MARJORIE’S ROOM-MATE
When Marjorie awoke in her bare little room the next morning, a feeling
of happy anticipation came over her. What was it? Oh, yes, she was away
at school, and she was to meet her new room-mate to-day.
She jumped out of bed and dressed quickly, so that she had time to take
a stroll in the garden before the breakfast bell rang. She met several
of the girls she had sat with at supper the night before, and they
asked her to join their group.
“Why, there goes Ruth!” exclaimed Marjorie. “Funny she didn’t see me!”
“Ruth who?” asked Ada Mearns, a sophomore.
“Ruth Henry--my best friend from home. She’s with some girls I don’t
know.”
“Oh, yes,” said Ada, following the direction of Marjorie’s gaze, “those
are all ΦΑΒ girls with her. I guess your young friend’s made a hit.
Probably she’ll be one of the lucky four.”
“What lucky four?” asked another freshman.
“One of the lucky four freshmen to be asked to join the sorority!”
Marjorie bit her lip. “I’m not going to be miserable and jealous,” she
thought, “only I don’t see why Ruth has to drop me for her new friends.”
“My word!” exclaimed Ada suddenly. “Look at this funny package coming
up the walk!”
The girls all looked in the direction Ada indicated and saw the
strangest-looking girl trudging up the path, carrying a suitcase and a
hatbox. She was short and very fat, and vulgarly overdressed in clothes
far too old for a girl of her years--a velvet coat, gray suede shoes
and stockings, and a large hat trimmed with ostrich plumes. She seemed
hot and out of breath.
When she came abreast of the girls she stopped.
“Excuse me,” she said, “but will you tell me where to go? I’m the new
girl who was coming to-day.”
“_The_ new girl?” laughed Ada. “Don’t you know there are several other
freshmen--thirty-five to be exact?”
The stout girl looked as if she were not listening. “My name’s Lily
Andrews--I’m from New York. Don’t you--any of you know where my room
is?”
Marjorie’s face fell. So this was her room-mate! This ill-mannered,
over-dressed, unattractive young lady, whose whole bearing stamped
her as “newly rich!” Why should she, Marjorie, have the bad luck to
draw something like this, when Ruth had fallen in with one of the most
popular and influential girls of the school?
However, she answered, “Yes, I know where your room is, Miss Andrews,
for I’m the freshman who is to room with you. I’ll take you to it.
There’s just time before the second bell rings.”
Marjorie took Lily’s suitcase and the two girls walked off together.
“Poor Marjorie!” sighed Ada, “I hope she has the good sense to drop
her.”
Lily talked all the way upstairs about the clothes she had brought.
When they arrived at the room, and Marjorie opened the door, she
uttered an exclamation of disgust.
“What!” she exclaimed, “me, Lily Andrews, have to live in a room like
this, when my father’s rich enough to buy me a suite at the McAlpin?”
Marjorie tried to explain. “You see the older girls choose their rooms,
and the freshmen are assigned the ones that are left. It’ll only be for
one year, then we get our chance to choose.”
“I’ll never live here for a year! I couldn’t stand it!”
Marjorie’s hopes rose.
“What are you going to do?” she asked. “Go back home?”
“No, indeed!” said Lily. “And miss all the fun I’ve read so much about?
No, I’ll just go tell Miss Allen I’ll pay more, and she’ll give me a
better room. Besides, I want to room with an upper classman who already
belongs to the secret society, so as I’ll be asked to join!”
Marjorie remembered the attractive girls who sat under the window the
previous night, who were members of ΦΑΒ, and she smiled to herself.
Poor Lily! She didn’t know what was in store for her.
“I wouldn’t do that, if I were you. The rooms are all assigned now, and
I don’t believe Miss Allen would make any changes. Hurry up! there’s
the last bell for breakfast!”
They went into the dining-room together, and both girls were conscious
of the fact that all eyes were turned upon them. Lily thought it was
because of her expensive clothing; but Marjorie knew better, and
blushed.
After classes that afternoon, when Lily and Marjorie were unpacking
their trunks and doing their best to arrange their homely little
room to make it look attractive, Ruth knocked at the door. Marjorie
experienced a joyful surprise as her old friend appeared.
“I’m so glad to see you, Ruth!” she exclaimed. “I want you to meet my
room-mate, Miss Andrews. This is Miss Henry, Lily.”
