ALL ON ST. VALENTINE'S NIGHT.
Marjorie swallowed an inconvenient lump that rose in her throat. She
would go to Miss Towne, but it meant a total up-setting of her plans. As
she could not guess the freshman's trouble she could not gauge her time.
She might have to be gone for some time, although the note read "a few
minutes." It was too bad. She felt a half desire to cry with
disappointment. If she went at once she could get it over with and not
miss the dance. But, no; the note specified half-past seven as the hour.
Presently she rallied from her downcast mood and took sturdy hope.
Perhaps, after all, she would not be detained long. She was sure Anna
had done nothing wrong. It was more likely a financial difficulty which
confronted her. That would not be so hard to adjust. Jerry would have to
know. She decided that the other three Lookouts were entitled to know
also. She might have to call on them for help in Anna's case. They were
her close friends and fit to be trusted with a confidence. She claimed
the right to use her own judgment in the matter.
"What a shame!" was Jerry's disgruntled reception of the news. "I think
it is selfish in her. Why couldn't she have waited until tomorrow? It is
probably a financial difficulty. She isn't the kind of girl to break
rules."
"A member of her family may have died and she hasn't the money to go
home. It must be really serious," Marjorie soberly contended. "I ought
to go and I will. There is no snow on the ground. I can dress before I
go and wear high overshoes and my fur coat and cap. Then, if I am not
kept there long, I can hustle to the gym and be there before the
unmasking."
Better pleased with this arrangement, Marjorie hastily gathered up
towels and toilet accessories and trotted off to the lavatory, leaving
Jerry to frowningly re-read the note. Jerry did not like it at all. She
wondered why Miss Towne could not have come to Wayland Hall instead of
putting her chum to the extra trouble of seeking her.
Dinner was eaten post haste that night by the excited participants in
the masquerade. Preparations having been the order so long beforehand,
it did not take the maskers long after dinner to get into their
costumes. They were eager to go outdoors and parade the campus, the
night being pleasantly snappy with an overhead studding of countless
stars.
Fearless in the matter of going out alone after dark where an errand
called her, Marjorie did not mind the rather lonely walk after leaving
the campus. In order to escape parties of maskers on the campus she wore
her own mask and therefore escaped special notice. Without it she would
have been challenged by every party of masks she met. This was a
favorite custom on this night. Frequently a member of the faculty was
caught in crossing the stretch of ground and gleefully interviewed.
Coming to the row of houses, in one of which Miss Towne resided,
Marjorie kept a sharp lookout for the number. The house where she had
formerly lived stood about the middle of the block. Finally she came to
852, which she found by means of a small pocket flashlight which she
usually carried at night. The arc light was too far up the street to be
of use to her in this.
Pausing at the bottom step of the dingy wooden veranda, Marjorie
surveyed the house with a feeling of depression. The two windows on the
left were without blinds and dark. There was a faint light in the hall
and in the room on the right. The two windows of this room had shades.
One was drawn down completely; the other was raised about eight inches
above the sill.
"What a cheerless place," she murmured half aloud. "It is worse than the
other house. I suppose the landlady hasn't got settled yet."
Mechanically she reached out and took hold of the old-style door bell.
It did not respond at first. Using more force, it emitted a faint eerie
tinkle. "It sounds positively weird," was Marjorie's thought. She smiled
to herself as she rang it again. "I hope I shall never have to live in a
boarding house like this. I am lucky to have love and a beautiful home
and really every good thing."
The faint sound of footsteps from within falling upon her expectant ear,
Marjorie straightened up and waited. A hand turned the knob. The door
opened about ten inches.
"Good evening. Come in." Addressed in a muffled voice, Marjorie caught
sight of a tall, black-robed figure. Before she could reply to the
muttered salutation, she felt herself seized by the arms and drawn into
the house with a jerk. Simultaneous with the harsh grasp of a pair of
strong hands the light in the hall was turned out.
"Oh!" She gave one sharp little scream and exerting her young strength
flung off the prisoning hands. "Keep your hands off me," she ordered
bravely.
Just then the door leading from the hall into the right hand room
opened. The light from several tall candles shone dimly into the hall.
She saw that she was surrounded by half a dozen dominoed masks.
"Bring in the prisoner," grated a harsh voice from within the room.
