TWO IS A COMPANY
"Grace! Grace Harlowe!" called a clear, high voice. On hearing her name,
Grace, who was on the point of entering the library, turned to greet
Arline Thayer, who came running up the walk, flushed and laughing.
"Did you say you had won prizes as a champion fast walker?" she inquired
laughingly. "I saw you clear across the campus, and I've been running at
top speed ever since. I had just breath enough left to call to you.
Where have you been hiding? I haven't seen you for ages. Ruth thinks you
have deserted her. Don't bother going to the library now. Suppose we go
down to Vinton's and have luncheon. Have you eaten yours? I never eat
luncheon at Morton Hall on Saturday afternoon."
"I'll answer your questions in the order they were asked," laughed
Grace. "No, I am not a champion fast walker. I haven't been hiding, and
I still live at Wayne Hall, though a certain young person I know has
evidently forgotten it. Ruth owes me a visit, and I haven't had my
luncheon. You mustn't tempt me from my duty, for I am on the trail of
knowledge. I must spend at least two hours this afternoon looking up a
multitude of references."
"Come and have luncheon first and look up your references afterward,"
coaxed Arline. "Then, perhaps, I can help you," she added artfully.
"Perhaps you can," returned Grace dubiously. Their eyes meeting, both
girls laughed.
"Come with me, at any rate, then," declared Arline.
"All right. Remember, I must not stay away from work over an hour. I
really have a great deal to do. Isn't it a glorious day, though? Elfreda
and Miriam went for a five-mile tramp. Elfreda is determined to play
basketball in spite of her junior responsibilities, therefore she is
obliged to train religiously."
"Who is going to play on the junior team this year?" asked Arline.
"Elizabeth Wade, and that little Tenbrook girl, Marian Cummings, Elfreda
and Violet Darby make the team. Neither Miriam nor I intend to play.
Elfreda begged hard, but we thought it better to stay out of the team
this year. We have played basketball so long, and having been in two big
games, it is time we resigned gracefully; besides, I want to see Elfreda
reap the benefit of her faithful practice and distinguish herself. She
has tried so hard to make the team."
"I am glad Elfreda is to have her chance," smiled Arline. "We are sure
to see her make the most of it. I'm sorry now that I never went in for
basketball."
"It is a wonderful old game!" exclaimed Grace with enthusiasm. "Last
year was my sixth year on a team. I was captain of our freshman
basketball team at home. That reminds me, Arline, aren't you and Ruth
coming home with me for the Easter vacation? I am asking you early so no
one else will have a chance. I know it is useless to ask you to come for
Christmas."
"I think I can come for Easter," replied Arline, "and I don't know of
any reason why Ruth can't. I shall write to Father at once and ask him
if we can go. I want to tell you something, Grace--confidentially, of
course. Father is very fond of Ruth. He and I had a talk this summer,
and he wishes to adopt her. Just think of having Ruth for my very own
sister!" Arline paused, her eyes shining.
Grace nodded understandingly. "What does Ruth say?" she asked.
Arline's face clouded. "She doesn't say anything except that she thinks
it better for her to go on in her own way. She is the queerest girl. She
seems to think that it wouldn't be right to allow Father to adopt her
and take care of her. She says she has everything she needs now, and
that I have been far too good to her. Father and I simply made her spend
the summer with us."
"Wouldn't it be wonderful if Ruth should find her father?" said Grace
musingly.
"I don't believe she ever will," returned Arline. "It's too bad." Her
flower-like face looked very solemn for a moment, then brightened as she
exclaimed: "Oh, I almost forgot my principal reason for wishing to see
you. The Semper Fidelis Club hasn't held a meeting this year, and we
must begin to busy ourselves. I have heard of five different girls who
need help, but are too proud to ask for it. I am sure there are dozens
of others, too. We must find some way to reach and help them. We have
plenty of money in our treasury now, and we can afford to be generous.
Here we are at Vinton's. Shall we sit in the mission alcove for
luncheon? I love it. It is so convenient when one wishes to indulge in
strictly confidential conversation."
Once seated opposite each other in the cunning little alcove furnished
in mission oak, Arline continued animatedly:
"Last spring, when we talked about giving an entertainment, you proposed
giving a carnival in the fall. Well, it is fall now, so why not begin
making plans for our carnival! What shall we have, and what do we do to
draw a crowd?"
"We held a bazaar in Oakdale that was very successful," commented Grace.
"We held it on Thanksgiving night and half the town attended it. We made
over five hundred dollars. I think a bazaar would be better than a
carnival." Grace did not add that the money had been stolen while the
bazaar was at its height and not recovered until the following spring,
by no other person than herself.
Those who have read "Grace Harlowe's Senior Year at High
School" will remember the mysterious disappearance of the bazaar
money and the untiring zeal with which Grace worked until she found a
clew to the robbery, which led to the astonishing discovery that she
made in an isolated house on the outskirts of Oakdale.
During the progress of the luncheon Grace gave Arline a detailed account
of the various attractions of which their bazaar had boasted.
