THE PHI SIGMA TAUS MEET WITH A LOSS
After considerable coaxing, Eva finally wrung from Marian a promise to
visit her that evening. She arrived about eight o'clock, and Eva
tactfully producing a box of nut chocolates, a confection of which
Marian was very fond, the two girls seated themselves in the Allen's
cozy sitting room, with the box on a taboret between them.
Marian became more like her old self again, and the two girls were
laughing merrily over the antics of Eva's Angora kitten when the
doorbell rang, and Eva, looking rather conscious, went to the door.
At the sound of girlish voices, Marian rose, a look of intense annoyance
on her face, which deepened as the Phi Sigma Tau trooped into the room,
and laughingly surrounded her.
"How are you, Marian?" they cried. "You wouldn't come to us, so we
planned a little surprise."
"So I see," replied Marian stiffly. "I am sorry, but I really must go,
Eva. You should have told me that the girls were coming."
"Why, Marian Barber, what are you talking about?" asked Nora O'Malley in
pretended surprise. "Why should you run away from the members of your
own sorority?"
Marian did not answer, but half tried to free herself from the detaining
hands of her friends. For a moment her expression softened, then she
tossed her head and said, "Let me go, please."
"Marian," said Grace bluntly, "you have been acting very strangely
toward us since we came back from the house party, and we don't
understand it. You have stayed away from two sorority meetings and have
deliberately avoided all of us, with the exception of Eva. We feel badly
over it, because we have always liked you, and because you are a Phi
Sigma Tau."
"Yes, Marian," interrupted Jessica, "have you forgotten the solemn
initiation rites that were conducted at my house last year?"
"No," Marian admitted, smiling a little.
"Then listen, while Anne, who speaks more impressive English than the
rest of us, tells you why we have thus entrapped you and used Eva for a
bait. Speechify, Anne, and we will put in the applause at the proper
intervals."
"Marian," began Anne, "Grace has already told you how kindly our feeling
is for you, and the reason that we tried to see you to-night is because
of something that I spoke of to Grace yesterday. I had noticed that you
were having trouble in your astronomy recitations, and, of course, we
all know that you must pass in all your subjects, both now and in June,
in order to graduate; so I suggested that as the other girls have all
passed in astronomy, we might take turns in coaching you. An hour or so
of review every night from now until the exams, would put you in good
condition."
"Yes, Marian," interrupted Nora. "Anne and Jessica did that for me last
year in ancient history, and I never should have passed if they hadn't
helped me."
Marian stood silently looking from one girl to the other, then she said
with a mixture of hurt pride, anger and obstinacy in her voice:
"I don't need your help. In fact, I think the less we see of each other
in future the better it will be for us all. The past three months have
caused me to have an entirely different opinion than I used to have of
you girls. You are all very nice as long as things go your way, but if
one happens to make a friend or hold an opinion contrary to your views,
then the Phi Sigma Taus feel bound to step in and interfere.
"Here is my sorority pin, and I sincerely hope you will elect another
girl to my place. She is welcome to both the pin and your friendship. I
am thankful that this is my last year in High School."
"You are a foolish girl, Marian Barber," cried Nora, "and you'll wake up
some morning and find yourself awfully sorry for what you've just said.
You are the last person I should have suspected of being so ridiculous.
Why we've all played together since we were kiddies."
Marian tried to look dignified and unrelenting, but for an instant her
lip quivered suspiciously.
Anne seeing that Marian showed signs of wavering, crossed over to her
side, and slipping her arm around the obstinate girl, said gently:
"Better think it over before you do any thing rash, dear. We are not
trying in the least to interfere in your affairs. You know the primary
object of the Phi Sigma Tau is to help one another. We thought that you
would be glad to have us coach you in astronomy. You know how thankful
Grace was for your help in trigonometry last year."
Marian hesitated as though at loss for an answer to this direct appeal
to her common sense. The girls watched her anxiously, hoping that Anne's
words had bridged the difficulty.
"Come on, Marian," said Nora O'Malley briskly. "Here's your sorority
pin. Put it on and forget that you ever took it off. You are too
sensible to nurse an imaginary grievance. Don't behave as Eleanor
Savelli did. You know--"
But Nora was not allowed to finish the sentence, for Marian whirled upon
her with flashing eyes, her temporary softness disappearing entirely.
"I don't wish to hear one word against Eleanor Savelli," she cried
wrathfully. "She is my friend, and I shall stand up for her."
"Your friend?" was the united exclamation.
"Yes, my friend," reiterated Marian stormily, "and she is a true friend,
too. Last year she was initiated into your sorority, and then
deliberately slighted and left out of all your plans until in justice to
herself she resigned.
"This year you are behaving in the same way with me. You began it by
criticizing my friend, Henry Hammond, and invited him to the judge's
house party for the express purpose of humiliating and insulting him.
The boys of your crowd gave him the cold shoulder when he tried to be
friendly and Grace was insufferably rude to him on two different
occasions.
"Then you criticized my gowns and made fun of me behind my back, when in
reality I was the only one of you who was properly dressed. You left Mr.
Hammond and I both out of the pantomime, and made us last in everything.
"I tried to forgive and forget it all, and be just the same to you, but
the first thing that Nora did when we reached Oakdale was to invite part
of the crowd to her house and leave the rest of us out, and I am
surprised that neither Miriam nor Eva resented the slight."
Here Grace and Miriam could not refrain from exchanging amused glances,
but to Marian, who intercepted their glances, this was the last straw.
Dashing the sorority pin which Nora had previously shoved into her hand
to the floor, with a sob of mingled anger and chagrin she exclaimed:
"How dare you ridicule me to my very face! I never want to speak to any
of you again, and I shall not stay here to be laughed at."
With these words she fairly ran out of the room, and before any one
could expostulate with her, she had for the second time in three months
rushed out of the house and away from her real friends.
"She is hopeless," sighed Grace, as they heard the outer door of the
hall close noisily.
"Can you blame her?" said Anne earnestly. "She has been influenced all
along by that Henry Hammond, and now she has fallen into Eleanor's
hands. We know Eleanor's state of mind toward us, but why Henry Hammond
should encourage Marian to break with her sorority is harder to
understand. Yet he has undoubtedly used his influence against us for
some purpose of his own. Marian's accusations are foolish and unjust.
You all know that she was so engrossed with that miserable old trouble
maker that she repeatedly refused to take part in the different things
we planned."
"Of course, we know that," agreed Grace. "I don't even feel hurt at her
outburst to-night. I wouldn't think of accepting her resignation from
the Phi Sigma Tau, either. We won't try to make up with her, but we'll
all keep a starboard eye upon her, and see that she doesn't come to
grief."
"I had almost reduced her to reason," remarked Anne, with a rueful
smile, "when Nora unfortunately mentioned Eleanor."
"Wasn't I an idiot, though?" asked Nora. "I forgot for the moment about
having seen them together."
"I am going to turn detective," announced Grace.
"Are you going to detect or deduct?" asked Nora solemnly.
"Both," replied Grace confidently. "I am going to become a combination
of Nick Carter and Sherlock Holmes, and my first efforts will be
directed toward finding out who and what Mr. Henry Hammond really is."