"No one is going to call me middle-aged."
"And I, too, will take greatly pleasure to knock the kindling from the shoulder of Adventure," said little Otoyo.
"She means the chip! She means the chip!" screamed the delighted Judy.
"Oh, Otoyo, I love you in all the world next to my immediate family!"
It took but a moment to slip on great coats over kimonos and then, heavily veiled, the three adventuresses started forth, with admonitions from Molly not to be gone more than half an hour.
"And please don"t get arrested!" she called after them. "Kent says he always expects Judy to get arrested some day. This spirit of adventure seizes her every now and then and nothing will stop her."
"It is well it struck her here at Wellington instead of in New York. She can"t get into very much mischief here," laughed Edith.
"She could in the old days," put in Margaret, "but now that she is not compelled to keep rules I fancy she will not care to break them. What a Judy she is! It must be great to have her in the family, Molly."
"Indeed it is! She is the favorite in-law with the whole lot of Browns.
Mother adores her and all the boys think she is just about perfect. Even Aunt Clay can"t help liking her."
"I wonder what they will find to-night. I almost wish I had left the lace off of this old camisole and gone with them," said Nance.
"I think you need not hunt adventure right now," drawled Jessie. "Any girl who is deliberately getting married and going to the war zone will have enough to keep her busy for a lifetime. I don"t believe they will do more than go to the drug store and get limeades."
"You don"t know Judy and Katherine," said Edith, "and little Otoyo with her determination to knock the kindling from the shoulder of Adventure.
I wonder what Mr. Matsuki would say if he could know that his sedate little wife is engaged in such a harum scarum pursuit."
"Why, he would just smile and bow and look more like an ivory Buddha than ever. Otoyo has the charming little gentleman completely under her thumb. She works a kind of mental jiu jitsu on him and he just lets her have her way. The joke of it is he thinks she is the most docile, obedient little wife in all the world, and so she is. She simply makes him want what she wants," explained Molly.
Molly was busily engaged in the preparations for the midnight feast. It would have been simpler and easier just to have gone to the kitchen and made the rarebit over the gas stove, but that would not have been at all like college days and this night must be as near a reproduction of those times as possible. Chafing dishes must be used and dishes must be scarce or the spell would be broken.
CHAPTER XIII
ADVENTURE
It was after ten o"clock as the three veiled figures glided from the square house on the campus. The night was dark, fit for the deed they had to do. They did not know what the deed was but whatever it was the intrepid females were fully prepared to do it.
"First we"ll go by Prexy"s house and perchance she may see us and then we"ll run. That will be fun!" suggested Judy. "Nothing would so warm my old blood as to be taken for a junior."
It so happened that a consultation was being held at the president"s home and as they pa.s.sed, Miss Walker opened the front door and Professor Green emerged.
"Ministers and saints defend us! My brother-in-law!" cried Judy.
"Who is that?" called Miss Walker as the three girls ran swiftly out of the broad band of light pouring from the open door.
"Run for your lives!" hissed Judy.
"Shall I chase them?" laughed Professor Green. "I"d much rather not."
"No," sighed poor Prexy. "I fancy they are up to no harm, but it is late for girls to be out alone. Such terrible things seem to be happening all over the world. I"ll have to deliver a lecture to the whole student body, I am afraid, about late rambles and pranks."
"Those girls were veiled, so evidently whatever they were doing they did not want to be recognized. I"d hate to hold your job, Miss Walker. I"d much rather be the humble professor of English."
"Surely it is not a sinecure," laughed the president, "but when all is told, my girls are a pretty good lot. Their mischief is never, at least hardly ever, serious. How glad I am to see Judy Kean again,--Mrs. Kent Brown! She is the same old Judy. Such pranks as that child could play!
I shall never forget when she dyed her hair purple-black."
"Judy is a great girl. I am glad we married into the same family,"
declared the professor. "But tell me, Miss Walker, how Misel is doing.
I feel quite responsible for him since it was I who introduced him to you."
"The students like him. He seems to be able to impart knowledge. I am afraid he is too handsome, however. It isn"t quite safe to have a professor too good-looking. College girls are very impressionable."
Then Miss Walker realized she had made quite a break. Edwin Green was certainly a very good-looking man but not the type to make girls languish with love. While M. Misel was a much more romantic figure with his flashing eyes and lameness.
"Are the girls losing their hearts to him?" laughed Edwin. "Again I am thankful I am what I am and not what others are."
And so the two old friends chatted in the doorway while the three veiled figures made their way towards the village.
"We got them going that time," panted Judy after the run through the dark. "I bet you anything Prexy lectures the girls to-morrow morning.
Dear Prexy!"
"Let"s tick-tack the math teacher. I bet you she"s still out of bed thinking up deviltry to make the girls miserable with on the morrow,"
suggested Katherine.
"I can make a noise very muchly like a cat. Would not that be as gruesomely as a mathematicktack? We might be the Musicians of Bremen, as one reads in the beautifully fairy story."
"Fine, Otoyo! Here"s her domicile! Cut loose!" whispered Judy. "I"ll be the donkey and Katherine crow like the rooster."
Crouched down under the window where a light still burned for the much abused teacher of mathematics, the Musicians of Bremen, all but the dog, got ready for their song. The noise was something shocking. Judy"s bray was so lifelike that little Otoyo sprang aside as though in fear of kicking hind legs.
A dog in the neighborhood, feeling that harmony could be established by his voice alone, joined in the chorus.
Windows were opened on the campus! Silence reigned supreme!
"Don"t run!" whispered Judy. "Scrooge down close to the wall."
"Who is there?" called the math teacher.
Mr. Dog went on howling as though he had been responsible for the whole infernal racket. His timely tact seemed to satisfy the curious ones and windows were closed, lights went out and the campus took itself off to bed.
"Once more for luck!" commanded Great Commander Judy.
"Practice makes perfect," so this time the Musicians of Bremen outdid themselves. Otoyo made a most wonderful p.u.s.s.y; Maud Adams herself could not have been a more realistic chanticler than Katherine; and Judy"s donkey was so good that one could almost see the ears wagging as her great bray made night hideous.
"Now run before they have a chance to open their windows!" and Judy was up and off in the darkness with the two other girls close on her heels.
"I bet you investigating will go on at a great rate to-morrow," gasped Katherine, as after leaving the college grounds they came to the outskirts of the village.
"It was so funnily," giggled Otoyo. "We must amus.e.m.e.nt make for the smally Mildred and Cho-Cho when the to-morrow has come."