The door opened and Molly appeared in their midst like a gracefully angular wraith, for her face looked white, her shoulders drooped and her long slim arms hung down at her sides dejectedly.
"Why, Molly, dear, has anything happened to you?" cried Nance.
"No, I won"t say that nothing has happened," answered Molly, sinking into a chair and resting her chin on her hand. "I have been put through an ordeal this day, why, I can never tell you, but I am glad you are all here so that I can tell you about it."
They pressed about her, full of sympathy and friendliness, while Judy, who loved comfort and recognized the needs of the flesh under the most trying circ.u.mstances, lit Nance"s alcohol lamp and put on the kettle to make tea.
"But what is it?" they all demanded, seeing that Molly had fallen into a silence.
"I"ve been with the President for the last hour," she said, "though for what reason I can"t explain. I can"t imagine why I was sent for and brought to her private office. She was very nice and kind. She asked me a lot of questions about myself and all of Queen"s girls. I was glad enough to answer them, because we have nothing to be ashamed of, have we, girls?" Molly rose and stood before them, spreading out her hands with a kind of deprecating gesture. The circle of faces before her almost seemed abashed under the steady gaze of her clear blue eyes. "It was a pleasure to tell her what nice girls were stopping at Queen"s Cottage."
"Did she mention?" began Judy and pointed to the dividing wall of the next room.
"Oh, yes, I was coming to that. But what do I know about----" Mollie stopped short and caught her breath. Her eyes turned towards the door, which was opened softly. There stood Frances Andrews.
She had evidently just come in, for she still wore her sweater and tam o" shanter, and brought with her the smell of the fresh piney air.
"It"s all right about your escort for to-night, Miss Brown. You are to go with Miss Stewart, who has got special privilege from the soph.o.m.ore president to take you. Good-bye. I hope you"ll have a ripping time. I shan"t see you at supper. I"m going off on the 6.15 train and won"t be back until Sunday night."
There was such a tense feeling in the circle of freshmen as Frances stood there, that, as Judy remarked afterwards, they almost crackled with electricity.
It was quite late, and as most of the girls intended to dress for the party before supper, they took their departure immediately without any comment.
"Is anything special the matter?" asked Molly, after they had gone and she was left alone with her friends.
They told her the strange story which Mabel Hinton had reported to them a little while before.
"But that is the work of a lunatic," exclaimed Molly, horrified.
"And I suppose," went on Nance, "that the reason Prexy sent for you was that she suspected a certain person, who shall be nameless, and she was told that you were the only person who had ever been nice to her, and furthermore that you were going to the dance with her."
"Of course that must be the reason," said Molly, "and of course it"s absurd, I mean suspecting Frances Andrews. She might be accused of many things, but she is certainly in her right mind. She"s much cleverer than lots of the girls in her cla.s.s."
"Clever, yes. But should you call her balanced?"
Molly did not answer. She felt anxious and frightened, and a rap on the door at that moment made her jump with nervousness. It proved to be one of the maids of the house with two boxes of flowers, both for Molly. One was pink roses and contained the card of Mary Stewart, and the other was violets, and contained no card whatever.
She divided the violets in half and made her two friends wear them that night to the dance.
CHAPTER X.
JOKES AND CROAKS.
"I"m beginning to feel that we shall issue happily out of all our troubles," cried Judy Kean, bursting into her friends" room without knocking, "and the reason why I feel that way is because when I am clothed in silk attire my soul is clothed in joy. Especially when there"s dancing to follow. b.u.t.ton me up, someone, please, so that I may take a good look at my resplendent form in your mirror. I can"t see more than a square inch of neck in my own two by four."
The girls stood back to admire their friend, who indulged her artistic fancy in rather theatrical clothes much too old for her, but who usually succeeded in gaining the effect she sought.
"Dear me, "she walks in beauty like the night,"" said Molly laughing.
"You look like a charming and very youthful widow-lady, Judy, but how comes it you are wearing black?"
"Black is for certain types," replied Judy sagely, "and I am one of them. Next to black my bilious skin takes on a dazzling, creamy tint and my mouse-colored hair a.s.sumes a yellow glint that is not its own."
The girls laughed at their erratic friend, who was, indeed, dressed in black chiffon, from the fluffy folds of which her vivacious young face glowed like a flower.
"If you object to me, wait until you see Jessie," cried Judy. "She might be going to the opera, she is so fine. She is wearing pink satin that glistens all over like a Christmas tree with little shiny things."
As a matter of fact, Nance, whose well balanced and correct tastes in most things rarely failed her, was the most suitably dressed of our girls, in her pretty white lingerie frock.
At eight o"clock that evening Molly rolled away luxuriously in a village hack with Mary Stewart, holding her roses tenderly and carefully under her gray eiderdown cape, so as not to crush them.
"I"m awfully glad I was so lucky as to draw you this evening, Molly,"
the older girl was saying.
"I"m the lucky one," answered Molly, her thoughts reverting to the strange discovery of the morning. "Oh, Miss Stewart, what did Frances Andrews do last year to get herself into such a mess and be frozen out by all her cla.s.s this year?"
"I"ll tell you perhaps some day, but not to-night. We want to enjoy ourselves to-night. Can you guide, Molly?"
"Like a streak. I always guided at home at the school dances, because I was the tallest girl in my cla.s.s."
"I"m a guider, too," laughed Mary, "and when two guiders come together, I imagine it"s a good deal like a tug of war."
During the ride over to the gymnasium, neither of the girls mentioned the thing uppermost in their minds: the attempt to set the gymnasium on fire that night. Nor was the rumor referred to by anyone at the dance later. It was a strictly forbidden topic, the President herself having issued orders.
The great room was a ma.s.s of foliage and bunting, j.a.panese lanterns and incandescent lights in many colors, and it was really quite a brilliant affair according to Molly"s notions, who had never seen anything but small country dances usually given at the schoolhouse several miles from her home. Lovely music floated from behind a screen of palms and lovely girls floated on the floor in couples, to the strains of the latest waltz.
"I"m afraid I"m going to be an awful wallflower," thought Molly, feeling suddenly overgrown and awkward in the midst of this swirling ma.s.s of grace and beauty. "I can"t help feeling queer and I don"t seem to recognize anybody."
But Molly had plenty of partners that evening, and after that first delightful waltz, it was nearly an hour before she caught a glimpse of Mary Stewart again in the crowd of dancers.
"Isn"t it jolly?" called Judy, as they dashed past each other in a romping barn dance.
"I never thought I could have such a good time at a manless party,"
Jessie Lynch confided to Molly while they rested against the wall later.
"But, really, it"s quite as good fun."
"Isn"t it?" replied Molly. "I think I never had a better time in my life. But I"m afraid our roommates and friends are not enjoying it very much," she added ruefully, pointing to the gallery, where seated in a silent bored row were Margaret Wakefield, Nance Oldham and Mabel Hinton.
"Of course," said Jessie, "you would never expect Mabel to join this mad throng, but I"m surprised at Nance and Margaret."
"Margaret prefers conversation parties, I suppose, and Nance is not fond of dancing, either. She would always rather look on, she says."
The two girls were standing near the musicians and from the other side of the screen of palms they now heard a voice say:
"Have you danced with the fantastic Empress Josephine as yet?"