DRAMATICS
THE mid-year examinations over, there was less strain upon the girls in
all the classes, and the juniors began to think of the dramatics which
they had planned to give the freshmen. Janet was cast for a prominent
part requiring gorgeous costuming, and Polly was delighted. Lee Penrose
as a saucy soubrette and Cordelia as leading lady were immensely
interested. Girls, with suggestive-looking papers in their hands, were
seen at odd times, pacing corridors or haunting corners, their lips
moving silently and a far-away look in their eyes.
The sophomores had expressed their determination of being present and
the juniors were equally determined that they should not get in.
"I am equal to charging upon them with a truncheon, whatever that is,"
said Lee. "Imagine looking up at a telling moment and seeing Jessie
Turner grinning at you. No, girls, we must move heaven and earth to
keep them out."
"Fancy trying to keep your mind on the variety of manly attitudes you
must assume and battle with sophomores at the same time," said Grace
Breitner who was cast for the part of the heroine's lover. "I'll never
be able to make love to you properly, Cordelia, if I must fill my head
with a dread of sophs. It's all I can do to stride and frown and cry,
'Hold sirrah,' as I should."
"Well, we won't call upon you, Grace," Lee assured her. "We, of the
gentler sex, will protect ourselves. They'll not get in by the stage
door, that's one thing certain."
"They'll not get in at all," declared Cordelia emphatically. "Where's
Alphonso's doublet, Lee? I put it in this window box and it isn't here."
"Oh, I took it out," Lee told her. "I wanted to put in the fairy's
dress, and the doublet crushed it, so I hung it up in my closet with
the cap and the old monk's costume."
"You will call him a monk," protested Cordelia. "He is a minstrel."
"Well, he looks like a monk, or rather she looks like a monkess in that
cloak."
"More like a monkey," put in Pen Robbins to whose lot it fell to play
the part of minstrel. "I know I shall forget to sing the half of those
lines extolling Alphonso's doughty deeds, as it is, and if I catch a
sight of a single soph, I know I shall be a goner."
"Oh, you masculines make me tired," said Lee. "You haven't any of you
the spirit of a canary bird, from the king down to the page who says,
'the knight is without.'"
"I always thought that was a silly speech," said Janet. "At eight
o'clock, of course the night is without, and within, too, for that
matter. I should say: 'Sir Belidor is without.'"
"I've learned it the other way," complained Nettie Slingluff, "and I'll
have to say it so. I'd be sure to forget at the last minute if you mix
me up."
"Nettie has three whole speeches to make," said Lee chidingly. "You
forget that, Janet, and the shortest of them is not less than three
words in length. I am surprised that you should want to burden her
over-taxed brain with any alterations at this late moment."
Nettie pouted, but maintained that it was all very well for those girls
who were to wear costumes familiar to them, but if they had on clothes
which made them feel that they were not acquainted with themselves,
perhaps they would not be so ready to make fun. "If I had to be a girl,
I shouldn't be afraid," she declared.
"Well, take my part, I'm willing," said Lee.
But Nettie said it was too late, and every one laughed, for only Lee
could do justice to the character which had been especially created for
her.
Janet, as the beautiful princess, looked regal, Teddy declared, when
she donned her trailing robes and appeared at Cordelia's door to
display herself. "Is this ermine all right?" she asked. "I had to dab
on those black splashes in such a hurry, that I'm afraid they are not
very even."
"Oh, they'll do," said Cordelia, looking her over critically. "It looks
very erminish, Janet; no one would suspect it to be canton-flannel and
black paint. That train is stunning. You extravagant creature to buy
all that velvet stuff!"
"It is only velveteen," said Janet. "I bought it 'on a bargain,' as
Dicky says, and I can use it next winter for a gown if I want to; that
is why I chose blue. Wasn't Miss Thurston dear to lend me this gorgeous
brocade skirt and the bodice and all these jewelly things? Polly told
her what I lacked and she offered these."
"It was good of her, and you are dazzling," said Lee. "I declare,
Janet, you will outshine us all. But then you ought, being a princess.
