy. - -“Don’t give a demonstration of it till we are out on the campus,” warned -Anna Perry. Her inflection was sarcastic. “It’s not safe here.” - -“I sha’n’t give one at any time or at any place,” Lucy retorted with -great firmness. - -“The very idea,” scolded Flossie Hart. “Why, we made twice as much noise -when we first came to the Hall last year and no one made a fuss.” - -“I won’t stand it.” Gussie Forbes shook back her short curls, squared -her shoulders and linked her hands behind her back in the attitude her -chums knew meant battle. “Can’t help it if this Miss Monroe is going to -be a soph. She might have known we’d subside. She could have waited a -little to see. I won’t be mean enough to say I hope she flunks in math. -But I’ll say she’ll flunk in popularity if she can’t live and let live.” - - - - -CHAPTER XX.—BETTER LATE THAN NEVER - - -That evening in Ronny’s room Leila, Vera, Marjorie and Jerry gathered -for one of their old-time “Traveler” meetings. The arrival of Ronny’s -trunks had furnished a treat of Mexican sweets, tempting and varied. -There were all sorts of candied tropical fruits, strange toothsome nut -pastes and a golden delicious sweet called _dulce_. There were even -candied sweet potatoes. - -“Get busy and help yourselves,” Ronny directed as she placed the large -square tin box of confections on the table before her chums. “I’ve a -supply of Mexican candy on hand. I’m going to take this box to _l’enfant -angelique_.” She smiled as she referred to Gussie Forbes by the title -the chums had privately re-named her after her change of heart during -her freshman year. “Back in a minute.” Ronny flitted from the room -burdened with a second square tin box of sweets. - -“Gentleman Gus needs a reward of good conduct for keeping her temper -this afternoon. She was all ready to turn the pow-wow into a real -tomahawking party with one blonde scalp for a trophy,” was Jerry’s -opinion. - -“I expected an explosion,” Marjorie confessed with a smile; “but none -came. Gussie is splendid, I think.” - -“How perfectly foolish in Miss Monroe to take such a ridiculous stand! I -can’t help criticizing her for it,” Vera said disapprovingly. “In the -face of not knowing whether she will pass her exams or not.” - -“If she flunks in the soph exams, she can still try for freshie estate,” -Lucy reminded. - -“It seems she likes no one but herself,” Leila now made dry observation. -“We thought in the summer it was only the four of us at the Hall and -Kathie who were not to her taste. Now we may banish our sorrow. We are -no worse off than the rest of the college.” - -“Such a relief to my mind,” snickered Jerry. During the three or four -days that the Sanford group of girls had been back at Hamilton she had -seen Doris Monroe half a dozen times and had formed one of her peculiar -dislikes to the self-centered young woman. “Behave Jeremiah.” She gave -one plump wrist a resounding whack. “Remember the stranger; et-cætera; -et-cætera.” - -“But never think about your old friends.” A tall girl in a gray sports -coat and hat, her charming face alive with laughter, had opened the door -on Jerry’s curtailed quotation of Hamilton’s first tradition. - -“Muriel Harding; you rascal of rascals!” Jerry reached the newcomer at a -bound. She caught her about the waist and pranced Muriel over the floor -in a wild dance which landed both against the opposite wall with force. - -“Call off Jeremiah,” begged Muriel mirthfully. “She’s too rough to belong -in polite society. The rest of you aren’t much more ladylike,” she -called out as a determined quartette hemmed her in and attempted to -embrace her in a body. - -“You deserve rough house tactics,” declared Jerry. The happy light in -her eyes told another story. The other girls’ faces also reflected their -pleasure in Muriel’s return. - -“You mysterious old goose. I can’t think of anything to say to you that -would be really disrespectful,” Marjorie assured the broadly beaming -Traveler. “We’ve missed you dreadfully. I’m so glad you’re back.” - -“So am I. I was fairly sure she wouldn’t desert us,” Lucy said with a -wise nod of her dark head. “She used to make fun of me so much that I -learned her tricks. I had an idea all the time that she couldn’t stay -away from this illustrious crowd.” - -“How sweet in you all to miss me.” Muriel wept a few mock tears of -appreciation into her handkerchief. “As for you, Luciferous, _you_ know -too much.” She treated Lucy to a glare of displeasure which broke up in -mirth. Lucy’s rare, childish giggle invariably sent Muriel into peals of -laughter. - -In the midst of the hilarity Ronny re-appeared and a fresh burst of -welcoming began. Once or twice it occurred to Marjorie that they were -making almost as much commotion as had the party of girls in Gussie’s -room that afternoon. Freshmen occupied the rooms on either side of Ronny -and Lucy. They were evidently less fussy than was Miss Monroe. - -“Now tell us all about it,” Marjorie coaxed when Muriel had been fondly -divested of coat and hat and established in the room’s most comfy chair. - -“All about what?” Muriel pretended wide-eyed innocence. - -“You know; just go right ahead and talk,” Jerry coolly invited. “No use -in asking us questions.” - -“Um-m-m. Perhaps you are right, my dear Jeremiah,” Muriel conceded -sweetly. “Well, I thought it would be wonderful to be missed. I knew -that neither you, Ronny, nor you, Jeremiah had proper regard for me. I -had my doubts about Lucy. I knew Bean was a kindly creature who would at -least think she missed me. But I wanted all of you to feel the -heart-breaking sadness of not seeing me around and circulating merrily -on the campus. So I decided to put you all to the test, and——” - -“Fakir,” hissed Ronny making a serpentine dive for Muriel’s chair and -landing on an arm of it. She promptly clapped a hand over Muriel’s -mouth. “You sha’n’t say another word until you promise to tell us the -real reason.” - -Muriel uttered a series of unintelligible remarks behind Ronny’s hand. -She held up her own right hand finally as a sign of compliance. Ronny -reluctantly took away the barrier to speech. - -“This is the truth, girls, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I -almost got myself engaged to be married, but not quite.” Muriel’s pretty -features grew rosy as she made this naive confession. “It was on that -account I was so mysterious about coming back. It’s Harry Lenox, of -course. I may marry him someday.” Muriel waved an indefinite hand. -“Really, I didn’t know what I wanted to do until the last minute. After -you girls were gone from Sanford I couldn’t bear to be left out of -building the dormitory and switching around the campus as a venerable P. -G. So here I am. Yours truly.” Muriel favored her audience with one of -her wide captivating smiles. - -“Much ado about nothing,” Jerry commented derisively. - -“Precisely,” beamed Muriel. “Let me return the compliment. ‘Shallow -brooks babble loudest.’” - -“I think Miss Remson said she had half a room left, Muriel,” Vera said -presently when the excitement attending Muriel’s unexpected arrival had -abated. - -“Oh, glorious! I hadn’t dare hope for a vacancy at the Hall. I thought -I’d be lucky to get into any campus house. I suppose the Hall will be -full of freshies this year.” - -“Yes. Some of them haven’t arrived yet. We are going to do station duty -tomorrow. Help Gussie and the Bertramites out with station detail,” -Marjorie told Muriel. - -“I haven’t seen Miss Remson yet. The maid let me in. I’ll go down stairs -now. My bag and suitcase are in the hall.” Muriel rose and walked to the -door. “Come on, gang, and go with me,” she crooked an inviting finger. - -Down the stairs trooped the seven girls, Muriel and Marjorie in the -lead. They swarmed Miss Remson’s tiny office where the manager sat -writing. Her surprise at seeing Muriel was no less than that of the -girls had been. - -“Vera said you had half a room still open,” was Muriel’s immediate -anxious cry. “If I may have it I’ll consider myself the luckiest person -under the sun.” - -Miss Remson sat back in her chair and surveyed Muriel with a perplexed -frown. “Yes, there is half a room still vacant,” she said, her small -keen face full of doubt: “half of Miss Monroe’s room.” Her gaze traveled -to