Despite Marjorie's command of hands off, she was given a sudden shove
forward which sent her roughly through the doorway and into the larger
apartment.
Sureness of foot saved her from stumbling. Strange to say, she had now
lost all fear of the company of masked figures in whose midst she stood.
It had begun to enforce itself upon her that she had been hoaxed into
visiting an empty house by those who had taken advantage of the
masquerade to carry out their plan without undue notice to themselves.
She was now certain that she was being hazed by students. She knew of
only one group of Hamilton girls who would be bold enough to
deliberately defy the strictest rule of Hamilton College.
The masked company were attired in black dominos; all save one who
appeared to be a kind of sinister master of ceremonies. This one wore a
domino of bright scarlet silk and a leering false face mask that was
hideous in the extreme. The flickering flame of the candles added to the
grim and horrifying effect. A girl of timid inclinations would have
been sadly frightened. Marjorie was made of sterner stuff. She had
experienced, briefly, actual terror when she felt herself seized and
drawn into the house. She had now recovered from that and was
righteously angry. She determined to assume contemptuous indifference,
for the time being, preferring to allow her captors to play their hand
first.
"Prisoner, you are now before the stern tribunal of the Scarlet Mask,"
announced the red dominoed figure in the same harsh guttural tones. "You
have been guilty of many crimes and are to be punished for these
tonight. If you obey my mandate you will escape with your wretched life.
Disobey and nothing can save you. You are now to be put to the question
by one who knows your treacherous heart. You will remove your outer
wrappings and stand forth. Question." The red mask made an imperious
gesture. A domino on the left stepped forward as though to lay hands on
Marjorie.
"I shall not remove my coat, cap or overshoes." Marjorie's ringing
accents cut sharply on the cold air of the unfurnished, unheated room.
"If one of you undertakes to lay a hand on me you will be sorry; not
only now but hereafter. I defy you to do it."
Standing almost in the center of the circle of dominos, Marjorie cast
contemptuous eyes about the circle of maskers. She fully intended to
defend herself if further molested. She was one against many, but she
could at least fight her way to the window, tear aside the shade and
pound lustily upon it, raising her voice for help. She was certain she
was in the hands of the Sans. She knew they would not court exposure.
They had reckoned on completely intimidating her.
A peculiar silence followed Marjorie's spirited defiance. It was as
though the high tribunal were in doubt as to what they had best do next.
With one accord their slits of eyes were turned on their leader. The
domino who had been ordered to lay hold of the prisoner shied off
perceptibly.
"Bring forth the charges against the prisoner." The distinguished
scarlet mask suddenly changed tune. While the hideous face within the
close-fitting hood glared fiendishly at Marjorie, the real face behind
it wore an expression of baffled anger. The unruly prisoner seemed in
possession of an inner force that forbade molestation. Then, too, she
was unafraid and all ready to make a lively commotion.
A domino on the outer edge of the group came forward with a roll of
foolscap, tied with a black cord. The cord impressively untied, amid
dead silence, and the paper unrolled, the reading of Marjorie's crimes
was begun.
"Prisoner, you are accused of untruthfulness, treachery and malicious
interference in the affairs of others. It is not our purpose to detail
to you the occasion of these crimes. These occasions are known to the
high tribunal and have been proven against you."
"It is my purpose to demand proof," interrupted Marjorie with open
sarcasm. "I am not untruthful, malicious or treacherous. I do not
propose to allow anyone to accuse me of such things. I----"
"Be silent!" The Scarlet Mask had evidently lost temper. The command was
roared out in a voice that sounded perilously like that of Leslie
Cairns.
Marjorie gave a little amused laugh. She stared straight at the red mask
with tantalizing eyes. "Were you speaking to me?" she inquired with a
cool discomfiting sweetness that made the eyes looking into hers snap.
"Prisoner, you are insolent." The red mask was careful this time to
speak in the earlier hoarse disguised voice.
"I mean to be. It is time to end this farce, I think. So far as
treachery, malice and truth are concerned you, not I," Marjorie swept
the tense, listening group with an inclusive gesture, "are guilty. Some
one of you deliberately wrote me a lying note in order to get me here.
Now I am here, but your whole scheme has fallen flat because I am not
afraid. You thought I would be. I will say again what I said to a number
of you on the campus last March: How silly you are!"