Ruth bowed, and Lily murmured, “Pleased to meet you, I’m sure.”
“Well, how do you like it all by this time?” asked Marjorie. “Are you
the least bit homesick?”
“No, indeed!” answered Ruth, enthusiastically. “I never was so happy.
I’m crazy about my room-mate!”
“She does seem nice,” observed Marjorie. “What do you think of the
teachers?”
“Teachers!--I don’t give them a thought. They’re necessary evils!”
“I think Miss Landis is lovely,” said Marjorie. “I like teachers when
they’re nice, and not prim old maids.”
Lily was all the while busily unpacking her trunk. Suddenly she
produced an enormous box, wrapped in white paper, and tied with pink
ribbon.
“Father gave me five pounds of chocolates,” she remarked, as she untied
it, “and he promised to send me more when I want them.”
She passed the candy to the girls.
“Thank you,” said Marjorie, “but I don’t believe I’ll take any. I want
to make the hockey team, and my brother always said one of the most
important things about doing well in athletics is to eat the right
things.”
“The girls’ll think you’re a prig,” said Ruth, nibbling a chocolate.
“You won’t get invited to things!”
“I don’t care!” said Marjorie, “if I only make the team!”
“I’d much rather make the sorority,” sighed Lily. “Have you met any of
the sorority girls, Miss Henry?”
“Yes,” answered Ruth. “I room with one, and she has introduced me to
quite a number. They’re awfully nice.”
“I should guess so,” said Lily. “I suppose they’re the richest crowd at
Miss Allen’s. I’d like to invite them all out to my father’s place on
Long Island, so they can see where I get off!”
Ruth laughed. “You better not try it,” she said. “Let them do the
inviting.”
“What are you going to wear to the Sophomore reception?” asked Marjorie
suddenly.
“My pink organdie. What are you?”
“My white embroidered voile, I guess.”
“Will they be fancy enough?” asked Lily. “I expect to wear a blue net
and spangled dress--it’s quite the thing in New York!”
At this moment, there was a knock at the door, and in answer to
Marjorie’s “Come,” three freshmen, accompanied by Ada Mearns, a
sophomore, entered.
“These girls were looking for Miss Henry,” said Ada, “and I thought she
might be in here.”
Ruth jumped up joyfully. “Hulloa!” she exclaimed. “Girls, I want you to
meet Marjorie Wilkinson, and Lily Andrews--Doris Sands, Evelyn Hopkins,
and Mae VanHorn.”
The girls acknowledged the introduction, and Marjorie invited them to
sit down.
“No, we simply can’t,” said Doris. “Ruth’s room-mate--Ethel Todd--wants
to take our picture; but we wouldn’t consent to having it without Ruth!”
“I’m going, too,” said Lily. “I want some fresh air.”
“Oh, but you’re not dressed,” interposed Ruth, “and we can’t keep Ethel
waiting. I’m sorry--some other time!”
The four freshmen linked arms, and went out together.
“Those four girls,” said Ada, lowering her voice, “are the ones
everyone thinks will be invited to join ΦΑΒ.”
“How can they tell so soon?” asked Lily, with resentment in her voice.
“It isn’t fair! I think everybody ought to have a chance! I haven’t
even met any sorority girls.”
“Everybody will have a chance, don’t worry. They don’t choose their
candidates till six weeks are over, so they’ll be pretty sure to know
everybody. And, of course, they may change their minds, and drop one or
all of those girls.’”
“I’d love to make it,” sighed Lily.
“I’m not going to bother about it,” said Marjorie. “I’m going out for
the hockey team.”
“Good work!” said Ada. “That’s the spirit!”
But Ada could not tell from Marjorie’s words how bravely she was
struggling to hide her feelings.
“We get our regular places at tables in the dining-room to-night,” said
Ada. “Fortunately, they don’t allow any sorority stuff there. The girls
are chosen by lot from each class--four girls from each, and a teacher
besides. Then, after Christmas, we draw all over again.”
“I do hope I get with some nice girls,” said Lily.
“Oh, everybody here is nice,” said Ada. “I never met lovelier girls.”
She got up from the bed, where she had been sitting. “I must go,” she
said. “Good-bye--I’ll see you both at the reception to-morrow night, if
not before.”
She hurried out, and Marjorie and Lily resumed their unpacking.