Marjorie and rested inquiringly on the latter’s concerned features. - -“Oh-h-h!” went up in a breath from the enlightened group. - -“What’s the matter?” Muriel appeared mystified. “Who’s Miss Monroe?” -Repetition of the name jogged memory. “Oh, yes; I remember. She’s the -pretty girl you told me about; the fairy-tale princess; beautiful but -icy; et-cætera, et-cætera; as our esteemed roughneck, Jer—. Excuse me. I -mean our valued friend Jerry Macy loves to say.” - -Far from being dismayed at the prospect of an uncongenial roommate -Muriel accepted the situation with her usual buoyant spirit. “What’s the -use in worrying?” she demanded after she had asked numerous questions -about her prospective roommate and received nothing but the kindest -information her friends could truthfully give. “I know you girls are -trying to live up to tradition. I can guess a good deal between the -lines about my new roommate.” - -“Then you are quite sure you wish to make the arrangement, Muriel?” -anxiously asked Miss Remson. - -“Sure as can be,” Muriel flippantly asserted. “I choose to spend my -declining P. G. years at the Hall. Shall I turn down such a chance to -flourish in the bosom of my friends?” - -“You may have my half of Jerry’s and my room, Muriel,” Marjorie made -sudden astounding offer. “I’ll room with Miss Monroe instead of you.” -Marjorie was not sanguine of Muriel’s proposed venture. She knew that -Muriel and Jerry would be happy together. She was afraid impulsive -high-strung Muriel might soon find herself in difficulties. She did not -anticipate any smoother sailing for herself. She had reflected before -making the offer so characteristic of her unselfish soul that -companionship with the strange, unfriendly girl might bring Miss Monroe -into a better understanding of Hamilton College. - -“Nope.” Muriel shook a smiling head. “I’m going to choose the enchanted -iceberg for a roommate and see what happens. Are you modest enough to -believe that Jeremiah would allow me to supplant you as a roommate? -Thank you a million times just the same.” - -“That’s the way to talk. I never credited you with such reasoning power -as you have just displayed, my dear Miss Harding.” Jerry smiled -fatuously upon Muriel then transferred her smiles to Marjorie. “You -don’t seem to have the least inkling of my deep regard for you. Bean,” -she reproved. - -“You see the way things are?” Marjorie turned to Miss Remson with a -laughing gesture. - -“Yes, I see.” The manager rose from her desk. “Pardon me, children. I -had best go upstairs and notify Miss Monroe that her roommate has -arrived.” - -“Tell her she may expect me,” giggled Muriel. “You needn’t say much -about me. I’ll astonish her by walking in on her presently with a -special P. G. swagger. Nothing succeeds like nerve, you know.” Muriel’s -velvety brown eyes were dancing with mischief. - -“I’ll back you to win,” were Jerry’s encouraging words. “You have almost -as much nerve as I have; perhaps more.” - -“I wish I could believe you.” Muriel was blandly regretful. - -“What a waste of good health to worry over that one, Beauty!” Leila -pointed derisively at Muriel. - -“I should say so,” Ronny agreed with teasing stress. “I’m sorry for the -enchanted iceberg.” - -Marjorie listened and laughed at the exchange of repartee. At the same -time she wondered, if, after all, Muriel Harding might not prove to be -the best possible roommate for the lovely, ungracious fairy-tale -princess. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI.—“GOOD HUNTING” - - -Warned by her chums that her pretty roommate was more than likely to -prove frosty, Muriel went to Room 22, armed with her usual light-hearted -insouciance, the best weapon she could have had in the circumstances. -Far from being cast down by the chilly environment Doris’s haughty -manner merely appealed to her keen sense of the ridiculous. She gaily -named her the Ice Queen and their room the ice chest. “If I stayed in -the ice chest too long I might catch cold,” she roguishly informed her -chums, “but I’m never there more than five minutes at a time except to -sleep.” - -With the filling up of the campus houses with students and the formal -opening of Hamilton College the Travelers found their work cut out for -them. They spent countless hours in station duty, welcoming arriving -freshmen. Feeling their responsibility as post graduates they tried -earnestly to promote a spirit of sociability on the campus. These -self-imposed duties, besides the effort to keep in touch with their -personal campus friends, kept them constantly occupied. - -The very reliable, conscientious firm of Page and Dean had the serious -duty before them of looking out for the students who had formerly lived -in the now demolished houses of the dormitory site. The tenants of the -houses in the block which Leslie Cairns had bought had been ordered out -of them directly after Commencement. The dingy row of dwellings still -stood, awaiting their chagrined owner’s pleasure. For a time Leslie had -lost interest in the garage idea and had regarded her ill-gotten -purchase as an elephant on her hands. Later, she had moodily resolved, -because she had nothing else to busy her, to go on with her original -plan in the hope of being able, eventually, to even what she considered -as a “score” with Marjorie Dean. - -After painstaking inquiry and investigation Marjorie and Robin had -finally found good boarding places in the town of Hamilton for the -seventy-two students who could not afford campus rates. The zealous -promoters had also arranged with an Italian, who had recently begun -operating a three-bus line between Hamilton and West Hamilton to carry -the students to the campus every morning on special trip. More, their -old friend Baretti had offered to serve such students with sandwiches -and tea, coffee or milk whenever their free hours from recitations -should permit them to come to the restaurant. The devoted friend of Page -and Dean, the warm-hearted Italian had named a small price for the -service. He had been an almost avid supporter of the Travelers’ plans -and had often hinted that “someday” he would give the “dorm” a nice -present. - -“Positively, Robin Page,” Marjorie declared fervently one soft fall -afternoon as the two girls left the dormitory site after a consultation -with Peter Graham, “things are simply skimming along. Everything good -seems to be gravitating straight toward us. Thanks to Miss Susanna and -Jonas the site is clear now and ready for the building. It wouldn’t have -been cleared before Christmas if they hadn’t given us that splendid -early start. And where could we find another builder like Mr. Graham? We -couldn’t; I’m sure.” - -“Blessing number two,” counted Robin, laughing. “We might as well rank -Guiseppe Baretti as number three. Think of what he’s done for us!” - -“I’m thinking,” Marjorie nodded. “Then that bus line started up like -magic. Just what we needed, when we needed it! And the boarding houses -for the off campus girls are fine. Now that they are so beautifully -settled we can begin to pick up life on the campus. The freshies this -year seem a dandy set of girls.” - -“So Phil says. She’s not crazy over the sophs, though. She says she -thinks they are chesty. Not Gussie Forbes and her crowd. Phil likes -Gussie. She says there is a lack of college spirit among the others. She -hasn’t discovered why as yet.” Robin looked thoughtful. “I dare say -Gussie knows. She is such a live wire.” - -“I must have a talk with her. Oh, gracious!” Marjorie sighed audibly. “I -have so much to do I hardly know what to tackle first. I can’t start -chemistry again for at least another week. That and French poetry are -all I shall undertake this semester.” - -“I’m going to send for my car,” Robin announced with sudden irrelevancy. -“I’ve wasted time waiting for taxis to and from town. We really need my -roadster.” - -“I’d like to have a car here this year,” Marjorie admitted honestly. -“This is a great secret, Robin. I haven’t told another person: General -gave me a choice before I came back here between having a car and the -money it would cost. I—I took the money. We need it for the dormitory. I -know we are welcome to use as much of Ronny’s money as we like, but the -self-respecting way is to raise