Standing as she was where the electric lights, which Jerry had recently switched on, played upon her, she made an undeniably attractive picture.
Marjorie recognized her instantly as the girl she had seen driving the gray car. One of her companions was a small, dark girl with very black eyes and a sulky mouth. She was wearing a gown of Nile green pongee, heavily trimmed with expensive ecru lace. It gave her the appearance of being actually weighed down. The third of the callers Marjorie took an instant dislike toward. She represented a type of girl that Marjorie had rarely seen and never encountered at Sanford High School.
While her companions were attired in evening frocks, she was wearing a sports suit of a white woolly material that was a marvel as to cut and finish. The white silk velour sports hat, the heavy white silk stockings and fine, st.i.tched buckskin ties that completed her costume were the acme of distinctive expense. Despite her carefully chosen apparel, she was very near to possessing an ugliness of face and feature which no amount of smart clothes could mitigate. Her hair, such as could be seen of it from under her hat, was coa.r.s.e and black. Small, shrewd brown eyes, which had a trick of half closing, high cheek bones, a rather retrousse nose and a large, loose-lipped mouth completed an outer personality that Marjorie found unprepossessing in the extreme. Last of the three to enter the room, she had closed the door and now stood almost lounging against it, eyeing Marjorie with a smile that suggested bored tolerance.
"I am Marjorie Dean." Immediately she heard her name, Marjorie had come forward. She guessed that the girl of the gray car had come to offer an apology for her non-appearance. Memory furnishing her with the spokesman"s name, she held out her hand courteously, saying: "Your are Miss Weyman, are you not? Won"t you and your friends sit down?"
Into Natalie Weyman"s darkening eyes flared an expression of affronted surprise. The little dark girl also showed surprise, while the girl in the sports suit drew down the corners of her wide mouth as though she had heard something funny but dared not laugh outright.
"Yes, I am Natalie Weyman." Whatever her thoughts were her tones were still velvety. "I am a soph.o.m.ore and these are my sophy pals, Miss Vale and Miss Cairns." She indicated first the small girl, then the lounger.
Both soph.o.m.ores bowed nonchalantly and lightly clasped the hand Marjorie extended to each in turn.
"This is my room-mate and very dear friend, Geraldine Macy." Marjorie now took her turn at introducing.
Jerry bowed and shook hands with the trio, but exhibited no enthusiasm.
She was inwardly raging at them for having chosen a time so inopportune for making a call. She felt like shouting out in a loud, terrifying voice: "Have you had your dinner? Well, we haven"t had ours. Now beat it, all of you!"
Introductions over, the callers sat down. Miss Weyman dropped gracefully into the nearest easy chair, of which the room could count two. The others seated themselves, side by side, on one of the couch beds. Hardly had they done so when a second rapping was heard. This time it was Veronica, Lucy and Muriel. Marjorie opened the door and said quickly: "Come in, girls. I wish you to meet three members of the soph.o.m.ore cla.s.s who have done us the honor to call."
Involuntarily Veronica"s eloquent eyebrows went up in surprise. Lucy"s green eyes took on a peculiar gleam, and Muriel felt displeasure rising within her. It seemed too bad that, after being neglected, they should be thus sought before they had had time to get their dinner. The long ride on the train had left them hungry. Still, there was nothing to be done save make the best of it. How long the callers had been in Marjorie"s and Jerry"s room, Muriel could not know. If they took prompt leave the Sanford five could still get into the dining room before it closed. It was twenty minutes to eight. She had looked at her watch while Ronny was rapping on the door.
After further introductions Miss Weyman said sweetly: "I have an apology to make Miss Dean. Consider it as being made to all of you. I was to meet you at the train today, and unfortunately I started a little later than I had intended. I belong to a club which a few of the freshmen started last year. All the girls who are members were friends of mine before I entered Hamilton. We attended a very private preparatory school and entered college together. We call ourselves the San Soucians and our club is limited to eighteen members. We do not intend to pa.s.s it on after we are graduated from Hamilton. It is really only a little social club of our own. Of course, we _try_ to be considerate toward the other students here, as in the case of welcoming the freshmen."
