Marjorie Dean, College Senior Part 21

"Who was with the would-be-murderess of innocent pedestrians?" Jerry questioned sarcastically.

"A freshman from Alston Terrace," Marjorie answered. "I never saw her with Miss Walbert before. I have seen her once or twice with Miss Forbes."

"She must be fond of extremes," commented Jerry. "Miss Run-'em-down Walbert has a horrible reputation on the campus as a driver. I wish Doctor Matthews would rise up in his might and ban her as a no-good motorist and nuisance. The Hamiltonites would tender him a laurel wreath, or a diamond medal, or something quite nice," finished Jerry with a chuckle.

"If it were she alone who would be punished, I shouldn't care. I told Miss Susanna she deserved to be reported. It was the innocent I was thinking of; not the guilty. Cars are a convenience as well as a pleasure when they are in the hands of girls like Leila, Vera, Helen and some others. I shall write a note to Miss Susanna and try to explain myself. I can't bear to be misjudged by her. Oh, dear! It is just one more hard thing to do that I don't like to do."

"Don't write it tonight then," advised Jerry. "You are still too close to your trouble. Wait a day or two before you write."

"I suppose I'd better," Marjorie listlessly agreed.

"Yes; you had." Jerry adopted a purposely lugubrious tone.

"Stop making fun of my sorrow." Marjorie could not resist a faint giggle at Jerry's ridiculous imitation of herself.

"Aha! That's more like it. Now I propose we shut up shop and go to Baretti's for dinner. I've been hungrily thinking of fried chicken and hot waffles with maple syrup this P. M. They aren't going to have 'em here for dinner, either. There's to be beefsteak _en ca.s.serole_, which is all very nice, but my mind is on chicken and waffles."

"I guess I'd rather have chicken, too. I'm beginning to be hungry in spite of my troubles." Marjorie rose from her seat near the window.

"You're a true comforter, Jeremiah. Wait until I bathe my face and smooth my hair and I'll go anywhere you say."

"Fine!" returned Jerry cheerily. "It will be the first time you and I ever went out alone to dine. The girls have always been with us.

Nowadays Ronny is so popular I hardly catch a glimpse of her on the campus. But the five little old Lookouts always congregate at ten-fifteen every night. That helps."

Jerry referred to a custom begun only that year. The great popularity of the five girls, which had been steadily increasing since their freshman year, served to separate them during their leisure hours from each and one another. Muriel had proposed they gather every night at ten-fifteen for a brief chat before retiring.

Arrived at Baretti's, Marjorie's pensive mood still clung to her. Jerry made no direct effort to dispel it. She knew it would have to wear away of its own accord. Baretti's delicious fried chicken and extra crisp waffles was a favorite order with the Hamilton students. Engaged presently in eating this palatable fare, Marjorie started in sudden surprise at an unfamiliar voice at her elbow. She glanced up from her plate to meet the eyes of the freshman she had seen that afternoon in Elizabeth Walbert's car.

"Please don't think me intrusive, Miss Dean," the freshman was saying.

"I noticed you when you came in and I was so anxious to learn whether the woman with you today on the pike was injured by Miss Walbert's car.

I begged her to turn around and go back, but she wouldn't. She said she was sure that she hadn't come within several feet of the woman. It looked to me as though she were almost under the wheels. Of course, I only caught a glimpse of both of you, so I couldn't really judge exactly what happened."

The girl paused, looking signally embarra.s.sed as she met the clear steady gaze of Marjorie's eyes.

"The woman was not run over. In trying to get out of the car's way she fell. As she is an old lady, she was considerably jarred by the fall.

Her coat was badly splashed with mud." Marjorie delivered the information with impersonal courtesy.

"I'm glad to hear she wasn't run over," sighed the other girl, looking genuine relief. "Was-was she a relative of yours?"

"No; a friend."

"I hope you don't hold me to blame in any way, Miss Dean. It is the first time I ever rode in Miss Walbert's car, and it will be the last. I was waiting for a taxicab in town and she came along and offered to ride me back to the campus. I am Miss Everest, a fres.h.i.+e. I don't know what you think of me. I am awfully concerned about your elderly friend.

Anyway, I feel better for having seen you and cleared myself as best I can."

Marjorie could not overlook the evident honesty of the apology. The half appealing expression in the freshman's eyes did not escape her notice.

"I do not blame you, in the least, Miss Everest," she said quickly. "You were not driving the car. I blame Miss Walbert severely. Since coming to Hamilton she has had a great deal of trouble over her driving, for which she is entirely to blame. I do not know what the outcome of this affair will be for her. My friend is very angry and may take it up with Doctor Matthews. I speak frankly. If Miss Walbert receives a summons she may name you as having been in her car when she so nearly ran down my friend."

"Oh-h-h!" The e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n breathed consternation. "I shouldn't like that. Still, I am not afraid. I can only tell the truth."

"Doctor Matthews is a very fine and just man. If any such thing occurs he will not censure you for Miss Walbert's fault." Marjorie smiled up brightly into the half clouded face above her. In answer to an imperative touch of one of Jerry's feet against hers, she said: "This is my room-mate and dear friend, Miss Macy."

Both girls bowed. Jerry affably invited the freshman to join them at dessert. She was with another freshman at a table farther down the room and declined. She appeared highly gratified at such cordiality on the part of the two seniors and left them with glowing cheeks and happy eyes.

"Drop one acquaintance from Kill-'em-off Walbert's list," observed Jerry as the freshman departed. "That fres.h.i.+e is done with her for good and all. Too bad our amateur motorist didn't enlist for overseas service in the late war. She would have done great execution driving a tank. She'd have sent the enemy fleeing in all directions."

Marjorie could do no less than laugh at this far-fetched conceit. "I thought I had best warn Miss Everest of what she might expect," she said, her face sobering. "What I said about Miss Walbert was deliberate.

I mentioned Miss Susanna as my friend and I may never have a chance to speak to her again." Marjorie added this with a kind of sad bitterness.

"Oh, yes, you will. Don't be down-hearted, beautiful Bean," hopefully a.s.sured Jerry. "Write your letter to your offended lady of the Arms and see what happens. She can't misunderstand you after she reads it."

"Maybe she won't misunderstand me, but that doesn't mean she will be friendly with me or even with you girls again. She detested girls until she met us. She'll probably think she was foolish ever to bother with us. Even if she felt she had misjudged me, she is such an odd, proud little person she might not be able to bring herself to write me. If she doesn't answer my letter, then I shall never write her again. I'll understand that she did not care to continue the friends.h.i.+p."

CHAPTER XXII-A DISMAYED PLOTTER

The author of the mischief, Elizabeth Walbert, was not concerning herself over what had occurred on Sat.u.r.day afternoon on Hamilton Highway. She had not the remotest idea as to the ident.i.ty of the elderly woman she had come so nearly injuring. She knew that Marjorie had been with the woman. Very scornfully she had derided Miss Everest's worried conjectures as to who the woman might be, or, if she had been badly injured.

"An old scrub woman or some sort of servant, very likely," she had airily said. "Don't be a silly. Those two had no business to be walking along the middle of the pike. The pike is for _autos_, not pedestrians."

She had utterly flouted the suggestion that she go back and ascertain what had happened as the result of her reckless dash around a corner.

Afterward, when alone, she resolved not to bother again with Jane Everest. She was just another of those stupid fres.h.i.+es who had no daring or spirit in them. Elizabeth was at that very moment sulking because she could not persuade certain freshmen at Wayland Hall who had until recently been her allies to waylay Augusta Forbes some evening on the campus and give her the "good scare" she had fondly planned. Gussie often spent an evening at Acasia House with a freshman who recited Greek in her section. The two girls were wont to prepare the lesson together.

Thus Gussie never started for Wayland Hall much before ten o'clock.

Elizabeth had learned this fact from an Acasia House fres.h.i.+e. Her idea had been this: Half a dozen girls, headed by herself, were to dress in sheets and glide out upon Augusta from a huge clump of bushes which she must pa.s.s in taking the most direct route from the one campus house to the other. Gussie was then to be surrounded, hustled to a neighboring tree and tied to it. The industrious specters were then to leave her to free herself as best she could. The deed was to be done on a moonless night when the weather was not severely cold.

"Suppose she can't free herself?" one of the freshmen had put to Elizabeth on hearing her plan. "We wouldn't dare leave her there all night. You say you know she comes from Acasia House often at about ten.

We'd not have time to come back and untie her before the ten-thirty bell."

"It wouldn't hurt her to stay out there awhile if it weren't cold," was the cruel response. "I would slip down and out of the Hall about midnight, creep up behind her and cut the rope with a very sharp knife."

"Until midnight!" had gasped one girl. "_No, sir_; not for me. Besides, you might cut her hand in the dark while trying to free her. You are crazy, Bess. Give up such daring schemes. They'll only get you into trouble."

"We might easily be seen, dressed in sheets," another had objected.

"Remember it is winter and there aren't any leaves on those bushes."

"That wouldn't make any difference if the night were dark. I see plainly you girls aren't nervy enough for a little fun that wouldn't do the baby elephant any harm. In fact it would be the best thing that could happen to her. She has bragged a lot of not being afraid of anything. Never mind. I'll think of some nice little plan, all by myself."

This last icy a.s.surance, delivered with a haughty crest of her empty head had not impressed her hearers. She had gone a step too far with them. From then on they began to drop away from her.

Disgusted with their lack of support, she undertook to interest certain juniors in her plan. She dared not come out frankly with it. Her vague allusions as to what might be done met with utter defeat. Her cla.s.smates, such as had even voted for her for the freshman presidency, knew her better now. They tolerated her but disliked her.

Finding no one interested in her schemes for revenge, she was none the less determined to haze Gussie. On the Sunday afternoon following the disaster to Miss Susanna, she called Leslie Cairns on the telephone and asked her to go for a ride. Leslie accepted the invitation cannily, stipulating that they should use her roadster. She was to meet Leslie in front of Baretti's.

Since the first day of their meeting in the Ivy, Elizabeth had not dared mention the subject of Leslie's expulsion from college. Leslie had talked of it a little herself that day. Then she had put up the bars.

What Elizabeth burned to consult her on was what she might do to haze Augusta.

Anxious to keep Leslie in a good humor, she racked her brain for campus gossip that would interest the ex-senior.