it by earning it, or by self-denial.” - -“You old dear!” Robin patted Marjorie’s arm. “You’ve taught all of us -the self-denying way. I spent scads of money when first I came to -Hamilton. Now I’ve turned positively stingy in my old age. I might as -well have my car here as home. No one uses it there. I have an excuse -for what the up-keep will cost.” - -Robin was full of her plan to send home for her car. She began to -calculate, as the two entered the campus and lingered there for a brief -talk, on the saving of time it would mean as against the cost of -up-keep. While the absorbed promoters stood talking together a group of -half a dozen sophomores passed them. The sophs greeted the two girls’ -pleasant salutation with a kind of admiring eagerness. Six pairs of -bright eyes rested longest on Marjorie, however. One of the girls made a -low-voiced remark to the others. There was a concerted shaking of heads -as the group passed on. - -They had not gone on far when Marjorie said good-bye to Robin and turned -her face in the direction of Wayland Hall. The lively murmur of voices -close behind her caused her to wheel suddenly. In the next instant a -smiling band had surrounded her. - -“Oh, Miss Dean, we’ve something special to ask you,” began the leader of -the group, a small blue-eyed girl with a round rosy face and deep -dimples. “You know the sophs have their election next week. Gussie -Forbes is our candidate for president. We want to get up an election -parade for her; a regular booster. We’d like to do something quite -funny. Could you—would you—ask that awfully clever P. G. Miss Harper -to—help—no I don’t mean exactly to help us. All we’d like is a -suggestion from you two.” - -“We’ve heard about Miss Harper’s wonderful stunts. We know what good -shows you and Miss Page got up last year,” interposed a tall girl with a -frank, boyish face. “We were going to ask you and Miss Page when we -passed, then we were afraid of interrupting your conversation.” - -“I wish you had,” Marjorie said with smiling regret. “Miss Page is full -of funny, original ideas. I’ll speak to Miss Harper tonight. Why not -come over to the Hall tomorrow evening? We can talk it over. Leila will -have thought of some good stunt by then.” - -“Oh, fine, lovely, great work!” went up from her pleased listeners. -“What time shall we come?” asked the little girl who reminded Marjorie -of Susan Atwell, one of her Sanford schoolmates. - -“Any time after seven, Miss Vernon,” Marjorie said cordially. - -The little girl showed pleased dimples at being thus remembered. The -smiles of her companions were equally jubilant at the success of their -plea. “Thank you, Miss Dean. We’ll surely come,” was Miss Vernon’s -grateful acceptance as the sextette took themselves off across the -campus after a united murmur of thanks. - -“The old calls are beginning to rise again,” Marjorie reflected happily -as she neared the Hall. She was reminded of the phrasing of the “Jungle -Books,” which she had adored as a child. “It’s good hunting again on the -campus. Good hunting all,” she repeated half aloud, “good hunting all -who keep the jungle laws.” - - - - -CHAPTER XXII.—A “BOOSTER” PARADE - - -The “booster” parade for Augusta Forbes, candidate for sophomore -presidency of at least half the sophomore class, was as ridiculous as -its gleeful originators had intended it should be. Two evenings before -the sophomore election the paraders issued from the gymnasium at dark, -in amazing and flamboyant procession. A stolid drum major, Anna Perry -was a triumph. She wore a scarlet cotton flannel uniform, recklessly -trimmed in blue, and a high fur hat, contrived from an old squirrel -muff. She led the van with a truly wonderful flourish of baton. - -The presidential candidate came next in a two-wheeled push cart draped -in red, white and blue bunting. Gussie, in an old black frock coat and -trousers and a white plug hat which Leila had unearthed from among the -Travelers stage properties was a figure of dignity in spite of the -occasional sprawling lurch forward she gave in the cart. The cart was -energetically motivated by four stalwart servitors. Their very energy -made Gussie cling desperately to the rug-covered soap box on which she -sat with one hand while she waved an acknowledgment with the other to -the uproarious populace. - -The vice president had also been selected for push cart honors. This -dignitary’s vehicle, however, while draped with equal gorgeousness was -smaller and required only two lackeys. Richly attired in a pleated white -shirt, fawn knickers, a blue plush smoking jacket and a black silk hat -with a dent in one side of it, he sat flat in the bottom of the cart, -recklessly distributing smiles and bows. - -The treasurer and secretary came next in white flannel tennis trousers, -white shoes and white silk blouses. They wore white sports hats wreathed -in blue and scarlet, the sophomore colors. Unfortunately for them they -had to be content with express wagons. As both candidates were tall they -had to sit in their wagons, backs to the willing soph horses, a generous -length of limb trailing over the rear end of their conveyances. It was -either this, or a certain possibility of kicking their hard-working -steeds. The rosy-faced manager of the Forbes’ party rode in a child’s -dark blue automobile which she sturdily propelled with both feet, -dressed in a plaided knicker suit, sneakers, a boy’s striped sweater and -a red and green monkey cap she looked not more than ten years old. Nor -could a boy of that age have made more noise. - -Behind her came the band, a ten-piece organization composed of one -bugle, two accordions, two drums, one cornet, three combs and a hand -organ. On each side of the procession walked the torch bearers lighting -the impressive pageant with cat-tail torches. The dark-faced organ -grinder in an old black velvet coat and blue overalls and fierce -outstanding mustache closely resembled Calista Wilmot. He -enthusiastically ground out a program of “Suwanee River,” “Annie -Laurie,” “Get Out and Get Under,” and “Do You Love Me, Honey?” while the -rest of the band accompanied him with deafening zest. - -Sauntering along behind this commotion and seemingly quite unruffled by -it were no less than Uncle Sam, George Washington and Christopher -Columbus. Their appearance on the campus was the signal for shrieks of -mirth and they were hailed with the familiarity accorded to old friends. -The parade circled Hamilton Hall three times then trailed down the main -campus drive and rested there while the band gave an ear-splitting -concert. - -At the last the push cart detail tired of their hard but honored task -and flatly refused to take the candidates a step further. The squabble -ended by the squabblers walking off arm in arm toward the gymnasium -where the sophs had made ready a spread of cake and ice cream to which -anyone on the campus was welcome so long as the eats held out. - -“It’s almost safe to say that Gentleman Gus will be friend president,” -Jerry declared to Marjorie that night as the two were preparing for -sleep. “I understand that she has over half the class with her.” - -“Oh, I think she’ll win. I hope so.” Marjorie became suddenly silent. -“There are some of the sophs who still blame Gussie for what happened to -Alma Hurst and Ida Weir,” she said, after a little. “She was accused of -having informed on two members of her class. She didn’t, you know, and -so do the rest of us. It was Miss Walbert who betrayed them.” - -“Why, old Marvelous Manager, what makes you so emphatic? Heard anything -special about Gussie?” Jerry fixed interested eyes on Marjorie. - -“Yes; today. Calista told me. Gussie doesn’t know it. The other Bertram -girls do. They won’t tell her. She is so proud. They are afraid she’d -withdraw from the nomination. They want her to be president because they -think she’d make a fine one. Calista says the sophs are beginning to -make a fuss over Miss Monroe. A freshie who lives at Acasia House began -raving over Miss Monroe the first day she saw her. The very next day she -sent her a big box of roses. The story went around the campus and the -sophs heard it and began to rush Miss Monroe. She may be nominated at -the class meeting Thursday.” - -“Maybe,” Jerry conceded. “Still I think Gus has the inside track. The -sophs may nominate half a dozen girls, but Gussie will carry off more -than half the votes. You see if she doesn’t. Don’t worry about _her_.” - -“You are so cheering, Jeremiah. I did worry about Gussie, for her to -hear anything horrid now, when she’s so full of the election, would cut -her to the heart. - -“Cut it out, Bean, cut out worry, is the valuable advice of Dr. Macy. If -you must worry, worry about me. I can’t decide what I ought to study. -I’m too highly educated now. My brain rebels against being stuffed any -fuller. I’m what you might call wise in my own conceit.” - -“You’re a cheerful goose,” was Marjorie’s fond opinion. Nevertheless she -wished the eventful sophomore election were the next day instead of the -day after. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII.—STICKING IT OUT - - -“What is the news from the soph’s election, I wonder? Ronny Lynde looked -interestedly toward Hamilton Hall where the sophomore class had -collected in a deserted recitation room to elect their officers. - -“Here comes Muriel. Maybe she has heard echoes of the tumult that -writhes within. What are _you_ doing in the sacred corridors of Hamilton -Hall?” Marjorie banteringly hailed. “You don’t belong there.” Marjorie -and Ronny were passing Hamilton Hall on their way from a recitation in -French Prose. - -“Mayn’t a mouse peep into a castle?” demanded Muriel. “I happen to be -studying Greek, though I may not look it.” - -“Greek,” Ronny meditatively repeated. “That might account for some of -your strange actions. Things inexplicable are often remarked as being -‘so much Greek.’ I must say——” - -“Don’t say it,” pleaded Muriel. Let me talk. The sophs are making a -grand splatter and clatter at their meeting. It sounded almost as though -they were engaged in mortal combat. - -“I’d love to linger here and get the first news,” Marjorie said with a -bright glance into the open doorway of Hamilton Hall. “It’s against P. G. -dignity, though. Besides Professor Leonard wishes to see me at -four-thirty in the gym. It’s four-twenty-five now.” She consulted her -wrist watch. “I’ll leave you two. Of course, if you should decide to -wait for the election returns, it wouldn’t be my fault,” she told the -two significantly. - -“Such consideration for your friends,” Muriel called after her. Marjorie -made a derisive little gesture over one shoulder then quickened her step -so as not to keep Professor Leonard waiting. - -She found him in his office, his desk littered with physical culture -programs which he was in process of making. - -“So glad to see you, Miss Dean.” He rose and offered her a friendly -hand. “Sit down, and let us have one of our old-time inspiriting talks. -I was hoping you would come back to the campus. I supposed you would be -in Hamilton, at any rate. I wish you would tell me more about the new -dormitory. I had no opportunity to talk with you about it last June.” - -Marjorie had intended to remain in the professor’s office not more than -a few moments. It was more nearly an hour before she rose to say good -afternoon. Professor Leonard had strongly urged her to serve again on -the sports committee. The energetic instructor had refused to entertain -her doubt that the students of the college might prefer the sports -committee should be seniors rather than post graduates. - -“I can assure you of your eligibility to the committee,” he said -earnestly. “Yourself and two seniors, Miss Severn and Miss Moore, we -will say, will make my perfect sports committee. However, think the -matter over. I wish you to be satisfied. I know you are a very busy -young woman. Help me, if you can. I need your judgment and support.” - -Marjorie reveled in the comforting inner assurance of work well done as -she left the gymnasium and hastened toward Wayland Hall. She had decided -before she reached the steps of the Hall, if Phil and Barbara wished -very much that she should accept the honor the Professor had offered -her, she would do so. - -Glancing up at the chimes clock she saw a quarter to six staring her in -the face. “Election’s over long ago,” she said to herself. “I’ll have -just about ten minutes to drop in on Gussie before dinner.” “Oh, bother,” -was her second thought. “Gussie is probably out somewhere being rushed. -I’ll stop at her door, anyway.” She hurried into the hall and made a -running ascent of the stairs. She rapped repeatedly on Gussie’s door; at -first lightly, then with force. Still no one answered. - -Going on to her own room she found the door half open and no Jerry in -sight. She flung off her hat and long coat and set off for Ronny’s room. -The murmur of voices behind the closed door informed her that there -someone was at home. - -“Gadding again!” exclaimed Jerry as Marjorie walked into the room. - -“I know you are, Jeremiah,” Marjorie retorted sweetly. “It’s surprising -in you to own to it.” - -“I wasn’t speaking of myself. Walking diagonally across the hall from -one room to another isn’t gadding. But you—That’s another story.” - -“What about the election?” Marjorie made a scornful face at Jerry and -turned to Ronny and Muriel. There was excitement in her question. She -felt the same anxiety for Gussie that she would have for one of her -chums in the same circumstances. - -“Gentleman Gus was elected, but there was some sort of fuss,” Muriel -replied to the question. “We hung about the steps where we were when you -left us. A crowd of sophs came out. Miss Monroe was with them. She was -looking quite pleased with herself. She didn’t see me. I mean she -pretended she didn’t. The other sophs, there were nine or ten of them, -were peeved as could be. They were grumbling and muttering like a mob in -a house play.” - -“Those sophs had undoubtedly backed Miss Monroe. We knew then she’d lost -without having to be told, Muriel was anxious to find out the details so -we went into Hamilton Hall to lie in wait for and pounce down upon -someone who knew what we didn’t,” supplemented Ronny. - -“By then we’d lost all respect for ourselves as P. G.’s,” chuckled -Muriel. “We were getting curiouser and curiouser. We did a wary toddle -down the corridor toward the room the sophs were in. The door opened and -out came Jane Everest. I can’t recall when I’ve so much enjoyed meeting -anyone,” she declared waggishly. “Only Jane didn’t know what the fuss -was about. It was a hot one, she said between Gussie and some of the -sophs we’d seen coming out of the Hall. Only the chairman and the -election committee appeared to know what it was over.” - -“I’m afraid I know what it was over,” Marjorie spoke with a kind of sad -soberness. “You remember what I told you, Jeremiah?” - -“Yes. I’m afraid you knew too much, Bean; too much.” Jerry wagged her -head with the air of a wiseacre. - -Marjorie had to laugh in spite of her perturbation. Ronny and Muriel -were eyeing her expectantly, listening for what she might say next. - -“It is because of last year—” Marjorie broke off abruptly as a quick, -imperative knock sounded at the door. - -Ronny went to the door and opened it. “Oh, Gussie!” she exclaimed. “Come -in.” - -“No, thank you. I—I—want to see—just Marjorie—no one else.” Gussie’s -voice had a husky sound. Her eyelids were suspiciously pink. - -“Why, Gussie!” Marjorie who had heard; was at the door with outstretched -hands. “What is it, dear?” she asked in a lower tone. - -“I must talk with you. A lot of miserable things have happened. I was -elected. I don’t want to be president. I don’t know what to do.” Gussie -leaned her arm against a side of the open door, dropped her head upon it -and burst into tears. - -Next moment Marjorie had gently drawn the weeping sophomore inside the -room and closed the door. “Poor old Gus,” she soothed, “wrapping her -arms about Augusta. Go ahead and cry as much as you please. You’ll feel -better afterward.” - -The three other girls now joined Marjorie in her earnest effort to -comfort Augusta. In place of the breezy, self-reliant Gussie they had -been used to meeting had now appeared this woe-begone, tear-drenched -stranger. - -“Buck up, Gentleman Gus,” encouraged Jerry, giving the weeper a friendly -slap between the shoulders. - -The slangy consolation and the slap had a potent effect on Gussie. She -stopped crying with a gulping sigh and even managed to coax a wavering, -quivery smile to her lips. - -“Ah, aha! That’s better.” Jerry made capital of the smile. “Have a -chair, and tell us your troubles. If you see a chair here you fancy, -grab it before anyone else has a chance at it. This isn’t my room but I -run it just the same. I run everything I can, and sometimes I get the -run.” - -Gussie’s smile grew at Jerry’s nonsense. “No, I won’t sit down. I can’t -stay. I ran away from the girls. I was looking for Marjorie.” She -stopped, looking distressed. “I’ll tell you about the election,” she -slowly continued. “I wasn’t going to tell anyone but Marjorie, but I’d -like you to know.” Her gaze swept the trio of girls. Apparently -satisfied with what she saw, she said: - -“There were three nominations for president—Miss Monroe, Evelyn Burtis -and myself. The girls who were rooting for Miss Monroe were the ones who -said I reported Ida Weir and Alma Hurst for hazing Flossie and me last -year. You know I did not report Miss Weir and Miss Hurst. It was Miss -Walbert who did that. I didn’t know any such hateful thing had been said -about me until Flossie told me after the election. If I had known it -beforehand I wouldn’t have accepted a nomination. Flossie knew it, and -didn’t tell me.” - -“Finally the voting began. I won by a third majority.” Gussie could not -keep a note of pride out of her voice. “Miss Monroe had more votes than -Miss Burtis. My party began cheering me. Before they had stopped a soph -who has a crush on Miss Monroe stood up and began fussing with the -chairman. She said she had a perfect right to protest against the -election; that the chairman had no business to accept my nomination for -president when she had been informed beforehand by letter of my true -character. She said that I was not fit to be the president of my class; -that I was not truthful or honorable; that I had reported two worthy -students for hazing who were entirely innocent of such a charge. Then -she demanded that the ballot should be cast all over again with my name -left out. - -“The chairman said she had received the letter against me which the soph -had written and had showed it to the other members of the committee. I -wish you might have seen how scornful she looked. They had all agreed to -ignore it as unworthy of attention.” - -“That chairman is a peach,” warmly praised Jerry. “Who is she? I shall -lunch her at Baretti’s tomorrow. See if I don’t.” - -“She is Miss Hopkins, and she is splendid.” Gussie drew a long breath. -“The soph who made all the fuss is Miss Walker. She and a pal of hers, -Miss Johnson, were chummy with Alma Hurst and Ida Weir.” - -“It isn’t right that such untruthful gossip should be spread about you, -Gussie,” was Marjorie’s indignant cry. “The best way to down it is to -show the sophs what a fine president you can be. I know you will.” - -“I—I said I would resign,” Gussie confessed. “Miss Hopkins said she -didn’t blame me. She gave me a queer look when she said it as though she -wished I wouldn’t. My party hadn’t heard much of the talk between Miss -Walker and Miss Hopkins for Miss Walker was sitting on a front seat. -They only knew it was some kind of kick about me. They began to cheer me -and the other sophs began to hiss. My party raked them down. I was -sitting near the front, too, with Floss and Calista. All of a sudden -Miss Hopkins walked up to me and said: ‘Please don’t resign, Miss -Forbes. The committee believe in you.’ I know you’ll stand by us. I -couldn’t resign after that.” Gussie avowed with rueful emphasis. - -“Your a real gentleman of the old school,” Ronny approved. “Allow me to -escort you to a blow-out at Baretti’s. There is no time like the -present. I’m going to gather in the Bertramites. Muriel, go gather in -Leila and Vera. Tear them from the dining room table, if necessary.” - -“Slave, do my bidding,” mocked Muriel as she bounced obediently from the -room. - -Veronica skipped lightly after her. She found the four Bertramites in -Gussie’s room, solemnly wondering where poor old Gus had hidden herself. -Two minutes’ explanation and the four girls were crossing the hall to -Ronny’s room, a hurrying quartette. - -Muriel luckily caught Leila and Vera just outside the dining room. - -“I know of no one more accommodating than myself, except Midget,” was -Leila’s characteristic acceptance of the invitation. “Are we not noble -to wait another hour for dinner when we are starving?” - -“Noble isn’t the word,” Muriel returned effusively. - -“You’re too effusive to be sincere,” was Vera’s blunt opinion as the -three started upstairs together. - -Marjorie also had a good-will errand of her own to go on. Down stairs -she quietly flitted and to the telephone. When she had finished a -low-toned conversation with Robin Page at the other end of the line she -hung up the receiver, clapped her hands childishly and ran upstairs, a -demure little smile playing upon her lips. - -Following Augusta Forbes’ bitter cup of the afternoon the “blow-out” -given in her honor by P. G.’s at Baretti’s was an unexpected and -effectual balm to her wounded spirit. It was a very jolly dinner, made -thus by the handful of democratic girls who had “been through the Wars -of the Campus,” as Jerry announced in proposing a toast to the new -sophomore president. Nor had their prompt upholding of Augusta been -without effect on the several groups of girls who were also dining at -the restaurant. At the Colonial the sophomore ringleaders in the ignoble -attempt to down Gussie were dining Doris Monroe and hotly discussing -ways and means by which their faction might gain the upper hand in -sophomore affairs despite the loss of the presidency on the part of -their choice. - -Doris, in an exquisite frock of orchid tissue with a huge bunch of real -pinky-lavender orchids trailing across one bare shoulder looked more -like a fairy-tale princess than ever. Some of the sophs had even begun -to call her the Princess. Nor could she know that Marjorie’s flattering -fancy of her, repeated to one of the Wayland Hall freshman by way of -admiring Doris’s undeniable beauty, was the source of the pleasing -title. What Doris did know was that she had begun to crave popularity. -She was having her first taste of the sweeping impetuous admiration of -the American college girl. Under an air of sweetly-smiling but still -indifferent amiability Doris was reaching greedily out for popularity. -It would not be her fault if she should not gain it. - -The crowning bliss of having faithful friends came to Gussie that night -after she and her genial adherents had returned to Wayland Hall and she -was in her room telling the details of the afternoon’s fray to her -curious chums. Under her window, sudden and sweet, the stately Hymn to -Hamilton rose, more beautiful than ever by reason of the utter harmony -of musical instruments and voices. - -With one accord the five girls rushed to the two windows and opened -them. Not one word did they speak, simply leaned across the sill and -listened. When the hymn ended they applauded softly. The singers in the -darkness below followed the hymn with one of Nevin’s songs without -words, vocalizing it perfectly. Then came “Appear Love At Thy Window,” -and last, “Good Night: God Guard You.” - -As the final line of the tender old song ended Gussie leaned far out the -window and said in quiet, purposeful tones: “Thank you, everyone. You -can’t know how much you’ve done for me. I’ll try harder than ever to -live up to my Alma Mater.” - -From other windows on that side of the house girls were leaning, hurried -to them by the harmonic sounds. In the room occupied by Muriel and the -“Ice Queen” Doris Monroe had just entered. She was occupied in placing -the bunch of orchids in water when the music began. - -“What is it?” she languidly inquired as Muriel raced to a window and -raised it. - -“Serenade party. They are serenading Miss Forbes.” Muriel’s eyes danced -as she gave the information. - -“How peculiar!” drawled Doris. A jealous light had sprung into her -changeable eyes. - -“Not half so peculiar as the way some of the sophs behaved this -afternoon.” Muriel was constrained to retort over one shoulder as she -dropped to her knees before the window. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV.—A NEW ALLY - - -From the moment Doris Monroe had realized that she might become a figure -of importance on the campus her attitude toward college had changed. In -the summer she had scornfully regarded the campus as a “ghastly old -space.” Since the return to it of scores of smart, butterfly girls who -owned cars and who made amusement a business during their recreation -hours she had entirely altered her opinion. - -Because she had chosen to be “miffed” at the Travelers during their -summer stay at the Hall she still clung stubbornly to her groundless -grudge against them. Then, too, Leslie Cairns had warned her against -them. Leslie was a person for whom Doris had a certain amount of -respect. Leslie had wealth in her own right and appeared to be afraid of -no one. She had taken Doris for several rides in the white roadster and -lunched and dined her expensively at exclusive wayside inns and tea -rooms. When Leslie had returned to New York, shortly after Marjorie had -returned to Sanford, Doris had missed her new acquaintance. - -She was pleasantly surprised during the week following the sophomore -election to find a note in the Hall bulletin board from Leslie Cairns. -It read: - - “Dear Doris: - - “Meet me at the same old spot on the pike below the dago’s - tomorrow afternoon at five-thirty sharp. Hope you are well - and enjoying the knowledge shop. - - “Yours, - “Leslie.” - -“How are you?” was Leslie’s nonchalant greeting of the sophomore when -Doris arrived in the gathering October dusk at the rendezvous. She -leaned out of the small black car she was driving and extended a -careless hand to Doris. “Hop in,” she invited. “We’re off to Breton Hill -for dinner. I’m going to zip this road wagon along when I clear Hamilton -Estates.” - -“I’m so glad to see you again, Leslie,” Doris said with more warmth than -she usually exhibited. - -“So you’ve come to life.” Leslie grinned to herself as she started the -car. “I had an idea you would. What’s new at the knowledge shop?” There -was a veiled eagerness in her question. Leslie cared far more about what -went on at Hamilton than she pretended. “Tell me anything and everything -you can think of.” - -“Things have livened immensely. I passed my soph exams and I was -nominated for the soph presidency.” Doris went on with a somewhat lofty -account of the sophomore election and her sudden rise in campus -popularity. “You ought to see the way the girls stare at me when I am -out on the campus,” she declared with enthusiasm. “I have some freshie -crushes as well as sophs and some of the juniors and seniors are sweet -to me. It’s because I’m so beautiful,” she added with cool assurance. - -“Yes, you are a beauty,” Leslie admitted half enviously. “Do you think -you have half the college going?” - -“Mercy no!” Doris truthfully exclaimed. “I might have, I think, if I -could afford to entertain in a very exclusive expensive way. That’s what -counts. I have plenty of lovely clothes, but my father doesn’t believe -in giving me a large allowance. He would be awfully angry if he knew -that I took half a room instead of the single he applied for for me. I -did it so as to have that much more spending money. I wish now I hadn’t. -My roommate is Miss Harding, one of those horrid Sanford P. G.’s. She is -snippy and so cheeky. A lot of the sophs are down on her and her crowd -for boosting that stupid Miss Forbes for president.” - -“That was a favorite trick of Bean and her Beanstalks when I was at -Hamilton,” informed Leslie. She was regarding Doris’s pretty -discontented features as though revolving some plan in the dark recesses -of her scheming mind. - -“It seems to be a favorite trick still,” replied Doris venomously. “I -understand that Bean, as you call her, is trying to run the sports -committee, take sides with one half the sophs and lecture the other half -as to what they should do. She and that Miss Harper planned the election -parade for Miss Forbes’ crowd. I heard that the sophs who were trying to -boost me asked her to help them get up a parade and she refused to help -them.” - -“You sophs are foolish to stand such treatment.” Leslie busied herself -with the wheel as though offering casual opinion. - -“What can we do?” demanded Doris fiercely. “It’s hardly my place to -start a fuss. I have a certain reputation as a beauty to keep up on the -campus.” - -“Yes, that’s so. You’re clever enough to see it. Let me see.” Leslie -wrinkled her rugged features in intense concentration of thought. She -was very desirous of hatching a plan of malicious action. It could -hardly be traced to her, if carried out, she was reflecting comfortably. - -“What the sophs should do is this,” she said at length. “They should -write two letters; both to Bean. One should be from the sophs -themselves, calling Bean down for interfering with their interests and -ordering her thereafter to mind her own affairs. The other—” Leslie -hesitated. She wondered how much “Monroe would stand for.” She -continued, “The other should be from the seniors with a more polite -intimation that they are capable of managing college sports without P. -G. help.” - -“Oh, such letters couldn’t be sent,” vigorously disagreed Doris. “I -wouldn’t dare suggest any such thing to my soph crushes. As for the -seniors—that would be hopeless!” - -“All right. Forget it, and listen to me,” Leslie ordered rather gruffly. -“There’s one thing I can do for you to help you with the popularity -business. I’m going to lend you my white roadster. I haven’t used it -since I was here in the summer. It’s in a Hamilton garage now. I’ll pay -for the up-keep of it a year in advance and run it up to the nearest -garage to the campus. My garage will be ready by next spring, I hope. -I’ll blow you to a stunning white sports coat and other togs to match -the ‘Dazzler.’ I’ll open an account for you at the Hamilton Trust -Company so you can entertain. I’ll—” - -“But, why—why should you do all this for me?” Doris cried wonderingly, -stirred out of her usual high self-complacency. “I couldn’t really -accept so much from you, Leslie. You see—” her tones betrayed her -reluctance to refuse Leslie’s magnificently generous offer. - -“Because I chose to do it. What’s money to me? I’ll help you make -yourself the campus beauty and bring back the good old days on the -campus when money counted for something. Bean and that set of mush heads -have turned Hamilton into a regular goody-goody shop. The sophs who -rooted for you have the right idea. I’m going to be around here all -winter so I can tell you a few tricks you’ll need to know.” - -“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know,” Doris repeated, as Leslie continued to -put forward her offer. “My father has always said for me never to incur -obligations. There’s nothing I could do for you in return, Leslie, that -would count for anything like what you’d be doing for me.” She sighed -enviously as she pictured herself in the white car. - -“Yes, there are certain things you can do for me, later, when you’ve -secured your own position on the campus.” Leslie had been driving slowly -as she talked. Now she stopped the car at the side of the road. “You can -help me make matters uncomfortable for Bean and her crowd. You can—” - -“I’m willing to do what I can, in my own way,” Doris responded with a -zest which betrayed her own rancor. “You can see for yourself, though, -Leslie, that I couldn’t do a thing such as you proposed about those -letters.” - -Leslie laughed, silently, grotesquely. Doris could surely be trusted to -look out for her own interests. “I said ‘forget it’ didn’t I?” she -reminded. Her tones, however, contained no mirth. She was inwardly -scornful of Doris for her selfishness. Leslie had not the least -intention of “forgetting,” though Doris might. - - - - -CHAPTER XXV.