PLAYING CAVALIER
That evening after dinner, Jane indulged in one of her dark,
floor-tramping moods. The disagreeable interview of the afternoon had
left a bad taste in her mouth. She had done what she had deemed
necessary, but at heart she was intensely disgusted with herself.
She wondered what Dorothy Martin would have done, given the same
circumstances. She longed to tell Dorothy all about it, yet she felt
that it belonged only to those whom it directly concerned.
"Do sit down and behave, Jane," admonished Judith. "You make me nervous.
Your tramp, tramp, tramp gets into my head and I can't study. You act as
though you'd committed a murder and hidden the body in the top drawer of
the chiffonier."
"Excuse me, Judy. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you. I guess the
whole affair has gotten on my nerves."
With this apology, Jane sought a chair and made a half-hearted attempt
at study. Gradually she drew her mind from unpleasant thoughts and
proceeded to concentrate it upon her lessons for the next day.
It was not until she and Judith were preparing for bed that the latter
re-opened the subject.
"Adrienne and I tried a little stunt of our own after dinner to-night,"
she confessed somewhat sheepishly. "Imp went into her room and I stood
outside the door. She read a paragraph out loud from a book, but I
couldn't understand a word she said. I could just catch the sound of her
voice and that was all."
"Humph!" was Jane's sole reply.
"Yes, 'humph' if you want to. It goes to show that the ignoble Noble
never got her information that way. The question is, 'How did she get
it?'"
"I don't know and I don't care," returned Jane wearily. "Please, Judy, I
want to forget the whole thing."
"I don't. I'm going to be an investigating investigator and solve the
mystery. Watch slippery Judy, the dauntless detective of Madison Hall.
Leave it to her to puzzle out the puzzle."
"Better forget it," advised Jane shortly.
"Oh, never! Let me have at least one worthy object in life, won't you?"
was Judith's blithe plea. "Never mind, Imp will support and admire my
ambition, even if you don't."
Judith was not in the least cast down by the defeat of an unworthy foe.
She was glad of it. Brought up among girls, she was too much used to
such squabbles to take them to heart.
For the next three days she and Adrienne amused themselves by planning
wild schemes to entrap the "ignoble Noble" and wring from her a
confession of her nefarious methods. So wild, indeed, were their
projects that the mere discussion of them invariably sent them into
peals of laughter.
As a matter of fact, neither could devise a plausible scheme by which
they might discover what they burned to know. Both were agreed that
chance alone would put them in possession of the much desired
information.
Wednesday evening of the following week saw Jane, Adrienne, Judith and
Norma set off in a taxicab for 605 Bridge Street to escort their new
friends to the freshman frolic.
Due to the demand for taxicabs for that evening, they had been able to
secure only one, whereas they needed two. They had decided to overcome
this difficulty by having the driver make two trips, carrying four girls
at each trip.
According to Judith, "We could all squeeze into one taxi, but I have too
much respect for my costly apparel to risk it."
The quartette of escorting sophomores made a pretty picture that evening
as they trooped down the steps of the Hall to the waiting taxicab.
Jane had chosen a particularly stunning frock of silver tissue, worn
over a foundation of dull green satin. In lieu of flowers, a single
beautiful spray of English ivy trailed across one white shoulder. The
gown was the handsomest she owned and she had originally intended to
save it for a later festivity. Realizing that she must inevitably become
a target for the displeased eyes of those who disliked her, she had
decided that so far as apparel went she would leave no room for
criticism.
Adrienne, who loved daring colors, had elected to appear in a chiffon
creation, the exact shade of an American Beauty rose. It set off her
dark, vivid loveliness to perfection. Designed by herself, it had been
fashioned by a French woman who attended to the making of her
distinguished mother's gowns. In consequence, it was a triumph of its
kind. As a last touch, a cluster of short-stemmed American Beauties
nestled against the low-cut bodice of the gown.
Judith looked charming in a white net over apricot taffeta with a bunch
of sunset roses tucked into the black velvet ribbon sash that completed
the costume.
Norma was wearing the becoming blue and white gown Jane had given her
the previous year. Since that first eventful freshman dance, when Jane
had played fairy godmother to her, she had worn the exquisite frock only
once. Now it looked as fresh and dainty as it had on that immemorial
night. Trimmed as it was with clusters of velvet forget-me-nots, Norma
wore no natural flowers.
Though she had by her summer's work in the stock company earned immunity
from drudgery, she had earned no more than that. With the exception of
this one gown, she dressed almost as simply as in the old days. She
confined her wardrobe to one or two serviceable one-piece dresses, a
coat suit and a quantity of dainty white silk blouses and lingerie.
These last were fashioned and laundered by her own clever fingers.
"I hope we're not too fine for our girls," Norma remarked anxiously as
the four skipped, one after the other, from the taxicab at the Bridge
Street address.
"I thought of that, too, but I decided that they'd like it if we looked
our very smartest. They are too independent to feel crushed by a mere
matter of fine clothes," was Jane's opinion.
