Augusta"s face had begun to clear as Marjorie talked. It brightened with each succeeding word. She forgot her earlier grudge against the other girl. She was hearing herself appreciated and it was very sweet to her.
"If these four players on the freshman team," Marjorie continued, "refuse to be amicable on the floor, the sports committee will demand _their_ resignations. We have the authority to do so and shall use it if necessary. It is our aim to have only pleasantness in connection with basket ball. Friendly rivalry between teams and harmony among the members of each team. That is the only basis on which to conduct college sports. I have seen it tried the other way, and it doesn"t pay."
"If they resigned, then there wouldn"t be any freshman team," stammered Gussie, thinking instantly of this dire calamity.
"Oh, yes there would," Marjorie a.s.sured with a friendly laugh. "You would be center on a new team. Your position on the freshman team is safe. Please understand that, Miss Forbes. The other freshmen may find theirs shaky."
Gussie stared at Marjorie with wide, solemn eyes. "I did not know you were like this," she blurted. "What was the matter with me that I misjudged you so? I thought you and Miss Macy made fun of me on the first evening we were at Hamilton."
"Miss Macy made some funny remarks about the noise you were all making and about you being freshies," Marjorie felt impelled to confess, "but she did not intend to be ill-natured. We laughed, because, Jeremiah, as we call her, is almost always funny."
"You will never forgive me," was Gussie"s shame-faced prognostication.
"The girls told me I had made a mistake. I wouldn"t listen to them. I don"t deserve your kindness to me, Miss Dean. When Miss Hurst said she was going to have me dropped from the team, I thought you would be glad of an excuse to drop me. So you can see for yourself what a horrid, suspicious person I am."
For answer Marjorie laughed merrily. "I think you are very honest and straightforward," she differed. "I am not sorry this letter was written.
It has brought us an understanding of each other which should lead to friendship. If I were in your place, Miss Forbes, I would go on working on the team precisely as though nothing had happened. I shall write Miss Hurst this evening. I imagine after she receives my letter she will stop this annoying persecution. That is what it amounts to."
After a little further conversation with the now placated Gussie, Marjorie shook hands with her and left her in a beatified state of mind.
"There is nothing truer than that old proverb, "It"s an ill wind that blows no one good,"" was Marjorie"s salutation as she entered her room.
"By rights I should send Miss Hurst a note of thanks for putting me on good terms with Miss Forbes."
Marjorie"s gay utterance was indicative of the success of her errand.
She was genuinely happy over the change in Augusta Forbes toward herself. Had Gussie been one of whom her upright mind could not truly approve, she would not have been annoyed at the freshman"s misunderstanding of her. Knowing the stubborn girl to be sterling at heart, it had hurt Marjorie to be thus misjudged. It had hurt her still more to know that Augusta saw Jerry in a false light
"I notice you weren"t extinguished," commented Jerry, her eyes resting with fond humor upon her pretty chum. "Tell me about it."
Marjorie complied with the request. She finished with: "I explained a little about that night we saw her at Baretti"s; a.s.sured her we weren"t making fun of her. I asked her to come and see us soon. She said she would. She will know, after she has talked with you about five minutes, Jeremiah, that you are the best old treasure that ever was."
"Am I so wonderful as all that? Dear me!" Jerry simpered, raising her chubby hands in mock surprise.
"Yes, you are, and you know it." Marjorie made an affectionate little rush at Jerry and caught her around the waist. In the absence of Captain and General, she sometimes treated Jerry to these sudden, playful proofs of her affection. Nothing pleased Jerry more.
"I won"t have time to write an answer to Miss Hurst"s note," she said, glancing at the clock. "I"ll do it directly after dinner and mail it before eight-thirty. There is a mail collection at nine. I want it to reach her tomorrow morning. I shall attend practice tomorrow afternoon and see that Miss Forbes has fair play." The determined glint in Marjorie"s eyes spelled justice to the injured party.
Marjorie did not linger at the dinner table that evening. She hastened upstairs the moment she had eaten dessert and set to work at the letter.
Her fountain pen poised thoughtfully over the paper, she considered Miss Hurst"s note for a brief season. Then she wrote:
"Dear Miss Hurst:
"Your letter received. In justice to Miss Forbes I would say that her case has been under observation of the sports committee for the past week. The findings are these-she is a fine and honorable player, conforming to the rules of basket ball in every respect. She is not a disturber, in any sense, and the sports committee must refuse to countenance unfair reports against her. I find her scrupulously truthful. The committee have not been pleased with the churlish treatment which has been accorded Miss Forbes by the other members of the team. We would advocate a marked change on the part of yourself and your team-mates in this direction. Personal spite makes poor team work.