"We can ask some girl who sings to preside at the Shamrock booth and
sing Irish songs as Nora O'Malley did," planned Grace. "We can't have
the Mystery Auction, because we don't care to ask the girls for
packages, and we can't have the Italian booth, either, it would be too
hard to arrange, but we can have a gypsy camp and a Japanese booth and
an English tea shop and two or three funny little shows. The best thing
to do is to call a meeting of the club and put the matter before them.
Almost every girl will know of some feature we can have."
"I suppose the dean will allow us to use the gymnasium," mused Arline.
"We had better get permission first of all. Then we can call our
meeting."
Grace looked at her watch. "I've stayed ten minutes over my hour,
Arline," she reminded the little curly-haired girl.
"Never mind," was the calm reply, "you can stay ten minutes longer in
the library. Oh, Grace, don't look at her now, but who is that girl just
sitting down at that end table? I am sure she lives at Wayne Hall. Some
one told me she was a freshman."
"If you had been calling faithfully on the Wayne Hall girls, you
wouldn't need to be told the names of the new ones," flung back Grace.
Then, allowing her gaze to slowly travel about the room, her eyes rested
as though by chance on the girl designated by Arline. An instant later
she had bowed to the newcomer in friendly fashion.
"Who is she?" murmured Arline, her eyes fixed upon Grace.
"Her name is Kathleen West," returned Grace in a low tone. "Don't say
anything more. Here she comes."
Kathleen was approaching their table, a bored look on her small, sharp
face. "How are you?" she said nonchalantly. "I thought I'd come over
here. Having tea alone is dull. Don't you think so?"
Arline's blue eyes rested on the intruder for the fraction of a second.
She resented the intrusion.
"Miss West, this is Miss Thayer, of the junior class," introduced Grace
good-naturedly. Both girls bowed. There was an awkward silence, broken
by Kathleen's abrupt, "I knew I had seen you before, Miss Thayer," to
Arline.
"That is quite possible," said Arline, rather stiffly. "I believe I
remember passing you on the campus."
"Oh, I don't mean here at Overton," drawled Kathleen. "I saw you in New
York with your father last summer."
"With my father?" was Arline's surprised interrogation.
"Yes. Isn't Leonard B. Thayer your father?"
"Why, how did you know? Have you met my father?" Arline's blue eyes
opened wider.
"I've seen him," said Kathleen laconically. "I tried to interview him
once, but couldn't get past his secretary."
"Miss West is a newspaper woman, Arline," explained Grace. "That is, she
was one. She has deserted her paper for Overton, however."
"How interesting," responded Arline courteously. "Do you like college,
Miss West?"
"Fairly well," answered Kathleen. "It doesn't really matter whether I
like it or not. I am here for business, not pleasure. Perhaps Miss
Harlowe has told you how I happened to be here."
"Miss Thayer and I had some weighty class matters to discuss," said
Grace, smiling a little. "We weren't talking of any one in particular.
Miss Thayer did inquire your name when she saw me bow to you. I answered
just as you came toward us," added Grace honestly.
"I knew you were talking about me," declared Kathleen flippantly. "One
can always feel when one is being discussed."
A quick flush rose to Grace's cheeks. Usually tolerant toward everyone,
she felt a decided resentment stir within her at this cold-blooded
assertion that she and Arline had been gossiping.
Arline's blue eyes sent forth a distinctly hostile glance. "You were
mistaken, Miss West," she said coldly. "What was said of you was
entirely impersonal."
"Oh, I don't doubt that in the least," Kathleen hastened to say. She had
decided that the daughter of Leonard B. Thayer was worth cultivating. "I
am sorry you misunderstood me; but do you know, when you made that last
remark you looked as your father did the day he wouldn't tell me a thing
I wanted to know." Kathleen's sharp features were alive with the
interest of discovery.
Despite their brief annoyance Grace and Arline both laughed. Kathleen
took instant advantage of the situation. "Suppose we order another pot
of tea," she said hospitably.
It was fully half an hour later when the three girls left Vinton's.
"Oh, my neglected references," sighed Grace. "I must not lose another
minute of the afternoon. Which way are you girls going?"
"I think I'll go as far as the library with you, Grace," decided Arline.
The interruption by Kathleen had greatly interfered with her plans.
"I might as well go with you," remarked Kathleen innocently. "I have
nothing to do this afternoon."
A little frown wrinkled Arline's smooth forehead. Grace, equally
disappointed, managed to conceal her annoyance. Then, accepting the
situation in the best possible spirit, she slipped her hand through
Arline's arm, at the same time giving it a warning pressure. During the
walk to the library Kathleen endeavored to make herself particularly
agreeable to Arline, a method of procedure that was not lost upon Grace.
Later as she delved industriously among half a dozen dignified volumes
for the material of which she stood in need, Kathleen's pale, sharp
face, with its thin lips and alert eyes, rose before her, and, for the
first time, she admitted reluctantly to herself that her dislike for the
ambitious little newspaper girl was very real indeed.