"Every one was so perfectly sweet to us last year when we entered Hamilton." Miss Vale now raised a voice in the conversation. "You see we came from New York to Hamilton in my father"s private car. My father is president of the L. T. and M. Railroad. We had not thought much about being met at the train by the upper cla.s.smen. I _wish_ you might have _seen_ the crowd that was there to meet us! Girls from _all three cla.s.ses_ turned out. We had a smart old celebration, I can tell you."
Her sulky mouth lost its droop as she went on to describe boastingly the glories of that particular reception. She ended with: "What prep. school do you come from?"
Informed by Jerry that the Five Travelers were graduated from high school, she glanced pityingly about the Sanford group, and subsided with: "I really know nothing at all about high schools. I did not suppose you could enter college from one."
"Of course one can." Veronica spoke with an energy that her friends understood, if the callers did not. "Let me ask you a question. Were you obliged to try entrance examinations to Hamilton College?"
"Ye-s." The reply came a little slowly.
"We are not obliged to take examinations. The senior course in our high school comprises collegiate subjects. Our diplomas will admit us to any college in the United States. So you see that high school has at least that advantage," Ronny concluded evenly.
"I have heard that some of those high schools are really excellent,"
drawled Miss Cairns. "I have heard too that they turn out a lot of digs and prigs. Girls, you understand, that have to get all they can out of high school because college is out of the question for them. I feel sorry for them. I never knew any of that sort, though. In fact, you are the first high school girls I have ever met. What?" She turned to Natalie Weyman.
The latter, however, was paying little attention to the conversation.
Her gaze had rested almost uninterruptedly on Marjorie since she had entered the room. From the discomfited lieutenant"s lovely face to her slender, graceful figure, clothed in a one-piece frock of dark blue crepe de chine, the other girl"s eyes wandered, only to turn themselves away for a moment, then begin a fresh inspection.
Meanwhile time was flying, the Five Travelers were growing minutely hungrier, yet the visitors made no move to go. Miss Weyman had gone no further than to explain that she had started for the train a little late. This apology did not coincide with what Helen Trent had said. None of the Lookouts had forgotten _her_ remarks on the subject. It was in each girl"s mind that she preferred to believe Helen. This did not argue well as to a future friendship with Natalie Weyman. None of them could endure even the shadow of untruth.
"Please pardon me for breaking into my apology with an explanation of our club." Her inspection of Marjorie over for the present, Natalie returned to the original object of her call. "I meant to say that by the time I had reached the station you had gone on to Wayland Hall, I suppose."
"We drove away from the station in a taxicab just as your car drove into the yard." Muriel fixed the lamely apologetic soph.o.m.ore with a steady gaze. Her brown eyes appeared to be taking the other"s measure.
"Did you, indeed," Natalie returned somewhat hastily. It was beginning to dawn upon her that she did not in the least like any of these freshmen. They were entirely too independent to suit her. Recalling that which she had been aching to ask when Marjorie had asked her if she were Miss Weyman, she now questioned almost rudely: "How did you know who _I_ was when you saw me at the station?"
"We did not know who you were then," explained Muriel. "We merely saw a gray car full of girls. Miss Macy said it looked like a French car.
Afterward, we met a delightful soph.o.m.ore, Miss Trent. In talking with her, she mentioned that you had gone to the station to meet us."
"Oh, yes. Miss Trent. She was on the veranda when we left here." She looked toward Miss Cairns for corroboration. The latter nodded slightly and made an almost imperceptible gesture with her left hand.
"We are so sorry we missed you, at any rate." Miss Vail took it upon herself to do a share of the apologizing. At the same time she rose from her seat on the couch bed. "How do you like the table here?" she queried condescendingly. "We find it better than last year. Remson has a new cook now. She can see the other cook silly when it comes to eats."
A peculiar silence ensued as Miss Vale"s high-pitched tones ceased. It had been forced upon the Lookouts to defer an opinion of said "table"
until the next day. They were certainly at present in no position to make a statement.
"As we have been here so short a time we can"t pa.s.s an opinion on a thing at Wayland Hall yet." Marjorie answered for her friends, not daring to look toward any of them.
"Naturally not," agreed Miss Cairns suavely. "Mind if we leave you now?
We really must go, Nat. We had our dinner at Baretti"s tonight. Some of the Sans are waiting at the Colonial for us. We are going on there for dessert."
"Yes, the gang will wonder what has become of us." Natalie now got to her feet. She favored the Lookouts with a smile, which was intended to be gracious, but utterly lacked sincerity. Her pals already at the door, she joined them. This time there was no handshaking. While it would not have been necessary, a truly sincere bevy of girls would have undoubtedly shaken hands and enjoyed that act of fellowship.
"Thank you for remembering us at the station today, even though we did miss connections. We appreciate your coming to call on us this evening, too. Freshmen are very lowly persons at college until they have won their spurs on the field of college honors. We shall try not to be an annoyance to our soph.o.m.ore sisters."
Marjorie tried conscientiously to put aside all trace of irritation as she made this little speech. She realized that her chums had left it to her to handle the situation. While they had all exchanged a certain amount of conversation with the visitors, they had run out from sheer lack of sympathy. The callers had aroused belligerence in Jerry, Ronny and Muriel. Lucy Warner had fairly congealed with dislike. Marjorie had alone stayed on an even keel.
Perhaps the unfailing courtesy of the tired, hungry lieutenant made some slight impression on the departing soph.o.m.ores. Halfway out the door as Marjorie answered, Natalie Weyman had the grace to say: "You really haven"t anything to thank us for, Miss Dean. Wait until we do something for you, worth while. We will drop in on you again when we have more time. Good night."
She had been on the point of offering her hand at the last, stirred out of her usual self-centeredness by Marjorie"s gentle manners. Then she had looked again at the freshman"s exquisite face, and fellowship had died before birth. Natalie Weyman was considered a beauty at home, in New York City, and at Hamilton College. She had at last seen a girl whom she considered fully as pretty as herself. As a result she was now very, very jealous.
CHAPTER XIII.-ON THE TRAIL OF DINNER.
"Can you beat it? Uh-h-h-h!" Jerry dropped with angry force into the arm chair which Natalie Weyman had so recently vacated. "What was the matter with those girls, anyway? How could they help but know that we hadn"t had our dinner? It was after six o"clock when we reached here. It took time to get hold of Busy Buzzy and be a.s.signed to our rooms, and more time to make ourselves presentable. Why couldn"t they have figured out that much? Next step in our process of deduction; they came to the door about twenty minutes past seven. Now how could we have had time to go down stairs, eat our dinner and be back in our room again?"
"The answer is, they didn"t do any deducing," declared Muriel. "I suppose they simply chose their own time to call."
"A very inconvenient time, I must say," grumbled Jerry. "Here"s another point that needs clearing up. If that Miss Weyman drove her car down to the station, expecting to bring the five of us back in it, why was it cram-jam full of girls?"
"They may have been friends of hers who merely wanted to ride down to the station, Jerry," surmised Ronny. "Why trouble your brain about our callers now? Let us think about where we are going to have our dinner.
The dining room is closed, of course. We shall have to call on the hospitable Baretti for sustenance. He"s hospitable if his restaurant is still open. Otherwise, I don"t think much of him."
"First thing to do is to find out where he holds forth. I hope the place is not far from here. I"m so hungry and so tired." Marjorie spoke with a tired kind of patience that ended in a yawn. "We had better start out at once. We"ll probably find some one downstairs who can direct us."
The others no less hungry, the Five Travelers lost no more time in getting downstairs, preferring to leave the subject of their recent callers until a time more convenient for discussion. At the foot of the stairs they encountered two girls about to ascend.
"Good evening. Will you please direct us to Baretti"s?" It was Ronny who asked the question in a clear, even tone that, while courteous, was so strictly impersonal as to be almost cool. Having just encountered a trio of girls whom she had instantly set down as sn.o.bs, Ronny had donned her armor.
"Good evening." Both girls returned the salutation. The taller of the two, a sandy-haired young woman with sleepy gray eyes, a square chin and freckles now became spokesman. "You will find Baretti"s about a square from the west wall of the campus. Turn to your right as you pa.s.s out the main gate."
"There is the Colonial, too, about two squares beyond Baretti"s,"
informed the other, a pretty girl in a ruffled gown of apricot organdie that accentuated the black silkiness of her hair which lay off her low forehead in little soft rings.
"Thank you." Ronny modified the crispness of her tone a trifle. "We shall not care to go further than Baretti"s tonight. May I ask what time the restaurant closes?"