The frank admiration with which the four freshmen exclaimed over their
gorgeous escorts served to point to the accuracy of her opinion.
"You're regular birds of Paradise!" laughed Freda. "We are certainly
lucky to capture such prizes. We're not a bit splendiferous, ourselves.
But then, why should we be? It wouldn't match with our humble status."
"You look sweet, every one of you," praised Judith. "Your gowns are
dear. They are wonderfully becoming."
"We made them ourselves last summer," explained Kathie with a little air
of pride. "We clubbed together and bought a bolt of this white Persian
lawn. Ida crocheted these butterfly medallions set in Freda's gown and
mine. Then Marie embroidered the designs on hers and Ida's gowns. Each
dress is a little different from the other, yet they all look pretty
much alike."
"They are all beautiful," Jane warmly assured.
She could say so in absolute truth. Simple, graceful lines, combined
with dainty hand-wrought trimmings had produced four frocks which would
have sold at a high price in an exclusive city dress shop.
"Ah, but you are the clever ones!" bubbled Adrienne. "It is we who must
be proud of you. I would that _ma mère_ could see these frocks. She
would, of a certainty, rave with the delight. _Ma mère_, you must know,
is the true Frenchwoman who appreciates highly the beautiful handwork
such as this."
"You rather take us off our feet," smiled Marie. "We were not expecting
it, you know."
The brightness in her own eyes was reflected in that of her chums.
Girl-like, they found exquisite happiness in being thus appreciated.
"We'd better be starting," Jane presently proposed. "We could get only
one taxi, so four of us will have to go first and four more in a second
load."
Jane's anxiety to be starting lay not entirely in her natural impatience
of delay. She was not quite easy in mind regarding the reception
awaiting them. Marian Seaton had been chosen to stand in the receiving
line. That in itself was sufficient to make her believe that the earlier
the ordeal of formal greeting could be gone through with the better it
would be for all concerned.
She did not doubt that Marian was in full possession of the facts
concerning her cousin's recent defeat. It would be exactly like Marian
to create a disagreeable scene. If this had to happen, she preferred
that it should take place before the majority of the crowd arrived.
She had expressed this fear to Judith who had scouted at the idea on the
grounds that Marian "wouldn't be crazy enough to make an idiot of
herself before everybody."
"You and Adrienne go first with your ladies, Judy," she continued. "If
you don't mind, I wish you'd wait in the corridor for the rest of us.
We'll be only a few minutes behind you."
"It's just like this, girls," she turned to the four freshmen. "I'm not
borrowing trouble, but if any of the sophs in the receiving line
act--well--not very cordial, you needn't be surprised. It will be
because of that paper you girls wouldn't sign. I hadn't mentioned it
before, but----" Jane paused. "The girl gave it to us. We destroyed
it," she added with a briefness that did not invite questioning.
"I'm glad you destroyed it," congratulated Freda.
"So am I," came in concert from her three chums.
"We're not a bit sensitive," lightly assured Ida Leonard. "We aren't
going to let a few snubs spoil our good time."
"I guess we'll be sufficient unto ourselves," predicted Kathie
optimistically. "Now we'd better get our flowers, pals, so as not to
keep our distinguished cavaliers waiting."
Excusing themselves, the quartette of freshmen repaired to the tiny back
porch, where the four bouquets of roses sent them by their escorts had
been carefully placed in water to keep them fresh against the time of
use.
"They are awfully thoroughbred, aren't they?" commented Judith in an
undertone. "Never a question about that ignoble Noble mix-up. Honestly,
Jane, do you think Marian will behave like a donkey?"
Laughter greeted this inquiry. Jane immediately grew grave.
"It wouldn't surprise me," she shrugged. "We can't expect, naturally,
that she will notice us as we pass her in the receiving line. Certainly
we sha'n't notice her. If only she doesn't say something hateful to us
that will attract attention. I mean, about our freshmen."
The return into the room of the latter, each laden with a big bouquet of
fragrant roses, cut short the conversation.
Half an hour and the eight girls were reunited in the corridor leading
to the gymnasium. Each cavalier gallantly offering an arm to the
freshman of her choice, they walked two by two into the gymnasium, which
had been transformed for the night into a veritable ball room. It was
already fairly well filled with daintily gowned girls, who stood about,
or sat in little groups, talking animatedly.
Near the entrance to the room, the reception committee were lined up in
all their glory. Jane's quick glance discerned Marian Seaton,
resplendent in an elaborate gown of pale blue satin, standing at the far
end of the line. Her usually arrogant features wore an expression of
fatuous complacency. It took wing the instant she spied Jane and her
friends.
"Now it's coming," was Jane's mental conviction, as she noted the swift
lowering change in the other girl's face.
Heading the little procession with Ida Leonard, Jane suddenly saw her
way clear. She could only hope that the others of her group would take
their cue from her.