The king will have reason to be proud of his daughter. He has a
beautiful canton-flannel robe made from his red portières, and he spent
half the night in gilding his crown and sceptre. By the way, Janet,
send over your fur rug in the morning; we shall want all the rugs we
can get for the dais and the throne. Cordelia has thought of some fine
local hits. She evolved them in bed this morning, and the minstrel is
going to get them off. I wish you could see his lute. Isn't it fine to
have some one in the class who can sing as well as Pen does?"
"I do hope it will all turn out well," said Janet. "I am getting a
trifle anxious about my part."
"Oh, you needn't worry," Lee assured her; "you are all right, and I
don't believe I shall have stage fright, but if Grace gets to laughing
and forgets her stride, or if Nettie should happen to get her words
hind part before, it would be fatal. I really think we should have
given Nettie something easier," Lee added teasingly. "It would simply
stop the whole performance if she were to announce 'without is the
knight,' instead of 'the knight is without,' or if she should say:
'Your Majesty, a minstrel begs admittance, instead of a minstrel craves
entrance, Your Majesty.' It actually makes my heart stand still when I
think of such a catastrophe as that."
"Oh, do stop your teasing, Lee," said Cordelia. "I have my doubts about
the wearing quality of this stuff; it is so thin it looks to me as if
it might give out at a critical moment."
"Stay it with something strong around the armholes," suggested Janet,
"that will make it all right. Gracious, there comes Mrs. Satterthwaite
and Rosalie; I shall have to run." And gathering up her long train, she
flew from the room.
A few days later, all was ready for the performance. It was to take
place in the central hall of the main college building. This hall was
open to the roof with galleries around the second and third floors
overlooking the hall below. Upon the third floor were the studios for
the use of the art classes, and on the second were various lecture
rooms. The studios were usually vacated after two o'clock, but were
open in case a student might elect to work there upon any special
drawing.
On the afternoon of the day when the dramatics were to take place,
a sophomore entered the building casually, and sauntered up to the
studios by way of the stairway outside the large hall. In a little
while, a second sophomore appeared and wended her way up-stairs. She
carried a canvas in her hand and no one thought it anything unusual to
see her there. Later on, the dress rehearsal took place, and the big
hall was the scene of "confusion and creature complaint" as Lee said.
When all had assembled, Cordelia locked the outside door, and laid the
key confidently upon the dais where the king was already enthroned.
"There," she exclaimed. "I'd like to see any one get in now."
The rehearsal went on till nearly dark. Then the girls filed out,
Cordelia remaining till the last. When the door closed after the entire
company, she called the janitor.
"Whiting," she said, "here are the keys. There is not a soul in this
building but ourselves. Be sure that you lock the door after me. It is
not to be opened again till it is time to admit the audience. We will
come in by the basement, so be on hand to let us in by half-past six.
No one is to be admitted at the front door till half-past seven, and
then only those who have tickets. Remember this. The performers will
all come in a body, so you will know that any one pretending to have a
right here after we come, has to be sent away. Not another soul is to
come in by the basement, mind."
Whiting grinned and promised to have a sharp eye for intruders.
Meantime the studios were occupied by a body of whispering, giggling
girls, who, one by one, had quietly stolen up-stairs, unnoticed, each
one bearing an innocent-looking color-box or roll of drawing paper.
At six o'clock, each drew forth from one of these receptacles a
substantial lunch which was eaten with a relish, and with the satisfied
feeling which always follows a deed well done. There was absolute
silence in the hall below, and save for the footsteps of Whiting as he
went around lighting up, there appeared to be no sound in the building
until the fifteen girls trooped up the basement stairs and with
bustling excitement crossed over to the green-room.
Cordelia was triumphant. They had outwitted the sophs, she declared,
and by their vigilance, the juniors had prevented the threatened
intrusion.
At eight o'clock all was ready. Nettie Slingluff was declaring that she
had a nervous chill. The king was expostulating with Alphonso because
the latter insisted upon turning the royal robes upon their wrong
side. Janet was jingling her chains and jeweled girdles as she swept
up and down the room. The minstrel was wildly searching for his lute,
and Lee was dancing a break-down in one corner in her joy at having
circumvented the sophs.
"Almost everybody must have come," said Janet, looking through a
peep-hole in the curtain. "There are quantities of the freshmen in
their seats and almost all the seniors are there. Shall we ring up?"
"Ring up," returned Cordelia laconically.
Up went the curtain, and the play began. It so happened that the entire
company appeared at once, just after the beginning of the first act. As
the last one made her entrance, from the upper gallery came a blast of
horns. The performers stopped short, aghast at the interruption. Every
eye was directed toward the gallery where in smiling array appeared the
whole sophomore class, each girl innocently sucking at a lemon stick
imbedded in a lemon.
A perfect shout of laughter went up from the audience, and the
disconcerted juniors were, for a moment, too confounded to go on.
But Janet was the first to gather her self-possession. She whispered
something to the minstrel who went forward and began a plaintive ballad
which quieted the audience and gave the players a chance to recover
themselves, then the performance went on successfully to the end. Yet
though there was rage in the hearts of the players, they went through
their parts with more spirit because of it, and evoked much applause
especially from the uninvited guests who added to the general clapping
of hands, many blasts upon their horns. They attempted no other
disturbance, and behaved with the utmost propriety throughout.
"How did they get in? How did they?" cried Cordelia when the curtain
had fallen on the last act, and the performers, warm and tired, sank
into various attitudes about the green-room. "Could they have bribed
Whiting?" she asked.
"Oh, no, they never would do that," said Janet; "they wouldn't dare,
and he wouldn't take a bribe, for he might know it was as much as his
place was worth. I have been puzzling over it the whole evening, and I
believe I have solved the mystery. I saw a girl coming over here with
her color-box just as I came in this afternoon. If one why not two or
three, or a dozen, or the whole class? Did any one think to look in the
studios before we began the rehearsal?"
"No, of course not," groaned Cordelia. "Idiots that we were! We should
have examined every nook and corner of this edifice before we left it.
All our precautions were taken to prevent their getting in at the time
of the performance, whereas they had sense enough to get in before."
At the door, the departing players encountered a body of sophs drawn
up in line, who blew a mighty blast upon their horns, gave their class
yell and then dispersed, leaving the disgusted juniors to admit that
they had been fairly worsted.
Polly was waiting outside for Janet, to precipitate herself upon
her friend and congratulate her with much effusiveness. "You were
the loveliest of them all," she declared, "a perfect princess of
princesses. Every one of the girls said you were fine. Did you get my
violets? I told Mr. Austin when he gave them to me, that I should send
them to you, and he said they were mine to do with as I chose. Who sent
you the lovely red roses, and oh, Janet, those dear little snowdrops,
where did they come from?"
Janet with her arms full of her trophies, gave the roses into Polly's
keeping. "Ted sent me those," she said, "but the curious thing is that
I haven't an idea who sent the snowdrops. It would almost seem as if
there must be some association connected with them, but I have racked
my brain and cannot imagine who would select an unusual flower for the
sake of a sentiment. There was no card with them."
"Some admirer who adores at a distance," said Polly. "It is a modest
little bunch but very suggestive."
"Of what? Of snow, or innocence or springtime?"
"Let me think. Of all three, maybe. He or she saw you in a snow-storm.
You are innocent of any knowledge of the passion you have aroused, and
he or she hopes to meet you in the spring, yet as that is fairly here,
perhaps spring merely suggests hope."
Janet laughed. "Very ingenious, Miss Polly Perkins. I haven't thanked
you for your violets; they are very sweet and you are very sweet to
give them up to me. Will you help me carry home these valuables? They
must be returned to Miss Thurston to-morrow."
Polly willingly helped to transport the costumes and ornaments which
Janet wished to keep under her own care, and left her friend at the
door of Hopper Hall, returning to her own home with a party of other
freshmen who were going that way.
Janet deposited her burdens on the bed, stuck the roses in a pitcher,
the violets in a tumbler, but the snowdrops were given a place of
honor in a fine Satsuma vase. Janet was standing before them with a
contemplative look upon her face when Teddy came in.
"What are you adoring, princess?" she said.
"I'm not adoring, I am only wondering. Your roses were gorgeous, Ted.
It was lovely of you to send them. Polly sent me violets, and some
unknown has sent these snowdrops. Have you any idea who it could be?"
"Not the slightest," said Teddy. "No doubt some dear sentimental
freshmen who has probably fallen in love with you, and worships at a
distance as the manner of freshmen is."
"That is the most reasonable solution," said Janet, but she kept to
herself the fact that it was not altogether a satisfactory one to
her, and was better pleased to believe it was from some other than a
freshman.