"Yours sincerely, "Marjorie Dean, "Chairman Sports Committee."
"There!" she exclaimed, as she addressed an envelope to Alma Hurst at Acasia House. "That unpleasant labor is out of the way."
"Let me read it?" begged Jerry. "You need my official criticism."
"Read it, then. You don"t allow me to have any secrets from you,"
Marjorie complained in feigned vexation.
"No indeed," emphasized Jerry. "Good work," she approved, having read the letter. "The real straight-from-the-shoulder variety. That ought to give pause to the Amalgamated Sorehead Society. That"s a fine name for them. I shall tell it to Gloomy Gus when she and I grow to be bosom friends."
"Better not," warned Marjorie, breaking into laughter. "She is quite capable of hurling it at them in a moment of wrath. Don"t furnish her with ammunition. She is a handful, all by herself."
Drawing on her fur coat, for the evening was snappy with frost, Marjorie went bareheaded out of the Hall and across the campus, diagonally to the nearest mail-box. About to cross the main drive on the return to the house, she stood aside for a pa.s.sing car. The glare of an arc light over the drive picked out plainly the faces of the two occupants of the car.
They did not note her, she being in the shadow.
"Oh-h!" a soft little breath of surprise escaped her. She remained in the shadow watching the car. It stopped in front of Wayland Hall. One of the occupants, Elizabeth Walbert, left the car and hurried up the steps of the Hall. The car turned in the open s.p.a.ce before the house, darted away instantly. It shot past Marjorie at high speed. This time she hardly glimpsed the driver"s face. She had already recognized it, however, as that of Leslie Cairns. She had not withdrawn into the shadow for the purpose of spying upon the two girls. She had merely preferred not to encounter them. She resolved to tell no one of having seen Leslie on the campus. She could not refrain from wondering at the ex-senior"s temerity, in thus invading a territory now forbidden to her.
CHAPTER XVII-THE CULMINATION OF A ROMANCE
"It"s a perfectly sweet dress! Of course it is just a wee, tiny bit better than any other you"ve ever given me, you two old dears!"
Marjorie made her usual loving onslaught upon her smiling general and captain who sat side by side on the living room davenport admiring her.
It was the evening of Constance Stevens" wedding and Marjorie was proudly parading her maid of honor frock before her indulgent parents.
She had just come down stairs and was bubbling over with happiness at the beauty of the gown, her flowers, and the prospect in general directly ahead of her.
"Right face. Forward march to the end of the room," ordered General Dean, gently holding Marjorie off from him. "Your distinguished captain and I can"t judge your fine feathers at such close range."
Marjorie obediently paraded the length of the room and back, a vision of youthful enchantment. The pale yellow of her satin gown brought out vividly her dark hair and starry eyes. She had once given Connie a blue gown. This time Connie had been the donor. She had also insisted on furnishing even the white velvet evening coat, lined with the same satin as Marjorie"s frock, along with the other accessories of the costume. It lay across a chair, waiting for its lovely wearer. On the center table reposed a huge cl.u.s.ter of yellow chrysanthemums, tied with pale satin ribbon.
"Break ranks. Time for the gallant army to move on." Mr. Dean consulted his watch.
"You didn"t say what you thought of my frock," Marjorie reminded.
"I dare not. I have no desire to encourage vanity in my own child.
Besides, soldiers don"t wear frocks. They wear uniforms," teased Mr.
Dean.
"Much obliged," Marjorie nodded saucy thanks. "I mean for the compliment. It was a compliment, even though obscure."
"You are so welcome," gushed Mr. Dean. "Let me offer the army my arms."
He politely crooked his elbows to his wife and daughter.
Laughing, the two accepted his gallant offer, and the trio swept grandly from the living room.
"Captain deserves a whole lot of compliments," Marjorie declared as they walked down the drive three abreast to the limousine. "She looks so beautiful tonight!"
"I had already observed that fact," returned her general, his eyes admiringly resting on his wife. Always a beautiful woman, Mrs. Dean was particularly distinctive in the white lace gown she was wearing. "You haven"t complimented me yet," he pointedly added.
"You mustn"t ask for praise. Just be nice and folks will praise you of their own accord," Marjorie gave his arm a vigorous pinch.
"I see!" He appeared to ponder. "Pretty is as pretty does. I suppose that cruel pinch belongs with the advice."