—“ONLY SHADOWS” - - -“Three letters. That’s not so bad.” Marjorie triumphantly waved the trio -of coveted envelopes about her head as she entered her room from a long -interesting bout with chemistry. “I’m tired enough to enjoy my mail. -Vera and I have been experimenting with a compound this whole afternoon. -It should have come out black and it didn’t—it came out a beautiful -shade of green.” Marjorie threw herself into a chair, laughing, and -began picking open an envelope. - -“The way of all great experimenters is hard,” comforted Jerry. “Where’s -my mail? I didn’t hear you say a word about it.” - -“Sorry to tell you, but there was none for you, Jeremiah.” - -“Your voice sounds sorrowful,” Jerry returned with sarcasm. “Have some -candy. I try always to be kind to those who are kind to me.” - -“I’ve heard you say so before.” Marjorie was now spreading open the -contents of the envelope she had torn across. She glanced at the letter. -“Why-eee!” she exclaimed in a strained, unbelieving voice. She went on -with a hurried perusal of the letter, then backed into a chair. “Listen -to this, Jerry,” she cried out in hurt tones: - - “My Dear Miss Dean: - - “While it is hard for me to put into words that which I have - been asked to tell you I will try to do so as courteously as - is possible in the circumstances. I have been chosen by the - sophomore class with the exception of a few sophomores, to - point out to you that your interference in class matters has - created very bad feeling among the sophomores who believe - themselves capable of adjusting any differences which may - have arisen in the class. - - “It is unfortunate that a post graduate of Hamilton College - should be guilty of deliberate favoritism. You showed - favoritism to Miss Forbes before and have done so since the - sophomore election. Miss Forbes received the nomination for - the presidency as a result of your “boosting.” Many of the - sophomores who voted for her because of a high, but - misplaced respect for you, now know their mistake. Miss - Forbes deserved the censure she received at the election. - The manner in which you and other post-graduates babied her - afterward I now venture to criticize. - - “The sophomore class are of an almost united opinion that - they may be trusted to carry on their business wisely and - with justice to all. I am confident that, released from any - responsibility you may have taken upon yourself regarding - them, you will have more time to pursue your own important - affairs. - - “Sincerely, - “Louise May Walker.” - -“Don’t let a little thing like that bother you,” Jerry’s eyes shone with -sympathy in spite of her sturdily careless tone. “A girl who would write -such a letter isn’t worth minding. Don’t let it mislead you. The sophs’ -united opinion is probably about ten or twelve strong, and not more. -Keep right on going, Bean. You shouldn’t worry.” Jerry’s cheerful smile -broke broadly out like the sun from behind a cloud. - -Marjorie, looking up from a second reading of the letter, returned the -smile ruefully. “I care,” she said reflectively, “and I don’t care. I -thought I was awfully hurt, but I’m up and on my feet now, brushing off -the dust. I wouldn’t have done things differently about Gussie. I -suppose favoritism means helping get up the parade and Ronny’s dinner to -Gus at Baretti’s. We would have helped the other soph faction with a -parade just as quickly if they had come to us. I think I’ll go on with -my letters.” - -Marjorie tore open the second envelope with decision. A glance at its -contends and she exclaimed in righteous indignation: “Why, the idea! -This is too ridiculous for words!” She read aloud rapidly: - - “Dear Miss Dean: - - “We understand that Professor Leonard has asked you to serve - again on the senior sports committee. Do you not agree with - us that it would be more becoming in you to give place to a - member of the senior class. We have been informed that such - a decision on your part would be welcomed by the other - members of the committee. - - “Yours very truly, - “Senior Welfare Committee.” - -“That’s a fake,” pronounced Jerry, instantly. “You know and so do I that -Barbara Severn and Phil are glad as can be that you are going to serve -on committee with them this year. Whoever wrote this bluff didn’t know -that. Any student who was here last year knows how chummy you were with -both Phil and Barbara. Ha; great head!” Jerry whacked herself smartly on -the top of the head. “How rough you are, Jeremiah!” She fell to rubbing -her injured head. “I wish Hamilton offered a course in how to be a -detective. I have the investigator’s brain.” - -“Then take this case and find out who wrote this letter,” Marjorie -tossed the second letter into Jerry’s lap. “I’m not going to answer Miss -Walker’s letter. It needs no reply.” The sudden firm set of her lovely -face showed the girl’s underlying strong character. “Thank fortune,” she -said in relief, “_this_ letter is from Miss Susanna. No hateful -surprises this time. Her inflection grew unconsciously tender as she -read to Jerry: - - “Dear, Dear Child: - - “There’s a gala day ahead of us. Two weeks from Saturday - afternoon we are to go to the dormitory site to assist in - the laying of the cornerstone. Peter Graham says it will be - ready to lay on that day, November sixth, at three o’clock - in the afternoon. Bring the rest of the Travelers to tea on - next Sunday evening and we will talk about the great - occasion. I am notifying you of it thus long beforehand so - that none of the Travelers will make any other engagements - for that day. I shall expect you on Sunday afternoon. - - “Affectionately, - “Susanne Craig Hamilton.” - -Marjorie raised her head from the reading of this comforting letter, her -whole face radiant with returned good cheer. “I feel all ‘chirked’ up -again. Jeremiah.” She patted the letter and laid it against her cheek. -“The persons who wrote those other two letters are only the shadows; -mean, skulking shadows that can’t bear the light. Miss Susanna is the -substance. That’s why I love her so much.” - -“You’re an April Bean,” was Jerry’s indulgent but irrelevant reply. “One -minute you cloud over and the next you shine. Now listen to my -ambitions. I’m going to shadow some of those skulking shadows you just -mentioned and solve the riddle of who writ the wrote. The weary chase -may lead me over land and sea, or, at least, all over the campus. Then -Bean,” Jerry raised a melodramatic hand above her head, “beloved Bean, -your wrongs shall be avenged.” - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI.—THE CORNERSTONE - - -Saturday, the sixth of November, found a buoyant band of Travelers -taking the well worn road to the dormitory site. They had decided to -walk rather than ride, having agreed that there would be an elation of -spirit attending that happy march which the little journey, if made by -automobile, could not furnish. - -Whatever plans Miss Susanna had made for the auspicious occasion she had -not divulged. She had talked with them freely enough concerning the -laying of the cornerstone on the Sunday evening on which they had had -tea at the Arms. She had playfully ordered her young friends each to -think of some good wish they might offer in behalf of the dormitory. -Each was then to put her wish on paper, seal the paper in an envelope -and have it ready to cast into the hollowed space of the cornerstone -itself. - -The day before the ceremony Miss Susanna had sent a note to Jerry by -Jonas requesting her to be at the Arms by two o’clock on the Saturday -afternoon of the eventful day. Jerry had not the least idea of why she -should suddenly have come into demand by the erratic old lady of the -Arms. To hear Miss Susanna, or rather to hear from her, was to obey. -Jerry marched off to the Arms dressed in a most “spiffy” fall suit of a -new shade of blue that became her vastly. - -At the dormitory where the confusion of demolishment had reigned so -long, all was now in order, the order of progressive building. The -ground above the vast cellar where the stone foundation would rise had -been leveled, all debris had been cleared away and the great cornerstone -placed ready for its descent into place. - -Close to it a considerable number of workmen were gathered. Now in neat -dark clothing instead of overalls. They had been invited by Miss Susanna -to attend the ceremony and were to be given a luncheon at Hamilton Arms -afterward. This was to be Jonas’ treat. Standing with them, his dark -face wreathed in smiles as he talked to Peter Graham was Signor Baretti. -Next to the Travelers there was no one more enthusiastic over the -dormitory than Baretti. - -“Look at Mr. Graham,” were Ronny’s low-spoken words as she and Robin and -Marjorie paused three abreast near the cornerstone. “He’s perfectly -happy. His face is so bright its positively dazzling.” - -“He has the conscientiousness of work well done,” Robin returned in the -same soft tone. - -“That’s precisely it, Robin,” nodded Marjorie. “I’ve been watching him -and trying to analyze his expression.” - -“Miss Susanna will be late for the cornerstone act if she doesn’t appear -in just four more minutes,” remarked Muriel practically. - -“My, what a reverent spirit of mind you are in,” satirized Ronny. -“‘Cornerstone act!’ I’m shocked.” - -“I hope you recover. Why here comes a car! That’s not Miss Susanna’s -turn-out. No horses in sight, either.” Muriel forgot to bicker with -Ronny in her excitement over the rapidly approaching car. - -As it came nearer the group of girls recognized a familiar figure on the -front seat. It was Jerry, and she was driving. Beside her sat Jonas, his -laughing features showing what he thought of the surprise. - -“Jeremiah!” went up in a merry little shout from the Travelers. - -“Yes, Jeremiah.” Jerry smiled complacently on her chums then slid out of -the car and opened one of the rear doors of the limousine as Jonas -opened the other. - -Out of the limousine on one side came the Reverend Compton Greene, of -Hamilton Estates, the oldest minister in the county of Hamilton. From -the other side emerged Professor Wenderblatt, President Matthews and, -last of all, gallantly assisted by the president came Miss Susanna. - -Instead of being impressed into silence by sight of distinguished Prexy -the Travelers vented a shout which more than energetically expressed -their sentiments. - -“How do you like my new car, children?” briskly inquired Miss Hamilton, -showing frank delight at the prank she had played on her girls. “And how -do you like my driver? Well, I had to come to it. I mean about the -automobile. Jonas will learn to drive the car. I sha’n’t let him drive -much faster than at a crawl. How are you, Peter?” She addressed her old -friend with every mark of kindly affection. - -“It’s a happy day for me, Susanna,” he said, his bright face faintly -flushed and free from worry seemed that of a young man. Only the thick -white hair brushed off his forehead proclaimed him to be in the winter -of life. “And I have you to thank for it.” - -“Thank yourself, Peter; not me. ‘The laborer is worthy of his hire.’ -Never forget that. Come, Dr. Greene,” she turned to the old minister; -“let me present my young campus friends to you. And here is Signor -Baretti who is a loyal supporter of the dormitory cause.” - -The last of the Hamiltons introduced the Travelers, one by one to the -old minister. She talked animatedly with one of her party, then another. -“I felt that I ought not invite Professor Wenderblatt’s daughter today -without inviting her distinguished father,” she laughingly told Lillian -Wenderblatt. In a pale gray silk gown with a beautiful gray carriage -coat lined in white and a gray lace hat trimmed with a cluster of pale -silk violets, Miss Susanna appeared to have shed the stiff, repressed -air that had formerly hung over her. - -This thought sprang to Marjorie’s mind as the old lady walked -confidently about among the company and exchanged sociabilities with -them. Marjorie looked up to find Jonas’ eyes fixed earnestly upon her. -He glanced significantly at Miss Susanna and back to her again. She -understood that he wished her to know and share his pleasure at the -happiness of “Mr. Brooke’s little girl.” - -Presently the company strolled to a place near the corner where the -great stone would soon be set in place. There was a brief prayer in -behalf of those who had gathered there to view the result of their -generous efforts. Then they all sang “Blessed Be the Tie That Binds,” a -favorite hymn of Brooke Hamilton’s. Miss Susanna led in her clear old -treble. There were speeches from the men, even one from Signor Baretti, -who responded as nobly as his limited English would permit. Miss Susanna -refused to make a speech, nor could Jonas be induced to make one. -Neither did Page and Dean take kindly to speech-making. - -President Matthew’s earnest ringing address pleased Miss Susanna most of -all. She made mental note that there was nothing mean-spirited about -“that man, Matthews.” Then the workmen, under Peter Graham’s direction, -came forward to place the stone and the girls and Miss Susanna dropped -their envelopes into the hollowed opening. Professor Wenderblatt placed -an old German writing, religious in character, with the other envelopes. -The rest of the men dropped in gold and silver pieces. - -As the huge block of stone was settled in the earthy pocket made for it -the company joined hands and sang a verse of “Auld Lang Syne.” Miss -Susanna, tears running down her cheeks, shook hands with Peter Graham -and then with Jonas. They represented her only friends for many years. - -“I am going to tell you all,” she said, wiping her eyes and then her -glasses, “that this dear child here is responsible for anything I’ve -lately done that Uncle Brooke would have wished done.” She drew -Marjorie, who stood beside her, into the curve of her arm. “I cannot -carry out his wishes in the way I had once planned for the college. I am -sorry. I never used to be sorry. I have grown graciousness, it would -seem.” She looked defiantly toward President Matthews. - -“Hamilton College is grateful to you already for many favors,” the -president returned with a gentle courtesy that caused two bright color -signals to flash into Miss Susanna’s cheeks. - -“I’ve thought something out,” Marjorie remarked suddenly to Ronny when, -a little later, the party of Travelers went their way toward the campus. -“It’s about Miss Susanna. I used to think, when first I knew her, that -it would be splendid if she’d give the college material for Brooke -Hamilton’s biography, even if she didn’t wish to give it. Now I know the -gift without the giver would be bare. Nothing she might give the college -that had been Mr. Brooke’s would be worth anything without her -approval.” - -“She will soften some day. Remember what I say,” Ronny predicted. “Look -how much she has done already for the college, through us, since we have -known her. Did she tell you what she wrote and put in her envelope?” - -“No, I forgot to ask her. What was it?” - -“She wouldn’t tell me. She said it would break the spell if she told and -what she had wished might not come true. Of course she was joking, but -she kept what she wrote a secret.” - -“We never thought on the night we came to Hamilton, lonely freshies, and -went out hungrily to hunt dinner that we’d be building a dormitory not -far from where we ate our first meal,” Marjorie said musingly. - -“What a stormy time we had that year! Now we may enjoy the peaceful -pleasure of the P. G.,” Ronny was lightly mocking. - -Marjorie smiled to herself. Into her mind had come remembrance of the -two disturbing letters she had lately received. Jerry’s efforts to -discover the author of the one had been fruitless. Marjorie had proudly -ignored the writer of the other. Such letters did not argue well for the -“peaceful pleasures of the P. G.” - -“Your days of peaceful P. G. pleasure are over, Veronica Browning Lynne. -You may manage the first show we shall give.” - -“‘Let us then be up and doing, with a heart for any fate,’” Ronny -quoted, striking an attitude. - -“Something like that.” Marjorie caught Ronny’s upraised arm and drew it -under her own. Ronny had brought to mind the inspiring old poem she had -so greatly loved and clung to in her grammar school days. Now as ever -her soul answered the call of it. - -How she made it her watchword through the rest of the college year amid -many perplexities and vexations will be told in: “Marjorie Dean, -Marvelous Manager.” - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARJORIE DEAN, POST-GRADUATE*** - - -******* This file should be named 51686-0.txt or 51686-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/5/1/6/8/51686 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the - United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you - are located before using this ebook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - |