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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/22995-8.txt b/22995-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ddb671b --- /dev/null +++ b/22995-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6944 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Miss Pat at School, by Pemberton Ginther + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Miss Pat at School + + +Author: Pemberton Ginther + + + +Release Date: October 16, 2007 [eBook #22995] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISS PAT AT SCHOOL*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 22995-h.htm or 22995-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/9/9/22995/22995-h/22995-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/9/9/22995/22995-h.zip) + + + + + +MISS PAT AT SCHOOL + +by + +PEMBERTON GINTHER + +Frontispiece by the Author + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: PATRICIA TOILED ALL AFTERNOON WITH THE ARDOR OF +IGNORANCE AND HOPE.] + + + +Philadelphia +The John C. Winston Company +Publishers + +Copyright, 1915, by +The John C. Winston Company. + + + + +TO NANCY + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. THE TWO NEW STUDENTS + II. GETTING ACQUAINTED + III. ANTICIPATION + IV. THE INITIATIONS + V. THE GHOST DANCE + VI. AFTERMATH + VII. DAVID'S TREAT + VIII. SMOOTH WATERS + IX. THE ACADEMY BALL + X. THE PRIZE DESIGNS + XI. THE LITTLE RIFT + XII. JUDITH'S DISCOVERY + XIII. RESTITUTION + XIV. NEW QUARTERS AND OLD FRIENDS + XV. AFTERNOON TEA + XVI. APRIL SHOWERS + XVII. FAREWELL TO THE STUDIO + + + + +Miss Pat at School + + +CHAPTER I + +THE TWO NEW STUDENTS + +"Isn't it jolly--to be here in a real Academy of Fine Arts, just like +all the famous artists when they were young and unknown? Doesn't it +make you feel all excited and quivery, Norn?" asked Patricia, as she +fitted her key into the narrow gray locker with an air of huge +enjoyment. "I don't see how you can look so cool. You are as calm and +refrigerated as a piece of the North Pole." + +Elinor smiled and her shining eyes traveled down the wide dim corridor +with its rows of battered gray lockers, past the confusion of chairs +and easels that clustered around the big screen of the composition +room, straight into the farthest nook of the great bare work rooms +beyond, where an array of heroic-sized white casts loomed conspicuous +in the cold north light above the clutter of easels, stools and +drawing-boards that encompassed the silent, intent workers. + +"I'm not half so calm as I look, Miss Pat," she said, seriously. "I'm +more excited than I ever was in my life. It's too deep to come to the +surface, I guess. I haven't any words for it." + +Patricia nodded approval. + +"That's your 'sensitive, artistic temperament,' as Mrs. Hand calls it. +It must be awfully trying, though, not to be able to babble when you're +pleased. It's such a relief to get it out of your system. I'd simply +burst if I tried to keep quiet when I felt excited." + +Elinor smiled absently, and then burst out fervently, "Isn't it all +gloriously workmanlike--the bare walls and smudged doors and the painty +smell, too? It's so serious. Outside, the people regard a picture as +a mere luxury, but in here, _here_," she said, exultantly, "it is +absolutely the necessary thing in life." + +Patricia shut her door with a snap and turned to her sister with a +glowing face, sweeping her stray tendrils back with an eager gesture. + +"I know it!" she cried. "It makes even me feel as though I could turn +off masterpieces _instanter_. Merely to look at those lumps of clay in +the modeling room made me simply _ache_ to get my hands into them. I +was enchanted the moment I came in here with you this morning, never +dreaming that I should be so lucky as to be one of the illustrious band +myself. You're a perfect duck, Norn, to let me tag along after you +here." + +"You might as well do that as anything else," said Elinor, rather +absently. "The best of it is that we shall be together. It will be +such fun to see how we each get along." + +"'We!'" echoed Patricia. "You mean how _you_ get along. I shan't +count at all. I may have to give up when I actually get at it." Then +with a swift change of spirit she added: "All the same, if I couldn't +do better than some of those smudgy celebrities in the modeling room +were doing, I'd feel pretty sorry for myself. Such forlorn, lop-sided +caricatures of human beings I never saw. I don't see how they can do +them." + +Elinor's soft laugh rippled out. "It's clear that you haven't tried to +do it, or you'd see how easy it is to make caricatures instead of +portraits," she said. "I didn't think they were so very bad." + +"I'd be ashamed to have anyone see them if I'd done them," declared +Patricia, unconvinced. "They seemed quite cocky over them, poor +idiots. I hope some of them do better than that, or I shan't learn +much." + +"It would be wonderful if you did make a success of it," said Elinor, +beginning to put her newly acquired implements into her locker. "How +surprised Bruce will be that you are studying here, too." + +"Don't tell him, for the world!" cried Patricia, her brow wrinkling at +the thought of that noted artist's surprise. "I shouldn't have dared +to take the course if he was ever to see anything I did! I'm only +going into it for fun, and I shouldn't have dreamed of doing it if it +hadn't been the cheapest course in the whole school. You know I +shouldn't have, Elinor dear, so please don't tell." + +Elinor gave her a reassuring squeeze. "Don't be afraid, Miss Pat. I +won't give away your dark secrets to anyone till you want me to. +You'll tell David, won't you?" + +Patricia pondered a moment. "I don't believe I'll tell anyone until I +see what I can do," she decided. "I'd love to surprise Francis Edward +David Carson Kendall, otherwise known as Frad, but I'll wait till I +know whether it is to be the sort of surprise he'd welcome before I +spring it on him. He wouldn't appreciate a hideous fizzle, like some +of those we saw, and I'd hate to inflict a newly discovered twin +brother with anything of that sort myself." + +"I don't believe Fra--David would be very critical; he's so good +natured," said Elinor. "Isn't it hard to get used to him as our +brother, after knowing him as David Carson for a whole summer? I can't +ever feel sure of what is his right name now. We knew him as David +Carson for so long, and now that he wants to be called by his real +name, I simply get more twisted all the time." + +"That's why I call him Frad," said Patricia, with a twinkle. "Combines +the whole and is entirely original, and so suited to his situation. I +don't think he ought to drop all the Carson name, particularly while +we're all living comfortably on the Carson money. It seems sort of +ungrateful to me." + +"But you know Mrs. Carson always wanted him to take his own name if he +ever found it," said Elinor, closing her locker and dropping the key +into her bag. + +"Well, he's dear with any name, and I'm glad Judy discovered him when +she did, money or no money," said Patricia seriously. "He was so +disappointed when Madam Blitz said my voice needed another year to grow +in, that I'm awfully glad I've hit on something to do that will fill in +the time, and keep me learning. That's really the great thing, isn't +it, after all?" + +As she spoke a gong sounded from beyond the closed door of a nearby +class room; there was sound of movement and subdued voices, then the +door swung grudgingly and a number of students of various ages with +smudged hands and soiled aprons came straggling out into the dim +corridor, laden with canvases and drawings to be stowed in the long +line of lockers that stretched on either side of the hallway. + +Elinor looked at them with a little quick sigh of excited envy. + +"They are all so used to it," she said, with a note of humility in her +sweet voice. "They make me feel so _green_!" + +"Poof! You needn't care," said Patricia, breezily. "If Bruce Haydon +says you can draw, you shouldn't mind a lot of sloppy students. Wait +till you've been here a month--you'll be rearing your crest as high as +any." + +Elinor shook her head. "To tell the truth, Miss Pat dear, I almost +wish Bruce hadn't gotten me into the life and portrait classes without +the regular term in the antique rooms. I shouldn't feel half so +shivery about going in there and drawing from those big casts, for I +know they are all more or less beginners there." + +"Stuff!" protested Patricia stoutly. "You know you've been simply +crazy to get here. Why spoil it all by _squibbling_? I think it's +perfectly gorgeous. I'm wild to begin myself, and I'm about as green +as any old shamrock. Besides, it's a mighty poor way to show your +gratitude to Bruce for putting you right slap into the highest classes +without slaving your life out for years, perhaps. I'll tell him----" + +"Indeed, you'll do no such thing!" cried Elinor, the color rushing to +her cheeks and her authority as eldest sister asserting itself +promptly. "I don't intend that Bruce shall hear a word until I've had +my first good criticism." + +Patricia smiled to herself at the effect of her ruse. "All right. +I'll be good," she promised. "Now, to come down to earth again--where +are we going to feed? I wish we could find the lunch room. It would +be such fun to look our future classmates over while we browse." + +"I think it's in the basement," said Elinor dubiously, "but I don't +believe we can buy things there. We'd have to go out, anyway, I'm +afraid." + +A blue-aproned girl who had been packing her materials in an adjoining +locker turned civilly. + +"Are you speaking about the lunch room?" she asked in a pleasant +contralto voice. "I can show you where it is, but you'll have to bring +your lunch with you. There are gas stoves to cook on in the back room, +and tables and chairs in the front one, if you're not too late to get a +place." + +Elinor thanked her cordially, while Patricia almost dislocated her neck +trying to get a glimpse of the big canvas that protruded from the +locker while still keeping far enough behind Elinor for her curiosity +to pass unnoticed. + +"It is down a little iron stairway behind that screen," said the girl, +tucking a paper parcel into the capacious pocket of her blue jean paint +dress, "and it's only for girls. The men have one on the other side of +the building. Come down as soon as you can, for it's fearfully crowded +later on." + +Patricia watched her disappear behind the big screen of the composition +room, and then she turned excitedly to Elinor. + +"Isn't she nice?" she asked admiringly. "She's so cock-sure of herself +and so calm about it. I like the way her eyebrows meet over her +haughty nose, and that superior kink in her nice, crinkly lips. I know +she's going to be worth while when we know her." + +"For goodness' sake, don't be jumping into admirations wholesale, Miss +Pat, darling," said Elinor, gently pulling Patricia's arm through hers +as they passed into the narrow entrance to the dressing room. "Don't +rush at it so, ducky. You can't know the right people at once, and it +saves a lot of bother not to get too familiar with the wrong ones." + +"Just as you say, Miss Solomon," rippled Patricia, too happy to be +depressed by anything. "I'll be as frigid as you like, and if any of +these frivolous young things try to scrape an acquaintance with me, +I'll snub them good and hard." + +She lowered her voice as two newcomers entered--one a slender, faded +young woman with near-sighted pale eyes, and the other a blond girl +with a dazzling skin and glorious shimmering hair wound around a +shapely head. Both were in aprons, but the younger wore a dull green +that set off her fair beauty to perfection, while the checked gingham +of the other proclaimed a hopelessly downright taste. + +Patricia, at the mirror, paused in the act of pinning on her hat, her +eyes riveted on the vision in dull green. + +"Isn't she lovely?" she demanded in a thrilling whisper of Elinor, who +had slipped into her things and was already at the door. + +The girl unmistakably caught the words, for she turned a brilliant, +measuring, half-approving look on her while she slowly began to divest +herself of the alluring green apron. She was so evidently used to +admiration that her smooth cheek showed no change of color, though the +panic red of swift confusion flamed on Patricia's bright face. + +Pinning on her hat hastily, she fled after Elinor, feeling that she +must seem most inexperienced and childish in the eyes of this +fascinating creature who at once had eclipsed all previous claimants to +her admiration. + +"I wonder if she is in the modeling class?" she said as she caught up +with Elinor in the composition room. "I don't suppose there's any such +luck as that. She looks too clean----" + +Elinor interrupted her with a little shake. "You hopeless little +goose," she said, in laughing despair. "You've just promised me not +to, and here you are it, hammer and tongs, under my very eyes." + +"My word!" cried Patricia indignantly. "You don't mean I'm not to look +at anyone! I can't even express a little tame approval without your +accusing me of grabbing a new soul mate. You can't say she isn't +simply ravishing, and just because she's alive instead of being a +picture or statue or some such _made-up_ thing, you want me to turn up +my nose at her. I must say you are getting to be awfully extreme, +Elinor Kendall. You'll want me to wear a muzzle next." + +Elinor gave her a loving look, and Patricia, appropriating a corner of +her big muff, gave her hand a surreptitious squeeze. + +"I wish I could kiss you, you old angel," she said, irrelevantly. +"Let's lay in our pemmican, and hustle back for a seat in the parquet +circle. I'm dying to look them over and see who's who and what's what +before I make any more breaks." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +GETTING ACQUAINTED + +"Why, it's like a laundry," exclaimed Patricia in disappointment as she +looked about her. The low-ceiled whitewashed apartment into which they +had descended from the winding iron stair was sepulchrally bare and +empty in the flicker of its noisy gas jets, the rusty gas stoves at its +farther end emphasizing its general air of desolation. + +Elinor glanced beyond, through the low doorway to the next room. + +"Suppose we do without hot things today?" she proposed. "The tables +look pretty full in there. We mightn't get a place if we delay too +long." + +"Suits me to a gnat's heel," declared Patricia eagerly. "Food is a +secondary article, anyway, when it comes to character study. I'm not +so keen on cookery since I sighted this tasteful apartment." + +She followed Elinor into the larger room where a feeble daylight, +filtering in through heavily grated basement windows, struggled with +the flaring gas jets, and the odor of cocoa and bread and butter +mingled with sachet and the fumes of turpentine and paint. + +Elinor made her way over the mottled stone floor with as easy a grace +as though it were a flowery turf, but Patricia, not so well schooled in +concealing her feelings, made a wry mouth. + +"If this is where the celebrities eat, I don't wonder they're smudgy," +she said in an undertone, as they seated themselves at the last vacant +table and spread their purchases on its discolored surface. "This +doesn't strike me as being very appetizing." + +"It's clean, anyway, Miss Pat," said Elinor, whose practiced eyes had +been busy. "It looks soiled because the table-tops are old marble and +the floor is mottled cement, but it is really clean, though I can't +honestly say it is attractive on first sight." + +"One gets used to anything in time," said Patricia airily. "You +remember how Sally Lukes missed the doing of those five weekly washes +after Johnny got prosperous enough to keep her in comfort. I reckon +we'll be just like that after a while--can't eat without smudges on the +table and paint-splotches on the dining-room walls." + +Her eyes strayed about, resting on one group after another till they +lighted with sudden interest. + +"There she is," she said ardently. "You can't deny, Elinor, that she's +terribly good to look at. Why, the very way she manipulates that +frilly napkin reconciles me to my food. I declare I'm twice as hungry +as I was before." + +The girl certainly did make a charming and refreshing picture in her +pretty gown, and with a dainty lunch covering the objectionable table. +Opposite to her sat the drab young woman, silently eating while she +read hurriedly from a technical magazine. The contrast between the two +was so great that it made Elinor wonder. + +"She must be unselfish and agreeable," she said, forgetting her +momentary prejudice, "particularly when the other doesn't seem to +appreciate her society very highly. I fancy that one isn't very +diverting. I wonder why they are such chums." + +"Relatives, perhaps," hazarded Patricia, reveling in Elinor's +conversion. "I hope we get to know her soon, don't you, Norn? She +must be awfully popular. See how they all turn when she passes. I'm +sorry she's going, though, for I could simply feast my eyes on her for +hours." + +Their new acquaintance of the corridor stopped at their table as she, +too, made her way out. + +"I am going into the portrait class when I go up," she said, her +dark-fringed eyes smiling frankly down on Elinor. "They tell me you +are going to take your first plunge this afternoon. I'll be glad to +show you about if you need any chaperoning." + +Elinor's eyes met hers gratefully. "I'll be so glad to have you tell +me what I should do," she said with relief and instant friendliness in +her soft voice. "I'm just a beginner, you know. I've never been in a +class in my life and I'm rather scared about it." + +The lips that Patricia had designated as "nice and crinkly" widened in +a bright smile that held no hint of hauteur. + +"I'll be about in the corridor when you come up," she promised. "You +don't need to feel that way about it. It's the simplest thing in the +world--after you once get settled. You're in great luck to get into +life and head classes without ever having gone to school before. I +fancy you are a very special brand of genius to have such privileges." + +Elinor blushed and shook her head. + +"I studied with Bruce Haydon last summer," she said. "He got me in +here." + +"O--oh," responded the girl, her face suddenly alight. "That is +splendid. You know he's the most severe critic we have, but we all +adore his work." Then she added as an afterthought: "He's tremendously +popular with the men. He studied here, you know." + +Patricia opened her eyes wide. "Why, Bruce is the most amiable sort," +she protested. "He'll simply eat out of your hand up at home. I +didn't know he ever criticized here," she ended, rather suspiciously. + +Elinor's new friend smiled good-naturedly. "He only drops in once in a +while," she said. "He was here pretty often last month, but he hadn't +been here before that for nearly four years, they said. He's abroad +now, isn't he?" + +Elinor told her that Bruce was in Italy, getting his studies for the +Français Society's panel of early Italian history. + +"It must be jolly to know him out of the limelight," said the girl, +seriously. "The girls were so crazy over him here that there wasn't a +chance for a rational word with him, unless one were a man. He simply +evaporated when he saw an apron." + +Patricia laughed. "He's not so retiring in private," she declared, +gayly. "He was one of our happy family for three months last summer +and we never noticed any shyness; did we, Norn?" + +Elinor reared her head with dignity. "He was very kind and friendly to +us," she explained to their companion, "because he had been very much +devoted to my aunt, who left us the house where we now live. He had no +mother and Aunt Louise was very fond of him." + +"Well, you're awfully in luck, however it is," replied the girl. "I'll +see you in about fifteen minutes," and she nodded as she moved off, her +dark hair gleaming in the mingled lights as she carried her small fine +head proudly on her slender neck. + +Patricia was about to make a comment when she suddenly turned and came +back to them. + +"I forgot to tell you my name," she said, holding out a strong, slender +hand. "I am Margaret Howes, and I know you are Elinor Kendall, for I +saw it on your locker. I don't know your sister's name--she _is_ your +sister, isn't she?" + +Patricia was introduced, and Margaret Howes, with promises to meet them +later, went off finally, and Patricia and Elinor set to work to dispose +of their neglected lunch, enjoying their own comments on the assembled +groups more than they did the cakes and fruit. + +"Just look at that mournful creature." Patricia motioned with her +eyebrows to the opposite side of the room, where a large, stout young +woman in somber cloak and wide-plumed hat was eating her way through a +chocolate éclair with just such an air of tragic and settled melancholy +as one sometimes sees in a child whose grief is momentarily its most +cherished possession. + +"Isn't she the limit?" said Patricia in disdain. "She oughtn't to eat +frivolous things like éclairs. I wonder at her lack of judgment." + +"She isn't in mourning," said Elinor, making a discovery. "I wonder +who she is. She's impressive enough to be the president of the board, +and Bruce says that's the most important person in the place." + +"She's rather too _collap-y_ for my taste," volunteered Patricia, +gathering up the remains of their repast. "I like the looks of lots of +the others far better than hers. Let's ask Miss Margaret Howes about +her. No doubt she can tell us what is her secret trouble." + +They followed the general exodus upstairs, feeling more and more at +home with every step. + +"Isn't it funny how familiar that antique room looks?" said Patricia +with enjoyment. "I feel quite like an old residenter already. By the +time my clay comes I'll have the sensations of the oldest inhabitant." + +Elinor was breathing fast as she swept the corridor with anxious glance. + +"I hope Miss Howes doesn't forget," she said apprehensively. "I'd so +much rather go into the class with her." + +A girl sauntered past them as they loitered before their lockers. + +"Looking for anyone?" she asked briskly, and hardly waiting for the +answer, she raised her voice and called through the door of the next +room: + +"Hello, Howes! Here's someone looking for you!" + +Patricia expected Margaret Howes as she emerged to show some surprise +or annoyance at this summary mode of speech, but she was as serene and +unconscious as ever. + +"I'm busy, Griffin," she began, and then broke off as she saw the +girls. "Oh, here you are," she said to Elinor. "I was looking for you +in the modeling room." + +The newcomer raised her pale eyebrows. "Absent-minded as ever, I see, +Howes," she said with a whimsical sort of fondness in her peculiar +voice. "Better run off to the head class before you forget where +you're due." + +She watched Margaret Howes and Elinor till they turned into the +screened entrance to the portrait room; then she turned to Patricia +with easy friendliness. + +"You're fresh meat, aren't you?" she asked with a grin that widened her +full mouth to a line. "When'd you come?" + +Patricia gave her the brief outlines of her enrolment, and she nodded +approvingly. + +"Good stuff in the modeling room," she commented briskly. "But don't +let old Bottle Green bulldoze you into thinking it's a deaf and dumb +asylum or the vestibule to the morgue or any such sequestered spot. +She's deadly dull, you know, and she almost faints if you whisper while +the model is posing. She's monitor and I will say she enjoys the job." + +"What does she do?" asked Patricia, delighted with the ease and candor +of this speech. She felt sure this rickety, loose-jointed, +pale-colored young woman was going to be worth while. + +"As monitor, you mean?" responded the other, opening a locker near by +and beginning to assemble her implements from a jumble of all sorts of +odds and ends with which the locker was overflowing. "As merely +monitor she sees that the models are posed, gets the numbers ready for +us to draw when there is a new model, sees to it that we don't riot too +loudly through the pose, takes any complaints we may have to make, to +the powers above. But as guardian angel of the class, she soars far +above our low conception of duty and propriety. Phew! Wait till you +see her at it." Here her speech was lost while she delved head first +into the welter. + +Patricia occupied herself getting her tools from the convenient shelf +on her own locker, hoping that the talk was not to end there. + +Griffin emerged as suddenly as she had disappeared. "But it's the men +that spoil her," she went on as though no interruption had occurred. +"They're polite to her because she's so everlastingly gloomy. Same +sort of politeness they'd show to a hearse, you know--respectful but +not companionable." + +Patricia gave an exclamation. "I believe I've seen her!" she cried. +"She wears a long cloak and a hat with a big black plume, doesn't she? +We noticed her at lunch and wondered what was the matter with her." + +"Just a case of permanent glooms, if you ask me," replied Griffin +airily. "She loves melancholy, though she is an awfully good sort, +too. She gets on my nerves, though, she's so _brittle_." + +Patricia puckered her brow inquiringly. + +"Breaks a bone every time anyone looks hard at her," explained the +other, shoving the protruding conglomeration of her locker inside and +snapping the door quickly on it. "She's more bones than the average, +and she breaks them regularly every time she learns the name of a new +one. I think she oughtn't to be allowed in the dissecting room for any +consideration. She's just out of splints now for a right arm fracture, +and, believe me, she worked all the time with her left." + +"How could she?" wondered Patricia, feeling awed by this devotion to +art. + +"She couldn't," grinned Griffin. "That's the point. She's so taken up +with her pose as suffering martyr that she overlooks a trifle like good +work. Heavens, there's the gong! I've kept you here gassing when I +know you're crazy to get to work. Come along in, and I'll help you set +up your stand before the model poses again." + +Patricia followed her into the big, clay-soiled, dusty room, clutching +her new smooth wooden tools with nervous fingers. + +On the large revolving model stand in the center sat a dark, slender +Russian-looking young man, indifferent to the group that with their +tall-wheeled stands were circled about him. He sat with his narrow +blue eyes sleepily fixed on the wall, regardless alike of the sturdy +smocked men and slender boys in full blue-paint jackets, as of the +equally silent and clayey girls and women that scrutinized him with +earnestly squinting eyelids. The only creature in the room that seemed +to evoke the slightest responsive flicker of intelligence was the +black-robed, gray-aproned, redundant figure of the monitor. + +Patricia's stand, with its heavy curved iron head-piece and some +lengths of copper and lead wire, was waiting for her in the clay room, +and together they wheeled it into the modeling room, where the gloomy +Miss Green scanned them with kind but somber eyes, plainly regarding +their entrance as an interruption. + +"You've got to make butterflies of the wire-loops, you know, to hold +the clay up, or it'll slump down off the iron headpiece soon as you get +your head set up," explained her instructor in an agreeable tone. +"It's easier to set up a head than a figure, I can tell you----" + +"_Miss Griffin!_" came the dreary voice of the monitor, as with a fat +and dimpled finger she pointed solemnly to the sign on the door, "No +TALKING." + +Griffin grinned amiably at the reproving finger. "Only the necessary +instructions to a novice, Green dear," she protested smoothly. "I'm +saving you the trouble of showing her how. You really ought to thank +me instead of holding me up to scorn." + +Miss Green, with a kindly glance at Patricia, puckered up her lips in +the circle that only fat, soft-fleshed people can accomplish and laid +the impartial finger on them as a sign that no more words were to be +wasted, and the class, temporarily attentive to the newcomers, became +absorbed again. + +A heavy-shouldered dark man, whose workmanlike appearance was +heightened by the torn and spotted linen apron he wore, came quietly +over to Patricia, and, taking the wire from Miss Griffin's thin, +nervous hands, silently and swiftly finished the work she had begun, +while she, with a nod of acquiescence, went to her own stand and began +to thump lumps of clay into shape about her own iron head-piece. + +Patricia accepted the help as silently as it was offered, and when he +brought her clay and, still mute, showed her how to block the rough +clay into a semblance of a human head, she smiled at him with ready +gratitude, not daring more for fear of the omnipotent Miss Green. + +"How do you like it now?" asked Griffin, as the gong released them for +the rest, and they slipped out in the corridor to look for Elinor. + +"Perfectly fine and dandy!" cried Patricia, glowing. "My word, but +that Miss Green is severe! I never _heard_ such silence as in that +room. Why, an ordinary schoolroom is a perfect Babel compared to it." + +"You'll get used to old Bottle Green, all right," said Griffin +reassuringly. "Her bark is a whole lot worse than her bite. She's a +trump at heart, though she _is_ awful fool on the outside." + +Elinor was waiting for them, and Patricia could see that she was in a +state of great agitation. She hurried to her, while her companion +dropped behind to exchange notes with one of the men from the +composition room. + +"What is it, Norn? Didn't you get along all right?" she asked +breathlessly. + +Elinor dropped on a stool and raised her face to her sister, and +Patricia was surprised to see that her eyes were shining with joy +instead of tears. + +"Oh, Miss Pat!" she cried in an ecstasy. "I've made good, and I can +write to Bruce and tell him!" + +"What, already?" exclaimed Patricia rapturously. "You _duck_! Tell me +all about it instantly." + +She swept Elinor off the stool, away from the crowded dressing room, +and at last found a deserted corner behind a big cast. + +"Now," she demanded, "tell me all about it, or I'll simply die of +ingrowing curiosity." + +Elinor rippled and dimpled in a surprisingly sparkling fashion as she +recounted her experience in the portrait room, and Patricia, while she +listened, marveled at the change in her placid sister. + +"And so," concluded Elinor, "when I had just gotten ready to come out +to see you, some more of them came over and looked at it. And one of +them said, 'Dorset's right. It's a pace-maker all correct,' and then +they brought some other men, and I left." + +Patricia, greatly excited, patted her hard on the shoulder. "I told +you you'd be a winner," she crowed. "I guess Bruce knew what he was +talking about." + +Elinor's face clouded. "But I have only started the outline," she +confessed. "And I'm awfully weak on putting in the tones. I'm afraid +I'll make a fizzle of it." + +"See here," said Patricia, facing her severely. "I'm tired of your +deceptive timidity. Just let someone else say you can't do it, and +you'd feel mighty mad about it, but you're willing to scare me out of +my feeble senses by croaking." + +Elinor jumped up laughing, and hugged her. "I'll be as conceited as +you like, if you'll stop scolding," she promised, gayly. "It doesn't +look well to be too much under the thumb of a younger sister, even if +she is a promising sculptor. By the way, how are _you_ getting on? I +hear that Miss Griffin is a wonderful worker. Did you see anything of +her work?" + +Patricia gave her a brief outline of the class and its chief +characters, as far as she had observed, dwelling on Miss Green with +great satisfaction. + +"I know she's going to be a treat," she declared. "I hope she keeps +whole for a while at least, until I get better acquainted." + +"And do you know," she went on, "that the model is a Russian refugee, +and he tried to kill himself because he was so homesick. He's just out +of the hospital, and he has a great red scar across his breast. Isn't +it exciting to be among such different sort of people? We've always +been so sort of tabbified." + +"We've had enough ups and downs, I am sure," said Elinor vaguely. It +was evident that her mind was not on either their varied past nor even +the fascinating present, but was busy with a future of progress and +achievement. + +"Wake up, old lady," cried Patricia. "There's the gong, and we must +fly." + +Patricia toiled all that afternoon with the ardor of ignorance and +hope. The others looked at her with occasional interest, but otherwise +paid little attention to her. In the rests she went out to visit +Elinor, or Elinor came in to watch her progress. Her head fairly swam +with the delightful novelty of this new and quick-flowing life. When +the last gong rang she heard it with regret. + +"It's better than I ever dreamed," she said to the amiable Griffin as +she was showing her how to put the wet cloths about her work. "It's +not half so hard as I thought it would be, either." + +"Wait till Saturday, when old Jonesy lights on you," warned her new +friend. "You won't find life so lightsome when his eagle eye discovers +you." + +"Pooh, I shan't mind how criss-cross he is," declared Patricia +valiantly. "I'm only the rankest greenhorn, anyway. He can't expect +me to be a Rodin." + +She washed her tools in the grimy tanks of the clay room, more in love +with it every minute, and when she joined Elinor at their lockers, she +was fairly bursting with enthusiasm. + +"It's simply heavenly, and I don't know how we got along without it!" +she cried, rapturously. "It makes me wild to think of the _months_ +we've wasted this fall." + +Elinor laughed her low ripple. "We didn't find Francis Edward David +till the middle of December, and it's now the third week in January. I +don't think we've let much grass grow under our feet." + +"I wish this were the night for night life," said Patricia fervently. +"I'd stay and watch you begin----" + +"No, you wouldn't," said Elinor, promptly. "They don't allow other +people in the life-class rooms. You'd have to go home and see that +Judith was all right. We can't leave her too much to her own devices, +even if she is the best little thing in the world." + +"Bless her heart!" cried Patricia, with a laugh. "I'd clean forgot +that I had any relatives in the world. It's a good thing I have you to +keep me straight, Norn. Mercy, what a jam! I don't believe we'll ever +get a place at the wash-stands." + +The dressing room was crowded to its limit, paint brushes were being +washed and stained hands scrubbed at the line of faucets that occupied +two sides of the room; girls were hurrying into their street clothes, +while others, coming in for the night life, were getting into aprons +and paint dresses; some few who were staying for the night life were +curled up on the wide couches, exchanging comments with their friends +among the hurrying crowd while they refreshed themselves with crackers +or cakes. + +Patricia, with her cheeks glowing and twin lights dancing in her big +eyes, loitered so over her dressing that they were among the last to +leave. + +"I hate to go, don't you?" she said, as they came out into the +corridor, which was dimmer than ever in the sparsely lit twilight. "I +love-- Oh, how you made me jump!" she cried, starting back as a figure +stepped from the alcove by the street entrance. + +The girl, who was unknown to them both, addressed them impartially. + +"The Committee on Initiation hereby notify you that your initiation +will take place on Friday of this week, and you are instructed to +produce the usual initiation fee, or answer to the committee for the +failure." + +Patricia gasped. "My word!" she cried. "They don't postpone things +much around here, do they? What is the fee?" + +"Three pounds of candy for the modeling and composition class, four for +the head and illustration class, and five for the life," was the prompt +response. + +Patricia giggled. "You're in for it, Norn. You have to pony up for +the head and the night life, too. I'm in luck to be in the mudpie +department." + +"What is the initiation itself?" asked Elinor, as the girl turned away. + +"You'll find out when it happens," she replied, over her shoulder. +"They never know themselves till the last moment. The day classes are +tame--just a speech when you turn in your candy or some such mild +diversion, but the night life is more sporting, and they may put you +through a course of sprouts, but they're good-natured idiots on the +whole. None of us are as outrageous as we seem." + +Elinor looked after her thoughtfully. + +"I hope they won't be too hard on me," she said slowly. "I'd be sorry +to begin my term with anything that left the least bitter taste. +Everything here is so free-spirited and high-minded that I want it to +keep on being so for me always." + +Patricia's eyes narrowed. "I believe I'll make my candy up in as +attractive a way as I possibly can, and I'll spring it on them first +thing, so they'll be in too good a humor to want to haze me very hard. +Don't you think that might work for you, too?" + +"Indeed I do," replied Elinor, heartily. "I'm getting an idea already, +and if I can put it through, I don't believe the committee will have so +much fun with me as they may think." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +ANTICIPATION + +"What a pack of mail," said Judith. + +It was Friday morning, and the three girls were the last in the +dining-room. The sun was slanting brightly in over the table and fell +across the pile of letters with a prophetic shimmer, making the little +red and green patches of the stamps flame into gay prominence. + +Patricia sorted them over rapidly before Elinor had reached the table. + +"Here's one for you from Frad," she announced, "and one for me from +Miss Jinny, and there are two for Judy from Rockham--looks like Mrs. +Shelly and Hannah Ann, but I'm not sure--and the rest are only +circulars. Atkins' Diablo Water and Bartine's Foreign Tours." + +"I do wish they wouldn't send those circulars to us. They're so +disappointing, for half the time they look like real letters," said +Judith, reaching an eager hand for her own mail. "I think they ought +to keep them for older people who don't care so much. Oh, it is Mrs. +Shelly, Miss Pat," she broke off, as she tore open the first envelope +and began eagerly to scan the sheets. + +Patricia, absorbed in her own letter, merely grunted "Uh-huh" and +turned the page. Then she burst out joyfully, "Well, of all people in +the world! Listen, Norn. Miss Jinny is coming to town next week to +stay four or five days, and she wants to know if we can get her a place +here. Isn't that jolly!" + +Elinor, who had lifted her eyes perfunctorily, gave real attention. + +"How splendid!" she cried. "Now we'll have a chance to give back a few +of the kindnesses she showered on us last summer. Of course we can +find a place, and we won't let her come except as our guest, and we'll +give her the very best sort of a time we can, to show how glad we are +to have her here." + +"If Mrs. Hudson hasn't any other room, she can have mine," said Judith +promptly. "She never would let us make up for all those afternoons +that she kept the library for us, and I'd love to be _dreadfully_ +uncomfortable if I could help make her comfortable." + +Elinor laughed and patted the slender hand that pressed the table with +such nervous force. + +"I don't think Miss Jinny'd want any of us to suffer for her pleasure, +Ju dear," she said gently. "I'm sure Mrs. Hudson has a good front room +that we can get. I heard that Miss Snow had left and her room wasn't +to be filled till next week; so we are just in the nick of time, you +see." + +"Isn't it lucky?" cried Patricia radiantly. "You'll see about it right +away, won't you, Elinor? It has a splendid view of the park. I know +she'll love that. You know how she hates 'bricks and mortar.'" + +Elinor nodded, picking up her letter again. "You don't seem at all +keen about David," she began, when Judith broke out excitedly, holding +up her letter. + +"Mrs. Shelly wants me to come with Miss Jinny and stay over Sunday. +Please, please let me go, Elinor, for she says she'll get out all her +old stories and letters, and we'll have a splendid time!" + +Patricia and Elinor swept a swift, remembering glance at the pale, +eager face, and the memory of that scene in the old bookroom at +Greycroft, when Judith had the vision of her future, flashed into each +mind. They had had no laughter then for Judith's prophecy of her +literary career, and so now they had only instant sympathy with their +little sister's enthusiasm. + +"Of course you shall go, Ju dear," said Elinor, warmly. "It's sweet of +Mrs. Shelly to ask you, and you'll have a lovely time in that dear +little old-fashioned house with her and Miss Jinny." + +"Won't it seem queer to you to be anywhere but at Greycroft, though?" +mused Patricia, her eyes wide and absent. "Although we've only had the +place not quite a year, I feel as though we'd always been there, and I +can't imagine how it would seem to have to live anywhere else _now_." + +"That's because it is the first real home you've known," said Elinor. +"One always feels that way about a _home_." + +Judith cocked her blond head thoughtfully. + +"Don't you think it's the house, too?" she asked critically. "Some +houses seem to be so alive and to belong to some people. Greycroft +just fitted Aunt Louise, and when she left, it was lonesome till it +found someone who liked the same things she did, and then it opened its +eyes and waked up again. I don't believe it would be itself with Mrs. +Hand in it, or even with the Halls, though they are so sweet and +fine-mannered." + +"Wise Judy," commended Patricia. "You've discovered half the secret. +But here's Elinor, like patience on a monument, with David's letter in +her lily-white paw. What does he say, Norn? Is he coming to town this +month as he promised? Does he like Prep as well as he did----" + +"Do let her read it to us," begged Judith. "You chatter so, Miss Pat, +that no one can get a word in edgewise." + +Patricia made a laughing face. + +"Fire away, Scheherezade," she commanded, folding her arms in eager +attention. "Unfold the tale of the letter of the long-lost twin +brother of the three lovely sisters of----" + +Judith, who had muffled the sparkling stream of Patricia's nonsense, +drew her hand away with a little squeal. + +"_Ouch!_" she cried reproachfully. "That's not fair. You bit." + +"Not hard," Patricia reassured her gravely. "Just enough to turn you +loose. 'Twas not so deep as a grave nor so wide as a church door, but +it did answer. Go on, Elinor, love, it's getting late." + +Judith had picked up the envelope and was examining the seal. + +"Isn't the frat paper lovely?" she sighed. "I do hope I shall go to +college--or else have a husband who belongs to a lot of----" + +"Silence!" thumped Patricia. + +Elinor, who had been quietly going on with her breakfast, laid down her +fork. + +"Read it for yourselves," she smiled, tossing the sheet across the +table. "My time's about up. It's criticism morning in the portrait +class, and I want to get a lot more done before Mr. Benton comes." + +Patricia grabbed the sheet before Judith could set down her glass, and +she read it aloud, with great enjoyment. + +"'Dear Elinor'--begins well, doesn't it, Judy? I couldn't have done +much better myself--'Tom Hughes and I are coming to town next Saturday, +and we are going to blow ourselves, for his birthday.' Not very +enlightening as to Tom Hughes--never heard of him before; but that's +neither here nor there, of course." + +"Do get on, Miss Pat," urged Judith, folding her napkin. "I've got to +get to school sometime this morning, you know." + +"Thus admonished, I return to the manuscript," said Patricia +gravely. "Where is it? 'His birthday.' Oh, yes. 'Don't you three +girls want to go to the matinee with us and have lunch at some swell +joint? Write me at once if you can go. We will be in on the +eleven-fifteen at the Terminal and have to leave on the 4.30. Yours,' +et cetera and so on, and all that stuff. Hallelujah, good gentleman, +what a lark!" + +"I think you ought to use better language, Miss Pat, now that you are +going to be a sculptor," said Judith severely, and then broke into open +delight. "We'll go, won't we, Elinor? We wouldn't disappoint David, +would we? On his birthday, too." + +"It must be Tom Hughes' birthday," said Elinor. "But whose ever it is, +we are going to celebrate, since we're invited. I'll write 'immejit,' +as Hannah Ann says." + +"But how do you know it isn't David's?" persisted Judith, as she +gathered up her letters. "We never asked David when his birthday came, +did we?" + +Patricia rolled her eyes in mock agony. + +"Did it occur to your massive mind that David Francis Edward had a twin +sister with whom you were fairly well acquainted?" she asked in smooth +and oily tones. "Twins, you know, have a quaint custom of celebrating +their birthdays on the same date. Don't swoon, Infant; it is +overpowering news, but you'll get over it in time." + +Judith tossed her head, with a little giggle at her own expense. + +"I forgot," she said. "I never can remember that you're both the same +age. You are always saying that he is so young, Miss Pat." + +"So he is," replied Patricia, promptly. "No end younger than I am; but +boys are that way. Who's your other letter from, Ju?" + +Judith's face assumed a smooth blankness that passed unnoticed by both +Elinor and Patricia, now intent on finishing their breakfast and +getting off. + +"Hannah Ann just says that the house is all right and Henry is as well +as usual," she replied, with an uneasy flush on her clear cheek. + +"What in the world did Hannah Ann write to you for?" queried Elinor +absently. "She usually sends her weekly reports to me." + +"She's all right," repeated Judith, with an apprehensive glance at +Patricia, who, however, was entirely oblivious, her attention now being +wholly concentrated on her breakfast and Bartine's Tours. + +"I must see Mrs. Hudson," said Elinor, rising. "I'll meet you at the +Academy, Squibs. Have you your candy all done up? I shan't take my +life-class stuff till this afternoon." + +"But you've got to turn in the head-class fee this morning, you know," +reminded Patricia, coming back from Italy with a jump. "I have my junk +all ready, and I'll tell you when I'm going to spring it on them, so +you can have a peep at the fun." + +"And I won't forget to let you know just when I'm ready to give in +mine, so we both can see how they take it," said Elinor from the door. + +Patricia laughed as she too rose. + +"I'll see to it that you don't forget, miss," she said gayly. +"Good-bye, Judy; don't be late for lunch, for it's short and sweet with +us real artists. We can't potter over our food like you idle +Philistines, you know." + +Judith gulped the last mouthful and flung down her napkin. + +"I'll be there on time," she promised, eagerly. "Miss Hillis said I +could go five minutes earlier, as it was a holiday afternoon. I'll get +the rolls and oranges on my way." + +"We'll meet you at the door on Charter Street," Elinor reminded her, as +she kissed her. "Be sure to be there on time." + +"I'll remember," laughed Judith, her anticipation of the delights of +lunching at the Academy with grown-up artists shining in her starry +eyes. "I'm perfectly crazy over it. I'm going to write all about it +in my diary." + +"Then we _shall_ be handed down to fame!" cried Patricia, giving Judith +a very hard squeeze and pinching her thin cheeks into color. "Look us +over well, Judy-pudy, and see how much you can make of your two +illustrious sisters; for I feel sure that I, for one, will never have a +chance to be 'writ up' again." + +"Oh, go along, Miss Pat! You'll be awfully late," said Judith, +wriggling away, flushed and happy. + +Patricia watched, flying up the stairs two steps at a time, and she +turned to Elinor, with her hand on the door. + +"Ju's a clever young monkey, in spite of her grannified airs," she +said, warmly. "If we can only get some of the starch out of her by the +time she's old enough to take notice, her dream of being a great writer +may come half-way true." + +"If she's going to be a writer, she'll drop her dignified pose soon +enough," predicted Elinor easily. "She'll be too much interested in +other people and things to remember herself too vividly." + +"That's so," admitted Patricia readily. "You always hit the nail on +the head, old lady. Now I must run. See you later," and closing the +door behind her, she ran down the steps and hurried off through the +tingling morning air, with her parcel tight under her arm and a +kindling light on her mobile face. + +"I do hope they like it and won't be too hard on me," she thought, as +she hastened on. "It took a lot of trouble to make all the little +figures, but if they'll only let me off from speechifying, I'll feel it +was worth it." + +There was no one in the modeling room but Naskowski, the silent, +heavy-shouldered Slav who toiled early and late making up for his lost +youth. Him Patricia held to be as impersonal as any of the other +furnishings of the room, and she readily took him into her plan. + +"Let's wheel all the stands into a circle around the model stand," she +said briskly. "You see, I want them all to get them at once if I can +work it. I'll put the figures in under the cloths, beside each head, +so they won't show." + +Naskowski slowly shook his head. + +"They will approach at different times--not? It will be more better to +place them during the first rest." + +"But how can I?" insisted Patricia. "They don't all go out at the +rests, you know." + +He held up his finger. + +"Listen," he said, impressively. "I make a figure that they all wish +to see, but I have not shown him. Well, when I show him, at the rest, +all, all go out to the clay room to see." + +Patricia clapped her hands. + +"And I stay in and slip the figures on the stands! How nice! It's +awfully good of you." She broke off with a sudden clouding of her +gayety. "But perhaps you don't really want them to see your figure? I +couldn't have you----" + +He interrupted her with an upheld hand. + +"I was to exhibit it today, and I am pleased to be serviceable to a +newcomer at once," he said gravely. + +Patricia was only too glad to give in. "That makes it perfectly +simple, then," she said gratefully. "I'm tremendously obliged to you +for helping me out." + +"It iss nothing," said Naskowski stolidly as he went back to the clay +room, but Patricia could see that he was pleased at the ardor of her +gratitude. + +"He's an awfully good sort, if he is queer and stubby," she said, +pausing to hide her parcel beneath her stand until the propitious +moment. + +The first half hour seemed longer than any that Patricia had spent in +the modeling room. The students straggled in at various times, and +when the gong rang there were still several of the usual number who had +not appeared. Naskowski, as the class broke up for the brief interval, +found chance to whisper a suggestion that she postpone it till the next +rest, and Patricia eagerly agreed. + +"I'll go look up my sister and tell her," she said. "We can smuggle +her into the clay room, too, to see your work, can't we? I know she'd +be crazy to get a glimpse of it, and then she might get a snap-shot at +the fun in here." + +Naskowski nodded a pleased assent, and Patricia sped away. + +She found Elinor perturbed and excited beyond her wont. + +"Isn't it horrid? Mr. Benton's come already, and I won't have a chance +with my candy before criticism, as I hoped. I don't know what to do +about it. I did so want to get it off my mind before I got my +criticism, for I'm scared stiff about both of them." + +"Why, you goose! Don't you see that it makes it easy for you!" cried +Patricia, her eyes dancing. "You can simply put your nice big box of +candy on the model stand during a rest, and they won't dare ask you to +do any stunts with him in the room." + +Elinor laughed helplessly. "I don't know what is the matter with my +brain," she said in relieved contempt of her own confusion of mind. +"Of course, it is ever so much easier. What a stupid I am not to see +it for myself!" + +Patricia squeezed her hand surreptitiously. "You're so far up in the +clouds these days that the commonplace side of life doesn't exist. +You'll be all right after you get used to it," she soothed. "You're +going to be pretty free to inhabit cloudland for this winter, and I'm +willing to bet any reasonable amount that Hannah Ann will see to it +that the housekeeping doesn't distract you next summer. She's +perfectly crazy over your painting, since it's like Aunt Louise. And +there won't be any boarders or any other money-making schemes this year +to harrow our souls." + +"It seems too good--after all those years at the boarding schools, and +the scrimmage we had when the mortgage was foreclosed--to feel secure +at last," said Elinor gratefully. "Everything seems to be heaping up +to make us happy." + +"Time's up!" cried Patricia, jumping up. "Be on hand at the next rest, +angel child. Come in the clay room 'immejit' the gong rings," and she +hurried off, humming a gay little song. + +The gay little song persisted, much to the dissatisfaction of the +severe monitor, Miss Green, whose fat and lugubrious countenance took +on a deeper shade of gloom at every hushed note that trembled in +Patricia's rounded throat. + +After casting a martyr-like glance of reproach at her, as she worked +on, all unconscious of the mental agony she was inflicting, Miss Green +cleared her throat slushily, and in the most subdued tone possible +addressed Patricia. + +"Miss Kendall will not disturb the class, I am sure, if she realizes +that her humming is a source of annoyance," she said, her own really +musical voice fluting in melodious minor cadences. + +Patricia started and looked up with a sunny smile. + +"Was I humming?" she asked genially. "I didn't know I was making any +noise at all. I'm awfully sorry to have gotten on your nerves. I was +thinking about some exercises, and I must have thought out loud." + +Miss Green, much mollified by Patricia's ready acknowledgment, beamed +over her round spectacles. + +"I am sure Miss Kendall has the best intentions possible to any +agreeable young lady," she said in a hushed though ceremonious manner. + +She paused so long, regarding Patricia with her head on one side, that +Patricia was afraid she was going to orate further, and visions of a +premature initiation flitted uneasily through her nimble mind. Miss +Green, however, said nothing further, taking up her tools and going on +with her work with a complacent and benignant smile in her little pink +mouth. + +Griffin, who was just behind her, winked solemnly at Patricia and then +shook her head sadly, as if to indicate that the monitor was in her +opinion hopelessly incorrigible. + +"Doesn't Greeny make you a bit weary?" she asked, as she slipped over +beside Patricia as the gong was about to sound. "She's so drearily +ornate." + +"Oh, I don't know," replied Patricia easily. "She's kind, anyway. I +think if she were thin, people wouldn't find her half bad. Fat people +never seem quite as human as the rest of us." + +"Stuff!" said Griffin energetically. "She'd be simply awful if she +were thin. Aren't you coming in to see Naskowski's lion-tamer? He's +showing it in the clay room." + +"I'll be along later. I've got something to attend to first," promised +Patricia, inwardly quaking lest the other should offer to wait for her; +but she went off with the crowd that was hurrying into the clay room, +and Patricia was free to arrange her surprise. + +Diving under her stand, she fished out the bundle and opened it with +trembling fingers. + +"If I can only get them all placed before they come back," she said to +herself, as she unwrapped each little bulky parcel. "I hope Naskowski +gives me time." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE INITIATIONS + +"Wasn't it the flattest thing you ever saw?" said Patricia, +disgustedly, as they waited for Judith at the side door. "I thought it +was going off well when Griffin opened the ball by finding her little +figure poked away there on the stand back of her head, and made such a +cute speech to it, but the rest of them certainly behaved like tame +tabbies. I was never so disappointed in my life." + +"I thought Miss Green was really quite clever," said Elinor brightly. +"She certainly read the verse attached to her's with a lot of +expression. I didn't think she could be so sprightly." + +Patricia drummed on the railing. "She was well enough," she admitted +grudgingly. "But after I had modeled those figures and tried to get +something appropriate for each one--and it was hard to get the candy +into the inside of them, too, without spoiling it--they go and accept +them as though they were a cup of afternoon tea. I thought they'd show +more spirit. Don't talk to me about artists being gay and Bohemian +after this." + +"It was a little quiet," acknowledged Elinor, "but, at least, they were +very pleasant about it. They all agreed that it was the cleverest +thing that had been done in that line." + +Patricia gazed gloomily at the door of the life-class room. + +"I wish I were in the night life," she said resentfully. "I envy you, +Norn, being among live people." + +Elinor smiled ruefully. "And I'd like to swap with you," she said. +"I'd much prefer a quiet time like I had in the head class this +morning, or an agreeable time like you had, to anything riotous." + +Patricia sighed and stirred restlessly. "Isn't that like life?" she +commented, her face clearing as the thought took hold on her. "We're +all hankering after something that we haven't got--or we think we are. +Maybe--maybe we'd not like the other thing any better if we did get it, +though one's own things always seem awfully commonplace, don't they?" + +Before Elinor could respond, she started to the door with an +exclamation. + +"Here's Judy! On time to the dot!" she cried. "Come on in, Ju; drop +your plunder into my strong arm and let us introduce you to the +Academy." + +Judith, with her hat rather on one side and her cheeks flushed from the +wind and swift walking, kissed them both breathlessly and tumbled her +bundles into Patricia's capacious apron. + +She followed them into the dressing room with her eyes busy but without +a single word, and it was not until they had taken her through the +various class rooms, deserted at this noon hour, and were on their way +down to the lunch room that she found speech. + +"I must say, Elinor," she began, in response to a question, "that it's +very different from what you girls led me to expect." + +"Did we draw such rosy pictures?" asked Patricia in surprise. "I +thought we told you it was remarkably spotty and just as smelly." + +"_But,_" continued Judith with emphasis, "I must say that, dirt and +all, it is more _glorious-ified_ than I thought it would be. That +big-winged angel or whatever it is at the top of the stairs looks as if +it would soar right up to the top of heaven--it's so white and strong!" + +Patricia's eyes filled with the ready tears as she caught the look on +Judith's thin face, raised in adoring admiration to the great Winged +Victory that stood poised at the top of the wide flight of stone +stairs, showing triumphant in the misty light that seems to fill all +great indoor spaces. + +"That's the part that makes up for all the soil and smudge, Ju +darling," said Elinor softly. "Paint and charcoal and clay are dirty +things, but when they're wielded with the force of an Ideal, they can +illuminate the world." + +Judith swept her adoring gaze from the Victory to her sister's face. + +"Oh, oh," she breathed, "I didn't know you could talk like that, +Elinor. It sounds like some beautiful book." + +Elinor blushed and laughed. "I can't, usually," she said, gayly. "It +is the Victory that did it. She must have handed down some of the +thoughts of the old Greek that carved her out of the white marble under +that blue, blue sky of ancient days." + +Patricia nodded her quick appreciation. "I wonder how many she has +spoken to, in all the centuries?" she mused, her eyes growing wide and +absent. "Think of them, Norn--those people who felt her spell and +heard the message. What a glorious company!" + +It was Elinor's turn to raise misty eyes to the Messenger of the Ideal, +and, like Judith, she was silent, busy with this thought. + +"Do you know," Patricia went on, the peculiarly sweet, clear tone that +marked her best self growing as she spoke, "I've come to care a lot +about that glorious company. 'The kings of the earth shall bring their +glory and honor into it,' and I don't see why we all shouldn't have +some chance to add our tiny scrap to the splendor. I know I shan't +ever do much--only commonplace, humdrum things, but if I can come at +last with the least, tiniest bit of a radiant snip to add to the glory +and honor, I'll be more than satisfied." + +She broke off suddenly, smiling a wistful smile at the two others. + +"I oughtn't to envy you, but I do," she said, softly. "You'll both +come in simply glittering, and I'll have to brag that you're my near +relatives. I'm such an ostentatious beast that I'd have to show off +even there." + +"Patricia!" gasped Judith, shocked out of her dreamy calm. "You +oughtn't to say things like that. It's--it's not religious!" + +Patricia dropped back instantly to her usual manner. + +"Well, anyway, I'm fearfully hungry," she said airily. "I can't stand +any more palaver. Come along to the cave and let us feed while there +is time." + +Luncheon was particularly gay, much to Judith's delight. Margaret +Howes joined Patricia as she carried Judith off to the them, and +Griffin with a kindred spirit had the next table. Doris Leighton, the +pretty girl whom Patricia had so ardently admired on her first day and +who had not been visible since then, appeared without her pale +companion, and took the table on the other side of them, and when +Margaret Howes, at Patricia's entreaty, introduced them, she brought +her chair over to their table and made one of their merry party. + +Judith was silent for the most part, but her eyes glowed like live +coals and she kept tossing her pale, straight mane in the way she had +when pleasantly excited. + +"Well, what do you think of Bohemia?" asked Griffin, as they climbed +the narrow iron stair again, the time having come for Judith to say +good-bye. + +Judith was equal to the occasion, as usual. + +"I like it better than the land of the Amorites and the Hittites," she +responded so promptly that the other gaped. + +"Upon my word, you're a classy young 'un," she grinned. "Come again +soon and give us some more." + +Patricia as she carried Judith off to the dressing room for her wraps, +was moved to inquiry. + +"How in the world could you answer her so pat?" she asked, twinkling at +Judith's superior air. + +"Oh, I heard you say this morning that outside people were Philistines, +and when I tried to look it up in the Old Testament, I read a lot of +hard names, and I remembered them," she said, triumphantly. "I didn't +think, though, that I'd be able to use them so soon." + +Patricia shook her head. + +"You certainly are the limit," she said, gravely. "What makes you care +so much about words and names and such like things?" she asked, trying +to get at a clearer understanding of her little sister's mental +processes. + +Judith was entirely unconscious of the probe. + +"Why, because they're the very nicest things in the world, of course," +she replied spiritedly. "I love to get new ones and see how they work. +It's such fun. Like archery practice, when you hit the bull's eye. +Only words are somehow different, too. They sort of _taste_ when you +say them--sometimes sweet and sometimes tingly and queer, like the +Amorites and Hittites," and she giggled at the memory. + +Patricia shook her head. + +"Don't go tasting too many new ones around here," she cautioned with a +kiss. "You might hit on the wrong one, and they wouldn't understand +that it was merely a game with you." + +"Well, I just guess it isn't any game," retorted Judith with a toss of +her mane. "It's the most important thing in life to me," and she +stalked off towards the door with great dignity. + +Patricia groaned as she watched her walk primly down the corridor and +out of the side entrance. "That infant," she said to Elinor who had +been leaving Judith out, "is trembling on the brink of becoming a +little prig. We've got to see to it, Norn, that she doesn't get too +satisfied with herself." + +"I don't believe she'll get spoiled," returned Elinor, easily. "She +_is_ clever, you know, and I think it's rather nice that she can enjoy +it a bit. She isn't pretty, and it makes up to her for that." + +"All the same," said Patricia, darkly, "she needs to drop a peg in her +own esteem. Conceit is mighty crippling to the runner in the race that +Ju's picked out for herself. I'd hate her to be a fizzle, and I'm +going to see to it that she gets rid of it." + +"Very well; only don't be too hard on her," said Elinor, easily. "Come +help me with the candy for the night life, won't you? I can't get it +in shape." + +"Lots of time for it," said Patricia, yawning and flinging herself down +on the wide couch. "The men aren't through in there for more than an +hour yet." + +"But I've got to get it tied inside the lantern while no one is about," +insisted Elinor. "And the hall is absolutely deserted now. Come +along, do, and be useful." + +Patricia, protesting, dragged herself from the restful nest, but by the +time they had begun to arrange the gay little bags of candy in the big +red Japanese lantern, she was as enthusiastic as Elinor could wish. + +"Aren't the bags perfect ducks?" she laughed, handling the gauzy +bundles with dexterous fingers. "And those verses are too cute for +words. What a time we all had over them! Ju's are the best, though +she mustn't know it; funny without being personal. It was terribly +hard to get such a mob, too. How many are there altogether, Norn?" + +"Seventeen," replied Elinor, counting. "I hope it will work all right +when I pull the string. I've fixed the bottom of that lantern so it +ought to fall out when I give a hard jerk, and all the bags will tumble +down in a shower." + +"You can't try it, of course," said Patricia. "But I'm dead certain +it'll be all right. What is the matter?" she asked, looking up as the +door of the life room opened and the men began to come out carrying +their canvases and drawing-boards as though the pose were over. "It +can't be four o'clock, surely. Ju hasn't been gone a half hour." + +Naskowski, on his way to the modeling room, paused to answer Patricia's +question. + +"There iss a demonstration in the living anatomy, for all students--a +man who can dislocate his joints at will and do other methods of +showing muscle action," he explained. "So the life iss dismiss. You +will come--not?" + +Patricia and Elinor exchanged a swift glance. + +"We'll be along in a little while," replied Patricia easily. "Save a +seat for us if you can." + +When he had moved on she whispered excitedly: + +"Now's your chance, Norn! I'll skirmish for laggards and report." + +She came back in a moment, triumphant. + +"There isn't a soul in sight," she announced. "Hustle while the +coast's clear. Someone may come back at any moment." + +They hurried into the deserted room, and with eager haste they swung +the big lantern up to the circle of electric fixtures above the model +stand, the stout cord that Elinor had fastened to its bottom hanging +concealed among the drapery of the screen that stood behind the model's +chair. + +"It's all ship-shape now," whispered Patricia as they scrambled down +from the stools whereon they had perched to accomplish their purpose. +"Aren't we in luck? Not a soul even saw us come in." + +"Now for a sight of the dislocated gentleman," said Elinor gayly. "And +then for the great event." + +The anatomical wonder appealed to them so little that they gave up the +seats that the kind Slav had saved for them, and went out, rather +sickened by such limberness, to wait the gong of the night life in the +seclusion of the print room. + +The hall and corridor were dim and the circle of lights above the model +stand was twinkling brightly when Patricia peeped in at the crack of +the door during the first rest. + +"Nothing seems to be happening," said Elinor to her in an undertone as +she joined her. "I believe I'll wait till later, unless I see signs of +action." + +"Don't keep me hanging on here in the dark too long," protested +Patricia. "I'm worn to a bone already." + +When she returned to her post after a brief nap on the wide couch, +everything was quiet, much to her disgust. + +"Why in the world doesn't Elinor loosen up?" she thought, impatiently. + +As she moved nearer she gave a start of surprise. The lights in the +night-life room were out. The transom showed black and empty above the +massive folded doors. + +Patricia drew in her breath with a gasp. She put her hand on the knob +of the door and noiselessly turned it. + +"I'll slip in behind the door screen," she thought, "and see what's +going on. Elinor may need me." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE GHOST DANCE + +The room was very dark at first, and little whispers ran all about in +the gloom. There was a rustling and shuffling and a sound of hurried, +muffled steps. Patricia, from her hiding place behind the door screen, +could make out nothing but the dim oblong of the transom above her head +and the long pale mass of the skylight. + +Suddenly a match flared and the twinkling tip of light grew at a candle +end and she saw a ghostly figure, its white hand busy with the candle +wick and its hollow, black eyes fixed on the tiny growing flame. +Instantly other matches flickered and more candles glimmered in ghostly +fingers, until the room was flashing with tiny points of light, while +the masses of heavy shadow trembled and surged about an array of +white-clad, mysterious, skull-faced figures that slowly formed in line +and, two by two, moved to the center of the room, chanting a low, +monotonous song as they walked in solemn procession. + +"My word!" breathed Patricia, stirred and chilled in spite of herself. +"They're doing it brown this time!" + +As her eyes grew accustomed to the flicker and motion, she searched for +Elinor, and saw her at last, the center of the weird procession, +standing quietly beside the chair from which she had risen, holding her +head with a sweet and gracious dignity that went straight to Patricia's +chilled heart. + +"Dear old Norn," she thought with a returning glow. "They can't scare +her, bless her heart!" + +Elinor stood smiling a little at the gruesome company as they slowly +paced about her in a narrowing circle, and when the leader took her +hand and led her to the model stand, motioning to her to mount it, she +acquiesced with graceful alacrity. + +Standing high above them in the semi-gloom, with that faint smile still +on her lips, she watched them calmly as they danced the famous Ghost +Dance of the Academy about her, omitting no gruesome detail that would +be calculated to affright the dismayed beholder, chanting and groaning +horribly the while. + +At a sign from the leader the dance stopped as suddenly as it had +begun, and the leader once more approached Elinor, followed by four of +the foremost ghosts. + +They mounted the platform and, seating Elinor in the chair, filed +before her, presenting one after another a grisly hand and cadaverous +cheek for her salute. + +"The horrid things!" murmured Patricia to herself, with her wrath +beginning to rise. "I'd pinch their noses for them if they made me +kiss them! Elinor's too gentle with them. I wonder why she doesn't +pull the string? She could reach it easily now." + +But Elinor, far from showing rancor, shook the bony hands and kissed +the sunken cheeks with as good grace as though she were receiving her +dearest friends. She even made some little speech to each, though +Patricia was too far away to catch more than a word or two. + +Her sweetness of temper, nevertheless, did not seem to appease the +ghosts, for, when the ceremony of salutation was finished, the four +seated themselves cross-legged on either side of her, while the leader +proceeded to catechize her. + +"What is your name?" she asked, in a high, squeaking voice that +Patricia failed to recognize. + +Elinor responded promptly. + +"Where do you live?" was the next question, to which Elinor again +replied good-naturedly. + +"Pooh! they're as stupid as the rest," thought Patricia contemptuously, +and she let her attention wander, studying the various ghosts, making +mental notes as to height and size for future reference. + +She was brought back to the center of interest by a sharp hiss from a +ghost on the edge of the assembly and a muffled cry of "No fair!" from +another nearer the stand. + +The leader raised a grisly hand and swept the assembly with her +cavernous eye sockets. + +"I repeat," she piped, turning to Elinor with a jerky bow, "I repeat my +question. Why were you admitted to our class without having worked in +any antique or life classes before?" + +"Oh, that's too personal," said a ghost in a disgusted tone. "I +protest! This isn't a Board meeting." + +There was a general murmur of laughter at this, but the leader stood +rigid, awaiting Elinor's reply. + +"I have told anyone who asked me," said Elinor, evenly, though her +cheeks were beginning to burn. "I came in on Bruce Haydon's +recommendation." + +There was a rustle of approval at her quiet tone and a stir as of the +assembly breaking up, but again the leader motioned for silence. + +"The other four sisters will make their investigation after I have +finished," she announced in her shrill tones. "I have but three more +questions to put to the novice." + +There was a silence that made the next question come with more +insulting force, while Patricia again wondered why Elinor did not seize +this moment for her broadside of bonbons. + +"How much," squeaked the leader, more shrilly than ever, "did Bruce +Haydon bribe the Board to let you in?" + +Instantly there was a storm of hisses and protests; the four next +inquisitors jumped to their feet and down from the model stand with one +motion, crying that it was a shame that the fun was spoiled and that +they had all had enough for one night. + +"Initiation's over!" shouted someone in a voice of authority, and +suddenly the candle-lights vanished into a tumultuous darkness, while +there was a confusion of scurrying noises that made Patricia's head +swim for a moment. + +Then the lights flashed on, and she saw clearly the disheveled, excited +assembly hastily hiding bundles of white cloth in any available spot, +while hair and dress were hurriedly arranged and order generally +restored. Elinor still stood on the model stand under the brilliant +circle of lights, her wide eyes gleaming and her head uplifted. + +"I haven't been asked for a speech," she began clearly. "But I do want +to say a word or two, if you'll let me." + +She paused for some sign, and Patricia in her corner was delighted at +the Babel which answered her. Cries of "Of course we will!" +"_Dee-lighted!_" "Take all the time you want!" mingled with applause +and stamping, until Elinor could not forbear a laugh. + +"I won't wear out your patience," she promised, as quiet was restored +and her voice could again be heard. "I haven't any oration to deliver. +I only want to say that I don't know who it was asked me those +questions, and I hope I never shall know. You've all been very kind to +me, and I'd hate to think that any of you wanted to make me +uncomfortable. I'm sure it was simply an initiation stunt, and I for +one shall never think of it again." + +She paused with a bright, friendly glance on the upturned faces. + +"This is my real introduction to the night-life class," she said, with +a sweeping gesture that, unseen to all but the anxious Patricia, caught +the cord from its hiding place among the draperies. "And I want this +evening to be a sweet memory to us all." + +She stepped aside with a swift movement, and the big red lantern swayed +and threatened to topple as the cord tightened. + +"Why, what's that?" cried a voice, and all eyes were turned to the +gaudy swaying globe. Before anyone could speak, Elinor gave another +hard tug, tearing out the bottom of the lantern, and down came the +shower of gay little gauze bags with their cargoes of bonbons, +pell-mell on the heads of the crowd! + +"Hallelujah! It's the fee!" cried Griffin, with a green and gold +packet in her hands. "Hurrah for Kendall Major! She's the stuff!" + +"Verses, too!" cried Margaret Howes. "Verses on every one of them. +Read them aloud, everybody in turn. Hurry up and get them all +together." + +"Silence, will you?" shouted Griffin, pounding like mad. "Keep still +till the exercises are over. The first little girl to speak her piece +is Miss Doris Leighton. Come up, Doris, dear. Don't put your finger +in your mouth, and speak so we can all hear you. Fire away." + +Patricia thought Doris Leighton looked pale as she stood up on the +model stand to read the nonsense verse that was on her candy bag, but +her loveliness wrought the same spell on the others as it always had, +and they listened to her silvery voice in appreciative silence, and +applauded her warmly at the end. + +One after another, the girls mounted the stand beside Elinor, and read +the little verses, while the assembly listened, and even the model, +decorously cloaked, came from her little room, and with her crocheting +in hand sat smiling at the nonsense. + +When the last verse had been read and the laughter died down, Griffin +raised her voice again. + +"Nobody's asked me for a speech," she began and paused. + +"Didn't think you had to be asked," came from the crowd in a laughing +voice. + +Griffin looked sadly in the direction of the voice. + +"Nobody's asked me," she repeated more firmly, "and so I'm not going to +make any. So there!" + +Groans of relief sounded from the side of the room whence the voice had +come, and there was a general giggle. + +"I merely raised my voice above the general clamor," Griffin went on +with an icy stare towards her hidden critic, "to suggest that we show +our appreciation of the delightful entertainment Miss Kendall has so +thoughtfully provided us by giving her the Night Life Song, or the +Academy Howl, whichever she prefers." She bowed to Elinor with +exaggerated politeness. "Which shall it be, Miss Kendall? Each is +equally diverting, but the Howl has the merit of greater brevity. No +extra charge for the choice, you know, so speak up and name it." + +Elinor glanced about at the circle of laughing, friendly faces and her +eyes shone. + +"I'll choose the song," she announced, gayly. "I've heard a lot of +howling already this evening." + +"The song it is," cried Griffin, stepping on a chair and beginning to +beat time with a big paint-brush. "Now then, all together, my +children. Warble!" + +Patricia, thrilled by the sweetness of the rippling, crooning song, and +before the verse was half done, joined unconsciously in with the +others, forgetting the need of words in the melody of the lilting song. + + "Creatures of the night are we, + Sisters of the glow-worm dim, + Comrades of the hooting owl, + Toilers when the sunset's rim + Overflows with shadows deep; + Harken to our even-song, + Night it is that makes us strong." + + +The chorus swelled, with Griffin's thrilling treble soaring high and +clear: + + "Glorious night that makes us strong, + Drowning day and ending strife; + Guide the skilful hand and eye, + Shape our efforts into life." + + +Patricia's heart beat hard with the beauty of the woven word and +melody, and she gave a little gulp to keep back the tears that sprang +so readily. + +"I didn't dream those uproarious creatures could be so serious. I +wonder where they got that song," she said to herself as she slipped +unnoticed out into the twilight of the corridor. + +She put the question to Griffin when she met her in the hall after the +class had broken up in disorder to celebrate the initiation by a +general gambol through the deserted halls and corridors. Patricia and +Griffin were seating themselves on a drawing-board at the top of the +short flight of stone steps that connected the back corridor with the +exhibition rooms above. + +"That? Oh, Carol Lawton wrote that for us before she left. She was a +corker, I can tell you." A shade flitted over Griffin's face as she +settled herself more firmly on the board. "She died last fall, and +we've sung that song ever since. Ready now! Let her _go_!" + +Away they sped down the stony stairs with a great clatter of board and +flutter of skirts, winding up at the bottom with a final heavy thump. + +"Phew! That's great!" cried Patricia, springing lightly to her feet. +"It's more like flying than anything else." + +"Yes, it's going some," returned Griffin nonchalantly, as she started +up the stair again, dragging the board after her. "The March Hare +originated it back in the dark ages, and we've been doing it off and +on--when the authorities don't get on to us." + +"The March Hare?" queried Patricia, much elated by this exhilarating +society, and wishing more ardently than ever that she were fitted for +this fascinating class. + +Griffin nodded. "Tabby March, you know. The young woman who paints +pussies. Used to go here three years ago, before she'd arrived. She +was a wild one, I can tell you." + +"Do you mean Elizabeth March, who got the Tassel prize this year?" +asked Patricia in surprise. "Why, I saw her last week at the +exhibition and she was awfully prim looking." + +Griffin chuckled. "It's fame that tames them, mark my words. Soon's +they get known they grow into a pattern. Ready now. Let her +r-r-r-_rip_!" + +Elinor intercepted them at the bottom just as they were preparing for a +third flight. + +"I've been looking for you everywhere, Miss Pat," she said radiantly. +"There's going to be a spread in the cave, and I've phoned home to Judy +not to wait for us, as we won't be there for dinner." + +"Am I asked?" demanded Patricia with eager eyes. + +"Of course, or I'd have sent word by you instead of phoning," said +Elinor quickly. "Come along down, both of you. Everything is ready, +and Margaret Howes is making Welsh rarebit just specially for you--she +heard you say you adored it. Hurry, hurry." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +AFTERMATH + +The feast was half over when Patricia, who sat between Margaret Howes +and Griffin and opposite to the adorable Doris Leighton, got a distinct +shock. + +The girls had been talking of the initiation and the part that Elinor +had played. + +"Your sister has covered herself with glory by the way she took her +hazing," said Margaret, deftly winding a long string of the rarebit +around a bread stick and popping it in her mouth. + +"She certainly saved us from a fluke by the nice fashion in which she +turned the popular attention from that idiot who was leading the band," +added Griffin, reaching for the mustard. + +Patricia longed to ask a question, but Margaret Howes saved her the +necessity. + +"Who was it, do you know, Griffin?" she inquired in a lowered tone. + +"Can't be certain, of course, but I have my doubts," replied Griffin, +in the same pitch. "I think that I recognized the silvery tones of a +fair one who is not too far away from us," and she glanced +significantly across the table to where Doris Leighton sat with the +candle-light shining in her bright hair and a little smile curving her +pink lips. + +Patricia caught the look, and was instantly both astonished and +indignant. + +"I don't see how you can think that!" she cried hotly, and then hastily +lowering her voice, she added: "You must have known who they chose for +leader, even if you both were at the tail of the march." + +Griffin grinned good-naturedly. "Keep your righteous wrath for the +right fellow, young 'un. When you've been in the night life as many +years as I have, you'll know that we don't choose a leader--she simply +elects herself by taking the head of the procession. We never know +who's who after we rig up. That's part of the game. So, you see, it +may have been the charming Doris, or Howes here, or my unworthy self, +that put those obnoxious questions to your sister--no one knows for +sure, and the mean cuss won't tell." + +"Why should she want to be horrid to Elinor?" persisted Patricia, +frowning a little in her earnestness. "We don't know her very well +yet, but she's been perfectly sweet to us both." + +"That describes her to a T, doesn't it, Howes?" grinned the +imperturbable Griffin. "That's the way we find her--so sweet that she +is sickening, eh?" + +"Hush, she'll hear you!" warned Howes, laughing a little, nevertheless, +whereupon Patricia instantly decided that she had been mistaken in +Margaret Howes' character, and that she was less open-minded and +warm-hearted than she had believed. + +"I can't see why you should pitch on her," insisted Patricia, kneading +her cake into pills in her agitation. "What could she have against +Elinor?" + +Griffin yawned elaborately and then addressed Margaret Howes with +lifted eyebrows. + +"This young person, though evidently of an investigating turn of mind, +has not quite fathomed the nature of the reigning beauty of our little +coterie. Being of a candid and affable nature herself, she fails to +comprehend how the fangs of the green-eyed monster, once fastened in +the tender heart of said beauty, make the said beauty so mortally +uncomfy that she's bound to take it out on somebody--and who so natural +or convenient as the critter who sicked the serpent on her." + +"You mean that she is jealous of Elinor?" asked Patricia, opening her +eyes very wide. "Why, Elinor is only a beginner, and _she's_ studied +abroad!" + +"All the same, she sees that Kendall Major is about to snatch the +laurel wreath from all our heads, and she doesn't want to do without +any of her ornaments." + +"But Elinor didn't even get a criticism in the head class yet," +protested Patricia, unconvinced. "Mr. Benton didn't get around to her +this morning, and she doesn't get any criticism in the night life till +tomorrow afternoon. I don't see how she could be jealous." + +Griffin made a face over a sip of over-heated cocoa. "Just as you +please," she murmured benevolently. "Make the best of it, like a good +child. Charity is the chief Christian virtue and an ornament to all. +Are you going in for the prize design, Howes? I hear that it's open to +the whole class." + +"Haven't heard of it," replied Margaret Howes, with eager interest. +"What is it? And who's giving it?" + +"Roberts, the big New York decorator. He's offering a hundred dollars +for the best design for a panel for a library--originality to be the +chief feature. Popsy Brown told me. I thought it had been announced." + +"It wasn't on the bulletin board this afternoon," said a girl across +the table, who had been listening to this last speech. "Tell us about +it, Griffie dear. We're all dying to hear." + +"Spout it out loud!" called another from the end of the table. "We +can't catch your muffled accents down here." + +The announcement of the prize was received with such lively interest +that it routed all other subjects, and even Patricia caught the +enthusiasm. + +"I hope Elinor tries for it," she said excitedly. "She'll say she's +too green, I suppose." + +"Tell her to make a hack at it anyway," urged Margaret Howes earnestly. +"Originality is the thing that counts, and she's got as good a chance +as any of us there." + +"Better," said Griffin tersely. "We're so filled with other people's +ideas that we've degenerated into regular copy-cats. I can't undertake +any subject but that I have a lot of designs by famous painters popping +into my mind and mixing me up horribly." + +"I wish I could draw," mused Patricia, absently sugaring her +Frankfurter. "I've got tons of ideas already." + +"That reminds me," broke out Griffin. "There's a prize for the mud +larks, too. I've forgotten what it is, but it'll be posted in the +morning. There's your chance, young 'un. You're eligible for it." + +Patricia was about to speak, but there was a general stir and a voice +cried, authoritatively: + +"Eight o'clock. Time to break up! Three cheers for Kendall Major and +her candy toys. The Academy Howl, ladies, if you please!" + +A space was hurriedly cleared at the other end of the table, a chair +placed and Patricia saw Elinor, blushing and protesting, thrust into it +by a dozen laughing students. + +Patricia stood to one side, as they formed a hasty group in the open +space by the door, and, with Griffin beating time, stretched their +mouths to the utmost and gave the Academy Howl with a vim that was +deafening, drawing out the final deep growling notes to a weirdly +wailing finish that sent Patricia and Elinor into gales of mirth. + +"How in the world did you make up such an unearthly yodel?" demanded +Elinor, preparing to descend from her chair of state. "I hope I'm not +expected to answer in kind." + +"You don't budge from there, young lady, till you've given us a song," +declared Griffin, vigorously. "We know your dark secrets. We've heard +that you can warble a bit." + +Elinor sat down in surprise. "Oh, but I can't," she protested. "I +can't sing at all. Miss Pat----" + +A glare from Patricia stopped her, but it was too late. A chorus of +laughing voices took up the demand, "A song, Miss Pat!" "Don't be +stingy, Kendall Minor; tune up!" "Give us a sample, Miss Pat!" until +Griffin, with a bow, offered her arm to the rebellious Patricia and led +her, protesting and abashed, to the chair whence Elinor had escaped. + +Once on the impromptu platform, Patricia's embarrassment dropped from +her, and she smiled a ready acknowledgment to the shouts that demanded +a dozen different songs at once. + +"I can't sing them all at once," she said, gayly. "But if you'll +settle on one that I know, I'll do my best for you. You've given me an +awfully good time tonight, and I'm only too glad to sing for you." + +After a great deal of good-humored bickering and sifting of requests to +suit Patricia's repertoire, the tumult gradually quieted and Patricia +rose. + +"I'll sing 'Mary of Argyle' first, and then a new little song, but it +won't sound very well without any accompaniment," she said simply, and +then, folding her hands before her and tilting her head like a bird, +she began to sing, softly at first and then louder till her voice +soared and rang echoing through the bare, empty rooms that flanked the +lunch rooms. + + "I have watched thy heart, my Mary, + And its goodness was the wile, + That has made me thine forever, + Bonnie Mary of Argyle." + + +Patricia's voice swelled and sank on the last lines of the old song, +and the girls broke into hearty applause, which was startlingly +reinforced from the doorway of the lumber cellar. The janitor's sallow +face appeared from the gloom and his deep voice boomed an encore. + +"Fine! Fine!" he cried, nodding his head approvingly. "That beats +them all! My wife, she used to sing that song, and I liked it fine, +but you beat them all!" + +Patricia blushed with pleasure, and Griffin called out heartily, +"Bring her in, Eitel. There's going to be another!" + +As the janitor padded away to the domestic portion of the basement to +fetch his smiling wife, Griffin added to Patricia, "They're an awfully +good sort. You don't mind, do you?" + +"No, indeed!" cried Patricia. "It's sweet of them to like it!" + +Doris Leighton smiled at Elinor in the crowd and murmured a word of +praise for the singing, adding, however, that she was afraid that the +janitor could hardly appreciate it. + +"What's that?" asked Griffin, whose quick ear had caught the last +words. "Not appreciate it? Why, do you know that Eitel used to be +butler for Patti in his youth? Fie, fie, my child; likewise, go to." + +Patricia caught her breath. "I hope he likes the next one," she said +anxiously, whereat Griffin chuckled. + +"Don't be too scared," she said in a quick undertone. "It's forty +years since he served the Diva, and he only stayed a month. I merely +exploited him musically to bluff off the Class Beauty. Hush! here they +are, large as life. Now, warble your prettiest, for Mrs. Eitel really +knows good stuff when she hears it." + +So Patricia flung her whole self into the sparkling "April Girl," and +at the finish had the reward of an ovation. The students clapped and +the Eitels applauded with hands and feet, and cried "Encore!" till they +were red in the face. + +"I'll sing just one more, and then I'll have to stop," she said with +eager brightness. "My voice isn't strong enough to do much, you know, +though I'm awfully glad you like the songs." + +So she sang another, a lullaby, that sank to its finish in flattering +silence. Not a word was spoken as she stepped to the floor, but Elinor +put out her hand and gave Patricia's a hard squeeze. + +Mrs. Eitel broke the silence. "That music has made me strong," she +declared, beaming. "These dishes I will now wash up for the reward of +those songs. Go along now, young ladies, and think nothing about the +disorder and the scrappishness, for it is I who will make them to come +to order." + +There were a few feeble protests, but Mrs. Eitel bore them down, and +the students trooped off upstairs to their lockers and the dressing +room, well pleased to escape the prosaic end to their fun. + +On the way home Patricia told Elinor of the suspicions that had been +whispered about Doris Leighton's part in the initiation, and, much to +her satisfaction, Elinor was as indignant as she had been. + +"I can't see how they can be so unfriendly to her," she said warmly. +"She is so kind and agreeable. Of course, she doesn't associate with +everybody, but neither does Margaret Howes nor Griffin either, for that +matter. So far from being jealous, she's been specially sociable with +me, and I felt quite flattered by it." + +"I knew you'd feel just that way about it," said Patricia, relieved and +triumphant. "I told them she'd been awfully sweet to us." + +"I think it more likely that it was Griffin herself," said Elinor with +spirit. "She's such a wild, harum-scarum thing, and she does love to +tease." + +Patricia was silent, weighing this suggestion. They both broke into +negation at once as they reached their own front door. + +"It couldn't be Griffin," said Patricia earnestly. "She was too +disgusted with it." + +"No, I didn't really mean that," cried Elinor, repentantly. "It wasn't +a bit like her teasing. Her's always has a good flavor." + +"I wonder who it could have been," they both murmured as they went +upstairs to their rooms. + +Judith was deeply interested with their recital of the whole affair, +and grew quite excited in the discussion as to the identity of the +leader of the Ghost Dance. + +"If I were there enough to know the different girls, I'd know who it +was without much trouble," she declared. + +"How would you manage it, Sherlock?" asked Patricia. "Give us a hint +of your method, and we may be able to locate the fiend ourselves." + +Judith tossed her head. + +"Oh, you may laugh, Miss Pat. But all the same, I'd _know_. I could +tell by the little things that you grown-ups don't notice." + +"Mercy, Judy!" cried Patricia in genuine consternation. "You mustn't +examine us all with your private microscope. It isn't fair!" + +Elinor put an end to the discussion by pointing to the clock. + +"Do you see the hour, infants?" she demanded. "Tomorrow is a full day, +and we must get to our beds. Toddle, Judy dear. If you aren't asleep +in ten minutes you'll have to take a nap in the afternoon." + +"Oh, but Miss Jinny's coming at five, and David won't leave till +half-past four!" protested Judith, horrified at such a prospect, and +beginning to scramble out of her clothes with lively haste. "And you +promised to show me the night-life room, too, when all the students +were there and the model wasn't posing! Oh, dear Elinor, you're a very +agitating person! I'm twice as wide-awake as I was a minute ago!" + +When Elinor and Patricia were alone, Patricia opened the subject that +had been occupying her thought for the last few minutes. + +"You'll try for that library panel prize, won't you, Norn?" she asked, +pleadingly. "Griffin and Margaret Howes both say you ought. I know +you could do something worth while." + +Elinor paused in her hair brushing, and sank down on the stool, +absently propping her chin on her brush. + +"It doesn't seem worth while," she began, but Patricia broke in +impatiently: + +"You never know what you can do till you try. I'd try for anything I +was eligible for, if I couldn't draw a stroke, just to be in with the +rest." + +Elinor smiled and pulled Patricia down beside her on the stool. + +"Don't be too hard on your lazy old sister, Miss Pat," she said with a +kiss. "I'll promise to go in for it if you won't scold any more. If I +disgrace the family, you mustn't cast it up to me." + +Patricia tossed her bright head scornfully. + +"'Disgrace!'" she repeated hotly. "Why, do you know, Elinor Kendall, +that they're all saying _already_ that you're a wonder?" Then with a +swift change, she broke into a giggle. "Wait till you lay eyes on my +contribution to the modeling competition. You'll have the treat of +your young life then!" + +"What's it to be?" asked Elinor, releasing her and beginning to braid +her dark hair. + +"Don't know," replied Patricia gayly. "Don't care, either. Whatever +it is, I'm going into it tooth and nail. I'll show them that I'm on +the turf even if I can't win a ribbon." + +Judith's voice came plaintively from her room. + +"I don't think it's fair," she faltered. "You girls keep chattering so +I can't go to sleep, and the ten minutes are up long ago." + +"Bless your heart, Infant, you're a martyr to our long tongues!" cried +Patricia, jumping up and putting out the light. "Go to sleep now. We +won't chirp a single note. Good-night, and happy dreams!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +DAVID'S TREAT + +"I haven't had my criticism yet, and if I don't get it next pose, +you'll have to go to the station without me," said Elinor to the other +two girls as she met them in the corridor the next morning. "Mr. +Benton's awfully slow, but I can't miss this first criticism, you know." + +"David'll be fearfully disappointed," remarked Judith dispassionately. +"It's his first family spree, and I think it's your duty to go, Elinor." + +"Oh, I'll be through in time for the luncheon," said Elinor, hastily. +"But if I'm not out here by eleven-fifteen, you'd better start without +me. I can meet you somewhere, or you all can come over here for me." + +Doris Leighton, passing, stopped for a gay word with Patricia and +Judith as they loitered in the hall. She made a laughing little +gesture of envy when she heard their program for the day, which +Patricia, eager to make amends for the unspoken slight upon her, poured +out generously. + +"What fun it will be," she said, with the faintest tinge of sadness in +her lovely voice. "It must be splendid to have a brother! I have +always so longed for one." + +Patricia caught herself in the act of offering her a share in David +Francis, but remembering his cold criticism of other attractive girls +in the past, closed her lips in time. + +"We didn't have one till this winter," she said cheerfully. "So I +guess we appreciate him for all he's worth." + +Doris Leighton's pretty eyes widened. "What in the world do you mean?" +she asked with such real interest that Patricia gladly rushed into the +tale of the kidnaping of her five-year-old twin brother, and how he had +been given up as dead for all the long years until the chance discovery +of his identity revealed him to them at the very time when they were +most in need of him. She did not dwell on the financial reinforcement +that he brought to them, feeling instinctively that the knowledge of +their straitened means would lower them in Doris Leighton's estimation, +but drew a lively picture of the jolly Christmas party they had had at +Greycroft, and the happy future they were looking forward to in their +life together. + +"He's at Prep now, but he'll enter Yale next year," she ended proudly. +"He's awfully clever, though he doesn't show it. He behaves just as +silly and stupid as other boys most of the time." + +"He must be a nice boy," returned the Class Beauty, with lagging +interest and a shade of condescension in her manner. "Of course, he's +young yet. I thought he was Kendall Major's twin." + +Judith, who had been scanning her narrowly, opened her eyes at this, +and asked innocently, "Is that why you thought you'd like him? Because +he was older and more grown-up?" + +Doris Leighton laughed a rippling laugh that had no shade of the +annoyance which Patricia felt rise hotly at Judith's rather pert +question. + +"Bless you, no, child," she said lightly. "I merely thought he would +be more apt to be like your oldest sister, whom I admire tremendously, +as everyone knows." + +Patricia could scarcely wait till Miss Leighton was out of earshot. + +"What in the world made you so disagreeable?" she demanded of the +unconcerned Judith. "Any blind bat could see that you wanted to be +nasty, in spite of your namby-pamby airs." + +Judith merely smiled her superior smile. "I know more about Miss Doris +Leighton than you think," she said, nonchalantly. "Her little sister +is in my class at school, and I just got acquainted with her yesterday." + +Patricia stamped her foot in vexation. "What _do_ you mean?" she +cried. "You're the most exasperating----" + +The words died on her tongue, as Elinor suddenly emerged from the +portrait class door, her face radiant and with an exclamation of quick +pleasure at the sight of them. + +"I got my criticism! And he said the work was good! Now I can write +to Bruce," and her voice rang with a thrilling note of joy that carried +Patricia with her. + +"Good old Norn!" she cried, with a mighty hug. "I told you that you +were the real stuff! Ju and I are mighty proud of our big sister, +aren't we, Ju?" + +Judith caught Elinor's hand, and pressed close, silently adoring. + +"You girls are angels to wait for me till the very last moment," +chatted Elinor, stuffing her things into her locker recklessly. "I +hated to run the risk of not going to the station, but, oh, it was +worth it!" + +Patricia watched her with studious eyes as she pinned on her hat and +hurried into her wraps, holding forth the while in an exultation most +unusual to her. + +"You're 'fair lifted,' aren't you, Norn?" she asked curiously. "I +didn't know you ever got so daffy over anything. I've never seen you +if you have." + +Judith looked wise. "I know how she feels," she declared, sagely. "I +get awfully excited when I write something good. Why, sometimes I cry, +I'm so happy about it, and I jump up and down, too, all by myself." + +Patricia grinned. "You two geniuses understand each other, I see. +Might a humdrum mortal remind you that David is just about sliding into +the train shed at this moment?" + +"Mercy! Are we so late?" exclaimed Elinor, remorsefully. "Hurry, +Judith. Don't wait for me. I'll catch up to you before you get to the +corner." + +Off they raced, and came panting into the station, to find the express +ten minutes late, and David just stepping from the platform of the +still moving line of cars. + +Patricia, who denounced recklessness in others, flew to meet him with +loud reproaches, regardless of the thronging crowd of undergraduates +that were nimbly springing off after him. + +"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, David Carson!" she cried, her big +gray eyes alight and a pretty flush on her cheeks. "You'll simply +_kill_ yourself some day, that's what you'll do! Why can't you wait +till it stops?" + +David, grinning broadly, cast a rather sheepish glance at the hurrying +throng. + +"Fellows were in a hurry," he explained good-naturedly, as he shook +hands with a grip that made her wince. "Couldn't keep you girls +waiting, anyway. Hullo, Elinor, how's the artist lady? Hullo, kid, +give us your paw. Don't need to ask you how you are--you look out of +sight." + +Judith as she kissed him was wrinkling her smooth brows at him. "But I +thought you were going to bring Tom Hughes----" she began, hesitatingly. + +David burst into a laugh. "Blest if I didn't forget all about Tommy," +he cried, turning to search the platform with eager eyes. "He's here +somewhere, but he's a shy youth and I guess he was afraid you'd want to +kiss him, too, Judy. Oh, there he is. Hullo, Tommy! Step lively, +please!" + +A tall dark-haired youth in a gray suit and overcoat, who had been +standing with his back to them a short distance away, turned and showed +a pleasant, homely face with two very lively eyes and a wide, firm +mouth. + +"This is the famous Hughes Junior," said David, introducing him to them +collectively. "Collector of dead bugs, and trouble generally. He +looks mild, but you want to watch him." + +Hughes Junior chuckled, in a slightly embarrassed fashion. + +"Don't give me away too hard," he said, in an agreeable voice. "I +haven't taken any of your bugs yet. I won't tell on him, Miss +Kendall," he added with an admiring glance at Elinor, "although I could +make you shudder with tales of his dark deeds." + +"Now, don't let's waste time," said David briskly. "Where are we bound +first? How about taking a peep at the art-joint? Do you allow +visitors in the morning?" + +"Do you really want to go?" asked Patricia, beaming. "The modeling +room's open, and you can always see the antique." + +"Let's look them over then," returned David, promptly. "We aren't keen +on antiques--got too many in our boarding-house, but we want to see +what you've been up to, Miss, so lead on. Tommy here does not care +much for female pursuits, but he'll have to put up with it for once." + +"Female!" cried Patricia. "I like that! There are as many men as +there are girls, aren't there, Elinor? You're shockingly ignorant, +young man." + +They started off, leaving Tom Hughes and Elinor to follow, and Judith, +as she cast a searching backward glance at David's chum, whispered to +Patricia that he must be very nice and sociable for he seemed just as +much at home with Elinor as if she'd been another boy. + +"Think he'll do for that future helpmeet you're expecting to turn up +any old day, Judy?" Patricia mischievously whispered back. + +"_Patricia_, he'll hear you!" gasped the scandalized Judith. + +"What are you two mumbling about?" demanded David, shouldering his way +through the assembly at the station door. "No fair talking secrets +today. I've got to be in everything that's going on. 'Fess up now, +Judy, you were complaining that Tommy's nose was too long for the hero +of your next novel, weren't you?" + +"I never said a word about his nose," cried Judith, relieved to evade +the real topic. "I'd be more polite than to criticize his linny-ments +like that." + +Patricia joined in David's peal of laughter. "Shades of Hannah Ann +defend us!" she cried, gayly. "Don't spring any more bombs like that +on us, Infant. We've got to last till lunch time, anyway." + +"Lunch time!" repeated David, warmly. "I'm aiming to survive till at +least five minutes after! Think of all the good things we're going to +massacre. Where does Elinor want to go, Miss Pat? She didn't nominate +it in her note!" + +"We all want to go to the same place we had such fun in last spring, +when we thought we were so rich," said Judith quickly. "Elinor said +you were to have first choice, though, as it was your treat." + +"Litz-Tarlton, wasn't it?" asked David. "O.K. for me, and Tommy is a +good-natured brute, who doesn't care where he feeds, so that he feeds." + +They found the usual array of aproned students in the corridors and +work rooms, and although the boys tried to be enthusiastic it was plain +that the famous Academy did not appeal to them very strongly. + +"Pretty smelly sort of a place, isn't it?" said Tom Hughes to Patricia, +with great cheerfulness. "I suppose you get awfully mussed up with +that clay, too. Isn't it hard to work in?" + +Patricia, though a bit disappointed, felt delightfully superior as she +replied loftily, "It isn't so bad. We don't mind, you know, because +we're so interested in the work." + +They all stood around on the sloppy floor of the clay room as she undid +the moist wrappings of her half-finished head. As the cloths were laid +aside, there was a disheartening silence. + +"It looks sort of whopper-jawed, doesn't it, Miss Pat?" asked David, +hesitating. "I can see it's going to be a stunner when it's done, but +I guess I'm weak on sculpture anyway. I can't understand it in the +green stage." + +"It looks like a foreigner, all right," ventured Tom Hughes, and was +rewarded for his courage by a flash of passionate gratitude from +Patricia's big gray eyes. + +"He's a Russian refugee," she said, triumphantly, and as she quickly +covered her work again, and they passed out through the little side +entrance, she told them the tragic scrap of the model's history that +had sifted through the gossip of the work room. + +"I see why Judy is so keen on the fine arts just now," teased David as +he dropped into step again. "Lots of material for current fiction, eh, +Ju?" + +But Judith maintained a discreet silence, and David and Patricia fell +into talk of school and study till the door of the great hotel swung +wide to admit their little party. + +"I say, this is fine!" declared David, as he looked about him in the +palm-shaded, pink and gold dining-room. "Beats our refectory at the +Prep, doesn't it, Tommy old boy?" + +Hughes made a careful inventory of the delicate china and sparkling +silver before he delivered himself. + +"I haven't had a sample of the food yet," he said, gravely, "but if it +comes up to the equipment, I'll be perfectly satisfied." + +Patricia and Elinor, who, with Judith, had put on their best for the +little spree, were in the highest spirits and were delighted with +everything, remembering many of the chief features of the room and +pointing them out to each other until David protested. + +"I say, you needn't rub it in that Tom and I are greenhorns," he said, +grinning. "Don't forget that once you were quite as unaccustomed to +all this magnificence as we are now." + +"Listen to him!" exclaimed Patricia, gayly. "He's been abroad for +_months_ in all sorts of grandeur, and he pretends----" + +She broke off suddenly at the swift remembrance of that futile search +for health that had led the gentle Mrs. Carson to her grave in far-away +Florence. She caught his hand under the table in a quick squeeze, +while Elinor hurried into comparisons that claimed Judith's and Tom's +close attention. + +"I'm a horrid pig to forget," she whispered contritely. "Don't be +cross, Frad dear; you know how sorry I am." + +David gave an answering squeeze that brought the tears to her eyes, as +he whispered in return, "That's all right, old lady. Don't you fret +about me." + +He dropped her hand at the obsequious voice of the waiter at his elbow. + +"Do you wish to order, sir?" + +After the man had gone, Patricia, who had flushed, suddenly giggled. +"Did you see him looking at us, Frad?" she asked, in an undertone. "He +thought he'd caught us holding hands, like regular grown-up spoons!" + +"Stuff and nonsense!" growled David, hotly. "He'd know better than +that." + +Nevertheless, in spite of his protest, David took great care to behave +with the utmost frigidity to Patricia whenever the smiling waiter made +his appearance, and instead lavished his care on Judith, who took on +airs of importance that were delightful to behold. + +"We caught our first view of Bruce Haydon here--remember, Norn?" said +Patricia, happily consuming her entrée. "Wouldn't it be fun if we'd +run across someone else this time?" + +"I don't think so," said David resolutely. "We haven't such a lot of +time to be together that we need anyone else butting in. I'm satisfied +as we are." + +"You must have had a thought wave, Miss Patricia," said Tom Hughes. +"The unexpected friend is here all right." + +The girls swept a puzzled glance around the room, but could discern no +familiar face among the gay groups at the many little tables. David, +however, gave an exclamation, and half rose in his chair. + +"Sure enough, Tommy. It's Hilton to the very life. Don't you see him, +Pat, coming in with that head waiter? Do you mind if we ask him to +join us, Elinor? He's coming right this way. He's English Lit., and a +dandy fellow, if he is a teacher." + +Elinor gave a hasty assent, but Patricia was ardent. + +"Oh, do ask him, David," she urged, taking in the attractive athletic +figure with its wholesome self-reliant air. "He looks awfully nice." + +"He's all of that. He's the youngest professor in the school and no +end a good fellow," supplemented Tom Hughes, heartily. + +David half rose again, and signaled to attract the other's attention, +and when Mr. Hilton saw who was hailing him, a pleased smile ran over +his face and he strode forward with outstretched hand. + +"Well, this is luck!" he began, but paused, seeing the girls. "I'm in +for a bit of lunch before the matinee, and I can only say 'howdy.' +Going to take in the miracle play at the Globe,--finest thing in town, +they say. See you later, perhaps," and he bowed to them all, vaguely +including the three girls in his kindly glance. + +"Not much you won't!" cried David. "You're going to have lunch with +us--we've only just begun. I want you to meet my sisters. That is, if +you haven't any other engagement," and here he snickered, for there was +a rumor current in the Prep that Hilton was secretly devoted to some +unknown charmer. + +The insinuation fell harmless, as far as the young professor was +concerned. + +"I shall be delighted, if you'll be so good as to let me," he said +gratefully, with his sincere gaze on the festive group about the dainty +table. "I've heard of your good luck in finding your family, and am +very glad to meet them." + +A chair was brought and another luncheon ordered, and soon they were +chattering as gayly as though they had all known each other for ages. +Elinor inquired for Mr. Lindley, who by chance had been Mr. Hilton's +room-mate at college, and heard that he was in France on his belated +honeymoon. + +"He expected to be married last fall, but there was a hitch in getting +out his book," said Mr. Hilton, as he finished his salad. "So he +couldn't get away till last month." + +"We had a great interest in that book," said Elinor smiling, "for he +was compiling it when he boarded with us last summer. I'm glad to hear +it is out at last. We'll have to get a copy of it, for old times' +sake." + +Tom Hughes, who had been surreptitiously glancing at his watch beneath +the table cover, spoke reluctantly. + +"If you people don't want to miss the first act, we'll have to be +toddling," he said. "It's about five minutes after two." + +"Where are you going, Kendall?" asked Mr. Hilton as they pushed back +their chairs, and stood waiting for the last button on Judith's glove +to come to terms. "If you haven't settled on anything special, I'd +like to have you all see the new play with me. It's said to be the +finest thing in America, and I'm sure your sisters would enjoy it." + +David acquiesced, as far as the play was concerned. "But you are not +going to take us," he said firmly. "This is my spree and I can't let +any other fellow butt in. We'll get seats together, and have a bully +time, if you're willing to go with us. Come, Judy, we'll hustle on +ahead and secure the seats, while these elderly folks stroll after us +at their leisure." + +Patricia found Tom Hughes a very agreeable companion on the walk to the +theater, and they discussed tennis and swimming with an ardor that was +most exhilarating, while Elinor and Mr. Hilton kept up as best they +could among the holiday crowds to the brisk pace that they maintained +in the lead. + +The play was all that had been promised and they sat through its +mystic-scenes with rapt attention, comparing notes enthusiastically in +the intervals when the curtain was down, and when it was over they came +out into the daylight with that peculiar sensation of unreality in the +daylight world that follows an enthralling matinee. + +"Don't the people seem funny-looking?" said Judith, blinking at the +gayly dressed crush at the theater entrance. "They all seem like +actors in a play, with the twinkly electric lights and the streaky +yellow sunset behind those big buildings." + +They paused a moment on the corner for a look at the twilit streets +with their white pulsing points of electric lamps flickering above the +hurrying crowds, while behind the sky line, with its towers and +minarets and huge squares of office buildings, the clear topaz of the +winter sunset surged upward in the dimming turquoise sky. + +"There's a picture for you, Elinor," said David, pointing to the +beautiful serrated mass of the great buildings looming misty-blue +against the gold. "Can't you remember that, and put it on canvas when +you get home?" + +Elinor made no reply. Her eyes were fixed on the lovely fading +panorama of life that was shifting before them. The twilight, the +sunset, and the haunting magic of the miracle play still lingering with +them, touched them all into sudden seriousness, and they stood silent +and intent, forgetful of the whirl of pleasure and traffic that swept +about them. + +"See how the sunset catches on the big cross on the tower!" said +Patricia softly. "It's the only thing up there in the sky that answers +the sun's signaling." + +"'Light answering to light,'" quoted Mr. Hilton, and Patricia flashed +an eager glance of appreciation at his earnest face. + +After the young men had waved their last farewells from the car windows +and the train had puffed its way out of the great arching dome, +Patricia spoke her mind with her usual frankness. + +"Tom Hughes is an awfully nice boy," she said, slipping a hand into +Judith's and Elinor's arm, as they paced the platform, waiting for Miss +Jinny's train. "But for pure, sheer adorableness, give me Mr. Hilton, +every time. Don't you think he's a perfect duck, Elinor?" + +Elinor laughed easily. "He seems to be very pleasant and he certainly +is popular with the boys," she admitted, "but I must say I like Tommy +Hughes immensely." + +"Which have you selected for your future partner, Judy?" teased +Patricia, turning to her little sister. "I saw your speculative eye +upon them, and I knew you were weighing them well. Which is it to +be--Tommy or the Prof?" + +"I'm getting too old to be treated like such a baby, Miss Pat," said +Judith with great dignity. "I wish you wouldn't be so silly! How +could I marry an old person like Mr. Hilton, anyway?" + +"Then it's Tom," cried Patricia delightedly. "I wonder if he'll mind +being tagged. Shall you tell him his fate soon, Ju, or let him +gradually waken to it?" + +Judith merely pursed her lips and tossed her head. "Don't you think +the train must be late?" she said to Elinor. "I do hope you can stay +till Miss Jinny gets here." + +"I have to leave in just five minutes," said Elinor, glancing at the +big illuminated clock face. "I can't be late for criticism in the +night life, you know." + +They paced for a minute or two in silence, and then Patricia gave a +little sigh. + +"Haven't we had a gorgeous time?" she said, thoughtfully. "I didn't +realize that we could enjoy ourselves so much for such a long time. +It's been a whole month now, and getting nicer every day. We've been +always so pinched that it seems almost wicked to be so careless about +spending money, doesn't it, Norn?" + +"I don't feel that way," said Elinor gratefully. "I'm thankful every +minute of the day for the happiness we have, and I feel that it has +come to us from the same Lord that made the world full of beauty and +joy." + +Patricia gave her arm a quick squeeze. "If we weren't on a public +platform, I'd kiss you for that, Elinor Kendall," she said, ardently. +"You make things so comfortable for me." + +"We don't waste anything, anyway, and we do all we can to be nice to +other people," said Judith, seriously. "And that ought to count, +oughtn't it?" + +"Like a charm to keep off ghosts," laughed Patricia. "Perhaps we ought +to cross our fingers, Ju, when we remember to. That might help, too." + +But Judith was not attending. Her eyes were fixed on the far side of +the great station. + +"Why, there she is!" she cried in surprise. "She must have come in on +the wrong track! She's looking all around for us. Do hurry, Elinor! +I'll run on ahead and tell her you're coming." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +SMOOTH WATERS + +"Well, I declare, if you ain't just the same," said Miss Jinny, as +Patricia piloted her through the crowds to the cab-stand. + +Elinor, taking Judith with her, had said a hasty farewell and hurried +off to the Academy for her criticism in the night life, with promises +to return as soon as possible. + +Miss Jinny, in her fine, last-season's dress, with the usual up-to-date +hat on her scanty drab hair, and the twinkle of amusement at the +continuous entertainment that life afforded her, was looking so well +that Patricia voiced her wonder that she should have come to town for +doctoring, as her letter had intimated. + +Miss Jinny chuckled huskily. "Don't you worry about that," she said, +mysteriously. "It ain't my health. It's something I didn't want to +write on paper," and she tapped her upper lip suggestively. + +Patricia, noting the downy line that penciled the corners of her firm +mouth, hesitated to put an inquiry that could be delicate enough to +indicate the faint moustache without hurting Miss Jinny's feelings. + +"Uppers!" said Miss Jinny, wholly unconscious of Patricia's +perturbation. "Came in on the sly last week to have a new set made. +Got measured for 'em, and am going to get them day after tomorrow. +Thought I'd combine business with pleasure and make a visit while they +were being filed to fit. I don't reckon that dentist'll hit them off +first shot. They mostly never do, you know." + +"I hope he doesn't," said Patricia, warmly. "For then you'll have to +stay longer with us. And we're going to have _such_ a good time!" + +In the taxicab she unfolded the plans for the week that Miss Jinny had +promised them, dwelling on each detail with all the ardor of her +enthusiastic nature. + +"Lands alive!" cried Miss Jinny, enjoying herself hugely in prospect. +"I haven't the duds to do credit to such doings. Why, I'm all out of +style, and you know it, Louise Patricia Kendall! You'll have me +running into all sorts of extravagance, dyking out for your tea parties +and such like fandangos." + +The taxi stopped with a bump at the curb and Patricia sprang out, paid +the man and joined Miss Jinny on the sidewalk before the door had +opened to admit the little worn trunk that the driver shouldered with +such ease. + +"Why, it's a mansion for sure!" exclaimed Miss Jinny, gazing with +approval at the fine front of the tall, well-kept, brown-stone house. +"I was so afraid you girls might be poked away in some stuffy street +with never a tree or bit of sky to hearten you, but that park's most +equal to the real country." + +"It was the park that brought us here," said Patricia, leading the way +upstairs to the spacious front room where Miss Jinny was to be +domiciled. "And we're so glad we came. Mrs. Hudson is so kind to us +that we don't feel like strangers at all. Even Ju adores her, and you +know how hard she is to suit." + +"Who's talking about me?" demanded Judith's high treble, and they +turned to see her in the doorway, silhouetted against the brilliantly +lighted hall. + +"Mercy, Judy, where did you drop from?" asked Patricia, startled. "I +didn't expect you for an hour. Is Elinor home, too?" + +Judith explained that although she had been so eager for a visit to the +celebrated night life, she had tired of the loneliness of work hours, +and had run off home, leaving Elinor still expecting her criticism. + +"Besides, I wanted to see Miss Jinny," said Judith, affectionately +twining her arms about Miss Jinny's waist. "I haven't seen her for a +whole month, you know." + +Much to Patricia's surprise, Miss Jinny seemed not at all unused to the +reticent Judith's caresses, but stooped and kissed her on her white +forehead, rumpling her pale hair with kindly fingers. + +"I reckon you're wanting to hear all about mama, and the visit you're +going to make us," she said, wisely. "I'll get my old trunk here +unstrapped, and we'll talk while I lay out my duds in those nice wide +bureau drawers. You'll laugh, I guess, when you see what I've brought +you each, but I want you to promise that if you don't like them, you'll +say so, and I'll hunt up something that pleases you better." + +"Oh, we'll be sure to _love_ them, if they come from dear old Rockham +and _you_!" cried Patricia, gathering an armful of hangers from the +deep closet for Miss Jinny's use. "I'm perfectly crazy to see them, +aren't you, Judy? I do hope Elinor doesn't stay too late tonight. You +don't mind waiting for her, do you, Miss Jinny? It'll be so much more +fun when we're all together." + +"Bless your heart, no indeedy!" replied Miss Jinny emphatically. "I'd +rather keep them a week than to have you slight Elinor. We'll have +time to take the edge off our tongues, anyhow, before she gets here, +and get more settled down, I hope. I haven't felt so flighty in a blue +moon, and it's all your fault, Patricia Louise Kendall, with your tales +about theaters and parties and the like! We'll have to put a muzzle on +her, won't we, Judith?--like poor old Nero after he nipped Georgie +Smith when Georgie tried to make him walk the tight rope." + +"Oh, do tell me about it," said Judith eagerly, settling down on a low +stool beside the trunk. "Your stories are always so nice and nippy." + +Miss Jinny laughed, as she shook out a creased skirt, and laid it +carefully in the long lower drawer. + +"I reckon most of the nippiness in this tale is Nero's work--not mine," +she said, smoothing the long folds of gray lansdown into shape with +absent fingers. "You see, it was this way. Old Miss Fell, who lives +in that big red brick house----" + +"Yes, I know," said Judith, expectantly, but Miss Jinny had whisked to +her feet and whirled about towards the door. + +"I saw you in the looking glass!" she cried gleefully. "You needn't +think you can surprise us, young lady!" + +She had Elinor in her arms, to everyone's great amazement, and Elinor, +far from being reluctant, was as responsive as though Miss Jinny were +her own mother. + +"Oh, you're just in time!" she cried, her cheeks flushed and her eyes +shining with a great light of happiness. "You were Aunt Louise's best +friend here, and you'll know just how she'd feel. I got my criticism!" +She paused, choking with emotion. "He came up behind me, and he stood +there so long I was afraid to go on working; and when I stopped, he +spoke out loud, twisting his moustache and popping off his eye-glasses." + +"What did he say?" burst out Patricia, unable to bear the suspense. +"Don't beat around the bush so long, for pity's sake, Norn!" + +"He spoke so loud I was ashamed," went on Elinor. "He sort of bawled +it out. '_Remarkable_ talent, madame, remarkable talent.' And +everybody turned around and looked at me till I felt like sinking +through the floor." + +"How perfectly heavenly!" exclaimed Patricia, with rapture. "I wish +I'd been there to hear it." + +"Your Aunt Louise will rejoice to see this day," said Miss Jinny +solemnly. "For I'm sure she sees it, wherever she is, and I know just +how her dark proud eyes would shine. She always got regularly lighted +up when she was real pleased--like you look now, child." + +"Hannah Ann will be awfully proud, too," said Judith, thoughtfully. +"She's regularly wrapped up in Elinor, because she's so much like Aunt +Louise, she says." + +Elinor looked her surprise. "Why, I didn't know Hannah Ann liked me +specially," she protested. "I thought Miss Pat was her favorite." + +"She used to be," was Judith's frank reply. "But since you've become +an artist, like Aunt Louise, she fairly _adores_ you!" + +The idea of Hannah Ann in any such state of loving frenzy was +irresistible, and they all pealed out their appreciation of Judith's +picture of the grim elderly housekeeper of Greycroft. + +"You may laugh, but it's true, all the same," said Judith decisively. +"And I'll prove it to you all before long--see if I don't." + +The soft chimes of the dinner gong began their melodious call before +anyone could answer, and in the mad scramble to make themselves +presentable in the shortest possible time, Hannah Ann's enthusiasms +were forgotten. + +That night, after Miss Jinny's trunk had finally been disposed of, and +all the gossip of Rockham village and outskirts had been thoroughly +aired, and Miss Jinny, tired from her strenuous day, had gone +thankfully to bed, Patricia and Elinor were talking over the day's +happenings as they brushed their hair in the seclusion of their own +room. + +"Isn't it wonderful how Miss Jinny seems to fit in?" said Patricia, +brushing the shining ripples till they fairly radiated. "I was so +afraid that she might feel strange among such different sort of people, +but she didn't care a bit. She's going to be awfully popular, if she +keeps on. That nice old Mr. Spicer talked to her a lot at dessert, and +he's awfully exclusive, you know." + +"He isn't any older than she is," Elinor replied indignantly. "He's +gray and pale from his illness. He was asking Miss Jinny about the air +at Rockham, and she praised it so that he was much impressed. We may +have him for a neighbor next summer." + +"You don't mean?" began Patricia, incredulously. + +"Of course, I don't mean as Miss Jinny's special property, you goose; I +was only thinking of him as a pleasant addition to the old ladies' card +parties and porch teas,--they need men so badly." + +The idea lodged in Patricia's fertile brain was not so easily routed +out. + +"Still, _in case_," she insinuated with a giggle. "I don't think it +would be such a bad sort of thing, do you, Norn?" + +Elinor laid down her brush impressively. + +"Patricia Kendall," she said, severely, "don't ever let me hear you +even _whisper_ such nonsense to yourself. Miss Jinny is too nice and +sensible to be made fun of in that way, and I won't have it. Remember, +once for all I won't have it!" + +"All right," acquiesced Patricia, meekly. "I didn't mean to be silly. +I'm a lot fonder of her than you are, and I was only thinking what fun +it would be for her, don't you see?" + +"I see that you are a feather-headed kitten," said Elinor, not at all +mollified. "Miss Jinny will do very well as she is without your +romantic nonsense to mortify her. I I'm ashamed of you, indeed I am, +Patricia. I thought you had more delicacy." + +Patricia lifted her brows, perplexed and inquiring, and then dropped +them with a shrug that seemed to indicate that the matter no longer +interested her. + +"What are _you_ going to do with that lovely old shawl she brought you, +Elinor?" she asked, tossing the end of her long braid over her shoulder +and yawning luxuriantly. "I'd like to make a party dress of that +heavenly silk cloak I got, but it seems like cutting up one's own +grandmother." + +Elinor gave a start. "Well, I declare, if I didn't forget all about +it!" she exclaimed. "We were so excited with the presents and all, +that I never told you! It's going to be perfectly gorgeous. I know +you'll be crazy over it." + +Patricia flung herself on her sister, overwhelming her in a flurry of +pink kimono and white arms. "Tell me!" she cried. "Tell me this +minute, you aggravating thing! You're getting to be a regular miser of +your news--you won't give up till it's dragged out of you. Speak, or +I'll have your life!" + +Elinor held her close, laughing with enjoyment at her ardor. + +"It isn't anything to kill for, Miss Pat," she rippled. "It's merely +the Academy ball that takes place next week----" + +Patricia flung off the encircling arms, and was on her feet in an +instant. + +"And we are going?" she demanded breathlessly. "Oh, say that we are +going, Elinor!" + +"Of course we're going," said Elinor, evenly. "What else should we do? +And I want you to persuade Miss Jinny to stay over for it, Miss Pat." + +"That will I!" cried Patricia, heartily. "We'll ship Judy to Mrs. +Shelly on an afternoon train, and make Miss Jinny feel it's her duty to +chaperone us among the wild and woolly artists. Oh, it will be +contemptibly easy! But," and her face fell in dismay, "what are we to +wear? We haven't any party clothes, you know." + +Elinor rose, and going to her bag that was still dangling from the +chair back where she had flung it in her hurried preparation for +dinner, took out a cardcase, and drawing forth three square bits of +gray cardboard, handed them to Patricia. + +"'An Arabian Nights Entertainment,'" read Patricia, mumbling in her +haste. "'No guests admitted unless in costume' . . . m-m-m-m . . . +'The Sultan Haroun-al-Raschid' . . . Oh, I see! We can rig up in +anything we choose,--so that it looks sort of Turkish. _Dee_-licious! +I know what to do with my rose-colored cloak right now!" + +"My shawl will be stunning," rejoiced Elinor. "They've both come to us +in the very nick of time. With that old silk skirt of mine, and that +worn-out gold-beaded tunic of Aunt Louise's that we found in the closet +at Greycroft, we'll be simply dazzling. See if we're not, Patricia +Louise Kendall." + +"I wonder what Miss Jinny will say to a costume?" Patricia said, her +bright face clouding with the thought. + +"I believe she'll like it," declared Elinor, confidently. "She does so +love variety--and she has entered into everything already with such a +vim." + +"Perhaps she's been hungering for what she calls fripperies," said +Patricia, hopefully. "She's so tremendously alive that she must need +some play, and if she's only willing, we'll see that she gets it, won't +we, Norn?" + +"Find out in the morning how she feels about it," said Elinor, +switching off the light. "I'm pretty sure she'll want to go." + + +At the earliest permissible hour, Patricia slipped into her pink kimono +and slippers and sped softly to Miss Jinny's room, where she tapped +lightly, and was admitted at once by Miss Jinny, fully dressed and with +a little book in her hand. + +Patricia opened her plan with great expedition, pouring out explanation +and entreaty in one excited rush, while Miss Jinny sat opposite her on +the side of the bed, her rather protruding pale blue eyes cocked +sidewise at her in the meditative way she had when deeply interested. + +"So you see, we really _need_ you. And you wouldn't have to wear +anything very outlandish, you know," urged Patricia, ending up with her +strongest argument. "And I'm sure Judy would love to be with Mrs. +Shelly alone--they'd have so much more chance for talk together." + +Miss Jinny said not a word for what seemed to Patricia a very long +minute; then she gave her deep chuckle and said decisively, "I'll go as +Sinbad the Sailor. I've a picture of him at home, and I know just how +he's dressed. He's so everlastingly muffled up about his shanks that I +used to think he was a lady when I was knee high to a grasshopper." + +Patricia gave a gasp. "But he wore a turban and great whiskers!" she +said, impulsively. "How in the world could you stand that?" + +Miss Jinny cocked her head knowingly. "Trust me," she replied, +laconically. "I had a cousin who was an actor and I saw him put on a +beautiful beard with spirit-gum and creped hair once. That was twenty +years ago, but I reckon they can still be had here in town." + +Patricia hesitated. "But perhaps you'd rather have an easier +costume,--Aladdin's mother, or----" + +Miss Jinny shook her head. "I always was bent on sea-life and I know a +lot about it. I can swap tales that'll make them believe I'm the only +genuine Sinbad, and I wouldn't miss the chance for a mint," she said +conclusively. + +Patricia was forced to give in gracefully. "I know you'll be +splendid," she declared with rather forced heartiness. "I wish we were +as well fixed for our parts." + +Miss Jinny, with a glance at the little book in her hand, gave a guilty +start and jumped up from the bed's edge with a horrified face. + +"Do you know that it's Sunday morning, and I ought to be reading my two +chapters?" she demanded severely. "This town life is making me forget +my religion already, and as for you, you worldly-minded young sinner, +you ought to be ashamed of yourself, beguiling me with your heathenish +dance parties. Go along now and let me get my mind in order again." + +"Oh, let me stay," urged Patricia. "You can read out loud, and I'll +slip in bed here to keep warm. What part are you reading now?" + +"You'll hear," returned Miss Jinny, settling herself with a jerk. + +Patricia curled up cozily while Miss Jinny read the two Sunday chapters +in a full, melodious voice, beginning with the ineffable words, "In my +Father's house are many mansions." + +She laid down the little worn book just as the soft notes of the gong +floated up from the lower hall. + +"Mercy on us!" she ejaculated, rising hurriedly. "I've gone and made +you late for breakfast!" + +Patricia wriggled out from her warm nest reluctantly. "There's lots of +time," she assured Miss Jinny. "That's the first call. We've got half +an hour yet." + +"I'll come over to your room in just twenty-five minutes to the dot," +called Miss Jinny after her, as she gathered her draperies about her +and fled down the hall. + +The day passed delightfully, with morning service at the famous Dr. +Arnold's stately church, a specially sociable dinner at home, and a +'bus ride through the crisp sunshine of the afternoon into the snowy +outskirts, with a cozy little tea in Miss Jinny's big front room, where +they could watch the twilight gather among the bare trees of the park +and the lamps sparkle out among the shadows. After supper Mr. Spicer +invited them in to see his collection of photographs which he had taken +in all parts of the civilized and barbarous world, before the long +illness, contracted in the swamps of West Africa, had put a stop to his +active, adventurous life as a collector for the University. + +The girls enjoyed this surprising revelation of the quiet, elderly +gentleman's vigorous taste, but Miss Jinny fairly reveled in such close +contact with the life she so ardently envied, and it was nearly +midnight when they said good-night and hurried to their rooms, Miss +Jinny declaring that she'd never spent such a satisfactory day in her +life, and all three full of the ideas for their costumes which Mr. +Spicer's photographs had suggested to them. + +The week that followed flew on winged feet. The costumes, simple +enough at first, grew in detail with every day and absorbed so much of +their spare time that Patricia frankly gave up any thought of work and +yielded herself to the enjoyment of Miss Jinny and the day's pleasure +without any effort at serious work. + +"The best thing about you, Miss Pat," said Elinor, the day before the +party, "is that you know when to stop. I simply haven't accomplished a +thing the last two days, and yet I couldn't have the courage to shirk +the Academy. You stay away joyously, and get the full benefit." + +"Why not?" returned Patricia, her fingers busy with Sinbad's girdle. +"You can't do two things at once, to do them well. I'm commonplace +enough to realize that, but you geniuses go on trying to tear +yourselves into little pieces, and then howl because you aren't making +masterpieces in every department." + +"I know it," said Elinor, sinking wearily into a chair. "I've tried to +keep up with you all at home here, and do my work, too, but it hasn't +worked. I believe I'll stay home today and take a real holiday." + +Patricia nodded. "You'll be in better shape to begin on the library +design next week," she said briskly. "I'm not going to start my study +till I feel just like it. Doesn't pay to push yourself too hard. +We've had a glorious week, with the concerts and theater and the +museums and all, and I've learned more than I should have at the +school. Just _living_ teaches you lots, if you'll learn, and I don't +believe in turning up my nose at things just because they aren't in a +roster." + +Miss Jinny, who had been out scouring the town for the materials for +Sinbad's beard, broke in on them breathlessly. + +"What do you think?" she cried, her eyes popping with pleasurable +excitement. "The Haldens are in town for over Sunday, and the girls +are going to the party tomorrow night! They've just landed yesterday +and were in the customer's hunting up suits when I ran across them." + +"How splendid!" said Patricia, glowing. "To think that we'll meet them +here in town after all. Are they going to Rockham this summer?" + +"Going right up on Monday," said Miss Jinny, taking off her things. +"The two older girls go back to college, but the rest of the family go +right home and stay there." + +"I wonder what they are like, and if they'll like us," mused Elinor, +her gaze on the fire that was snapping on the hearth in Miss Jinny's +room where the sewing was being done. + +"We'll find out tomorrow night," said Patricia, readily. "And now that +the costumes are all done, tomorrow night can't come too soon for me." + +"I'm about ready, too," chimed in Miss Jinny. "I reckon they'll be +quite astonished when they meet with their old friend Sinbad the +Sailor." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE ACADEMY BALL + +"What a crowd!" exclaimed Elinor, as they pushed their way to the cloak +room. "I hope the floor won't be too full for dancing!" + +"Don't give way to despair so soon--lots of these are maids and +chaperones. Naskowski told me when we squeezed past him at the door +that the rooms upstairs weren't half filled yet," said Patricia, +hopefully. "Here, Miss Jinny, squeeze in before me--there's a chance +to get inside if we form a flying wedge." + +"Mercy sakes, we'll be torn to tatters!" cried Miss Jinny from behind +her veil. "Good thing we're done up good and tight. Lands! There +goes my whisk--no, they don't either, it's only the veil. Oh, for +pity's sake, woman, let me through without any palaver! Can't you tell +I'm a female?" The attendant, who at the sight of Miss Jinny's bushy +beard had thrust a sturdy arm across the door, dropped the barrier with +a snort of laughter, and they were inside the swinging door of the +cloak room, with a flushed maid waiting for their wraps, and an edge +line of muffled newcomers pushing at their backs. + +"It's a blessing we finished ourselves up to the last notch at home," +said Patricia, with wide eyes of dismay for the throngs at the two +mirrors. "We haven't a chance to get a peep here, unless we stay all +night. Is my headpiece on all right, Elinor? I feel all askew after +that crush." + +"You're as sweet as can be," answered Elinor, with a fond pride in +voice and eyes. "You make the dearest Fairy Banou, with these filmy +scarfs and draperies! Doesn't she, Miss Jinny?" + +Miss Jinny, who was still enshrouded save for the torn veil, gave the +last pat to Patricia's gauzes, and handed the pink silk cloak to the +admiring maid, before she spoke. Then she looked Patricia over +thoroughly and gave her husky chuckle. + +"I declare if I ain't a firm believer in fairies after this," she said +with frank affection. "There isn't anything prettier nor sweeter in +the whole ball, I'll warrant!" + +Patricia laughed and blushed with pleasure, preening herself a little +and stretching on tiptoe to try to catch a glimpse in the crowded +mirror; there was a movement as a sultana who had been carmining her +full lips gave place to a dark beggar maid, and Patricia caught the +vision of a slender, airy figure, glittering beneath its gauzy +draperies with the sparkle of bright gold, and with the glint and +shimmer of rosy clanking bracelets and anklets, and the spangled glory +of the rose-crowned headpiece stirring a magical memory of Persia. + +"Why, I am awfully nice!" she cried, delighted with the picture. "I'll +never know myself! Do get off your things, Norn, I'm crazy to see how +you look." + +Elinor, helped by Miss Jinny, shed her wrappings and stood revealed as +a lovely Princess of China, with billowing draperies and flashing glass +jewels and a tiny filet sparking on her dark hair. Some of the swarm +about the mirrors turned at Patricia's exclamation, and with generous +admiration pressed back upon themselves so that for a moment the dark, +serious beauty of the Princess of China flashed out at Elinor from the +long oblong of the glass, filling her lovely eyes with a gratified +light and flushing her tinted cheeks a deeper pink. + +"How sweet of you to let me see!" she cried impulsively to the houris +and queens and beggar-maids that had given her the brief tribute. "I +don't believe I know any of you, but I'm just as much obliged as----" + +She broke off in amazement at the familiar grin of one of the most +glittering queens. "Griffin, of all people!" she cried, delightedly, +and held out an eager hand. + +The sultana, speaking with decidedly un-oriental diction, came +shimmering over to them, and shook hands with occidental heartiness. + +"This is what I call luck," she said, genially. "I'm going to steer +you two peaches right into the thick of the tumult, and if you don't +have the time of your sad young lives, my name's not--well, here, you'd +better pronounce it for me," and she handed out a card on which was +printed in clear black letters, + + THE SULTANA KEHERRYSEENOGASSOLEHENNELECTRIZADE + (OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE LIGHT OF THE HARUMSCARUM) + + +Patricia and Elinor puckered their brows over it, but Miss Jinny, +craning her head over their shoulders, gave a snort. + +"Pooh, that's as easy as rolling off a log," she said, with a toss of +her turban. "If you'd added acetylene and alcohol you'd made it a bit +longer." + +Griffin grinned amiably at the whiskered countenance. "Good for you, +old top," she responded, cheerfully. "You ought to go into the Sunday +puzzle department. You'd be hung all over with gold-filled watches. +Where did you blow in from?" + +Miss Jinny had been quietly removing her outer coverings and as Griffin +spoke she dropped her last concealing wrap, and stepped out in turban +and embroidered jacket, vermillion girdle and wide, baggy blue trousers +whose voluminous folds almost hid the vermillion and gold tips of her +curling slippers. A simitar was thrust fiercely through the flaming +girdle, and a gaudy hookah cuddled in the crook of her arm, while the +bristling whiskers and encarmined cheeks and nose of the weather-beaten +seafarer proclaimed a strong masculine personality in striking contrast +to the pretty young men Turks and Persians that tittered in feminine +fashion all about her. + +"Upon my soul!" cried the sultana of the inflammable name. "You're a +corker! Do you mean to say, Miss Pat, that this buccaneer is the lady +from the rural districts you were spouting about?" + +Miss Jinny gave her husky chuckle. + +"I'm the only original Sinbad," she declared with a very un-Persian +hitch to her flowing trousers. "I've got tales that'll make you creep, +and as for hairbreadth escapes--why, I'm so full of 'em that I can't +see a tumbler of water but that I make a noise like a shipwreck." + +"Come along upstairs with me!" cried the sultana, excitedly, hooking +her arm in that of the embroidered jacket. "You're too good to waste! +I need you in my business." + +Patricia and Elinor followed, rejoicing in Miss Jinny's instant +success, for, as Elinor whispered to Patricia, if Griffin took Miss +Jinny about, she would be one of the features of the evening. + +They went slowly up the palm-banked, stately stairway, through a dim +ante-chamber where a line of twinkling barbaric lamps led to the great +curtained arch of the entrance to the main assembly room. + +"Isn't it lovely and mysterious?" murmured Elinor, pausing to enjoy the +sense of isolation that the obscurity of the blurred lamps emphasized. +"I almost hate to lift the curtain. It may be so disappointing." + +Patricia set her spangled roses twinkling with a nod of comprehension, +but she did not pause. + +"This is nice enough," she said incisively. "It takes away the taste +of the jumbled dressing room, but it makes me all the readier for the +real thing--the people and the lights and the dancing. I simply can't +waste another instant," and she parted the heavy fold and they slipped +into the radiant Arabian land of fairy. + +Lights were flashing everywhere, and everywhere silks and jewels +shimmered in oriental profusion, striking the eye with a bewildering +medley of color. + +Patricia drew in her breath with a sharp little sigh of satisfied +anticipation, but had no more than a murmur for Elinor's rapturous +exclamations, so busy was she with the brilliant scene before her. + +Among the palms and costly rugs that backgrounded a marvelous regal +dais occupying one long end of the great room, sat the glittering +figure of the portly Haroun-al-Raschid, Sultan of Bagdad and husband of +many lovely wives, whose multi-colored costumes made a glowing garden +on the rugs at the foot of the dais, while on the embroidered cushions +at the side of the monarch a lovely Scheherazade in shimmering white +satin with strings of glistening gems in her hair, on her breast, on +her arms and ankles, made an alluring picture of the new-made bride. +Tall palms reared their stately fronds above the group and slave girls, +with fierce Nubians in attendance, waited in mute homage at either side +of the throne. Lamps of brass glittered in the alcoves back of the +great dais, and above it all the roofs and minarets of the ancient city +gloomed in the moonlight of the thousand and second night. + +All about the spacious hall were groups of Arabians, of fair +Circassians, of dusky Nubians and turbaned Turks, while the rustle of +costly fabrics and the odor of heavy Eastern perfumes floated in the +air; the modern city outside in the wintry electric lights was well +forgot in the enchantment of the moment, and Patricia lost count of +time and sense of self in the pageant that swept across the lofty +chamber to make its obeisance at the imperial divan. + +"Look, Norn, look," she whispered, as Aladdin and his mother, in +rustling native embroidered silks, led another Princess of China in +bridal procession across the center of the scene, their rich dresses +making a bright spot in the shifting medley of color. "She's not half +so lovely as you, for all her things are so fine. I wonder who--why, +it's _Doris Leighton_! She never told us what she was going to be; and +she knew you were to be the Princess. Isn't it queer?" + +"We didn't many of us tell, you know," returned Elinor absently, with +her eyes on Morgiana meekly following her master with the basket of +fruit which was to be such a feature in her triumphant dance after the +robbers had been boiled alive in their own panniers. "There's Margaret +Howes. Isn't she lovely in that pomegranate and gold? What queer +slippers she has--just like the ballet dancers. And there's Ali Baba +with the forty thieves, all the portrait class men in a bunch." + +"And the young king of the Black Isles and his wife!" cried Patricia, +giggling. "That's Jeffries, the modeling-room pet, and Miss Green. +She'll exercise the black art in earnest. Did you ever see such +paralyzing expressions as she can call up! That pastry cook is +Peacock, the assistant in the antique. I know him by his red hair." + +As the procession wound to its finish the Sultan arose and with many +courteous speeches in the eastern phraseology welcomed the company to +the night's entertainment, explaining that the first half would be +employed in various acts by those who had appeared in the procession, +with an intermission when refreshments would be served by slaves, after +which there would be a general dance followed by supper in the +antechamber. + +A space was cleared in the center of the room, and there was a general +rush to secure good positions. Patricia found herself separated from +Elinor by a broad-shouldered Moslem whose slow speech revealed him as +the good-natured Naskowski. + +"I did work in the clay room till the hour for this ball," he said, +replying to her surprise. "And after I speak to you on the hall I +become a good Mohammedan very rapid--so rapid I see you and your most +beautiful sister come in by the great door. Many others see _also_. +We say she make a more fine Princess than the one----" + +"Oh, hush!" cautioned Patricia, grasping his arm in her agitation. +"She'll hear you! She's just back of us this minute." + +Doris Leighton, with a rather flushed face, leaned forward as Patricia +spoke and touched her on the shoulder. + +"I must congratulate you, Peri Banou," she said with sharp gayety. +"Everyone is saying that the Princess--your sister--is the _clou_ of +the ball.", + +Patricia had an uneasy sense of insincerity in the light tone, but a +swift glance into the wide eyes of the smiling Doris reassured her. + +"She _is_ lovely, isn't she?" she replied ardently. "But her dress +isn't half so gorgeous as yours," she added heartily. + +Doris Leighton's lashes drooped till her eyes were a narrow line of +inscrutable blue. + +"Thank you so much," she said in a tone of such even sweetness that +Patricia felt uncomfortable, though she did not know why. + +Doris sank back to her place and Patricia turned her attention to the +laughable parodies and excellent dances and necromancy that filled the +first half of the program. It was all hugely diverting, and she +laughed and applauded with the rest, but all the while at the back of +her mind there was a little uneasiness, a sense of insecurity and +disillusionment that flavored all the gayety with its fleeting +bitterness. She was uneasy till she had found Elinor and in the +telling of the insignificant incident had regained enough confidence to +laugh at her foolish disquiet. + +"I'm always making mountains out of mole-hills, and having you level +them for me, Norn," she said, taking a glass of sherbet from the +flower-wreathed tray of the charming slave. "I wish I wasn't such an +alarmist. I felt as frantic as though Doris Leighton had drawn a +dagger, and now I can see what a goose I am." + +"That's because you expect people to be perfect and then, when they +show the tiniest human weakness, you declare them demons at once," said +Elinor, gayly. "You couldn't expect her to _like_ overhearing them +praise me, could you? I think she tried to be very kind, and I admire +her tremendously for it." + +Patricia puckered her brows judicially. + +"I do, too, _now_," she declared. "But I've been paid up for my +evilmindedness by losing half my good time. I think I'll try to find +her and be awfully agreeable to her. I'll feel better for it, I'm +sure." + +The dancing was beginning as Patricia made her way slowly across the +great room to the laughing group where she had seen Doris Leighton but +a moment ago, and before she was halfway across Doris and a tall Turk +swung past her in the whirl of the newest dance, followed by Elinor and +Aladdin, and then by Griffin and the young king of the Black Isles. +Patricia stood still in sudden swift contrition. + +"If I haven't forgotten all about Miss Jinny!" she thought +remorsefully. "How fearfully self-absorbed I'm getting to be. I'm a +perfect _pig_!" + +She had a long search before she discovered the valiant Sinbad in a far +corner of the now deserted divan surrounded by a circle of kindred +spirits to whom Griffin had delivered her, holding her own with great +spirit and enjoyment among the dashing wit and pungent repartee. + +Miss Jinny, at the sight of Patricia fluttering in among them in her +white gauzy draperies like some dainty moth, held out a reproving +finger. + +"Why aren't you dancing?" she demanded sternly, her whiskers trembling +with the fervor of her interest. "What is Elinor up to that you're not +dancing?" + +Patricia, abashed by being thus publicly admonished, murmured something +about its being only the first dance, and not knowing many people, but +Miss Jinny cut her short. + +"Don't tell me," she said abruptly. "You ought to be dancing instead +of wasting your time on old ladies like me." Here there was a burst of +mirth at the incongruity of the words with Miss Jinny's ferocious +masculine aspect, but she silenced it with a wave of her hookah stem. +"Let me introduce the Second Calendar, who I hope knows enough +respectable young men here to see that you aren't a wall flower." + +A good-natured, whole-some looking young man in the clothes of a +calendar, with a patch on his right eye, laid aside his long-necked +lute and rose with a bow. + +"I'm usually known as Herbert Lester, Miss Kendall," he said, smiling +as he led her to the dancing floor. "Sinbad can tell you that my +mother was an old friend of your aunt. I've just learned that you and +your sister are students here. Have you seen the Haldens? They were +asking me about you a moment before the intermission, and I was +commissioned to hunt you up when I ran into the circle there in the +divan and was hypnotized by Sinbad's wonderful sea tales." + +He rattled on all through the dance, Patricia getting in only a few +words here and there, and when the music stopped he steered her to a +particularly gay group under a big palm in a corner, and introduced her +to the two Halden girls and their mother, and then went off in search +of Elinor and Miss Jinny. + +Patricia found the Haldens, mother and daughters, so much to her mind +that she was full of regret that she had not met them earlier. They +were kindly, whole-hearted people who lived without any quarrel with +life, and Patricia, as well as Elinor and Miss Jinny, rejoiced openly +in the prospect of a summer together in dear old Rockham. + +They parted, at the end of the sumptuous supper in the transformed +ante-chamber, with a thousand plans for the coming season and a strong +sense of enrichment in the friendship of these sincere and attractive +neighbors. + +"What do you think of the artists _now_?" asked Patricia, leaning back +in the carriage as they were being whirled homeward. "Are they such +serious people as you thought them, Norn?" + +"They're so mighty much in earnest that they'll break their necks to do +a thing right," retorted Miss Jinny with spirit. "It's their being so +serious that makes them play so well." + +Elinor smiled assent, and Miss Jinny went on. + +"When folks are sure a thing's worth while, they make it _go_. Think +of how that same party would have slumped if everybody hadn't felt it +was the most serious thing in the world to make it real." Then, with a +sudden pounce, she changed the subject. "I've seen your wonderful +Doris Leighton, Miss Pat, and I must say I don't take very much stock +in her." + +Patricia felt that same indefinite sense of loss and disillusionment +which had haunted her earlier in the evening, and she shrank back into +her corner without a word, fearing that Miss Jinny's clear vision might +after all substantiate her shadowy misgivings. + +It was Elinor who rushed to the defense. "We've always found her +sweet-tempered and kind, haven't we, Patricia? She's very popular and +perhaps you thought her spoiled, but I'm sure, dear Miss Jinny, if you +knew her better you'd like her as much as we do." + +Miss Jinny gave a snort that almost shook her whiskers off. + +"I'll be bound for you, Elinor Kendall, to find the sweetness in every +sour apple. Not that your Doris Leighton is sour on the outside. +She's much too sweet for my taste. I don't trust them when they're so +unearthly sweet." + +Patricia recalled Griffin's remarks on the same subject, but she +loyally suppressed the memory and called up instead the radiant vision +of Doris as she had first seen her in her green apron, smiling back at +her eager whisper of admiration, and her heart warmed to the memory. + +"First impressions are always best, I find," she said sagely. "I won't +believe I've been mistaken till I have to. What did she do that made +you dislike her?" + +Miss Jinny, cornered, had to admit that there was nothing she could put +her finger on. "But I don't trust her eyes," she ended obstinately. +"You have been deceived before, Miss Pat, and you may be again. +However, I won't say another word against her. If you like her, that's +enough. Now, let's talk about the nice people. How did you like that +Lester boy? His mother was your Aunt Louise's chum at school." + +"He was awfully nice," said Patricia enthusiastically. "Architects are +so much better scrubbed than art students. He has lovely hair, too. +He's tremendously fond of Miriam Halden, did you notice?" + +Miss Jinny gave her husky chuckle. "Trust your eyes for spying out +secrets," she said. "That boy has been devoted to Miriam all his life. +She refused him when she was ten, and has kept on ever since. It's got +to be a habit, he says. He's as jolly as a grig, but he doesn't give +up, and I suppose some day Miriam will give in." + +Patricia thrilled with interest. + +"Oh, I hope it happens next summer, when we're home!" she cried. "I've +always been perfectly crazy to know an engaged couple and I never +have--except Mr. Bingham and Miss Auborn, and they weren't so very +interesting anyway." + +"They won't be of much use to you if they do get engaged," returned +Miss Jinny sententiously. "'Two's company' after the ring appears." + +"David says they're _slushy_," pursued Patricia, meditating. "But he's +only a boy." + +She was silent for a while, and then she sat up alive with enthusiasm. + +"I've got it!" she exclaimed. "I'll make a study of a man and girl for +the prize design, and I'll call it 'Two's company.' I'll have them +looking at the ring on her hand, with a lovely rapt expression. Oh, +how I wish it weren't Sunday tomorrow. I'm crazy to begin it." + +"You'd better be thanking your stars for a day of rest, you +incorrigible kitten," said Miss Jinny as the carriage stopped at the +curb. "You'll need an extra nap after all these fandangos." + +Patricia, however, was unconvinced. + +"I'll show you when Monday comes!" she exulted, stepping lightly out +into the frosty night. "You'll see if it isn't worth while." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE PRIZE DESIGNS + +"It doesn't seem to come right," said Patricia, rumpling her hair with +the back of one soiled hand and staring ruefully at the lumpy, +meaningless group of two stiff figures in modeling-wax that stood +stolidly on a thick little board on top of the piano stool. + +"They do look a bit queer," admitted Elinor, reluctantly. "Perhaps +when you've worked on them more----" + +Patricia interrupted her hotly. "I won't waste another hour on them!" +she declared vehemently. "I've slaved and slaved all my spare time, I +missed the last of Miss Jinny's visit, and I didn't have time to hear a +word of Judy's tales about Greycroft and the village, and I haven't +taken a moment to myself this whole week! I've done with it now for +good and all. I was an idiot to think I could do anything, anyway." + +"I believe if you tried something that was more simple, you'd do +better," said Elinor sympathetically. "You've taken such a +tremendously elusive sort of thing in this. Why not try something that +either Judith or I could pose for? That would help a lot, you know." + +Patricia gave the stool a whirl, staring discontentedly at the +afflicting group. + +"It's a sorry mess," she commented dejectedly. "I don't believe I want +to make a goose of myself again. No, I won't try, Norn. You're +awfully good to offer to pose, but I'm done with prize designs till +I've had more experience," and with a swoop she crumpled the two little +stolid figures into an indistinguishable mass, pounding them fiat with +her pink palm. + +"There! That's the last of _you_!" she said vindictively. "Let's see +what you've been working on, Elinor. Ju said it was 'very +satisfactory.'" + +Elinor smiled. "I only started this afternoon while you were in +class," she replied, bringing out a fair-sized canvas with a rough +charcoal drawing on it. "I'm just blocking in the outlines, as you +see; but I've made a little color study that shows you how it will go." + +Patricia took the bit of canvas board, and held it at arm's length, +squinting at it with eyes that gradually brightened. + +"Why, it's dandy, Elinor Kendall!" she cried. "It'll be perfectly +lovely if you can put it through even as well as you've managed it +here. Judy was drawing it mild!" + +Judith, who was studying under the lamp at the center table with her +fingers screwed into her ears and her mouth twisted intently in pursuit +of knowledge, came abruptly back to life. + +"Well, I didn't want you to expect too much," she said, with a gentle +impatience. "If I'd praised it too much, you'd have been disappointed +with the thing itself." + +"Right-o, Miss Judith," laughed Patricia, flinging an arm about the +young sage. "My word, but you're a crafty young one! I'd have raved +about it till even Michael Angelo or Raphael couldn't have satisfied +the expectations of the beholder. How do you come by so much wisdom, +Miss Minerva?" + +Judith tossed her mane. "Don't call names," she responded, hiding the +gratified smile that lurked in the corners of her mouth. "You'd think +of things, too, if you didn't talk _quite_ so much, Miss Pat. It's +dreadfully hard to talk and think at the same time." + +"Is it?" cried Patricia, delighted as usual with Judith's maxims. +"Hear that now, will you, Norn? Ju's going to reform me. I hope I'll +be a satisfactory subject, Judy darling. 'Thinking Taught While You +Wait.' It's a great idea and it may lead to a new school of mental +science. Ju would look fine in cap and gown as president of the +college----" + +Patricia broke off laughing at Judith's absolutely unconscious face, +as, with fingers once again screwed into her ears and mouth twisted +intently, she immersed herself in the dignified oblivion of study. + +Patricia looked at her with laughing eyes that gradually grew sober. + +"I've got it!" she said, eagerly turning to Elinor. "I've got the idea +for the sort of thing you meant. I'll do Judy just as she is--you'll +pose, won't you, Ju? I won't be too hard on you." + +"Don't I always study like this?" replied Judith without looking up. +"Go ahead as long as you like--only don't talk. I want to study." + +"Good girl, Judith!" cried Patricia, pulling the stool with its burden +nearer to the light. "I'll plunge in right away and get it blocked in +tonight. Do you know where I put that other package of modeling-wax, +Elinor?" + +She set to work with a will, humming to herself as she worked, the +failure of her more ambitious undertaking forgotten in the joy of +renewed hope, and her intimate knowledge of Judith's face and figure +helping unconsciously to better work than she could have done in the +schools. + +When nine o'clock rang from the church tower across the park she laid +down her tools with an air of great content. + +"I believe it's going to go," she announced to the absorbed pair of +workers before her. "Wake up, Norn, and give me a criticism. Ju has +to go to bed and can't hold the pose much longer anyway." + +"Pooh, I'm not a bit tired," protested Judith. "I sit this way every +night for _hours_." + +Elinor laid down her brushes and turned in her chair. Her face lighted +as she saw the rough, vigorous outlines of Patricia's latest effort. + +"That's the real thing, Miss Pat!" she said enthusiastically. "If you +can keep it up like that, you won't have to be ashamed of it, I can +tell you!" + +She came and stood behind Patricia, her hands on her shoulders, eager +and interested. + +"That shoulder is a little too high, and the head needs more fullness +at the top--Ju has lots of hair--but it's going along splendidly, +_splendidly_! Don't touch it again till Judith poses tomorrow. You +want to keep close to life and not make up anything." + +Patricia, meek in experience of past failure, covered her work and put +it safely away. + +"I'll go on with it when I'm rested and Judy is fresh," she said +contentedly. "If it goes on as rapidly as it has tonight, it will be +ready to turn in at the end of the week. We have until Saturday night +to put in our stuff, you know. You have to get yours in by noon, don't +you?" + +Elinor nodded. "But I shan't have any trouble finishing in time, I'm +sure," she said with bright confidence. "I feel as though it were +almost going to do itself." + +The spare hours of the rest of that week were devoted to the prize +designs, and both progressed so happily that their authors were filled +with a greater measure of content as the days sped. + +"I'm going to take mine in to the Academy to work on this afternoon +while I wait for the night life," said Elinor on Thursday as they were +leaving the breakfast room. "I want to see how it looks among the big +casts and life studies. I'm afraid it won't show up very well among +the real things, but it may help me to see its faults and remedy them +while I still have time." + +Patricia gazed approvingly at the dim, shadowy study of graceful +figures grouped in attentive attitudes about a reader in a landscape of +suggested loveliness that spoke to any observer with delicate symbolism. + +"It's the best ever," she declared. "I'll 'wagger,' as Hannah Ann +says, that you lift the medal." + +Elinor gave a gently contemptuous sniff as she stowed it away in its +corner. "No doubt--with all those experienced students competing! +Some of them have been there ten years, Miss Pat. I simply haven't the +ghost of a show, and you know it." + +Patricia was silenced, though unconvinced. "Don't you let any of those +hyenas see it, all the same," she cautioned. "I know them better than +you do. They'd rush another version in before yours, and then where +would you be?" + +"I don't believe anyone would be so low minded!" cried Elinor, shocked +and reproachful. "How can you say such things, Miss Pat?" + +"Take my advice, my dear," grinned Patricia. "You're too good to see +through some of those fakes, and this is one instance when my eyes are +clearer than yours. It isn't often I can give you points, so do be +grateful. Don't let those long-haired boys get a glimpse of it, or +it's all up with you." + +Elinor promised, smiling at Patricia's vehemence, and went off with her +canvas, securely wrapped against curious eyes, held firmly in one +gray-gloved hand. + +Patricia looked after her with loving pride. "How pretty she is, and +how clever," she thought tenderly. "And the best part of it is that +she doesn't know what an adorable dear she is. I hope she gets an +honorable mention, even if she can't hit the prize. She deserves a lot +of good times, after all those lean years when she took such good care +of us." + +When Patricia came home from the library at half-past five, she was +surprised to find Elinor stretched on the couch, with a thick +comfortable drawn up to her chin, and her face gray and haggard. + +"What in the world--" she began in alarm, but Elinor silenced her +questioning with a weak wave of one tired hand. + +"I'm not really sick," she said, in a faint tone, as Patricia cuddled +down on the floor beside her and took the chilly hand in her warm one. +"I have one of my old headaches. I forgot to get any lunch. I had +just put the key in my locker, when everything grew black and I'd have +collapsed if Doris Leighton hadn't helped me to a chair. She gave me +some milk and got my things for me, and when I felt well enough, she +came over here with me. She's certainly the sweetest thing. She had +to miss getting her criticism, too. Mr. Benton had just gone in when I +crumpled up." + +"She's a perfect angel," cried Patricia, her heart warming at the +thought of Doris' genuine sweetness of nature. "If Miss Jinny really +had known her, she'd been the last to suspect her." + +"She's coming over after life class," Elinor went on, closing her eyes +wearily. "I found I'd forgotten my keys when I got home, and she's +going to bring them over for me on her way home." + +"You'd better go to sleep," said Patricia, smoothing the white brow +with deft fingers. "I'll keep everything quiet, so that you can sleep +it off as you used to be able to. I hope you'll be all right in the +morning." + +Elinor nodded mutely, and Patricia, pulling down the shades so that the +street light did not flicker on the pale wall, tiptoed out of the room, +to caution Judith and await the coming of Doris Leighton. + +Dinner was long over, Judith's lessons done and bed-time come, when at +last Patricia hurried down to the long parlor where Doris sat in the +dim light. + +She was very pale and tired looking, but as graceful and charming as +ever. She inquired after Elinor with a profuse sympathy that more than +satisfied the warm-hearted Patricia, whose compassion stirred at her +look of fatigue. + +"You ought to be taking more care of yourself," she said, with concern. +"You're tired to death, and yet you come out of your way to see about +Elinor. You look dreadfully fagged." + +Doris smiled wanly. She laid an impulsive hand on Patricia's arm and +opened her pretty lips, but before the words came she evidently obeyed +another differing impulse, for she underwent a subtle change, an +imperceptible hardening that was so delicately veiled by her still +gracious manner that Patricia had only a baffling sense of being gently +shut out from her real confidence. + +"I've been working on my panel study," she said, with an effort at +brightness. "I don't seem to get it finished to my liking, and the +time is getting perilously short, you know." + +Patricia looked her surprise. "Why, I thought you hadn't started it +yet. You said you'd rush it off at the last moment without a bit of +trouble." + +"That's the way I usually do," assented Doris evenly. "But I'm going +out of town on Saturday, and I have to turn it in before I leave +tomorrow night. I'll stay home and work on it in the morning, so I +shan't see you perhaps before I go." + +She said good-night absently, and Patricia, watching her hurry down +the frosty street, found herself wondering at the subtle barrier that +she could feel so keenly, while she yet tried to disbelieve. + +"I wonder what she was going to say?" she thought, as she went slowly +up to Judith's room, where she was to spend the night. "It can't be my +imagination this time, for she actually did start to speak, and then +stopped." She frowned and then her face cleared. "What a stupid I +am--always getting up in the air about trifles! Doris Leighton is +tired to death, and wanted to get home. She was just as pleasant as +ever, even though she didn't have time or strength to be as sociable as +she'd liked. If she hadn't felt an interest in Elinor, she'd not +troubled to bring her keys back tonight. I hope she makes good with +her prize study, now that she's gotten an idea for it. She's a +stunning worker when she goes at it." + +She tiptoed softly in to Elinor, who was sleeping quietly, and she +stood looking down at the sweep of eyelash and rounded cheek that the +low-turned light caught out from the jumbled masses of dark hair. + +"Dear old Norn," she thought fondly. "You'll be at the head of the +night life, too, some day, like Doris is now, and you'll be cleverer +than any of them, for you aren't ever a bit cocked up about yourself." +Her eyes grew wide with thought. "That's the reason," she whispered +triumphantly, "that you're going to be a howling success--you've got +time to care about all the other things in life first, to think about +them and to enjoy them. And that means O-RIG-INAL-ITY. You've got +more ideas now than any of those old stagers, you adorable duck!" she +ended, so overcome by her feelings that she dropped on her knees by the +couch and pressed her warm lips on the dark hair. + +Elinor merely stirred and mumbled something indistinct, much to the +contrite Patricia's relief. + +"I'll never learn to be composed and considerate," she sighed as she +crept in beside the slumbering Judith. "I'm crazy for Elinor to finish +that lovely study of hers, and yet I'd wake her up just for my silly +whims. She's got to get it done tomorrow if she can. Wish I could +help her. Thank goodness, mine's done at last," and she drifted off to +sleep with a jumble of prize designs and golden dreams for the future +mingling with that recurring memory of Doris Leighton's hardening face +as she spoke of her study for the library panel. + +The next afternoon when Elinor, completely restored after a day's rest, +took out her drawing-board and began to work, Patricia brought out her +own study for a final criticism before laboriously lugging it up to the +Academy. + +Elinor and Judith were very enthusiastic over the intent, studious +figure that bent over its book in such lifelike fashion. + +"It's that air of real hard study that makes it so good," said Elinor, +twirling the stool to catch every view of the figure. "I don't know +how you managed to get it so well." + +"Well, Ju was studying hard and not merely posing," returned Patricia +seriously. "Somehow it gets into the work. There isn't anything that +tells the truth so straight as our sort of work, Norn. You simply +can't fake. Judy deserves part of the credit. And then, I liked it +so, I couldn't help getting on with it. It's so fearfully jolly to a +_producer_." + +Judith gave her pale locks a toss. "Why, we're all doing it!" she +crowed. "You two in the Academy, and I at home here in my diary and my +stories! Aren't we a talented lot!" + +"_Stuff!_" said Patricia disgustedly. "You and I needn't brag yet a +while, Judy. Elinor's the only one that's got a ghost of a showing. +You've a long lane to run before you can even be considered, and I'm +just common, every-day stuff like everyone else. This is just a flyer +I'm taking in the company of my betters," and she gave a whimsical +glance at Elinor with the insight that was occasionally hers in brief +glimpses. "I can't fly far, I warn you, but it's simply ripping while +I'm on the wing!" + +"Judy likes to see herself go by in the mirror," smiled Elinor +leniently. "I suppose that's the literary mind." + +"Literary grandmother!" exclaimed Patricia scornfully. "She's a +conceited chicken that thinks she's a nightingale because she can peep +louder than some. Wait till you've had some of your stuff printed, +Judy, before you boast. Anyone can scribble----" + +"You'll hurt her feelings, Miss Pat," protested Elinor, as Judith's +dignified back disappeared into her own room and the door closed +firmly. "She doesn't mean to be boastful." + +"Nonsense! I'm her only hope," returned Patricia with spirit. "She +won't amount to a row of pins if she goes on this way. Don't you worry +about her feelings. She's got sense enough to know I'm right. Come +along over to the Academy with me now. The walk will do you good, and +I'll feel more respectable with a good-looking escort while I'm lugging +this huge thing." + +They met Doris Leighton coming out of the students' door, and after a +few inquiries found that she had just accomplished the same errand that +Patricia was bent on. Her study for the prize panel was safely stowed +away in the office of the curator. + +"What was it like?" eagerly demanded Patricia. "It doesn't matter now, +you know, if you tell. We won't tell, and it's too late, anyway, to +make any difference." + +Doris hesitated, undergoing again that subtle change that Patricia had +seen before. + +"I think I'll wait till they're all in," she replied softly. "It will +be better for us all to be able to say truthfully that we had no idea +of what the others were like till after ours were in. Don't you think +so?" + +"Of course it will," agreed Elinor heartily. "I'm glad you thought of +it. I'd much rather not know. Mine isn't finished yet, and I'm so new +at the work that I might be influenced." + +"I thought about that," said Doris with veiled eyes on Elinor's pale +face. "I know how the same thought wave will pass through peoples' +minds when they're working together, and I feel that one should be very +careful not to influence another, particularly in a case like this." + +"I'm not so sure that it makes a bit of difference," said Patricia +carelessly. "I've heard of people miles apart having the same idea at +the same time. Patents are always being duplicated, you know." + +"Indeed they are!" cried Doris with singular fervor. "But the one who +gets the idea first is always the real inventor. The jury wouldn't +hesitate to decide on that, I'm positive, if anyone was so unfortunate +as to turn in a duplicate of any of the studies." + +After she had said good-bye and they Were waiting at the curator's +desk, Elinor spoke musingly. + +"I wonder," she said, wrinkling her brows, "if Doris Leighton was +afraid I'd garnish my panel with any of her ideas; she was so +unnaturally stirred up about it." + +Patricia, with her mind wholly on her own absorbing business, gave +scant attention. + +"She's rattled for fear she won't take the prize as usual," she said, +gayly. "I bet she opens her eyes when she sees yours, Norn. Hers may +be lots better done, but it simply can't be as lovely and as +_different_." + +She pushed her bulky package carefully across the curator's counter, +with an eager request that it be tenderly treated, and that official +reassured her as to its entire safety by placing it at once in the +locked ante-room where the modeling competition studies were stored. + +"When will the prizes be announced?" she asked breathlessly, as the +door clicked in its lock. "Shall we have to wait long?" + +The curator smiled at her eagerness. "The library panel will be +announced at noon on Tuesday in the first antique room," he said. "And +the modeling class will be notified immediately before, while the class +is still in session." + +Patricia shivered with excited anticipation as they closed the heavy +outer door of the Academy after them. + +"_Jiminy_, I wish Tuesday were here and over!" she said fervently. +"I'm scared stiff when I think of my poor little study with all those +artists focusing their eagle eyes on it." + +"It does seem ages to wait," agreed Elinor. "After I turn mine in +tomorrow morning, I'll be consumed with curiosity to see the +others--particularly Doris Leighton's." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE LITTLE RIFT + +"What do you think?" cried Patricia radiantly, swooping down on Elinor +as she came slowly out of the portrait room at high noon on the +momentous Tuesday. "What _do_ you think, Elinor Kendall? I've gotten +'Honorable Mention' for my silly little old head! Isn't it wonderful? +I'm so stunned I can't talk. I never dreamed it could have the ghost +of a show," she rattled on ecstatically. "Miss Green was paralyzed, +and Naskowski kept nodding till I thought he'd loosen his brain, and +Griffin--she got first prize you know--cheered right out loud before +them all. I was simply too limp for words, and I rushed out to tell +you right away." + +Elinor's eyes filled with a glad light, and she took Patricia in her +arms. "It's perfectly glorious, Miss Pat, darling," she said with a +rapturous squeeze. "I'm so delighted I can't help kissing you on the +spot," and she did it with a heartiness that made Patricia wriggle. + +"Ouch, that's my loose wisdom-tooth you're pushing against!" she +protested plaintively. "You've wobbled it all out of place, you +reckless thing. There goes the crowd into the first antique. Come +along or we'll be too late!" + +The doors of the exhibition room were pushed quickly open as Mr. Benton +led the expectant band of students in for their first sight of the +prize designs, and Patricia's heart beat fast with the thrilling hope +that Elinor's might be among the first in rank. + +Her eyes swept one wall and then the other, searching for the familiar +canvas, but all in vain, until she lifted them to the screen which +stood in the center of the room, and where three canvases were hung, +Elinor's below the other two. + +"There it is!" she whispered eagerly, nudging Elinor to make her see. +"It's on the screen. Oh, Norn, it _must_ have----" + +"Hush!" said Elinor in an undertone. "Don't make a fuss. There's +Doris Leighton waving to us from the model stand. She looks awfully +well, doesn't she? Her little vacation----" + +But Patricia was impatiently deaf. "Why doesn't he get on?" she +whispered testily. "We know all about the conditions of the prize. +What we want to know is--oh, Elinor, I'm horribly disappointed. I was +afraid Doris Leighton would get it, but you ought to have had Honorable +Mention. Griffin's isn't half so good as yours; she said so herself. +Can you see what their canvases are like? I'm just so that the light +glares on them for me. What's that he's saying now? He's talking +about your study." + +The words cut the air with an incisive clearness that left no shadow of +a doubt, though Patricia could scarcely credit her own ears. + +"I regret to say that the third study on the screen," said Mr. Benton, +toying with his eyeglass ribbon, "is merely placed there as a warning +to students of all classes to stick to their own ideas and +imaginations, and not to attempt the hazardous task of copying stronger +and more experienced workers. This canvas shows so much delicacy of +appreciation of the subject that, had no other of absolutely the same +design been previously turned in earlier, the jury should have given it +the prize. Miss Leighton's cleverly executed study of precisely the +same subject, while more finished in treatment, is far below this one +in feeling, and it is a matter of regret to me that the student who +executed it should not have possessed more originality and +self-reliance. Miss Leighton will please come forward to receive the +Roberts prize." + +Of what followed--the bestowing and graceful acceptance of the pretty +purse with the hundred dollars, the congratulations and murmurs of +surprise that ran about the assembly--Patricia had little knowledge. +Those astonishing words of Mr. Benton had so stung and bewildered her +that the room swung about her dizzily and she clutched the back of a +chair for support. Elinor's stricken face faded in the blurred +background of all the other faces, as she flung out vain hands of +protest. + +"Oh, it isn't fair--" she broke out, but the words that boomed so +loudly in her ears were only a faint whisper, and she staggered blindly +for a moment. + +When she recovered herself in the dim corridor, Elinor, calm and +reassuring, was on one side of her, while her other arm was in the firm +grip of the cheery Griffin. + +"That's all right, old pal," Griffin encouraged her. "You're almost +into port now. Keep a stiff upper lip till we land you." + +Patricia saw that they were steering for the dressing-room couch, and +meekly allowed them their way. + +"Now you're safe and sound, with no bones broken," said Griffin, as +Patricia sank down on the roomy couch. "You're a nice one, you are, +scaring us into a blue fit just when we were about to blister our paws +with applause for the heroine of the day." + +Patricia looked inquiringly at Elinor, who smiled at her serenely in +return, much to Patricia's bewilderment. + +"But," she protested, raising herself on one elbow. "It wasn't true, +what Mr. Benton said about your design. Why don't you tell him so, +Elinor?" + +Elinor merely shook her head gently, while Griffin stood in embarrassed +silence. + +"Why don't you _do_ something?" cried Patricia again. "Why don't you +tell him? Griffin, it wasn't true--that she copied it! You know she'd +not do a thing like that!" + +"Any fool knows that," replied Griffin gruffly. "If Leighton had any +stuff in her, she'd have spoken up. I was just going to when I saw you +begin to crumple. It wasn't etiquette for me to speak, but I'd have +given them something to think of!" + +"It's too late now to bother about denying it, Miss Pat dear," said +Elinor soothingly. "It doesn't really matter much, you know, since we +three know I didn't copy. After all, it's a very little thing. I'd +rather be blamed unjustly than have done such a poor act. Don't feel +so badly about it, dear. We can tell our friends that it was a mistake +on Mr. Benton's part, and they'll believe us, I'm sure. It doesn't +matter for the rest." + +"Doesn't it, really?" blazed Patricia, sitting up very stiff and +straight. "Well, it may not to you, but to my mind it's as bad as +telling any other untruth. You're not guilty of it, and if you let the +accusation pass unnoticed, you are party to the falsehood." + +Griffin, who was winking at her behind Elinor's back in a particularly +portentous fashion, turned to the door. + +"Calm down, Miss Pat," she said, with her hand on the knob. "I'm going +to corral a few of the elect and put it to them. Brace up and look +pleasant by the time I get back." + +Patricia was about to break into angry tears on Elinor's neck, but the +brisk and significant air with which Griffin spoke roused her to +herself again. She put Elinor's arms away, and going to the mirror, +smoothed her tumbled hair, and whisked away the telltale traces of her +collapse, while Elinor sat quietly on the edge of the couch watching +her with fond anxiety. + +Not a word was spoken till the door opened again, and Griffin with +Doris Leighton and Miss Green came quickly in. + +Doris Leighton, who was flushed and animated, went directly up to +Elinor. + +"It's a shame," she said, with a marked effort to subdue her own +complacency. "Everybody knows you are much too conscientious to do +such a thing. I've told everybody how shocked I am that Mr. Benton +should make such a horrid mistake. It's simply a thought wave, and +I've told everyone that you're not at all to blame." + +Elinor looked at her very calmly, and said with a tinge of amusement in +her level voice, "You must be very thankful that you got your study in +first, for then you would have had to congratulate me instead of +commiserating me." + +Patricia felt rather ashamed of Elinor's lack of response to what she +considered Doris' loyal support, and she broke out gratefully, "You'll +tell them all, won't you? They'll soon understand if you tell them!" + +She had her reward in Doris' dazzling smile, and her assurances that +she would do all she could to make Elinor's vindication speedy and +thorough. + +Elinor was more cordial to Miss Green's solemn and indignant protest +against the powers that be. The stout monitor had so much genuine good +feeling that the sincerity of her wrath could not be doubted. + +"It is most unfair, unfair, Miss Kendall," she reiterated, with her two +dewlaps solemnly wagging to and fro. "It is most unprofessional of Mr. +Benton, and, even if you had copied (which of course no one dreams of +saying), it would still be most indelicate to expose a student directly +to the publicity of such a reprimand. I deplore it. I deplore it most +heartily. And your manner of receiving the unmerited rebuke has made +me admire you more than I can say." + +Elinor thanked her with pretty gratitude. + +"I shall make it a personal matter to report to the committee," said +Miss Green, as she prepared to follow the vanishing skirts of the prize +bearer. "I shall certainly bring the matter to their notice before the +next meeting," and with a cordial shake of Elinor's hand she sailed +out, with her black cloak billowing behind her and her plume quivering +with suppressed indignation. + +"Isn't she the good old sport?" cried Griffin, in lively admiration. +"She'll do the work of a half dozen niminy-piminy dolls like Leighton. +Margaret Howes and your humble servant will back her up, too, and that +committee will sit up and take notice before it's a week older, or my +name's not Virginia Althea Frigilla Griffin--just like that." + +It was hard work later on, when they had to face the inquiries of the +wrathful Judith, to convince her that the whole thing was not a plot +against Elinor by some envious rival. + +"Mark my words, Elinor Kendall," she said impressively. "Some one is +at the bottom of this, and I have my suspicions, too, who that someone +is. I'm not going to tell, for you girls always laugh at me, but I'm +going to prove it to you before that committee meets that you're the +victim of a conspiracy." + +The relish with which Judith pronounced these ominous words made Elinor +smile, but Patricia felt only aggravation at what she considered airs +on Judith's part. + +"Stuff and nonsense, Judy!" she said, impatiently. "You've been +soaking your brain in fiction till you can't see straight. Don't you +meddle with Elinor's affairs unless she gives you permission. You'll +only make her ridiculous." + +Judith, ignoring Patricia's pungent remarks, turned her calm eyes +inquiringly to Elinor. + +"You don't mind if I can help prove that someone else was the deceiver, +do you, Elinor?" she asked with such seriousness that Elinor rippled +with enjoyment: + +"Bless your heart, kitten, make yourself as happy as you please with my +affairs; only, I beseech of you, do it quietly and with as little +martial music as possible." + +Judith pulled herself free from Elinor's circling arms and made for the +door, pausing on the threshold. + +"As if I'd publish it on the housetops!" she cried in infinite disdain. +"It's plain you aren't much up in detective stories." + +After their laughter at her dramatic disappearance had died down, they +sat quietly in the twilight watching the lamps flicker into life across +the park, each one busy with her own thoughts. + +"Do you know, Miss Pat," said Elinor, breaking a long silence "that I +don't like Doris Leighton any more. It isn't because she got the +prize--you know me better than to think that--but I've been noticing +her more closely recently and I don't think she rings true." + +"Oh, I wish you wouldn't, Norn," protested Patricia, in a small voice. +"I do so want to have her for a friend. She's so lovely and talented +and attractive. What is the matter with her now that you say such +things? You didn't use to feel like that." + +Elinor hesitated. "I don't know," she replied slowly, measuring her +words. "I can't put my finger on it, but she doesn't seem the same to +me as she did at first. She isn't jealous of my poor work, of course, +but I can feel a something--a wall or barrier--that she raises up +between us whenever my work is spoken of. I felt it when we talked +about the subject of the prize designs, and I felt it today more +clearly than ever. We can't be friends any more as we were, I'm +afraid. Something has come between us. 'The little rift within the +lute,'" she quoted sorrowfully. + +"'That by and by will make the music mute,'" ended Patricia dismally. +"Oh, I hope not, Norn. I hope it'll all turn out well and we can go on +pleasantly and peaceably for the rest of the term. I hate rows and +suspicions. I'd like to live 'in charity and love to all men,' but I'm +always getting into scrapes. I no sooner learn to like a person than +they turn out to be fakes." + +"I haven't gone that far," Elinor gently reminded her. "I didn't mean +to say that Doris Leighton was a fake. I only meant that my feelings +toward her had changed. You don't have to give up your admiration for +her, Pat dear." + +Patricia shook her head slowly from side to side. "'Whither thou goest +I will go,'" she quoted. "I won't have her for a friend if she gives +you the creeps, Norn, and you know it. I've been mistaken in people +before, but you've always been the same old true blue. You and Miss +Jinny know better than I do, and I give in. I won't be an enemy--you +wouldn't want that--but I won't be a real friend like I have been, +doing errands and helping her stretch canvases and all that. You and I +will stand together always, old lady, and if the Roberts prize has done +nothing but show us how very nice we each think the other is, it will +have had its uses as far as we are concerned." + +They sat in comfortable silence till they heard the front door slam and +Judith's feet on the stair. + +"I wonder what that young monkey is up to?" laughed Patricia as they +heard Judith moving about in her room, preparing for dinner with the +alacrity of hungry virtue. "She won't let on for the world, but I know +she's feeling mighty important about something. I can tell by the way +she whisks about that she's enjoying herself immensely." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +JUDITH'S DISCOVERY + +"I'll never again say that the literary instinct is a burden and a +reproach, Ju," said Patricia, with her eyes dancing and her head high. +"Your thirst for 'plots' has proved too serviceable for me ever to +point the finger of scorn in its direction." + +It was a brisk, sunny day, and they were waiting for Elinor on the +steps of the Academy. Judith was looking very happy, and Patricia, +while she had a perturbed air, was no less triumphant in her manner. + +"I wonder what keeps Elinor? She's awfully late," complained Judith, +shifting on one foot. "Let's go in and have lunch without her." + +Patricia shook her head decisively. + +"Not much. You'll wait here in solitude till she comes. I'm not going +to have you spout it out before any old person, and get us into hot +water, perhaps. Here's Elinor now. Come on, Norn, we're about dead, +standing on these flinty-hearted steps. Got the sandwiches you +promised?" + +Elinor showed a neat parcel tucked under her muff-arm. "Chicken and +lettuce," she said delectably. "White grapes for dessert. Have you +seen Margaret Howes and Griffin?" + +Patricia nodded as she held the door wide for Elinor. "Griffin said +she'd be ready for us, and Margaret Howes is coming straight down from +composition class." + +Elinor glanced at them as she went in. "You two look remarkably +hilarious," she said casually. "Is it the spring in the air or the +prospect of a festive lunch that so illuminates you?" + +"Both and more too," laughed Patricia. "We've got a surprise for you, +Norn, but we won't tell till we've had lunch; will we, Ju?" + +"Not till the very last crumb is done for," declared Judith, +emphatically, putting down her parcels on the dressing-room couch. +"You may not like it very much, Elinor----" + +"Nonsense! Don't put such ideas in her head," cried Patricia stabbing +her hat-pins into her hat to secure it on the hanger. "Of course, +she'll be sorry for part of it, but right is right, and justice ought +to be done. But there, I'll blab it all myself if I don't look out. +Hurry up, Judy, let's get the cocoa stewing while Elinor prinks." + +They had the table arranged in gala array, and the cocoa steaming in +its receptacle, before Elinor and Margaret Howes joined them. + +"Griffin says not to wait--she's got to finish stretching a canvas," +Margaret Howes told them, but Patricia and Judith would not hear to +beginning the little feast without the staunch and genial Griffin. + +"There's no hurry, anyway," insisted Patricia. "The cocoa will keep +hot on the corner of the stove and the rest of the things don't matter. +You girls haven't any classes this afternoon, so we have an eternity to +feed in." + +They loitered about the room, chatting at various tables, and were +taken by surprise at last by the breathless arrival of their late +guest. She hailed them with an air of the bearer of important news, +and as soon as they were ensconced in their corner with the cocoa +safely bestowed on a stool at Patricia's right hand, she opened her +heart. + +"Awful row in the Committee room," she announced gleefully. "Good old +Greenie marched right in to the grave and reverend seniors while they +were in session just now, and she gave them ballyhoo. _She_ called it +a remonstrance in the cause of justice, but, my word, it was ripping!" + +"What was it all about?" asked Patricia, much diverted by the picture +of the mournful monitor facing the dreaded Board. "What did she say?" + +Griffin chuckled. "You see, I was in the ante-room, cataloguing the +prints--you know I got that job last week. Well, the Board was droning +on in the big room in their usual uninteresting fashion and I was deep +in admiration of a Rembrandt etching--that one with the hat and the +open window behind him--when Green sails past me, head up and majesty +writ large on her bulging brow. She always does put on lugs when she +reports to the Committee, so I didn't sit up and take notice right +away. But in a minute or two I came to life, I can tell you! She was +rolling off the sentences about 'injustice to a high-minded student' +and 'unnecessary humiliation' and 'reparation to one who was an +ornament to any school,' and a lot of other junk like that. I tell +you, I could have hugged the old girl! The Board just sat still, like +school-boys caught stealing jam, and she went on, getting more flowery +all the time." + +"But what--" began Patricia again. + +Griffin waved her to silence. "All of a sudden she seemed to realize +that she was giving them a drubbing instead of a gentle rebuke. She +hauled in her sails and stood winking at them behind her huge +spectacles, while they all sat staring at her. It was a picture, I can +tell you. Then dear old Farrer cleared his throat in that nervous way +he has, and he bowed to Bottle Green as though she were the finest +ever. 'We have heard with surprise and I am sure with regret,' he +says, 'Miss Green's account of this matter. I think we will all agree +that an investigation should be undertaken, and if there has been +injustice done, such reparation as is possible shall be made.' Then +they came and closed the door and I lit out for here. You've got a +fine champion, Kendall Major, and we'll all see you through if it comes +to a public demonstration, you can gamble on that!" + +Elinor's face was perplexed. "But I don't see what can be done," she +said gently. "I'd hate to have the thing dragged up before the school +again. Of course, if it had been denied right then and there, I'd have +been very glad, but now, after all these days----" + +"It's only a week," protested Margaret Howes, firmly. "We had to wait +till the Board met, you know." + +"They can make an announcement, just as the prize announcement was +made," explained Griffin, drumming impatiently on the table. "You may +be too modest to be there, but it can be put through without you, and +you will be cleared, don't you see?" + +"Is Miss Green still in the Committee room?" asked Patricia suddenly. + +"Of course," returned Griffin, shortly. "She had other reports to +make. She usually stays about half an hour, she'll be longer today. +Why?" + +"I thought I'd like to have her here," she said, with a sidelong glance +at Judith. "We've found out something about----" + +She stopped, trying to arrange her speech so as to present the intended +disclosure in the clearest form possible, but Judith, whose cheeks had +been burning at Griffin's account of the interview in the Committee +room, took the words out of her mouth. + +"We've found out all about it!" she cried triumphantly. "Doris +Leighton copied Elinor's design, and put it in ahead of Elinor! I know +all about it, and I'll tell Miss Green and the whole committee, too, if +I have to!" + +Griffin was the first of the three to recover. She leaned forward, a +thin, eager hand on Judith's arm. + +"Say that again, young one," she demanded imperatively. "Make it good +and plain this time." + +Judith repeated her startling statement, adding that she had proof for +everything she said. Her manner was so genuine and convincing that +Griffin started up with a quick gesture of command. + +"Don't say another word till I get back," she said, authoritatively, +and was gone before any questions could be formed. + +They sat in absolute silence, absently watching the occupants of the +now nearly deserted tables straggle out in twos and threes, until the +room was quite empty, and Patricia could bear it no longer. + +"We don't have to petrify, do we?" she said, with a nervous ripple. +"Griffin may keep us sitting here for hours----" + +Judith's dramatic sense asserted itself, and she frowned at Patricia's +frivolous interruption of the portentous silence. + +"Do be still, Miss Pat," she said sedately. "We've waited two whole +days already--five minutes more won't hurt us." + +Margaret Howes glanced at Elinor, as she sat quietly with chin in one +pink palm, her brows drawn level and her dark eyes steady and +thoughtful. + +"You're a wonder, Kendall Major," she broke out. "Here am I all +fluffed up and on positive pins and needles over this affair, while you +are as calm as a picture. Don't you feel excited? Aren't you wild to +hear what it is?" + +Elinor laid her hands on the table and Patricia could see that the +fingers were twisted together until the knuckles showed white. + +"Of course, I am anxious," she said evenly. "But I've had a different +sort of life from most girls, and it's taught me that there's always a +lot more to any surprise than we're looking for. I've been wondering +just how much pain there's going to be, back of the pleasure of being +set right in the eyes of the school." + +"There oughtn't to be any for _you_," said Margaret Howes, impulsively +laying her hand on Elinor's. "There isn't anything coming to you but +plain every-day satisfaction in getting your rights." + +"Ah, but how about Doris?" questioned Elinor sadly. "Isn't she to be +remembered?" + +"Why should she be?" returned the other warmly. "Did she have any +thought for anything but her own parade when she pretended to be sorry +for you? There's such a thing as carrying virtue too far, my dear +girl, and I think you're straining your charity with too fine a sieve." + +Elinor smiled a wistful little puckered smile. "Perhaps I am rather +lop-sided in my feelings," she confessed. "I always feel so dreadfully +sorry for the wrong-doers, and the less they care the sorrier I am." + +Patricia had opened her lips to sustain Margaret Howes' point of view, +when Griffin, followed by Miss Green, came breathlessly in to the room. + +"Now we're all ready," she said eagerly when they had made room for the +generous figure of the monitor. "Fire away with your tale, young one, +and don't spare the details. We're game for any length of story, so +long as you can prove it." + +Judith, with her cheeks flushing and paling and her composed tones +carrying conviction, laid the story of her discoveries before them, +telling them how she had thought of it first "for fun, like a plot for +a story," and then how she had remembered that Doris Leighton had +Elinor's keys with access to the locker where the two studies for the +prize designs were left that night that Elinor was taken ill; how she +had discovered through Doris' younger sister that Doris had made her +study for the Roberts prize from a little rough color sketch "just like +Elinor had." + +"I'd heard her say the Saturday that Miss Jinny came to see us that she +never made sketches beforehand," said Judith, earnestly. "And she told +Patricia the very day Elinor fainted that she hadn't begun her study. +So I pretended to myself that we were all in a story, and I thought and +thought what I should make of it if I were reading about it all instead +of living in it. Then I saw that the thing to do was to find out if +Doris Leighton had the little color sketch that she used for her study, +and compare it with Elinor's." + +Here Elinor gave a start, and then composed herself as Judith went on. + +"I hunted and hunted for Elinor's, which I knew very well, for it was +made on the back of one of my old tablets, but I couldn't find it. +Geraldine couldn't find the one Doris used either, and then I got +awfully interested. I told Geraldine that I was making up a story and +I wanted to act it all out in life, and she was glad to help. She was +mad at Doris anyway, and so she hunted everywhere for her sketch, but +she couldn't find it. I was pretty near giving up then, for I thought +I was mistaken; but the men were just making ready to take out +Leighton's ashes when I thought, like a flash, 'There's where it would +be, if anywhere,' and I told Geraldine. So we got sticks and we +rummaged. My gracious, but it was dusty!" + +Patricia gave a gasp of comprehension. "That's what made you so grimy +that day Mrs. Halden came in for tea!" she exclaimed. + +Judith nodded. "We found it!" she went on, growing more excited as the +end approached. "We found it, all in little bits, along with other +stuff from Doris' waste basket!" + +The girls looked at one another in shamed silence. The actual +discovery of the deception was so much more disconcerting than they had +foreseen. They seemed to visualize Doris Leighton as she tore those +guilty fragments and hid them in the rubbish, and the sight sickened +them. + +Griffin held out a hand for Judith's envelope. "You'll verify these, +Kendall?" she said brusquely, pushing the bulky oblong across the table +to Elinor. + +Spread out on the cloth, the scraps pieced perfectly into the study +that Elinor had made for the Roberts prize. The back showed the stamp +of the Keystone tablet, with Judith's name partly erased and Doris' +scribbled over it. + +"It's my sketch," admitted Elinor in a low tone. "I missed it the next +day, but I thought Miss Pat had dropped it when she brought my things +home to me. My study was almost done, and I forgot all about it after +that." + +There was a disconcerting silence, while Judith breathed hard and kept +her eyes glued on Miss Green. + +Suddenly Patricia spoke. "It's a horrid mess, and I'm sorry that it +had to come out, but there's no use shirking, is there? If someone, no +matter who, stole your hat, you'd feel they should be brought to +justice. Isn't stealing an idea a lot worse? I don't really think you +ought to feel so badly, Elinor. If Doris Leighton could do such a +thing, and then be friends with you afterward, she isn't worth breaking +your heart over. I felt badly enough when Ju told me, but I've kept +getting madder and madder, as I've seen how she goes on acting her part +of kind friend to you." + +Miss Green rose majestically and Griffin sprang up at the same time. + +"I shall ask to be allowed to have the evidence," said the impressive +representative of justice. "There is no time to be lost. Come, Miss +Griffin, I shall need you and Miss Howes too." + +At the door she turned, with expansive kindliness. + +"Do not distress yourself, my dear Miss Kendall," she said, +benignantly. "There is no cause for apprehension. Absolute secrecy +and perfect amenity will prevail. You will be sent for later perhaps, +but nothing unpleasant will occur. Depend upon it, the Board will +welcome this revelation of the true state of affairs, and will do its +duty gently." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +RESTITUTION + +"Did you see Elinor?" whispered Judith to Patricia, as she edged her +way to her in the packed assembly room. + +Patricia shook her head. "She's with Griffin and Bottle Green," she +answered under her breath. "What do you want her for?" + +Judith's bow was on one eye and her hat under her arm, showing that she +had made great haste to join the growing crowd in the first antique +room. She looked even more agitated than Patricia had expected her to +be. + +"What's the matter?" insisted Patricia, nudging her to compel her +attention, but Judith's gaze was wandering all about in search of +Elinor, and she answered absently. "There she is, up on the stand with +Griffin," she murmured in dismay. "I can never let her know. I wish I +could catch her eye; can't you signal her, Miss Pat? You're taller +than I am." + +"What'll I tell her, if I do?" demanded Patricia indignantly. "I +haven't any idea what you want to telegraph?" + +"Tell her Bruce Haydon is here," said Judith. "Oh, there she goes! I +was afraid you couldn't get her. She's sitting down beside Miss Green +now, and we'll never be able to let her know." + +"Bruce Haydon!" exclaimed Patricia, astonished. "Why, he's in Italy, +isn't he? Elinor had a letter yesterday----" + +"He's here all the same," said Judith, interrupting her surprise. "And +he sent a message to Elinor, so she'd be prepared, I guess. But I +simply can't get to her now. She'll have to find it out for herself." + +"What's Bruce doing here?" asked Patricia, as they resigned themselves +to the inevitable and prepared to await the event. + +"He says he finished his studies, and has come back because he wanted +to keep an eye on you two art students," replied Judith. "He looks +awfully well. You ought to have seen them stare when he grabbed me up +and kissed me in the corridor just now." + +Patricia gave a happy sigh. "It'll be good to have him around again," +she said appreciatively. "I never knew how weak in the knees I was +until this very moment. Things are bound to go right with Bruce +hovering around. I hope Elinor sees him. She's feeling mighty shaky +right now, I fancy." + +"Isn't it queer how wobbly one feels?" commented Judith uneasily. +"We've been crazy for the time to come, and now we feel like running +away. I know I'll simply _drop_ when Mr. Benton makes his speech." + +"Nonsense," said Patricia stoutly, although her own knees were not too +steady. "Keep your eyes on Elinor, and remember how glad you are that +she's getting an official apology, after all the cheating and +nastiness--then you won't want to collapse." + +"Sounds like you were prescribing for yourself," retorted Judith with a +flash of intuition. "You look just as----" + +"Hush, he's coming," warned Patricia, turning pale in spite of her +brave words. "Listen, he has begun." + +Her eyes sought the pale pure outline of Elinor's profile, caught +between the intervening faces, and held it during the brief explanatory +speech, wherein Mr. Benton paid his tribute to Elinor's generous +silence, and apologized in the name of the Board for the unjust +accusation. She saw the wave of color sweep over it at the +commendatory words, and the dark eyes fall under the shame of the +hinted treachery of the unnamed student whose face was in every one's +mind. Then at the next words she saw the light flash into full +radiance, as Mr. Benton, with something in his extended hand, turned +full toward Elinor where she sat. + +"And now, Miss Kendall," he finished with grave satisfaction in every +word. "It is my privilege to award to you the Roberts prize of one +hundred dollars, in recognition of the meritorious work done by you in +the late competition. Will you kindly come forward to receive it?" + +There was a general murmur of surprise and a following rustle of +gratification. + +Patricia's eyes were too blurred with happy tears to see very clearly, +but she made out Elinor's figure bowing over the same purse that Doris +Leighton had received ten short days ago, and she whispered to herself +joyously, "Dear old Norn, they've more than paid up for all the +horridness now, haven't they? And you deserve it all, too." + +Judith, whose eyes were still wide with astonishment, touched her arm. + +"Did you know?" she asked breathlessly. "Did anyone know she was going +to get it?" + +"Can't you tell by looking at them?" demanded Patricia. "Do they look +as though they'd expected anything like this? Of course we didn't +know. The Board didn't even peep to Bottle Green, for she's gaping +like the rest." + +"I see," acknowledged Judith, sweeping the ringleaders with her sharp +scrutiny. "They're all simply stunned, but they're mighty glad, too. +They're going to give the Academy Howl. Oh, Patricia, I wish I could +howl, too!" + +"Go ahead, if you can do it," said a masculine voice at her elbow. +"The Academy won't object, I'm sure." + +Patricia turned with a gasp of delight. "Bruce!" she cried +delightedly. "You dear thing! You've come in the nick of time. Isn't +it splendid that Elinor's won the prize? Did you hear about it? +Aren't you perfectly crazy over it?" + +Bruce laughed good-naturedly as he shook hands. + +"I can't undertake to answer all that at once, Miss Pat," he said. +"Let's go find what Elinor thinks about it." + +He pushed a way for them to the group which surrounded the flushed and +gracious recipient of the Roberts prize, and before Patricia quite +realized how he did it, he had them ensconced with Elinor in a cozy +corner of the print room, and had heard the whole story of the stolen +design. + +"It's a good thing you two innocents have a responsible person like +Judith to look after you," he said seriously. "I don't know what you'd +do without a protector to play providence for you." + +Judith flushed and tossed her mane with a gratified air. "Oh, they +don't think much of _me_," she rejoined. "They make fun of me lots of +times." + +"Is that so?" said Bruce, with great concern. "I'm sorry to hear that. +I tell you what, Judy, we'll form a partnership, you and I, and we'll +see to it that they behave themselves better in the future. They've +proved that they can't take proper care of themselves, so we'll have to +play guardian angels." + +Elinor merely smiled her gentle, affectionate smile, but Patricia +rippled out in mocking laughter. + +"I like that!" she cried. "Who took care of us all those years when we +were poor and alone in the world? It's late in the day for Elinor to +need protectors." + +"Nevertheless, she's going to have 'em," declared Bruce with +undisturbed geniality. "You may mock us and you may shock us and you +may say you don't care, but we're on the job for keeps, aren't we, +Judith, _ma chère_? And the first step we're going to take in our new +position is to drag you both off to luncheon this very minute. You'd +best give in gracefully, for both Judy and I are fearfully strong and +ferocious." + +Judith giggled, but Patricia rose briskly. + +"I guess you won't have to chloroform us to drag us there this time," +she retorted. "I'm glad we're presentable, anyway. Aren't you +thankful I made you put on your best duds, Norn? There's nothing like +being contented when one feeds, and I couldn't partake of the stalled +ox with any satisfaction in my old school rags." + +Judith cuddled close to Bruce on the settee while Elinor went for her +wraps. + +"Patricia's awfully superficial, I think," she confided to him +cheerfully, as she watched her readjusting her bright hair beneath the +pretty hat rim at the quaint old mirror of the bookcase. "She's so set +on pretty things. She just worships anyone who is pretty--no matter +whether she understands their character or not. I wish we could make +her more serious-minded and careful." + +"Pooh," said Patricia, turning from her own reflection with a gay +laugh. "You don't need to try. I do worship beauty, and I always +shall. I like to laugh and sing and be happy. I like blue skies +because God made them that way. And I don't think a pink rose is +wickeder for being pink than if it were grubby gray. _I_ think being +happy is the serious business of life--when you take other people in +with you--and I reckon God thinks so too." + +"Pa-tri-cia!" ejaculated Judith in prim rebuke, but Bruce gave her hand +a restraining squeeze, and Patricia went on, glowing with earnestness. + +"There isn't any more goodness in dismal looks, no, nor half so much, +as in happy faces. Don't the cherubim sing eternally? Is there +anything said about dark days in the New Jerusalem? I'm ashamed of +you, Judith Kendall, for not knowing that it's twice as brave and good +to be cheerful and pretty as it is to be moping and dull. Look at +Elinor--would we love her if she'd been fussing about the hard times we +had? Not much! Every bright smile she had for those horrid times has +made her more adorable to me and I look on every bit of happiness we +had in those poor days as just so much wrested from the powers of +darkness." She stopped suddenly, with a little gasp of embarrassment, +as Elinor entered. + +"Patricia's spouting again," remarked Judith with the serene cruelty of +extreme youth. "I didn't mind, because I'm used to it, but I guess +Bruce is thankful you didn't keep us any longer, Elinor." + +Bruce rose and held out his hand to Patricia, who was flushing +painfully. + +"Don't mind the kid, Miss Pat dear," he said, with his most winning +smile. "She doesn't know any better yet. Your religion is the sort +we've got to _grow_ into, and, even then, some of us aren't ever quite +big enough to realize it." + +Judith's face had been undergoing swift changes during this short +speech, but now it cleared and a beatific expression shone upon it. + +"I know what you mean, now, Miss Pat," she declared loftily. "I've +read it in Stevenson's verses, about 'those who . . . sow gladness in +the peopled lands,' Isn't that it, Bruce? I didn't _quite_ understand +the way Patricia put it, but I think it's perfectly lovely, really I +do." + +Bruce pinched her cheek, with a tolerant laugh. + +"It's all right, so long as it's in a book, eh?" he asked. "What a +perfect little chameleon you are, Judy Kendall. I don't know whether +to take you into the grand surprise that I'm going to spring on these +two young ladies, or leave you at the nearest library while I disclose +my dark projects. What do you say, Elinor?" + +Elinor slipped Judith's nervous hand into her muff within her own. + +"I think we might let her share with us this time," she said gently, +and Judith's relief was beautiful to behold. + +"Bruce says we're going to a French restaurant," she announced proudly. +"I hope I can remember enough French to talk politely. Mademoiselle +makes us say so many fine sentences when we have our 'calling days' in +the French class that I get awfully twisted and never know whether I'm +masculine or feminine." + +"You won't need to think about it here," said Bruce. "The waiters are +both Belgians and they speak English pretty well. You know that +English is taught in the public schools in Belgium, and even the little +children can say a few words to you. It's the old folks that don't +understand." + +Judith flew back to his side, pushing Patricia ahead to Elinor. + +"Oh, do tell me all about it," she pleaded, and Bruce, with his +customary good nature, launched into a very diverting account of the +habits and customs of the Flemings and the year spent among them in his +student days. + +The first breath of spring was in the air, softening the chill of the +crowded streets with warming sunshine and a hint of the coming miracle +of the yearly resurrection. The shops were filled with the crisp, +fresh-tinted goods of the nearing season, and here and there among the +smartly dressed women was a modish straw hat brightening the winter +furs and velvets. Patricia's cup was full and running over. She had +no need for speech with Elinor, but she kept giving her hands quick +little squeezes in her muff, while now and again they exchanged swift +telegraphic glances of appreciation. + +Bruce swung the door for them, and they passed into a little narrow +shop-like place. + +Judith's eyes were wide and dismayed. + +"I don't think this is very nice," she whispered as Bruce was +exchanging a few words with the smiling proprietor in the little cage +behind the tiny counter. + +"Hush," cautioned Patricia, using her eyes industriously. "It must be +all right, or Bruce wouldn't have brought us. I like it. The floor is +_sanded_, Judy! And those people at the snippy little tables under the +stairs are French--just hear them gabble to the waiter." + +Judith recovered sufficiently to take notice. + +"There isn't any table--" she had begun, still with slight protest in +her voice, when Bruce ushered them up the narrow vertical stair to the +larger room above where more tables and windows made a cozy dining +place for about a dozen people. + +The waiter, a broad-faced Belgian, rushed forward with a smile of +genuine welcome and a flourish of the spotless towel which he wore upon +his left shoulder, and, with a few murmured words in French, motioned +them to a table by the front window. + +When they were being settled in their places, Judith found opportunity +to whisper to Bruce, who immediately turned to the Belgian, who was +helping Patricia remove her coat. + +"You have good custom today, François," he said with a gesture toward +the chattering groups at the other tables. + +The waiter bowed as he folded the coat carefully. + +"Yes, Mr. Haydon, sir," he said clearly. "We do not complain. Our +trade keeps up, sir. We are the same as when you left, sir. We do not +complain." + +Patricia laughed at Judith's expression, as she watched François whisk +away to the dumb-waiter in the far corner of the little apartment, and +roar stentorian commands in indistinguishable French to an unseen +source of supply below. + +"He just uses his French to plot his dark plots with, Judy darlin'," +she said, merrily. "You needn't try to make them out, for he doesn't +intend you to." + +"I heard 'Chateaubriand,' anyway," retorted Judith triumphantly. "And +that means beefsteak. So I did understand something, you see." + +Bruce made a gesture of mock despair. "Heavens, I'm discovered!" he +cried, with a twinkle. "Judy knows just what she's going to have for +lunch, and there won't be any surprise, after all." + +Patricia looked inquiringly at him. + +"Is _that_ the grand surprise you meant, Bruce Haydon? Sure you aren't +fooling us? Oh, you are! You've got _something_ else--I know it by +your eyes. You look awfully guilty." + +"Do I?" asked Bruce innocently. "I wish there was a mirror here so I +could see how that looks. Here comes François with the bouillon and +omelets. Don't let him see me, please, till I've gotten up a better +expression." + +François served them deftly, while still attending to all the other +tables, and Patricia, in the intervals of merry chatter, wondered at +the innumerable bits of respectful conversation he managed to supply +his patrons in addition to his very satisfactory table service, and she +said so to Bruce, just as the dessert had been placed and François had +withdrawn to a party of newcomers. + +Bruce, however, was remarkably absent in his reply. + +"Yes, he's a wonder," he said, cracking nuts studiously. "I hope he's +as good on breakfasts as he used to be." + +"Breakfast!" cried Patricia, bubbling. "Are we going to keep on eating +till----" + +"No, no, I didn't mean that," returned Bruce hastily. "I was thinking +of something else." + +"The surprise, I am sure," announced Judith calmly. "Let's try to +guess what it is, like charades or Dumb Crambo. You can tell us if we +guess right, Bruce. I'll begin first." + +Bruce laid down his cracker with a grin. "No, you don't, young 'un," +he said decisively. "I'm not going to turn my choicest possession into +a puzzle department. I'm going to spring it myself, right now." + +All eyes were upon him as he crumpled his napkin into a hard ball and +crushed it between his flexible fingers, while his face assumed an +earnest and rather anxious expression. + +"I am going to ask you to think first and speak last," he began. "I +don't want you to go into it hastily or unless you're quite sure you +will like it." + +"We'll like it, all right enough, if you have a hand in it," Patricia +assured him heartily. + +"It's a scheme I've been thinking of for nearly a month now, and I've +made all the arrangements before I came home; but if it doesn't appeal +to you--well, there are no bones broken, and I can easily fix it up +with Miss J---- that is, I can make other arrangements." + +Judith gave an impatient wriggle, but it was Patricia again who spoke. + +"Please, please, _do_ tell us what it is! Suspense is so awful!" + +Bruce cocked his head on one side meditatively. "I'll make a stab at +it," he acceded, and then paused, while they waited in breathless +silence. + +"I've taken a studio apartment, and I've got someone to keep +house--just for a month--and I'm banking on you all coming to spend +that month with me. I want you to have this chance at some outside +work," he said to Elinor. "I'm not so keen on this academic work for a +steady job. I want you to keep up your life class, of course, but +there's a big lot of education lying around in the studios for this +short time anyway. I may not be able to offer it to you again, as I'll +have to be off as soon as this contract is finished. Will you come?" + +Elinor sat looking at him with her eyes shining, and then she drew a +quick breath. + +"I think it would be perfectly glorious," she said gratefully. "It's +wonderful that you should bother with us. I can't thank you----" + +"Don't want any thanks," returned Bruce gruffly. "Your aunt would +understand it. I'm only beginning to pay my debt to her, and it's +going to take a mighty long while, too." + +Patricia held out her hand across the cloth. "I can't kiss you, but +here's the substitute. You're a _duck_, Bruce Haydon. Where is the +studio?" + +Bruce laughed in a relieved way. "That's the way to talk, Miss Pat. +I'll show it to you as soon as you've all finished. Judy, haven't you +anything to say?" + +Judith finished dabbling her fingers in the finger-bowl, and wiped them +daintily. Then she raised her clear eyes to the expectant company. + +"The only thing I'm afraid of is that Mrs. Hudson won't let us go a +whole month sooner," she said with the calmness of despair. "I suppose +I'll have to stay there all by myself, just because I'm the youngest +and not an artist. But I tell you all this--I'm not going to stay +alone. I'll get Mrs. Shelly to come in----" + +"Good idea, Judy," said Bruce encouragingly. "We'll see what we can do +about it. Come along now, we're going to inspect the new premises. +You girls get your duds on while I settle up. It's only around the +corner, and we'll be there in a jiffy." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +NEW QUARTERS AND OLD FRIENDS + +They went up in the little box of an elevator, and as they got out, +Bruce jingled his keys invitingly. + +"I'll let you open the door--for luck, Judy," he said, holding out a +key. "See if you can guess which door it belongs to." + +Judith scanned the doors critically, her brows puckered and her head +aslant. + +"We-e-ll," she said, slowly revolving so as to see each hall in turn. +"I'll take the one just ahead there. It hasn't any card on the door +and all the others have." + +"Clever child!" commended Bruce. "That escaped my notice. You're +right, of course. Go ahead. Open up." + +Judith put the key in its lock, turned it easily and then swung the +door wide, but before the others could catch even a glimpse of the +interior, she gave a little squeaking cry and rushed in, leaving the +door to bang after her. + +"Well, of all things!" exclaimed Patricia indignantly. "We're locked +out!" + +"We can ring if Bruce has no other key," said Elinor hastily. "She'll +surely let us in." + +So, as there was no other key, Patricia put her finger to the bell on +the lintel and kept it there till the knob rattled and the door was +flung open wide. Judith was standing in the middle of the big, +comfortable studio and her face was flushed, but not one word did she +say in explanation of her singular behavior. + +Elinor and Patricia were so occupied with the room that she almost +escaped reproof, but Patricia, as she turned from admiring the stairway +that wound up one side of the studio to a nook in the peaked roof +above, caught a very knowing look on her little sister's face which was +meant for Bruce, and she pounced on her immediately. + +"What is the matter with you today, Ju?" she asked in an undertone, "I +do wish you'd behave yourself. Bruce will be sorry he asked us if +we're going to act like wild Indians." + +Judith's only reply was a giggle. + +Bruce and Elinor were inspecting the rooms on the other side of the +studio, and had passed out of sight behind the second doorway. +Patricia forgot her censorship as the spirit of the explorer rose in +her. + +"Let's look at these rooms, Ju," she proposed, with a hand on the heavy +curtain at her right. + +Judith caught her hand with a cry of dismay. + +"It's not fair, till Elinor comes, too!" she protested hotly. "Wait, +they'll be back. I'll call them." + +But Patricia, with a laugh, broke from her and lifted the curtain. + +"Elinor didn't wait for us," she began gayly, "and I'm not----" + +She broke off with her mouth and eyes opened to their widest, for there +in the chair by the cozy grate sat Mrs. Shelly, while Miss Jinny stood +chuckling her husky chuckle and rubbing her elbows nervously with both +hands. + +"They've come to stay!" shouted Judith in wild excitement. "They're +going to be here the whole month! Wasn't it lovely of Bruce to get +them, and won't it be _transcendant_, with all of us together!" + +Patricia had for once no words, but she fell on Miss Jinny's willing +neck, and to Judith's great wonder and Mrs. Shelly's delight, she +kissed Miss Jinny with great vigor and despatch. + +"You _duck_!" she cried, and, although Judith gasped and paled at the +audacious epithet, Miss Jinny merely chuckled and patted her tenderly +and then passed her on to the smiling, pink-cheeked little old lady in +the rocker. + +Such a time as they had all together when Elinor and Bruce joined them! +And such a happy circle as they made around the studio fire, as +twilight came on and the shadows crept out from the vast corners of the +big room, and they made plans for the future and compared notes as to +the past months of separation, with the cheerful flicker leaping and +flaring on their ruddy faces, quite as it had in the old house at +Rockham. + +"Do you remember how we planned for this year?" said Patricia, her chin +on her hand and her eyes on the leaping flame. "That was at Christmas +time, only three short months ago, and we've all broken our plans +already. David and Judy are the only ones who have stuck to theirs, +and that is mainly because they can't help themselves. Here am I, +studying at the Academy, after vowing I'd not waste money on myself at +all. Elinor is dropping half her studies there and starting on an +entirely new course--Interior Decoration and Stained Glass--under Mr. +Bruce Haydon's personal supervision; and as for Mrs. Shelly and Miss +Jinny--they are so far out of their plans I don't believe they'll ever +get back into them again." + +Miss Jinny gave a snort of defiance. "Just you wait till this month is +over, Patricia Louise Kendall," she said belligerently. "I'll be back +in that old rut so tight you won't be able to see where I ran in again. +Not go back to housekeeping with mama, indeed! I'll bet that I put up +as many extra pickles and jams this year as I ever did, and with the +exception of having the library and you people and the Haldens again, I +don't see much change ahead of me, I can tell you!" + +Patricia sighed and stretched herself luxuriantly. + +"Well, I haven't any complaint to make with the new arrangements," she +said expansively. "Things keep getting deliciouser and deliciouser all +the time. I only wish we didn't have to go back to the boarding house +tonight----" + +"Indeed, you're not going to budge a step!" said Miss Jinny +triumphantly. "We planned it all out. You're to stay here and begin +to be at home right off. You can go and pack tomorrow and have your +things sent over as soon as you please." + +"But," insisted Elinor, "we haven't anything----" + +Again Miss Jinny interrupted. "I got your negligees and all from Mrs. +Hudson this morning," she chuckled. "She knows you won't be back, and +she's just as well pleased, for she's a good chance to rent your rooms +right away, and I told her to go ahead. She'll keep your things till +tomorrow or the next day. Now, come along and choose bunks, though +there isn't much choice, for there is only one big room with three beds +in it. Mama and I are right next to you, you see." + +The rooms on the right of the studio, a small one with a double bed in +it for Miss Jinny and her mother, and the enormous room with the three +beds for the girls, were separated by a tiled bath and were quite +remote from the rooms on the other side, where was a corresponding +small room to be used for a sitting-room, and a slightly larger one for +Bruce. Altogether, the arrangement was as satisfactory as could be +wished and everyone was enthusiastic over the many comforts and +conveniences that the place boasted. + +"Fortunate that Symons had to hurry off to South America for that +commission, wasn't it?" said Bruce, rubbing his hands before the fire. +"We couldn't have got a snugger place, and just for the length of time +we want it. I told Miss Jinny it would be flying in the face of +Providence for her to refuse to come and occupy it." + +Judith had been studying the problem of the rooms, and now put her +question. "But where are we to have our meals?" she ventured. "I +don't see any dining-room." + +"They are coming in from Dufranne's and we're going to imbibe them in +that room to the left," replied Bruce with a wave toward the +sitting-room. "When we feel like it, we're going to Dufranne's for +them." He turned to Mrs. Shelly with an air of charming courtesy that +sat well on his strong face. "Are you still in the humor for dining +out, madam?" he asked, in a tone easily heard by her. + +Mrs. Shelly nodded, smiled her twinkly smile and rose with alacrity. + +"I'll put on my new bonnet," she promised, and trotted off to her room, +smoothing the tails of her basque with eager fingers. + +"She's just as happy as a lark," said Miss Jinny to the others. "I was +so scared for fear she'd hate town life, but, lands alive, she takes to +it like a duck to water. I shouldn't wonder if it did her a lot of +good. She's been uncommonly quiet recently, and I believe she's been +missing you girls." + +Mrs. Shelly in her new bonnet with a gay little pansy on it, Miss Jinny +in another bran new hat, made quite a festive appearance, and the great +humor of them both and their sincere pleasure in being so important a +part in the little home group gave an added zest to the evening's +merry-making. + +"Ju hasn't let go of Mrs. Shelly's hand since we left the restaurant," +said Patricia apart to Elinor, as they were taking off their wraps in +the studio again. "Poor little kid, she certainly does worship that +dear little old lady." + +"How she'd have adored mother, if she had only lived," said Elinor +softly. "Mother was so lovely. I always feel that you two have been +cheated out of so much--not even to have a dim memory of her." + +Patricia's face grew wistful. "She went away when I was so little," +she murmured absently. "Sometimes I do fancy that I can recall how she +looked as she kissed me good-bye in the big station, but it must be +only fancy--one doesn't remember much at two years old. I can see just +how Judy looked though, when they brought her home after mother died, +and I was only three and a half then." + +"What are you two conspirators hatching up over there in the corner?" +called Bruce from the fireside. "We're making out our schedule, and +you don't know what you're missing!" + +Settled in their places--they already had their own selected places in +the ingle nook--with Mrs. Shelly rocking contentedly in the center of +the half circle and Bruce smoking in the deep armchair, they grew +enthusiastic again over the delightful prospect of the month that Bruce +outlined for them. + +"Judy, of course, will go to school," he said, blowing a little smoke +ring at her. "Miss Pat will go to the sculpturing as usual, but may +have a hand in any game here that she is able to hold up. You'll learn +a heap, Paddy Malone, if you keep those ears of yours open, for +Grantly, the fellow who is doing the bas-reliefs for the State Capitol +building, will be about occasionally, and he's a cracker-jack in his +line." + +"See here," interrupted Miss Jinny, cocking her eyes severely at Bruce. +"I'm not going to have Patricia hobnobbing with those _Bohemians_!" + +Bruce roared with laughter. "My dear Dragon!" he cried, "don't you be +afraid of your precious charges. Grantly hasn't any time to waste on +young 'uns like Miss Pat. He's _working_, I tell you, and he doesn't +like young ladies, anyway. Her only chance would be to overhear him +spouting to me, which if she's discreet she may occasionally be able to +do." + +"Oh, indeed!" said Miss Jinny subsiding. "Well, that's another matter. +I don't object to that." + +"Hope not," retorted Bruce amiably. "Now as to Elinor." He stopped +for so many rings that Judith stirred and cleared her throat +impatiently, whereon he grinned cheerfully at her and went on. "As to +Elinor. She will keep on with the night life, but the rest of her time +will be spent in the studio here, working on studies and cartoons for a +big wall decoration for a church, and a stained glass window for the +same church--a purely mythical one, my dear Dragon, but intended to +develop our promising student more rapidly than the easygoing method of +the schools. What do you say to the program, young ladies?" + +Patricia smiled at Elinor's fervid response and Judith's calm approval, +but she uttered never a word, though Bruce looked at her inquiringly. + +"Well?" he said at last. "What's the verdict?" + +"I think it is simply great," replied Patricia with a ripple of mirth. +"I honestly do, Bruce. I'm going to have a gorgeous time, and I'm +awfully grateful to you for it." + +"Well?" he repeated. "That's not all you're thinking, Miss Pat. +You're simpering at some hidden invention of your own, and you know it. +Out with it or we'll put the X-rays on it." + +Patricia flung a look at Miss Jinny. "Really and truly I haven't any +secret to confess, Bruce. I was only thinking how very nice it was for +us, Judy and me, that we had such a genius for a sister." + +Miss Jinny's eyes twinkled, but Bruce flushed and flicked his cigar ash +into the fire with a dexterous finger. + +"What has that to do with your meek and lowly gratitude?" he asked with +the trace of a smile. + +"It has everything to do with all of us," responded Patricia promptly. +"We're just the tail of the comet, you know." + +Bruce opened his eyes and sat up, piercing Patricia with a keen gaze. +Evidently he found no reserve behind her words, for he broke into a +laugh and shook his head at her. + +"I'm in a regular nest of female detectives," he retaliated gayly. +"Between you and Judy I shan't have a single secret left at the end of +the month. I'll have to watch myself like thunder, Miss Jinny, or +they'll make a miserable hen-pecked man of me!" + +Miss Jinny grunted amiably at him, and then rose. "I guess you know +what you're about, Bruce Haydon. Don't look to me to protect you, +though, for I'm a mighty active _feminist_, and I can't waste any of my +valuable time taking care of such a common critter as a man." With a +nod to the girls, she beckoned her mother. + +"Time for bed, mama dear," she said clearly. "I've got your ginger tea +ready for you, and I guess it's the last you'll want this year." In a +lower tone she explained to the others: "Just brewed it to make her +feel more at home, you know. She doesn't need it in this fiery furnace +of a place." + +Mrs. Shelly, with a kindly good-night to Bruce, trotted after them, +fumbling with her watch pocket. + +"I declare, if it isn't half-past ten!" she exclaimed, as she snapped +the blue enameled lid of her little watch. "My little girl ought to +have been in bed an hour ago." + + + + +Judith twined her arms about her and kissed her fondly. + +"It doesn't matter just for tonight, does it, Mama Shelly?" she asked +with pretty deference. "There are going to be such a lot of nights to +go to bed early in." + +Mrs. Shelly nodded briskly. "And I'll come sit with you while you're +getting ready," she promised, patting Judith's hand. "We can have some +good talks together then, and I'll remember more stories for you, too." + +Much to Judith's delight she kissed them all around, and then she +hustled off after Miss Jinny, leaving them to themselves in the big, +comfortable room. + +Patricia flung herself on the fur rug that lay before the empty +fireplace. + +"I don't feel as if I'd ever want to go to sleep," she said +rapturously. "It seems like a glorious dream that we're going to live +in this romantic place a whole month. Bruce is a perfect duck to fix +it up so we can all be together. I shan't study much here, I feel that +in my bones, but I'll have a gorgeous time. How do you feel about it, +Judy?" + +Judith sat with one stocking in her hand, dreaming, and she awoke with +a start. + +"I'm going to _write_!" she declared, dramatically waving the stocking +about. "This is truly inspiring!" + +Patricia gave a short laugh. "Did it ever occur to you that our little +Judy might make a fair actress, Norn?" she asked, deftly catching the +bare foot that supported Judith and bringing her down on the rug beside +her. "Her passion for the limelight grows, I notice, and recent events +have not tended to make her unmindful of her merits." + +"Oh, stop teasing, Miss Pat," cried Judith, wriggling free. "I +wouldn't be an actress if you'd hire me. I'm going to be a writer, and +now I'm going to bed. Good-night," and she made a flying leap into her +pillows and covered herself to the eyes. "Don't say another word to me +tonight," she warned, "or I'll call Miss Jinny. I'm going to sleep." + +Patricia yawned and rose. "I guess I'll follow her virtuous example. +I'm really getting awfully drowsy, now it's so quiet," she confessed. + +Elinor was already half asleep when Patricia suddenly sat up with a +mirthful gurgle. + +"What fun it'll be to tell the gang at the Academy," she crowed. +"Won't Griffin rejoice and won't Doris Leighton wish she'd been good! +Margaret Howes will have a chance to meet Bruce, too. It'll be a +perfect lark all around!" + +Elinor sighed in deep content. + +"Maybe Bruce will let Margaret work with me sometimes," she murmured +joyfully. "I know he's going to like Griffin tremendously; she's just +the sort to fit in with us all. Miss Jinny's crazy over her. I don't +believe we'll see poor Doris Leighton again. Griffin told me she was +leaving." + +Patricia cuddled down in the pillows again, with a chuckle. + +"Miss Jinny told me that Mr. Spicer had asked us all to tea at the +Science and Arts Club," she said. "The Haldens are coming in for +Easter and all the other holidays, and we're going to simply revel in +delightful doings right here in the studio. It's a dream of goodly +revelry, Norn, isn't it?" "It means more than that to me," replied +Elinor. "It means work--glorious, big, beautiful work----" + +"Do you know," interrupted Patricia, suddenly alert again, "I don't +believe I'll ever amount to a row of pins as an artist? I always +forget the work and think only of the _people_ and the fun. I wonder +if I can't brace up and do something worth while. I'll start in +tomorrow--see if I don't." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +AFTERNOON TEA + +The days slipped by with wonderful swiftness after the trunks had been +unpacked and things had settled down to the regular routine. Patricia +wondered at the evenness of their minds and the serenity of their +hearts in those first three weeks of studio life. + +"Everything goes so smoothly," she confided to Miss Jinny one day at +the end of the fortnight. "It sounds monotonous, but I don't mean it +that way at all. We're all so _naturally_ polite and agreeable. We +don't seem to have to force ourselves a bit." + +"That's because we've each of us got something to do," declared Miss +Jinny emphatically. "If we were idling around, musing on ourselves +from morning till night like some poor creatures do, we'd get prickly +mighty soon. People were made to work, and it's flying in the face of +Providence to try to get away from it. We all got our share in the +curse of Adam, and the sooner we realize it, the better for us." + +Patricia played with the handle of the great glittering brass amphora +that stood by the low stool where she sat. Her face was puzzled though +not disquiet. + +"I wonder just what my work will turn out to be?" she said +thoughtfully. "I'm beginning to be afraid I haven't any real work of +my own. I've tried so hard to get on with the modeling--for I do love +it--but it just seems as though I couldn't. That first head that they +liked so much, and the study of Ju is about all the sculpture I've got +in my system, I reckon. I'm downright ashamed to let them know----" + +"You needn't be," declared Miss Jinny vigorously. "You never pretended +you were in it for anything but sport, did you? Bruce knows you're +about through with it; I heard him say so to Elinor yesterday." + +"Oh, did he though?" cried Patricia, kindling. "How clever of him to +see. I thought no one _dreamed_!" + +Miss Jinny chuckled. "We knew you were only marking time till you +stepped off into your music," she said encouragingly. "It was nice, of +course, that you got along so well, but no one expected you to take to +it for good and all." + +Patricia sighed contentedly. "How nice you all are!" she said +appreciatively. "I thought you'd all be disgusted with me if I quit. +After Mr. Grantly said that study of Ju showed promise, I nearly wore +myself to a bone trying to make good. I've been scared stiff about it." + +"Don't you worry, Miss Pat. You'll find your own work all in good +time. It mayn't be what you'd like it to, but it'll be something that +you can do better than any one else," said Miss Jinny with kind wisdom. +"Look at me. I'm sure that books and catalogues is my forte, but the +Lord knows better. He's given me the sense to see it, too, and so mama +is comfortable and happy and someone else who hasn't a dear mother +depending on her does the library work in my place." + +"You're a darling," said Patricia, "and the Lord must be terribly fond +of you." + +"Patricia Louise Kendall! That's sacrilege!" gasped the scandalized +Miss Jinny. + +"Is it?" exclaimed Patricia, equally startled. "I didn't know it was. +Mr. Spicer said it himself yesterday when he was talking to me in the +print room, and I was telling him about your poor basket and saving +bank, and all that. I'm awfully sorry, Miss Jinny." + +Miss Jinny had a queer look, Patricia thought, as she turned hurriedly +away with a murmured excuse about the tea table. + +"Why, it's all ready," cried Patricia wondering at her changed manner. +"We put the sliced lemon on the very last thing." + +But Miss Jinny was not to be diverted into talk again, and as she +started out of the studio the bell came to her aid, buzzing shrilly an +insistent summons to the door. + +"That's Griffin; I know her ring!" cried Patricia jumping up. "I'll +go." + +Griffin it was, in the highest good humor and bursting with news. She +did not wait to get out of her coat before she began to unbosom herself +to them both, alternately addressing each in turn. + +"Kendall Major's missed it, I tell you, going off to that poky +architectural show," she declared to Miss Jinny. "We had the time of +our lives today in life class. Benton's up in the air because Howes +showed him that Ascension study she did over here--you know he never +could bear Haydon or his work--and he was as mad as hops that he should +be butting in with any of his own special pets like Howes." + +"How mean!" cried Patricia spiritedly. "Bruce hasn't even seen that +study. What did he say about it?" + +"Oh, he couldn't _say_ anything right out," replied Griffin knowingly, +"but he made it hot for us, I tell you. Poor old Bottle Green caught +it first, for painting before he'd given her permission, and then he +jumped on me for not painting. Radford caught it and then he lit on +Slovinski for using the Whistler palette, and she just _blew up_! +These Poles aren't like us tame tabbies, you know, and she's full of +ginger, for all her sleepy ways. She's terribly high-born, you know, +and can't bear anyone to look cross-eyed at her." + +"What did she do?" asked Patricia eagerly. + +"Slammed him good and hard," returned Griffin succinctly. "Told him he +was fifteen different sorts of a lobster." + +"Oh, do talk English, Griffie dear," begged Patricia, laughing. "Miss +Jinny doesn't understand your Choctaw speech." + +"Well then, she rebuked him thoroughly for his variable though severe +criticisms, and stated, with some emotion, that the Board should be +enlightened as to his unfitness, through his captious temper, for the +delicate task of nourishing the tender sensibilities of the budding +artist." + +"My word, she wasn't shy, was she?" interpolated Patricia, much +diverted. + +"Not she," declared Griffin. "We were all in a blue fit. Not that we +old stagers are sorry for the man, but it shocked our sense of what's +due him as a teacher. I was fearfully ashamed of Slovinski, but it +_was_ fun to see how astounded he looked. He just stood looking at her +more quietly than I'd ever seen him look at any one, and then he bowed +and asked her if she'd quite finished. Jiminy, but he was polite! We +all got a chill. Slovinski sat down, and we took to work again. +Benton went on criticizing as if nothing had happened, but we felt +mighty queer. Then Bottle Green stooped over to get her paint-box, and +up she starts, most tragic-like, with her hand, on her shoulder, and +she solemnly announces she's broken her arm." + +"Poor thing, she's done it at last!" cried Patricia compassionately. +"Then what happened?" + +"She got safely off, and then the model began to look queer, and in a +minute she'd fainted. Howes brought her to with a glass of mineral +water, and the class broke up. But the model didn't go. After Benton +had made a small spicy speech of farewell--he's leaving, can't stand +being sassed--she got up on the stand and gave us a bunch of monologues +that were out of sight. She used to be on the variety stage until she +lost her voice. I tell you, Kendall missed it." + +"What did I miss?" called Elinor's voice from the other room, where she +had come in unnoticed. + +She came to the doorway with her hat and furs still on and repeated the +question. Griffin gave her a synopsis of the row and the casualties +following, which she received with a little protesting laugh. + +"I can't say it sounds better than the architectural show," she said, +pulling out her hat-pins. + +"That part wasn't," agreed Griffin, "though a bit more sporting +perhaps. But what came after was. Mary Miller, the model, told us the +most wonderful story--her own life, first in the bush in Australia and +then here in New York and Chicago; and who do you think she is?" + +"Melba in disguise?" mocked Elinor gayly. + +"Stuff!" snorted Griffin, impatiently. "Her family comes from Rockham, +and her grandmother used to live at Greycroft. She's going out to see +the place when it gets warmer. I didn't tell her you lived there now, +for I didn't know whether you'd want----" + +"Lands to goodness, I believe I've seen her!" exclaimed Miss Jinny. +"There was a Mary Miller, a little thing about five, used to play about +the place when old Miss Spence lived there. Her mother married again +and went to Australia. Must be the same one." + +"Come over to the shop tomorrow and see if it isn't--" Griffin began, +when there was a sound of laughter and talking in the outer hall and +the door opened to admit Bruce, Margaret Howes, the two Halden girls +and Judith. + +Mr. Spicer and Mrs. Shelly came in almost at the same time, and Miss +Jinny's delicious tea and nut-cakes were served with great gayety and +lively chatter. The Haldens, having come from a two-days vacation at +Rockham, were full of neighborhood gossip and gave very circumstantial +accounts of Greycroft, Hannah Ann and Henry. + +"We saw Hannah Ann and Henry on Saturday and got all the news about the +place from them. Major had the colic one night, but Hannah Ann saved +him with a quart of homeopathic pills," laughed Miriam. "Everything +looked just as natural as life when we drove by this morning. They'll +be mighty glad to see you all when you go back." + +"What are you putting up in the garden, Elinor?" asked Madalon, +stirring her tea. "I noticed that Henry had a lot of poles planted +along the south shrubbery----" + +Judith's dismayed exclamation cut short her account of the activities +at Greycroft. + +"Now you've done it!" cried Judith in distress. "She knows all about +it, and I meant it for a surprise! Oh dear!" + +"I'm awfully sorry--" began Madalon, contritely, but Judith was too +deeply disappointed to be very polite. + +"Hannah Ann and I have been writing about it for ever so long," she +lamented, "and we were having it put just where you wanted it, Elinor, +and Henry got the trees from the wood lot, and we were going to have it +for a surprise--" She broke off, choking. + +Elinor slipped an arm about her. "But what is it, Ju dear?" + +"A pup-pup-pergola," spluttered Judith, recovering a bit. "Just the +sort you wanted. And we planned for Miss Pat to make one of those +lovely stone seats out of concrete. But it isn't any use, now," she +ended forlornly. + +"Don't be a muff," said Patricia briskly. "It's twice as good, don't +you see, coming out this way? Here are eight people surprised all in a +bunch, instead of merely Elinor and poor me. You've sprung it in the +very nick of time, Infant." + +"Sure thing," supplemented Griffin genially. "I'm in it now, and if +you'd put it off, I'd been in Kalamazoo or Madagascar, and missed it +all." + +Judith with this encouragement began to take heart, and by the time Mr. +Spicer and Margaret Howes had joined their congratulations to the +others, she was fully recovered and enjoying herself immensely, arguing +with Margaret Howes and Bruce as to the shape of the projected seat +with a freedom that was usually denied her. + +The subject of Mary Miller was brought up and discussed with great +interest. Everyone advocated Miss Jinny's visit to the Academy, and +Judith added the hope that the descendant of the old housekeeper at +Greycroft might be able to throw some light on the disappearance of the +old miser's silver and bank books, a remark that caused some +consternation among the elder members of the party. + +"Don't you go making suggestions of that sort," warned Bruce, with +impressive authority. "The girl will feel as though her +great-grandmother were a thief." + +"Oh, I wouldn't put it that way," cried Judith, scandalized. "I'd just +sort of hint around gently. Maybe they dug it up long ago." + +"Ju's got the idea from her last thriller that the Dutchman who used to +live at Greycroft buried his treasure somewhere about the place," +explained Patricia to Griffin. "I suppose she'll spend her time +grubbing this summer." + +Griffin pushed up her blouse sleeve, showing a remarkably thin arm. +"I'm your man, if you ever want a pal," she said to Judith. "I'm +trained down to the right weight now and ready for business." + +Judith did not know whether she was being chaffed or not, so she +dexterously changed the subject. + +"Doris Leighton's sister has the scarlet fever," she announced, +enjoying the stir that the name caused, "and Doris is nursing her. She +takes turns with the nurse, and Geraldine cries when she goes out of +the room." + +"Phew, that doesn't sound like our fine lady of the stony heart!" +exclaimed Griffin. "Are you sure, kidlet?" + +Judith nodded emphatically. "Mrs. Leighton told Miss Hillis over the +phone, and she told the class, as 'an example of sisterly devotion,' +she called it. I felt like telling her _what I knew_." + +"Judith Kendall, you're a little monster!" cried Patricia, indignantly. +"Even if Doris did cheat, she's doing a noble thing now, and we ought +to be the last to blab, since Elinor got the prize. Doris had to pay +for her sins and she has human feelings, too." + +"Pooh, she didn't have to pay much," said Judith with the callousness +of childhood. "She only gave back the prize and left the Academy." + +"I'm glad to hear that she is making good now," said Margaret Howes +gravely. "I always felt there was a lot of good in Leighton under her +fluff." + +"Perhaps it took hard rubs to bring it out," said Miss Jinny, pouring +another cup for Mr. Spicer. "We poor human critters are like that +sometimes. Good times spoil us. Maybe she's had it too easy, poor +girl." + +"Souls have muscles, the same as bodies do, and they need exercise," +agreed Bruce thoughtfully. "I know lots of fellows who are failures +through having too much money. It's a dangerous thing to let your soul +get seedy." + +"Golly, that pretty nearly hits us all, doesn't it?" said Griffin +apprehensively. "I'm not so sure about myself, now you mention it. +Doris Leighton may be one ahead of me in this business. Fatty +degeneration of the soul is a new one to me." + +They were all rather serious for a silent moment, and then Patricia +spoke. Her clear voice was rather low and timid, but her eyes were +shining. + +"Let's phone to her and tell her that we all hope Geraldine will soon +be well," she said, looking at Elinor with loving confidence. + +There was a murmur of assent and Elinor rose quickly. + +"The very thing, Miss Pat," she agreed radiantly. "I'll look up the +number for you." + +But Patricia shrank from appearing too magnanimous. + +"It's your affair, Norn," she demurred. "You ought to do the talking." + +So Elinor went into the sitting-room where the telephone was, and in +the intervals of their rather forced conversation, they could hear +scraps of her kind questions and gentle answers. When she returned to +the studio, her face was glowing. + +"I'm so glad you thought of phoning, Miss Pat," she said, taking her +plate and cup from Bruce and seating herself by Miss Jinny. "Doris +was--well, I can't tell you what she said, but she certainly isn't as +bad as we thought her. She's just wrapped up in Geraldine and she +seems to think that this illness is a judgment on her for the prize +study." + +"Poor thing," exclaimed Griffin. "Did you tell her we all asked for +her?" + +Elinor nodded. "She said I might as well tell you all, for it would be +in the papers tomorrow. Her father has failed, and they're dreadfully +poor. It's been coming on for a long while, and that was why she +wanted the prize so much--not that she excused herself for it, she only +said I could see how she came to stoop so low. She was frantic for the +money and was so worried that she couldn't think of any subject for +herself. She thought I was rich and happy and wouldn't care. She even +thought I might not turn in my study at all, when I got sick that +night. She's had a terrible time about it, but she was so glad to have +the chance to explain." + +"Why in the world didn't she say so before?" cried Griffin indignantly. +"She had a chance to defend herself. We're not absolutely inhuman." + +"She couldn't, don't you see, without telling her father's private +affairs?" said Elinor gently. "She didn't feel that it was any excuse +for her conduct, anyway." + +Patricia heaved a deep sigh. "Well, I must say," she said with a +triumphant look at Miss Jinny, "I do believe in first impressions and +I'm glad I always liked Doris Leighton." + +Miriam Halden rose regretfully. "Sorry to break up the festivities, +Miss Jinny," she said, shaking hands, "but our train leaves in just ten +minutes, and Madalon has on bran-new pumps with heels that cut her down +to a mile an hour. We'll see you all again next week at the +house-breaking, as Judith calls it." + +"We'll be here," promised Madalon, following her sister's example. +"We'll have to miss lunch and the Senior dance, but what's a mere dance +compared to helping a neighbor say farewell to their happy little home. +Look for us at twelve-thirty sharp and prepare an extra mess of +pottage, for we'll both be fearfully hungry. Tell David and Tom Hughes +we'll come in on the same train they do. Good-bye, be good till +Saturday and then we'll all be happy." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +APRIL SHOWERS + +"That Miller girl needs a good rest," said Miss Jinny emphatically. + +She had come in from her visit to the Academy, where she had +interviewed the model with a thoroughness that left little of her past +unexplored, and her face was sad and thoughtful as she stood pulling +off her gloves, finger by finger, by the big side window in the studio. + +Mrs. Shelly went on with her knitting, but Patricia, who was mending a +long rent in her best blouse, looked up with eager interest. + +"Did you have a chance to talk to her much?" she asked, snapping off +her thread in her absorption. "What is she really like? Does she +remember Rockham? And does she know we have the old place?" + +Miss Jinny chuckled and then grew grave and thoughtful. + +"I guess she wouldn't last much longer at this business," she said, +smoothing the creases out of the glove fingers. "She's got a pinched +look and her cheeks are mighty pink. No, it ain't paint; I asked right +out, and she answered just as nice as could be. She seems tired, poor +girl, and mortally glad to have some one take an interest. She says +the class rooms are so hot, and the change from living in eighty +degrees to sixty-five, like it is in her room, has made her downright +sick part of the time." + +"It must be hard on her," acquiesced Patricia. "Why didn't she get +something else to do?" + +"Couldn't," said Miss Jinny, briefly. "A girl without friends or money +hasn't much show in a big town. I'm going to take charge of that girl, +Patricia." + +Patricia felt a thrill of alarm. + +"You aren't going to bring her _here_?" she queried, a faint flush of +shame at the selfishness of her speech creeping into her cheeks. + +"Certainly _not_," said Miss Jinny crisply. "I'm merely a guest here. +I'm going to do something more practical, and I want you to help me, if +you can stop being jealous of the poor girl, for----" + +Patricia flung the sewing aside and threw her arms about her friend in +a tempest of contrition. "I didn't mean to be horrid," she cried. +"You know I wouldn't really be so selfish--if I thought you wanted it. +But we have been so happy together here, and I wanted it to go onto the +end, just like a beautiful story that ends happily. I'm sorry I seemed +mean." + +Miss Jinny gave her a pat and a kiss. "I guess I feel quite as much +that way as you do, Miss Pat," she said with unusual softness. "I +hadn't the wildest notion of bringing Mary Miller here. I'm going to +take her to Rockham with me." + +Patricia's heart sank, but she concealed her feelings sufficiently to +reassure Miss Jinny, who went on briskly: + +"I'm going to take her out with us day after tomorrow--she's not going +back to the Academy--and I'm going to get work for her. There's where +you can help. She's a good sewer, she says, though she'd rather live +with someone and do housework." + +"Shouldn't think she'd be strong enough for housework," said Patricia, +puckering her brow. "Mrs. Hand wants a 'lady houseworker,' but I don't +believe she'd have an ex-model. She's so awfully particular, you know." + +Miss Jinny nodded. "She'd work her to death, anyway," she agreed. +"She's mighty inhuman under her soft outside. Her help don't hear much +of her purry ways, I can tell you. That's why they're always leaving. +No, Mrs. Hand won't do." She sighed in perplexity. "I wish we were +well enough off to keep her ourselves. I've taken a liking to her +quiet ways, and I'd enjoy having her about, I'm sure. Most country +girls are so loud and clumping that I've never wanted help before, but +she's mighty different." + +Patricia rubbed the end of her nose with the scissors. "There are the +Haldens and the Berkleys and Tattans," she mused. "They're all +supplied. Perhaps someone will leave and then she can get their place. +Maybe Hannah Ann will have her help sometimes,--we can't afford to have +anyone regularly, you know." + +Miss Jinny rose abruptly, and putting away her things, began +preparations for tea. + +"Well, it's settled that she's going with us," she said comfortably. +"I guess the future will take care of itself. If we do the best we can +and leave the rest to the Lord, we can't go far astray. I feel that +Mary Miller is going to be taken care of some way." + +It had been raining all the afternoon, a gentle persistent rain that +gave no sign of clearing, and they decided, after a cozy dinner at +home, that their projected trip to Rockham the next day would have to +be given up; but when Bruce pulled aside the curtain from the studio +window to compare his watch with the illuminated disc of the St. +Francis clock tower, he gave an exclamation of satisfaction. + +"It's cleared off, after all," he said. "It's going to be a ripping +fine day tomorrow." + +They crowded to the big window, and saw, through the wet flicker of +tiny sprouting leaves, a wind-swept sky with racing clouds and +brilliant stars blazing in the dark, serene spaces between the hurrying +masses of billowy vapor. + +Judith clapped her hands. "We'll go, won't we, Bruce, and Elinor, and +Miss Jinny?" she asked, whirling to each authority in turn. "We'll see +dear, delectable Greycroft and have our picnic in the barn?" + +"And the pup-pup-pergola, too," added Patricia mischievously. + +Miss Jinny meditated for a moment. "I don't believe I'll go," she +said. "I'm going back in another day or so, and mama and I will have +enough of Rockham anyway. I'll stay with her and finish that library +book that Mr. Spicer lent me. It's overdue now, anyway." + +So it was arranged that the four of them, Elinor, Patricia, Judith, and +Bruce, should take the early train to Rockham and spend the day in +adjusting matters at Greycroft for their return the following Saturday, +coming back to town in the late afternoon or early evening. + +Just as they had finished, to their great satisfaction the studio +knocker sounded the quick double knock that always heralded Griffin, +and Judith flew to welcome her. + +"I didn't ring," she explained, standing on the little blue rug by the +umbrella stand, and jabbing her dripping umbrella into the stand. "The +hall door was open and I came right in." She hesitated, and then +rushed on, directing most of her speech to Elinor. "Geraldine Leighton +is dying, they say, and I thought we might each send a little note to +Doris--she's awfully alone, now that Mrs. Leighton is ill, you know. +It mightn't help her much, but it would show her that we----" + +"Dying!" cried Patricia, aghast. "Why they said she was better this +morning." + +Judith crept near to Mrs. Shelly and caught her hand close in both of +hers. The others put eager questions. Griffin, who was deeply +stirred, answered breathlessly. Suddenly, in the midst of the quiet, +home-like, cozy evening, had come tragedy and the shadow of death. + +Patricia had known Geraldine Leighton in a very slight and casual way, +but with the word "dying," she became the heroic center of her hurrying +thoughts. She saw her in the dim room with Doris and the nurse and +doctor, each agonizingly intent on the slow, faltering heart-beats and +the fitful, irregular breathing. As her swift mind galloped on to the +end, and the subdued sounds of grief caught her inner ear, another face +began to print itself rapidly on that quick-moving scene--Doris, white +and haggard, looked into her eyes, and she felt her whole heart go out +to her. + +Griffin was just ending the sentence that had hurried the fleeting +pictures through her mind when Patricia slipped away unnoticed into the +hall, where she flung on a cape and soft hat of Judith's and softly let +herself out. + +The Leighton house was a big dark pile at the end of the street and the +only light visible was in the back room where Patricia knew the +struggle against death and disease was being fought out. She paused +for a long look and then she ran lightly up the steps and put a +shrinking finger on the bell. + +It seemed an eternity till the door was grudgingly opened and a +white-faced, gruff boy asked unrecognizingly what she wanted. + +Patricia put her questions tremblingly, for she feared the stern, +strange face of the boy in knickerbockers. She had seen him playing +and shouting in the square on other days, and the change was so great +that she felt death alone could have wrought it. But he answered +evenly that 'Geraldine was just the same,' and was closing the door +when Patricia stopped him. After a hasty parley, on his part, at first +stubborn and then yielding, the door closed and Patricia, with beating +heart, ran down the steps and hurried to the side of the house where +the long windows of the drawing room protruded their iron balconies +over the sidewalk. + +Here she waited in the shadow of the fluttering violet arc light, with +her eyes fastened to the silent, insensible windows. Ten minutes that +seemed ten eternities went lagging by. Tears of disappointment rose to +Patricia's eyes and she shivered as the gusts of west wind flung the +drops from the saturated trees in a silver shower across the darkened +panes. + +"I'll count ten, and then I'll go," she said to herself. + +The windows remained dark, and the only sounds on the quiet side street +were the wind in the wet trees and the sizzle of the arc light above +her head. + +"Five, six, sev----" + +She sprang forward as the second window slowly moved and a muffled +figure stood on the balcony. + +"Oh, Doris!" was all she found to say, as she stretched eager hands +toward her. + +Doris shrank back with a low, horrified cry. + +"Don't come near me!" she warned in a stifled voice. "Go back as far +as the tree. Don't you know it's scarlet fever? I'll go in at once if +you come nearer." + +Patricia retreated to the tree, and Doris stood with one hand clutching +the cloak and the light strong on her face. She looked more beautiful +than ever to Patricia's friendly eyes, and there was a calm strength in +her manner that awed while it comforted her. All consciousness of +herself was gone, and, Patricia felt, gone forever, and in its place a +quiet courage that spoke of conquered pride and vanity and selfishness. +Doris Leighton had found herself. + +In the hurried words that they exchanged there was a more solid welding +of their renewed friendship than the telephone could have accomplished +for them in many interviews, and they parted at the end of the allotted +five minutes, each with a growing faith in the mercies of that +Providence which had led them to a nobler comradeship. + +Patricia, promising to give Doris' messages to Elinor and the rest, +hurried off, leaving the drawing-room windows once more blank and +impassive. She ran into the studio as Griffin was rising to go, with +her umbrella, reclaimed from the stand, still dripping slow occasional +drops unheeded on the polished floor. + +They had not missed her, much to her surprise. She felt she had +undergone so much, and they were still in the very state she had left +them. She blurted out her triumphant account of the new Doris, almost +forgetting Geraldine, and to their excited questionings and comments +she flashed illuminating replies, making them see the very figure in +the muffled cloak with the courageous expression on its lovely face. + +There was generous and general rejoicing at her account of the brief +interview, and a strong feeling that under this happier augury +Geraldine must recover. Patricia went to bed feeling that the storm of +the afternoon had been a type of her own day, and that for her the +stars were serenely shining after the tempest of doubt and estrangement. + +"Geraldine won't die," she said fervently to Elinor as she put out the +light. "I _know_ she won't die." + +And the morning proved her prophecy, for at the first inquiry came the +joyful news that the crisis was past and Geraldine already improving. + +"Now we can go on our spree with clear minds," said Judith, as they sat +down to breakfast in the sunny sitting-room. "It's a perfect day and +Rockham will look too sweet for anything." + +"What a beautiful description of a spring day in the country by a +budding literary light," commented Patricia merrily. "I'm afraid your +style is rather going off, Ju! You haven't been consulting that +dictionary of yours recently." + +Judith merely shrugged and went on with her breakfast, while Bruce and +Elinor, who had been up unusually early and were already equipped, +discussed Elinor's finished wall-decoration which stood at the far end +of the studio, just visible from the breakfast table. Bruce was much +elated over the progress of his pupil, and prophesied great things for +Elinor in time. He even went so far as to promise that the stained +glass window for which she had made a cartoon should be executed and +put in the little Rockham church. + +Altogether they were in a happy frame of mind and life seemed very +satisfactory to them. As they left the town behind and the dimpling, +downy, spring-time country rolled out beyond their flying windows, they +became positively hilarious, intoxicated by sunshine and spring. They +found Greycroft, Hannah Ann and Henry all equally admirable. The +pergola was inspected and found well-composed and attractive, and the +site for Patricia's concrete seat was decided on hopefully. The picnic +luncheon in the big barn, which Hannah Ann served with great delight +while Henry hurried back and forth to the house with warm dishes and +reinforcements of delicious food, was a glorious frolic, and even the +big black clouds that swept suddenly over the luminous sky did not +distress them. + +"Let's stay here for a minute or two, and then run up to the house +before it comes," suggested Patricia, with her chin on the half door of +the barn, looking out over the tender landscape and down at the flowers +in the unused barnyard far below. + +Hannah Ann and Henry had disappeared with the remains of the feast and +the four were alone in the big solid structure, with hay mows on either +side of their banqueting floor and a smell of dry, sweet herbage in the +air. + +Bruce scanned the rushing yellow clouds. + +"Better shut the windows there, Miss Pat," he said. "I'll close the +doors and then we'll hustle. It's going to be a stunner when it comes." + +Patricia had barely clicked the bolts in the glass upper doors and +heard the heavy clash of the wooden contact as Bruce slid the great +leaves of the big door into place, when with a swish and sweep the +storm broke. + +"We can't go now," cried Patricia, throwing her voice above the sound +of the wind, but Bruce and Elinor at the other end of the barn were +apparently absorbed in the spectacle, and did not hear her. Judith +cuddled close and Patricia felt her hands go cold, but she could only +clasp them harder to reassure her--no words could reach her ear. + +The wind, driving furiously from the west, flung the clouds before +it--great sullen masses of flying gray vapor that now broke into +drenching torrents, shaking the barn and tearing at the casements. In +a moment the place was dark with its roar and the rumble of coming fury +undertoned the shrill screams of the greedy tempest wind. + +Patricia held Judith close, with her own heart beating tumultuously to +the rhythm of the storm. Hard rattling drops castinetted at the glass, +beating an accompaniment to the roar of the racing clouds. For a +moment all was black, then, as the whirling cloud masses swept apart, +the pelting drops lulled and a gray twilight full of ominous murmurs +filled the place. Before Patricia could frame the swift thought that +the storm was passing, darkness swept over them again, and the fierce +scream of the relentless wind tore at the corners of the barn. The +rain beat, deluged, engulfed the out-of-doors; it drummed gayly with +diminishing ferocity; then it roared sullenly, flooding the rain spouts +to bursting; it raged again, with the scream of the wind growing +higher, and snapping branches flung themselves past the gray squares of +the windows, flying leaves pasted wet green blurs on the streaming +glass. Judith shuddered. + +"Oh, Patricia!" she cried in Patricia's ear, but the words died into +the tempest. + +The sound of running water outside their shelter gradually forced its +way into the tumult. The road was a yellow waterway; the brook tore +above the limit of its deep banks into a widening saffron river among +the green meadows, which showed in the ghastly light in crude and ugly +colors. + +Then, suddenly as it had come, the storm passed, trailing dark, +yellow-gray, ragged clouds in its wake. The light came back and the +awed girls at the little window saw below them in the emerald meadows, +wide ugly yellow splotches that grew as they looked, meeting other +growing patches of swirling yellow water from the lanes and roads. +Trees showed fresh wounds and masses of broken branches clotted the +discolored waters of the brook. Birds called excitedly and flew +exultantly about in the limpid air. The sun flung gay greens and +golds. The storm was past. + +Patricia drew a deep breath. + +"Look, look!" cried Judith, her eyes alight and her whole slender +little figure relaxed. "Two trees are down!" + +Across the road a huge sycamore blocked the way and on the pike a giant +willow had crashed down. + +"Oh, Bruce, the sycamore you painted is gone!" called Patricia, not +turning. "Come and see!" + +Elinor came, with the painter following, and as soon as they saw the +work of the storm, Bruce awoke to immediate action. + +"You girls tell Henry to come down with the axe and grubbing-hoe," he +commanded briskly. "I'm off." And flinging his coat to Elinor, he +seized a hatchet that was lying in the stairway and started for the +wreckage, while Patricia and Judith flew to fulfill his orders. + +The sun shone and the birds sang while the work went on, and far down +the pike they could see other prone trees with busy choppers clearing +limbs and entangling foliage from the highway. A band of men begirt +with axes, cords and other implements passed on their way to the school +house where a big maple blocked the pike. + +Patricia was tremendously interested and it was with the greatest +regret that she heard the whistle of the up-train, while the tangle of +the sycamore was still undisturbed in the roadway. + +"Oh, do let's stay till it's all done," she urged, but Bruce and Elinor +were adamant. + +"What does it matter if we do miss the train?" she insisted. "We can +take the early one in the morning. We'll be home almost as soon." + +"I've got to pack tonight, young lady," Bruce reminded her. "I'm not +so fortunate as to be coming to Greycroft, you'll remember. It takes +longer to get to Chicago than to Rockham." + +"Oh, that's so," acquiesced Patricia. "I suppose you do have to be +there for that private view of the panels." + +"And a fresh suit is advisable, too," added Bruce. "I don't want my +duds to come a week later, as they did in Milwaukee. I'll make sure +this time." + +"All right," said Patricia, amiably. "We've had a glorious day anyway, +and we'll soon be back here for keeps. I guess I'm not pig enough to +grumble. Come on, Judy, we've got to go see Hannah Ann's new hat +before we go. I wish she'd left us get it for her. I'm sure it's a +fright." + +Judith followed sedately with her head in the air. + +"I'm going to ask Elinor if Hannah Ann and Henry can't come in town +Saturday for the 'housebreaking,'" she said to Patricia as they climbed +the stairs. "I think it would be very nice for them to see all our +friends. They're such _urbane dependents_." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +FAREWELL TO THE STUDIO + +"Did you see the Haldens on the train, Frad?" asked Patricia as she and +David were talking aside by the studio window while Elinor was +welcoming Tom Hughes and Griffin, Margaret Howes and Mr. Spicer, who +had all arrived in a bunch, Tom having lagged behind to get a big sheaf +of roses for Elinor, whom he admired immensely. + +"No, we looked for them high and low, but didn't see hide nor hair of +them," he answered, ruffing his hair in a way that distressed Patricia, +who was very proud of his straight, shining locks. + +"I wonder what keeps them?" she said anxiously. "They'd surely phone +if they were detained or weren't coming. All of Bruce's friends are +here, and Hannah Ann is on pins and needles for fear we'll be delayed +and not get through in time for the four-forty. She was awfully glad +to see you, wasn't she?" + +"Yep," replied David, grinning. "I was afraid she'd regard me as an +interloper in the family abode, but she gave me the glad hand in great +shape. I didn't think it was in her to be so hearty. She's taken me +in, all right." + +"She had your room all fixed with the best covers, but Elinor persuaded +her to reconsider it," smiled Patricia. "You're going to be as much at +home as any of us, Frad dear, and I'm glad the time will soon be here +for your school to shut up and let you come H-O-M-E, _home_." + +The clock on St. Francis' tower boomed the hour. + +"I think we'll have to begin with the feeding," said Bruce, as Miss +Jinny and Mrs. Shelly, gorgeous in their very best raiment, entered +from their bedroom. "Madam, may I have the privilege of escorting you +to the head of the table?" + +Mrs. Shelly made him a pretty little bow. + +"I shall be delighted, Mr. Haydon," she said primly, to the great +gratification of Judith, who had previously arranged this incident. + +Elinor followed with Mr. Grantly, and Miss Jinny came next with Mr. +Spicer, who was very ceremonial and splendid in new clothes of the +latest pattern. Patricia thought he looked particularly radiant, and +wondered how he could be so glad to say good-bye. She was about to +whisper to Tom Hughes, who was next in the merry jumble that followed +the first three precise couples, when there was a tremendous rapping at +the studio door, and Hannah Ann in her treasured new hat rushed from +Miss Jinny's room, where she had been in ambush, to the besieged portal. + +Patricia, Hannah Ann, and the Haldens met on the blue rug, and Patricia +was the first to find her voice. + +"Well, of all people in the world!" she cried delightedly to the +newcomers. "Where _did_ you come from? Why aren't you in Paris? And +where's Mr. Bingham?" + +A tall, good-looking man in tweeds was shaking hands heartily with +Hannah Ann, while an esthetically dressed, rather languid young lady in +pastel green was trying to introduce a pretty, smiling blond girl in +black furs whom Patricia easily recognized as the original of the +photograph that had stood on Mr. Lindley's desk at Greycroft, and the +Haldens were explaining how they heard that the Lindleys were in town +and so had come in on an earlier train specially to capture them for +the house-breaking. + +Patricia bubbled with enjoyment of the surprise. She kissed Mrs. +Bingham and Mrs. Lindley, too, though she had never laid eyes on her +before, and she came near kissing the tall Mr. Lindley, much to the +edification of the others who had rushed from the sitting-room at the +sound of the outcry. + +Griffin and other intimates were introduced to the late Miss Auborn and +the professor, both of whom had starred as boarders in the past summer +at Greycroft when, at Judith's suggestion, the three girls had tried to +retrieve their broken fortunes by means of "paying guests." + +"Mr. Bingham will be along presently," said the late Miss Auborn with +great composure, arranging her draperies with a careful hand. She was +looking remarkably smart and it was evident that the amiable Mr. +Bingham had totally eclipsed Art for her. "We only met the Lindleys by +chance and Ferdinand had some business to transact that could not wait." + +Patricia studied her with eager interest. The bride of half a year was +still a bride to her, and the transformation of the limp, bedraggled +art student into this languid, elegant young lady was an affair that +had its beginnings at Greycroft, for it was under that hospitable roof +that Mr. Bingham had first seen Miss Auborn. In the merry Babel of the +studio party Mrs. Bingham held her own with a calm assurance that Miss +Auborn had not possessed, and when Mr. Bingham, pink and smiling as +ever and just a bit more bald, joined them, the air of mild authority +with which she welcomed that gentleman impressed Patricia even more +strongly. + +As they went back to the flower-decked sitting-room, Judith edged close +to whisper in her ear. + +"I think Miss Jinny has hurt her hand, Miss Pat," she said with +exaggerated anxiety. "She's got her handkerchief wrapped about it. I +hope it isn't badly hurt--she doesn't look as if it were _inimical_, +does she?" + +Patricia made a gesture of amused impatience. "You monkey, you aren't +thinking of Miss Jinny's hand at all. Where did you get that stuffy +word?" + +"It isn't stuffy," defended Judith with a flash. "It's a nice, +crackling word, and I got it from Arnold Bennet, if you want to know. +He uses it all the time. And I've got another, too--'inept'--and +that's what you are now, Patricia Kendall. I'm ashamed of your extreme +indifference to the beauties of your own language." + +Patricia halted by the chair at a side table where her name card lay. +Her eyes were fastened on Judith with a peculiarly penetrating gaze, +and her firm grasp detained the arm that would have escaped. + +"Judith, my child, there's something up, and you'd better confess at +once," she said gravely. "No one will hear you now while we're getting +our places. What is it you're plotting?" + +Judith wriggled from her with an expression of injured innocence that +almost satisfied her. + +"I'm not going to do anything, Miss Pat," she declared with emphasis. +"You can ask Bruce if I'm 'up to' anything, as you call it." + +Patricia reluctantly released her and she slipped away to her own table +with Madalon Halden, Tom Hughes, and little Jack Grantly, a nephew of +the sculptor, who had been invited specially for Judith's sake, and who +was promptly set down by that discriminating young person as being much +too young for the high post of companion to her. + +Miriam Halden, Mr. Hilton, Griffin, Margaret Howes, Herbert Lester and +David--officially known as Francis Edward, but particularly recognized +by his twin as Frad--all sat at the same rose-decked table with +Patricia, and, as Griffin put it, they made the other tables look "like +thirty cents in pennies." The candle light sparkled on laughing eyes +and white teeth, and ripples of merriment enlivened every mouthful of +the savory dishes that Dufranne's dignified François, aided by the +radiant Henry, served continuously. + +Patricia felt sorry for Elinor and Bruce that they should be marooned +among the elder and more serious members of the party, but, as David +pointed out to her in an answering whisper, they seemed uncommonly +satisfied where they were and not at all in need of sympathy. + +"We're going to see the decoration--the one Elinor made for the church, +you know," said Patricia to Miriam as they left the festive, disheveled +sitting-room to the rejuvenating hands of Hannah Ann and Henry, and +went with the chatting crowd into the big studio again. "Bruce +wouldn't have the luncheon in here because we couldn't get a good view +of it if the place was cluttered up with tables and things. He's +fearfully proud of it. He says it's as good as lots of regular artists +could do." + +"She hasn't been studying long, has she?" asked Miriam, with her eyes +intent on the long blue curtain that screened the decoration from sight. + +"Just last summer with Miss Auborn and Bruce, and then three months at +the Academy and with Bruce again," replied Patricia proudly. "Bruce +wouldn't let her stay at the Academy all the time. He thinks it's best +to work like the old masters used to, in the studio of some artist, +doing things right away. He didn't want Elinor's originality to get +barnacles, he said." + +Bruce stepped to the space that had been with difficulty kept at the +west side of the studio, and stood before them with his hand raised. + +"We asked you today to help us break up housekeeping," he said with his +winning smile; "but I must confess that I for one have deceived you. I +planned to get you all here for a totally different purpose, and I +trust you will approve of my craftiness when you have seen what I have +to show you." + +"Sure we will," interposed Tom Hughes in an unexpectedly audible stage +whisper, which greatly confused him, but delighted Patricia and David. + +"You all know," Bruce went on, "that I have been trying an experiment +of my favorite theory of art education, but very few of you know how it +has progressed. And it is to show you the result that I have lured you +here today--to crow over some of you, in fact. The canvas I am going +to show you was designed, executed as far as it has gone, entirely by +Miss Elinor Kendall, a student of hardly more than nine months' study. +The subject is the 'Nativity' and it is designed for a chancel in a +small church." + +As the curtain was drawn from the long canvas Patricia's eyes were on +the faces of those in whose impressions she was most interested, and +they gave her great satisfaction. Mrs. Bingham's eyes were wide and +startled as those of the small hen who discovers that her ungainly +child is really a white swan. + +"She won't be patronizing Elinor after this," thought Patricia with a +chuckle. "And Mr. Grantly has to swallow himself, too. He'll hate to +have to eat humble pie to Bruce after all his din against Bruce's way +of thinking. But they all like it, Mr. Lindley and the Halls and Mr. +Spicer, too. Dear old Norn, how proud I am of you!" + +Judith nudged her sharply. "Miss Jinny's got her hand unwrapped and +it's _a ring_!" she hissed. + +But Patricia was too much absorbed to heed. + +"Hush!" she cautioned, slipping an absent hand into Judith's quivering +palm. "Bruce is talking. Oh, isn't he _dear_, to say nice things of +each of us. It's like commencement time, Ju, isn't it? All the good +little girls get prizes, but I wish he wouldn't go back to that +honorable mention of mine. I feel like an impostor." + +"Well, you needn't," expostulated Judith sagely. "You got it, didn't +you?" + +"Y--yes," responded Patricia dubiously. "But I'll never be an artist. +I sort of felt that long ago, but now I'm dead certain of it, and it +seems like a sham to haul out that effort in the face of Elinor's +splendid work." + +"I don't feel that way at all--" began Judith, but their murmured +comments halted at Bruce's next words. + +"And I am glad to tell you that the youngest of our promising students +has also made good in her own department," he said, with a smile at the +corner where Judith reared her head with sudden pride. + +"Miss Judith Kent Kendall has just had her first story accepted and +printed in _The Girl's Companion_." + +Patricia gasped, and in the moment's silence that fell she gave the +promising authoress a little shake. + +"So that was what you were up to?" she said. "I knew you had something +on your mind, Judy Kendall, you crafty, clever thing. How perfectly +glorious to think you're really in print!" + +Judith pulled out of her embrace. + +"Don't make a show of me, Miss Pat," she commanded reproachfully. "It +isn't correct to show that you are so delighted." + +She turned to receive the congratulations that crowded on her, and +Patricia, with a gay little ripple of amusement, watched the slender +childish figure straighten to its utmost height and assume an air of +grave affability as Judith responded to her ovation. + +"That kid is a born actress," said David in her ear. "Look at her, +Miss Pat. Isn't she the picture of an eminent authoress at a club +reception?" + +Patricia smiled and opened her lips, but the words died away, as Bruce, +now with a gayety that bespoke a different sort of announcement, +mounted the model stand in the middle of the room, and rapped loudly +for attention. Miss Jinny had vainly tried to grab his sleeve as he +slipped past her and now stood with an expression of grim martyrdom +glaring at Mr. Spicer, who was smiling at her openly and, Patricia +thought, heartlessly. + +"I have a postscript to add," smiled Bruce. "Sometimes, as you know, +the postscript is of great importance." + +He paused a moment till the silence was perfect and then he said, with +a pretense of reading a notice from a sheet of paper: + +"Mrs. Virginia P. Shelly announces the engagement of her daughter +Virginia E. to Mr. Nathaniel Spicer, late of the Geological Survey----" + +He got no further. Miss Jinny, who had won first place in the interest +of the art community as Sinbad and kept it by her own wholesome +goodness, was surrounded and overwhelmed. Patricia was the first to +seize her unwilling hand. + +"Now I _shall_ see how an engaged couple behaves!" she cried +triumphantly. "You shan't escape me, mind you, for I'm your very +nearest friend, and I'll be your bridesmaid if you'll let me." + +Miss Jinny came to herself with a chuckle. "My gracious, Patricia +Kendall, what are you thinking of!" she exclaimed in growing amazement. +"Are you mad enough to imagine I'm going to behave like a lunatic, just +because I'm taking a new name to myself? Do behave or I'll never speak +to you again!" + +"That's the way to squelch her," laughed Griffin, who was pumping the +beaming Mr. Spicer's hand like mad. "She'd be a regular nuisance if +you encouraged her. I'll warn Bottle Green----" + +"What, you don't mean to say--" interrupted Margaret Howes. "I heard +that Jeffries took her to the vaudeville show and I thought that was a +tremendous change of heart for nice old Greenie." + +"Yep, she's engaged to Jeffries," announced Griffin with great +enjoyment. "Has Elinor heard? Let's go break the news." + +Patricia preceded them to the corner where Elinor, rather pale and +agitated, was holding back as Bruce tried to lead her to the model +stand. Patricia thought that Bruce's insistence had something to do +with the decoration, which was half forgotten by most of the company, +and she laid a detaining hand on Elinor's other arm. + +"What do you want to make a show of her for, Bruce?" she remonstrated +feelingly. "You can say all you have to say right here, can't you?" + +Then her breath caught in her throat and her heart gave a sudden +_flop_, for, as Elinor raised her left hand there was a flash and +glitter of gems--a new splendid circle of diamonds scintillated on +Elinor's third finger. + +"Oh, Norn," she gasped, dropping her hand and searching Elinor's +flushing face with questioning eyes. "You too?" + +Elinor nodded mutely and clasped Patricia's two hands in her own. +Bruce took Patricia's other hand in his strong, warm grasp and the +three stood for a silent second as much apart from the gay, noisy scene +as though a curtain had dropped between them. + +"I'm awfully glad," said Patricia, recovering herself first and +beginning to realize the joyfulness of the astounding news. "Let me +tell them, will you?" + +It was not until all the guests had gone, and David and his friends had +taken their reluctant leave with fervid promises of speedy reunion at +Greycroft, and the packers had disappeared with the big canvas and the +cartoons [Transcriber's note: cartons?], and Hannah Ann and Henry had +reduced everything to a state of perfection that even the most critical +Symons in the world could not cavil at, and Bruce had said his last +farewells and was on the blue rug at the studio door with his hand on +the knob to usher them out, that Patricia found utterance for her +seething thoughts. + +"I may be a believer in votes for women," she said solemnly, clasping +her vanity case so hard that she unconsciously shattered its clasp. "I +may be a yellow suffragist, as Judy calls me, but I must say, men can +make things mighty comfortable for you." + +There was a shout of amazed laughter, but Patricia persisted: + +"Look at us last fall before we discovered David; look at us now; look +at Miss Jinny; look at Elinor's canvas--which she couldn't have dreamed +of doing if Miss Auborn had been chaperoning her! I tell you, men have +ways of doing things that hit _the spot_, and I think it's a shame they +don't get the credit for it." + +Bruce cocked his head mischievously at her. + +"Are you going to promulgate that doctrine at the Suffrage League?" he +asked, beginning to turn the knob. + +"Yes, I am--if I ever go there," returned Patricia with great spirit. +"But I shan't have time for a long while. I'm going to raise chickens +with Miriam Halden this summer, and I've got to start in right away +with the plans for the houses and yards." + +Bruce flung the door wide. + +"Well, we're turning another page of our lives," he said with a +backward glance at the rooms where they had been so busy and so happy. +"Who can say what will be written there?" + +Judith shrugged uneasily. + +"That gives me the creeps," she remonstrated. "I don't like it. It +sounds like funerals and ghosts----" + +Patricia broke in on her dismal forebodings with a rippling, silvery +laugh. + +"It sounds like wedding bells to me!" she cried, gayly. "You and I +don't hear alike, Ju. It sounds like wedding bells, and commencement +essays, and checks for stories, and--and--and----" + +"What, else?" demanded Judith, whose color had been rising at the +alluring forecast. Patricia made a despairing little gesture. "I +can't think of anything that will fit poor me," she confessed with mock +dejection. "I'm so everlastingly commonplace that I don't sound at +all." + +"Yes, you do, too!" cried Judith ardently, flinging out a masterpiece. +"You sound like a _syncopated opera_; doesn't she, Bruce?" + +Patricia started as the grotesque words sank deep. + +"You just wait till _I_ try my real wings," she said with a queer +little catch in her throat. "I've forgotten all about my dear music in +these three riotous months, but I'll soon be ready to begin again." + +"Is your laurel wreath on good and tight, Judy?" asked Bruce with a +twinkle. "I'm going to beg Elinor to have hers tied on with nice +little blue ribbons. Miss Pat is on the rampage for fame, and it isn't +safe to take chances." + +Patricia underwent a swift change as she lifted her shining eyes to +Bruce's laughing face. + +"Pooh, I'm not a bit dangerous and you know it, Bruce Haydon," she said +with returning gayety. "I'm the family grub, and Judy and Elinor are +the splendid butterflies." She paused with a merry gurgle. "I'm going +to raise chickens for these two glittering geniuses. Greycroft shall +be my field of conquest and the white plume that leads to victory will +be an Orpington. Lead on!" + +The door clicked behind them and they set their faces to the sunset, +and Greycroft, and home. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISS PAT AT SCHOOL*** + + +******* This file should be named 22995-8.txt or 22995-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/9/9/22995 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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} + pre {font-size: 85%; } +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1 align="center">The Project Gutenberg eBook, Miss Pat at School, by Pemberton Ginther</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Miss Pat at School</p> +<p>Author: Pemberton Ginther</p> +<p>Release Date: October 16, 2007 [eBook #22995]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISS PAT AT SCHOOL***</p> +<br><br><center><h3>E-text prepared by Al Haines</h3></center><br><br> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<p> </p> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="PATRICIA TOILED ALL AFTERNOON WITH THE ARDOR OF IGNORANCE AND HOPE." BORDER="2" WIDTH="385" HEIGHT="587"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 385px"> +PATRICIA TOILED ALL AFTERNOON WITH THE ARDOR OF IGNORANCE AND HOPE. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +MISS PAT AT SCHOOL +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +PEMBERTON GINTHER +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +FRONTISPIECE BY THE AUTHOR +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +PHILADELPHIA +<BR> +THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY +<BR> +PUBLISHERS +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +Copyright, 1915, by +<BR> +THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY. +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TO NANCY +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<CENTER> + +<TABLE WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">THE TWO NEW STUDENTS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">GETTING ACQUAINTED</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">ANTICIPATION</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">THE INITIATIONS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">THE GHOST DANCE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">AFTERMATH</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">DAVID'S TREAT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">SMOOTH WATERS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">THE ACADEMY BALL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">THE PRIZE DESIGNS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">THE LITTLE RIFT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">JUDITH'S DISCOVERY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">RESTITUTION</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">NEW QUARTERS AND OLD FRIENDS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">AFTERNOON TEA</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">APRIL SHOWERS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">FAREWELL TO THE STUDIO</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +Miss Pat at School +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE TWO NEW STUDENTS +</H3> + +<P> +"Isn't it jolly—to be here in a real Academy of Fine Arts, just like +all the famous artists when they were young and unknown? Doesn't it +make you feel all excited and quivery, Norn?" asked Patricia, as she +fitted her key into the narrow gray locker with an air of huge +enjoyment. "I don't see how you can look so cool. You are as calm and +refrigerated as a piece of the North Pole." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor smiled and her shining eyes traveled down the wide dim corridor +with its rows of battered gray lockers, past the confusion of chairs +and easels that clustered around the big screen of the composition +room, straight into the farthest nook of the great bare work rooms +beyond, where an array of heroic-sized white casts loomed conspicuous +in the cold north light above the clutter of easels, stools and +drawing-boards that encompassed the silent, intent workers. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not half so calm as I look, Miss Pat," she said, seriously. "I'm +more excited than I ever was in my life. It's too deep to come to the +surface, I guess. I haven't any words for it." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia nodded approval. +</P> + +<P> +"That's your 'sensitive, artistic temperament,' as Mrs. Hand calls it. +It must be awfully trying, though, not to be able to babble when you're +pleased. It's such a relief to get it out of your system. I'd simply +burst if I tried to keep quiet when I felt excited." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor smiled absently, and then burst out fervently, "Isn't it all +gloriously workmanlike—the bare walls and smudged doors and the painty +smell, too? It's so serious. Outside, the people regard a picture as +a mere luxury, but in here, <I>here</I>," she said, exultantly, "it is +absolutely the necessary thing in life." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia shut her door with a snap and turned to her sister with a +glowing face, sweeping her stray tendrils back with an eager gesture. +</P> + +<P> +"I know it!" she cried. "It makes even me feel as though I could turn +off masterpieces <I>instanter</I>. Merely to look at those lumps of clay in +the modeling room made me simply <I>ache</I> to get my hands into them. I +was enchanted the moment I came in here with you this morning, never +dreaming that I should be so lucky as to be one of the illustrious band +myself. You're a perfect duck, Norn, to let me tag along after you +here." +</P> + +<P> +"You might as well do that as anything else," said Elinor, rather +absently. "The best of it is that we shall be together. It will be +such fun to see how we each get along." +</P> + +<P> +"'We!'" echoed Patricia. "You mean how <I>you</I> get along. I shan't +count at all. I may have to give up when I actually get at it." Then +with a swift change of spirit she added: "All the same, if I couldn't +do better than some of those smudgy celebrities in the modeling room +were doing, I'd feel pretty sorry for myself. Such forlorn, lop-sided +caricatures of human beings I never saw. I don't see how they can do +them." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor's soft laugh rippled out. "It's clear that you haven't tried to +do it, or you'd see how easy it is to make caricatures instead of +portraits," she said. "I didn't think they were so very bad." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd be ashamed to have anyone see them if I'd done them," declared +Patricia, unconvinced. "They seemed quite cocky over them, poor +idiots. I hope some of them do better than that, or I shan't learn +much." +</P> + +<P> +"It would be wonderful if you did make a success of it," said Elinor, +beginning to put her newly acquired implements into her locker. "How +surprised Bruce will be that you are studying here, too." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't tell him, for the world!" cried Patricia, her brow wrinkling at +the thought of that noted artist's surprise. "I shouldn't have dared +to take the course if he was ever to see anything I did! I'm only +going into it for fun, and I shouldn't have dreamed of doing it if it +hadn't been the cheapest course in the whole school. You know I +shouldn't have, Elinor dear, so please don't tell." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor gave her a reassuring squeeze. "Don't be afraid, Miss Pat. I +won't give away your dark secrets to anyone till you want me to. +You'll tell David, won't you?" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia pondered a moment. "I don't believe I'll tell anyone until I +see what I can do," she decided. "I'd love to surprise Francis Edward +David Carson Kendall, otherwise known as Frad, but I'll wait till I +know whether it is to be the sort of surprise he'd welcome before I +spring it on him. He wouldn't appreciate a hideous fizzle, like some +of those we saw, and I'd hate to inflict a newly discovered twin +brother with anything of that sort myself." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe Fra—David would be very critical; he's so good +natured," said Elinor. "Isn't it hard to get used to him as our +brother, after knowing him as David Carson for a whole summer? I can't +ever feel sure of what is his right name now. We knew him as David +Carson for so long, and now that he wants to be called by his real +name, I simply get more twisted all the time." +</P> + +<P> +"That's why I call him Frad," said Patricia, with a twinkle. "Combines +the whole and is entirely original, and so suited to his situation. I +don't think he ought to drop all the Carson name, particularly while +we're all living comfortably on the Carson money. It seems sort of +ungrateful to me." +</P> + +<P> +"But you know Mrs. Carson always wanted him to take his own name if he +ever found it," said Elinor, closing her locker and dropping the key +into her bag. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, he's dear with any name, and I'm glad Judy discovered him when +she did, money or no money," said Patricia seriously. "He was so +disappointed when Madam Blitz said my voice needed another year to grow +in, that I'm awfully glad I've hit on something to do that will fill in +the time, and keep me learning. That's really the great thing, isn't +it, after all?" +</P> + +<P> +As she spoke a gong sounded from beyond the closed door of a nearby +class room; there was sound of movement and subdued voices, then the +door swung grudgingly and a number of students of various ages with +smudged hands and soiled aprons came straggling out into the dim +corridor, laden with canvases and drawings to be stowed in the long +line of lockers that stretched on either side of the hallway. +</P> + +<P> +Elinor looked at them with a little quick sigh of excited envy. +</P> + +<P> +"They are all so used to it," she said, with a note of humility in her +sweet voice. "They make me feel so <I>green</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +"Poof! You needn't care," said Patricia, breezily. "If Bruce Haydon +says you can draw, you shouldn't mind a lot of sloppy students. Wait +till you've been here a month—you'll be rearing your crest as high as +any." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor shook her head. "To tell the truth, Miss Pat dear, I almost +wish Bruce hadn't gotten me into the life and portrait classes without +the regular term in the antique rooms. I shouldn't feel half so +shivery about going in there and drawing from those big casts, for I +know they are all more or less beginners there." +</P> + +<P> +"Stuff!" protested Patricia stoutly. "You know you've been simply +crazy to get here. Why spoil it all by <I>squibbling</I>? I think it's +perfectly gorgeous. I'm wild to begin myself, and I'm about as green +as any old shamrock. Besides, it's a mighty poor way to show your +gratitude to Bruce for putting you right slap into the highest classes +without slaving your life out for years, perhaps. I'll tell him——" +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed, you'll do no such thing!" cried Elinor, the color rushing to +her cheeks and her authority as eldest sister asserting itself +promptly. "I don't intend that Bruce shall hear a word until I've had +my first good criticism." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia smiled to herself at the effect of her ruse. "All right. +I'll be good," she promised. "Now, to come down to earth again—where +are we going to feed? I wish we could find the lunch room. It would +be such fun to look our future classmates over while we browse." +</P> + +<P> +"I think it's in the basement," said Elinor dubiously, "but I don't +believe we can buy things there. We'd have to go out, anyway, I'm +afraid." +</P> + +<P> +A blue-aproned girl who had been packing her materials in an adjoining +locker turned civilly. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you speaking about the lunch room?" she asked in a pleasant +contralto voice. "I can show you where it is, but you'll have to bring +your lunch with you. There are gas stoves to cook on in the back room, +and tables and chairs in the front one, if you're not too late to get a +place." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor thanked her cordially, while Patricia almost dislocated her neck +trying to get a glimpse of the big canvas that protruded from the +locker while still keeping far enough behind Elinor for her curiosity +to pass unnoticed. +</P> + +<P> +"It is down a little iron stairway behind that screen," said the girl, +tucking a paper parcel into the capacious pocket of her blue jean paint +dress, "and it's only for girls. The men have one on the other side of +the building. Come down as soon as you can, for it's fearfully crowded +later on." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia watched her disappear behind the big screen of the composition +room, and then she turned excitedly to Elinor. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't she nice?" she asked admiringly. "She's so cock-sure of herself +and so calm about it. I like the way her eyebrows meet over her +haughty nose, and that superior kink in her nice, crinkly lips. I know +she's going to be worth while when we know her." +</P> + +<P> +"For goodness' sake, don't be jumping into admirations wholesale, Miss +Pat, darling," said Elinor, gently pulling Patricia's arm through hers +as they passed into the narrow entrance to the dressing room. "Don't +rush at it so, ducky. You can't know the right people at once, and it +saves a lot of bother not to get too familiar with the wrong ones." +</P> + +<P> +"Just as you say, Miss Solomon," rippled Patricia, too happy to be +depressed by anything. "I'll be as frigid as you like, and if any of +these frivolous young things try to scrape an acquaintance with me, +I'll snub them good and hard." +</P> + +<P> +She lowered her voice as two newcomers entered—one a slender, faded +young woman with near-sighted pale eyes, and the other a blond girl +with a dazzling skin and glorious shimmering hair wound around a +shapely head. Both were in aprons, but the younger wore a dull green +that set off her fair beauty to perfection, while the checked gingham +of the other proclaimed a hopelessly downright taste. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia, at the mirror, paused in the act of pinning on her hat, her +eyes riveted on the vision in dull green. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't she lovely?" she demanded in a thrilling whisper of Elinor, who +had slipped into her things and was already at the door. +</P> + +<P> +The girl unmistakably caught the words, for she turned a brilliant, +measuring, half-approving look on her while she slowly began to divest +herself of the alluring green apron. She was so evidently used to +admiration that her smooth cheek showed no change of color, though the +panic red of swift confusion flamed on Patricia's bright face. +</P> + +<P> +Pinning on her hat hastily, she fled after Elinor, feeling that she +must seem most inexperienced and childish in the eyes of this +fascinating creature who at once had eclipsed all previous claimants to +her admiration. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder if she is in the modeling class?" she said as she caught up +with Elinor in the composition room. "I don't suppose there's any such +luck as that. She looks too clean——" +</P> + +<P> +Elinor interrupted her with a little shake. "You hopeless little +goose," she said, in laughing despair. "You've just promised me not +to, and here you are it, hammer and tongs, under my very eyes." +</P> + +<P> +"My word!" cried Patricia indignantly. "You don't mean I'm not to look +at anyone! I can't even express a little tame approval without your +accusing me of grabbing a new soul mate. You can't say she isn't +simply ravishing, and just because she's alive instead of being a +picture or statue or some such <I>made-up</I> thing, you want me to turn up +my nose at her. I must say you are getting to be awfully extreme, +Elinor Kendall. You'll want me to wear a muzzle next." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor gave her a loving look, and Patricia, appropriating a corner of +her big muff, gave her hand a surreptitious squeeze. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish I could kiss you, you old angel," she said, irrelevantly. +"Let's lay in our pemmican, and hustle back for a seat in the parquet +circle. I'm dying to look them over and see who's who and what's what +before I make any more breaks." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +GETTING ACQUAINTED +</H3> + +<P> +"Why, it's like a laundry," exclaimed Patricia in disappointment as she +looked about her. The low-ceiled whitewashed apartment into which they +had descended from the winding iron stair was sepulchrally bare and +empty in the flicker of its noisy gas jets, the rusty gas stoves at its +farther end emphasizing its general air of desolation. +</P> + +<P> +Elinor glanced beyond, through the low doorway to the next room. +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose we do without hot things today?" she proposed. "The tables +look pretty full in there. We mightn't get a place if we delay too +long." +</P> + +<P> +"Suits me to a gnat's heel," declared Patricia eagerly. "Food is a +secondary article, anyway, when it comes to character study. I'm not +so keen on cookery since I sighted this tasteful apartment." +</P> + +<P> +She followed Elinor into the larger room where a feeble daylight, +filtering in through heavily grated basement windows, struggled with +the flaring gas jets, and the odor of cocoa and bread and butter +mingled with sachet and the fumes of turpentine and paint. +</P> + +<P> +Elinor made her way over the mottled stone floor with as easy a grace +as though it were a flowery turf, but Patricia, not so well schooled in +concealing her feelings, made a wry mouth. +</P> + +<P> +"If this is where the celebrities eat, I don't wonder they're smudgy," +she said in an undertone, as they seated themselves at the last vacant +table and spread their purchases on its discolored surface. "This +doesn't strike me as being very appetizing." +</P> + +<P> +"It's clean, anyway, Miss Pat," said Elinor, whose practiced eyes had +been busy. "It looks soiled because the table-tops are old marble and +the floor is mottled cement, but it is really clean, though I can't +honestly say it is attractive on first sight." +</P> + +<P> +"One gets used to anything in time," said Patricia airily. "You +remember how Sally Lukes missed the doing of those five weekly washes +after Johnny got prosperous enough to keep her in comfort. I reckon +we'll be just like that after a while—can't eat without smudges on the +table and paint-splotches on the dining-room walls." +</P> + +<P> +Her eyes strayed about, resting on one group after another till they +lighted with sudden interest. +</P> + +<P> +"There she is," she said ardently. "You can't deny, Elinor, that she's +terribly good to look at. Why, the very way she manipulates that +frilly napkin reconciles me to my food. I declare I'm twice as hungry +as I was before." +</P> + +<P> +The girl certainly did make a charming and refreshing picture in her +pretty gown, and with a dainty lunch covering the objectionable table. +Opposite to her sat the drab young woman, silently eating while she +read hurriedly from a technical magazine. The contrast between the two +was so great that it made Elinor wonder. +</P> + +<P> +"She must be unselfish and agreeable," she said, forgetting her +momentary prejudice, "particularly when the other doesn't seem to +appreciate her society very highly. I fancy that one isn't very +diverting. I wonder why they are such chums." +</P> + +<P> +"Relatives, perhaps," hazarded Patricia, reveling in Elinor's +conversion. "I hope we get to know her soon, don't you, Norn? She +must be awfully popular. See how they all turn when she passes. I'm +sorry she's going, though, for I could simply feast my eyes on her for +hours." +</P> + +<P> +Their new acquaintance of the corridor stopped at their table as she, +too, made her way out. +</P> + +<P> +"I am going into the portrait class when I go up," she said, her +dark-fringed eyes smiling frankly down on Elinor. "They tell me you +are going to take your first plunge this afternoon. I'll be glad to +show you about if you need any chaperoning." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor's eyes met hers gratefully. "I'll be so glad to have you tell +me what I should do," she said with relief and instant friendliness in +her soft voice. "I'm just a beginner, you know. I've never been in a +class in my life and I'm rather scared about it." +</P> + +<P> +The lips that Patricia had designated as "nice and crinkly" widened in +a bright smile that held no hint of hauteur. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be about in the corridor when you come up," she promised. "You +don't need to feel that way about it. It's the simplest thing in the +world—after you once get settled. You're in great luck to get into +life and head classes without ever having gone to school before. I +fancy you are a very special brand of genius to have such privileges." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor blushed and shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"I studied with Bruce Haydon last summer," she said. "He got me in +here." +</P> + +<P> +"O—oh," responded the girl, her face suddenly alight. "That is +splendid. You know he's the most severe critic we have, but we all +adore his work." Then she added as an afterthought: "He's tremendously +popular with the men. He studied here, you know." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia opened her eyes wide. "Why, Bruce is the most amiable sort," +she protested. "He'll simply eat out of your hand up at home. I +didn't know he ever criticized here," she ended, rather suspiciously. +</P> + +<P> +Elinor's new friend smiled good-naturedly. "He only drops in once in a +while," she said. "He was here pretty often last month, but he hadn't +been here before that for nearly four years, they said. He's abroad +now, isn't he?" +</P> + +<P> +Elinor told her that Bruce was in Italy, getting his studies for the +Français Society's panel of early Italian history. +</P> + +<P> +"It must be jolly to know him out of the limelight," said the girl, +seriously. "The girls were so crazy over him here that there wasn't a +chance for a rational word with him, unless one were a man. He simply +evaporated when he saw an apron." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia laughed. "He's not so retiring in private," she declared, +gayly. "He was one of our happy family for three months last summer +and we never noticed any shyness; did we, Norn?" +</P> + +<P> +Elinor reared her head with dignity. "He was very kind and friendly to +us," she explained to their companion, "because he had been very much +devoted to my aunt, who left us the house where we now live. He had no +mother and Aunt Louise was very fond of him." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you're awfully in luck, however it is," replied the girl. "I'll +see you in about fifteen minutes," and she nodded as she moved off, her +dark hair gleaming in the mingled lights as she carried her small fine +head proudly on her slender neck. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia was about to make a comment when she suddenly turned and came +back to them. +</P> + +<P> +"I forgot to tell you my name," she said, holding out a strong, slender +hand. "I am Margaret Howes, and I know you are Elinor Kendall, for I +saw it on your locker. I don't know your sister's name—she <I>is</I> your +sister, isn't she?" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia was introduced, and Margaret Howes, with promises to meet them +later, went off finally, and Patricia and Elinor set to work to dispose +of their neglected lunch, enjoying their own comments on the assembled +groups more than they did the cakes and fruit. +</P> + +<P> +"Just look at that mournful creature." Patricia motioned with her +eyebrows to the opposite side of the room, where a large, stout young +woman in somber cloak and wide-plumed hat was eating her way through a +chocolate éclair with just such an air of tragic and settled melancholy +as one sometimes sees in a child whose grief is momentarily its most +cherished possession. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't she the limit?" said Patricia in disdain. "She oughtn't to eat +frivolous things like éclairs. I wonder at her lack of judgment." +</P> + +<P> +"She isn't in mourning," said Elinor, making a discovery. "I wonder +who she is. She's impressive enough to be the president of the board, +and Bruce says that's the most important person in the place." +</P> + +<P> +"She's rather too <I>collap-y</I> for my taste," volunteered Patricia, +gathering up the remains of their repast. "I like the looks of lots of +the others far better than hers. Let's ask Miss Margaret Howes about +her. No doubt she can tell us what is her secret trouble." +</P> + +<P> +They followed the general exodus upstairs, feeling more and more at +home with every step. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it funny how familiar that antique room looks?" said Patricia +with enjoyment. "I feel quite like an old residenter already. By the +time my clay comes I'll have the sensations of the oldest inhabitant." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor was breathing fast as she swept the corridor with anxious glance. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope Miss Howes doesn't forget," she said apprehensively. "I'd so +much rather go into the class with her." +</P> + +<P> +A girl sauntered past them as they loitered before their lockers. +</P> + +<P> +"Looking for anyone?" she asked briskly, and hardly waiting for the +answer, she raised her voice and called through the door of the next +room: +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Howes! Here's someone looking for you!" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia expected Margaret Howes as she emerged to show some surprise +or annoyance at this summary mode of speech, but she was as serene and +unconscious as ever. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm busy, Griffin," she began, and then broke off as she saw the +girls. "Oh, here you are," she said to Elinor. "I was looking for you +in the modeling room." +</P> + +<P> +The newcomer raised her pale eyebrows. "Absent-minded as ever, I see, +Howes," she said with a whimsical sort of fondness in her peculiar +voice. "Better run off to the head class before you forget where +you're due." +</P> + +<P> +She watched Margaret Howes and Elinor till they turned into the +screened entrance to the portrait room; then she turned to Patricia +with easy friendliness. +</P> + +<P> +"You're fresh meat, aren't you?" she asked with a grin that widened her +full mouth to a line. "When'd you come?" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia gave her the brief outlines of her enrolment, and she nodded +approvingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Good stuff in the modeling room," she commented briskly. "But don't +let old Bottle Green bulldoze you into thinking it's a deaf and dumb +asylum or the vestibule to the morgue or any such sequestered spot. +She's deadly dull, you know, and she almost faints if you whisper while +the model is posing. She's monitor and I will say she enjoys the job." +</P> + +<P> +"What does she do?" asked Patricia, delighted with the ease and candor +of this speech. She felt sure this rickety, loose-jointed, +pale-colored young woman was going to be worth while. +</P> + +<P> +"As monitor, you mean?" responded the other, opening a locker near by +and beginning to assemble her implements from a jumble of all sorts of +odds and ends with which the locker was overflowing. "As merely +monitor she sees that the models are posed, gets the numbers ready for +us to draw when there is a new model, sees to it that we don't riot too +loudly through the pose, takes any complaints we may have to make, to +the powers above. But as guardian angel of the class, she soars far +above our low conception of duty and propriety. Phew! Wait till you +see her at it." Here her speech was lost while she delved head first +into the welter. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia occupied herself getting her tools from the convenient shelf +on her own locker, hoping that the talk was not to end there. +</P> + +<P> +Griffin emerged as suddenly as she had disappeared. "But it's the men +that spoil her," she went on as though no interruption had occurred. +"They're polite to her because she's so everlastingly gloomy. Same +sort of politeness they'd show to a hearse, you know—respectful but +not companionable." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia gave an exclamation. "I believe I've seen her!" she cried. +"She wears a long cloak and a hat with a big black plume, doesn't she? +We noticed her at lunch and wondered what was the matter with her." +</P> + +<P> +"Just a case of permanent glooms, if you ask me," replied Griffin +airily. "She loves melancholy, though she is an awfully good sort, +too. She gets on my nerves, though, she's so <I>brittle</I>." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia puckered her brow inquiringly. +</P> + +<P> +"Breaks a bone every time anyone looks hard at her," explained the +other, shoving the protruding conglomeration of her locker inside and +snapping the door quickly on it. "She's more bones than the average, +and she breaks them regularly every time she learns the name of a new +one. I think she oughtn't to be allowed in the dissecting room for any +consideration. She's just out of splints now for a right arm fracture, +and, believe me, she worked all the time with her left." +</P> + +<P> +"How could she?" wondered Patricia, feeling awed by this devotion to +art. +</P> + +<P> +"She couldn't," grinned Griffin. "That's the point. She's so taken up +with her pose as suffering martyr that she overlooks a trifle like good +work. Heavens, there's the gong! I've kept you here gassing when I +know you're crazy to get to work. Come along in, and I'll help you set +up your stand before the model poses again." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia followed her into the big, clay-soiled, dusty room, clutching +her new smooth wooden tools with nervous fingers. +</P> + +<P> +On the large revolving model stand in the center sat a dark, slender +Russian-looking young man, indifferent to the group that with their +tall-wheeled stands were circled about him. He sat with his narrow +blue eyes sleepily fixed on the wall, regardless alike of the sturdy +smocked men and slender boys in full blue-paint jackets, as of the +equally silent and clayey girls and women that scrutinized him with +earnestly squinting eyelids. The only creature in the room that seemed +to evoke the slightest responsive flicker of intelligence was the +black-robed, gray-aproned, redundant figure of the monitor. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia's stand, with its heavy curved iron head-piece and some +lengths of copper and lead wire, was waiting for her in the clay room, +and together they wheeled it into the modeling room, where the gloomy +Miss Green scanned them with kind but somber eyes, plainly regarding +their entrance as an interruption. +</P> + +<P> +"You've got to make butterflies of the wire-loops, you know, to hold +the clay up, or it'll slump down off the iron headpiece soon as you get +your head set up," explained her instructor in an agreeable tone. +"It's easier to set up a head than a figure, I can tell you——" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Miss Griffin!</I>" came the dreary voice of the monitor, as with a fat +and dimpled finger she pointed solemnly to the sign on the door, "No +TALKING." +</P> + +<P> +Griffin grinned amiably at the reproving finger. "Only the necessary +instructions to a novice, Green dear," she protested smoothly. "I'm +saving you the trouble of showing her how. You really ought to thank +me instead of holding me up to scorn." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Green, with a kindly glance at Patricia, puckered up her lips in +the circle that only fat, soft-fleshed people can accomplish and laid +the impartial finger on them as a sign that no more words were to be +wasted, and the class, temporarily attentive to the newcomers, became +absorbed again. +</P> + +<P> +A heavy-shouldered dark man, whose workmanlike appearance was +heightened by the torn and spotted linen apron he wore, came quietly +over to Patricia, and, taking the wire from Miss Griffin's thin, +nervous hands, silently and swiftly finished the work she had begun, +while she, with a nod of acquiescence, went to her own stand and began +to thump lumps of clay into shape about her own iron head-piece. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia accepted the help as silently as it was offered, and when he +brought her clay and, still mute, showed her how to block the rough +clay into a semblance of a human head, she smiled at him with ready +gratitude, not daring more for fear of the omnipotent Miss Green. +</P> + +<P> +"How do you like it now?" asked Griffin, as the gong released them for +the rest, and they slipped out in the corridor to look for Elinor. +</P> + +<P> +"Perfectly fine and dandy!" cried Patricia, glowing. "My word, but +that Miss Green is severe! I never <I>heard</I> such silence as in that +room. Why, an ordinary schoolroom is a perfect Babel compared to it." +</P> + +<P> +"You'll get used to old Bottle Green, all right," said Griffin +reassuringly. "Her bark is a whole lot worse than her bite. She's a +trump at heart, though she <I>is</I> awful fool on the outside." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor was waiting for them, and Patricia could see that she was in a +state of great agitation. She hurried to her, while her companion +dropped behind to exchange notes with one of the men from the +composition room. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it, Norn? Didn't you get along all right?" she asked +breathlessly. +</P> + +<P> +Elinor dropped on a stool and raised her face to her sister, and +Patricia was surprised to see that her eyes were shining with joy +instead of tears. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Miss Pat!" she cried in an ecstasy. "I've made good, and I can +write to Bruce and tell him!" +</P> + +<P> +"What, already?" exclaimed Patricia rapturously. "You <I>duck</I>! Tell me +all about it instantly." +</P> + +<P> +She swept Elinor off the stool, away from the crowded dressing room, +and at last found a deserted corner behind a big cast. +</P> + +<P> +"Now," she demanded, "tell me all about it, or I'll simply die of +ingrowing curiosity." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor rippled and dimpled in a surprisingly sparkling fashion as she +recounted her experience in the portrait room, and Patricia, while she +listened, marveled at the change in her placid sister. +</P> + +<P> +"And so," concluded Elinor, "when I had just gotten ready to come out +to see you, some more of them came over and looked at it. And one of +them said, 'Dorset's right. It's a pace-maker all correct,' and then +they brought some other men, and I left." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia, greatly excited, patted her hard on the shoulder. "I told +you you'd be a winner," she crowed. "I guess Bruce knew what he was +talking about." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor's face clouded. "But I have only started the outline," she +confessed. "And I'm awfully weak on putting in the tones. I'm afraid +I'll make a fizzle of it." +</P> + +<P> +"See here," said Patricia, facing her severely. "I'm tired of your +deceptive timidity. Just let someone else say you can't do it, and +you'd feel mighty mad about it, but you're willing to scare me out of +my feeble senses by croaking." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor jumped up laughing, and hugged her. "I'll be as conceited as +you like, if you'll stop scolding," she promised, gayly. "It doesn't +look well to be too much under the thumb of a younger sister, even if +she is a promising sculptor. By the way, how are <I>you</I> getting on? I +hear that Miss Griffin is a wonderful worker. Did you see anything of +her work?" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia gave her a brief outline of the class and its chief +characters, as far as she had observed, dwelling on Miss Green with +great satisfaction. +</P> + +<P> +"I know she's going to be a treat," she declared. "I hope she keeps +whole for a while at least, until I get better acquainted." +</P> + +<P> +"And do you know," she went on, "that the model is a Russian refugee, +and he tried to kill himself because he was so homesick. He's just out +of the hospital, and he has a great red scar across his breast. Isn't +it exciting to be among such different sort of people? We've always +been so sort of tabbified." +</P> + +<P> +"We've had enough ups and downs, I am sure," said Elinor vaguely. It +was evident that her mind was not on either their varied past nor even +the fascinating present, but was busy with a future of progress and +achievement. +</P> + +<P> +"Wake up, old lady," cried Patricia. "There's the gong, and we must +fly." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia toiled all that afternoon with the ardor of ignorance and +hope. The others looked at her with occasional interest, but otherwise +paid little attention to her. In the rests she went out to visit +Elinor, or Elinor came in to watch her progress. Her head fairly swam +with the delightful novelty of this new and quick-flowing life. When +the last gong rang she heard it with regret. +</P> + +<P> +"It's better than I ever dreamed," she said to the amiable Griffin as +she was showing her how to put the wet cloths about her work. "It's +not half so hard as I thought it would be, either." +</P> + +<P> +"Wait till Saturday, when old Jonesy lights on you," warned her new +friend. "You won't find life so lightsome when his eagle eye discovers +you." +</P> + +<P> +"Pooh, I shan't mind how criss-cross he is," declared Patricia +valiantly. "I'm only the rankest greenhorn, anyway. He can't expect +me to be a Rodin." +</P> + +<P> +She washed her tools in the grimy tanks of the clay room, more in love +with it every minute, and when she joined Elinor at their lockers, she +was fairly bursting with enthusiasm. +</P> + +<P> +"It's simply heavenly, and I don't know how we got along without it!" +she cried, rapturously. "It makes me wild to think of the <I>months</I> +we've wasted this fall." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor laughed her low ripple. "We didn't find Francis Edward David +till the middle of December, and it's now the third week in January. I +don't think we've let much grass grow under our feet." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish this were the night for night life," said Patricia fervently. +"I'd stay and watch you begin——" +</P> + +<P> +"No, you wouldn't," said Elinor, promptly. "They don't allow other +people in the life-class rooms. You'd have to go home and see that +Judith was all right. We can't leave her too much to her own devices, +even if she is the best little thing in the world." +</P> + +<P> +"Bless her heart!" cried Patricia, with a laugh. "I'd clean forgot +that I had any relatives in the world. It's a good thing I have you to +keep me straight, Norn. Mercy, what a jam! I don't believe we'll ever +get a place at the wash-stands." +</P> + +<P> +The dressing room was crowded to its limit, paint brushes were being +washed and stained hands scrubbed at the line of faucets that occupied +two sides of the room; girls were hurrying into their street clothes, +while others, coming in for the night life, were getting into aprons +and paint dresses; some few who were staying for the night life were +curled up on the wide couches, exchanging comments with their friends +among the hurrying crowd while they refreshed themselves with crackers +or cakes. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia, with her cheeks glowing and twin lights dancing in her big +eyes, loitered so over her dressing that they were among the last to +leave. +</P> + +<P> +"I hate to go, don't you?" she said, as they came out into the +corridor, which was dimmer than ever in the sparsely lit twilight. "I +love— Oh, how you made me jump!" she cried, starting back as a figure +stepped from the alcove by the street entrance. +</P> + +<P> +The girl, who was unknown to them both, addressed them impartially. +</P> + +<P> +"The Committee on Initiation hereby notify you that your initiation +will take place on Friday of this week, and you are instructed to +produce the usual initiation fee, or answer to the committee for the +failure." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia gasped. "My word!" she cried. "They don't postpone things +much around here, do they? What is the fee?" +</P> + +<P> +"Three pounds of candy for the modeling and composition class, four for +the head and illustration class, and five for the life," was the prompt +response. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia giggled. "You're in for it, Norn. You have to pony up for +the head and the night life, too. I'm in luck to be in the mudpie +department." +</P> + +<P> +"What is the initiation itself?" asked Elinor, as the girl turned away. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll find out when it happens," she replied, over her shoulder. +"They never know themselves till the last moment. The day classes are +tame—just a speech when you turn in your candy or some such mild +diversion, but the night life is more sporting, and they may put you +through a course of sprouts, but they're good-natured idiots on the +whole. None of us are as outrageous as we seem." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor looked after her thoughtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope they won't be too hard on me," she said slowly. "I'd be sorry +to begin my term with anything that left the least bitter taste. +Everything here is so free-spirited and high-minded that I want it to +keep on being so for me always." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia's eyes narrowed. "I believe I'll make my candy up in as +attractive a way as I possibly can, and I'll spring it on them first +thing, so they'll be in too good a humor to want to haze me very hard. +Don't you think that might work for you, too?" +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed I do," replied Elinor, heartily. "I'm getting an idea already, +and if I can put it through, I don't believe the committee will have so +much fun with me as they may think." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ANTICIPATION +</H3> + +<P> +"What a pack of mail," said Judith. +</P> + +<P> +It was Friday morning, and the three girls were the last in the +dining-room. The sun was slanting brightly in over the table and fell +across the pile of letters with a prophetic shimmer, making the little +red and green patches of the stamps flame into gay prominence. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia sorted them over rapidly before Elinor had reached the table. +</P> + +<P> +"Here's one for you from Frad," she announced, "and one for me from +Miss Jinny, and there are two for Judy from Rockham—looks like Mrs. +Shelly and Hannah Ann, but I'm not sure—and the rest are only +circulars. Atkins' Diablo Water and Bartine's Foreign Tours." +</P> + +<P> +"I do wish they wouldn't send those circulars to us. They're so +disappointing, for half the time they look like real letters," said +Judith, reaching an eager hand for her own mail. "I think they ought +to keep them for older people who don't care so much. Oh, it is Mrs. +Shelly, Miss Pat," she broke off, as she tore open the first envelope +and began eagerly to scan the sheets. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia, absorbed in her own letter, merely grunted "Uh-huh" and +turned the page. Then she burst out joyfully, "Well, of all people in +the world! Listen, Norn. Miss Jinny is coming to town next week to +stay four or five days, and she wants to know if we can get her a place +here. Isn't that jolly!" +</P> + +<P> +Elinor, who had lifted her eyes perfunctorily, gave real attention. +</P> + +<P> +"How splendid!" she cried. "Now we'll have a chance to give back a few +of the kindnesses she showered on us last summer. Of course we can +find a place, and we won't let her come except as our guest, and we'll +give her the very best sort of a time we can, to show how glad we are +to have her here." +</P> + +<P> +"If Mrs. Hudson hasn't any other room, she can have mine," said Judith +promptly. "She never would let us make up for all those afternoons +that she kept the library for us, and I'd love to be <I>dreadfully</I> +uncomfortable if I could help make her comfortable." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor laughed and patted the slender hand that pressed the table with +such nervous force. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think Miss Jinny'd want any of us to suffer for her pleasure, +Ju dear," she said gently. "I'm sure Mrs. Hudson has a good front room +that we can get. I heard that Miss Snow had left and her room wasn't +to be filled till next week; so we are just in the nick of time, you +see." +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it lucky?" cried Patricia radiantly. "You'll see about it right +away, won't you, Elinor? It has a splendid view of the park. I know +she'll love that. You know how she hates 'bricks and mortar.'" +</P> + +<P> +Elinor nodded, picking up her letter again. "You don't seem at all +keen about David," she began, when Judith broke out excitedly, holding +up her letter. +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Shelly wants me to come with Miss Jinny and stay over Sunday. +Please, please let me go, Elinor, for she says she'll get out all her +old stories and letters, and we'll have a splendid time!" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia and Elinor swept a swift, remembering glance at the pale, +eager face, and the memory of that scene in the old bookroom at +Greycroft, when Judith had the vision of her future, flashed into each +mind. They had had no laughter then for Judith's prophecy of her +literary career, and so now they had only instant sympathy with their +little sister's enthusiasm. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course you shall go, Ju dear," said Elinor, warmly. "It's sweet of +Mrs. Shelly to ask you, and you'll have a lovely time in that dear +little old-fashioned house with her and Miss Jinny." +</P> + +<P> +"Won't it seem queer to you to be anywhere but at Greycroft, though?" +mused Patricia, her eyes wide and absent. "Although we've only had the +place not quite a year, I feel as though we'd always been there, and I +can't imagine how it would seem to have to live anywhere else <I>now</I>." +</P> + +<P> +"That's because it is the first real home you've known," said Elinor. +"One always feels that way about a <I>home</I>." +</P> + +<P> +Judith cocked her blond head thoughtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you think it's the house, too?" she asked critically. "Some +houses seem to be so alive and to belong to some people. Greycroft +just fitted Aunt Louise, and when she left, it was lonesome till it +found someone who liked the same things she did, and then it opened its +eyes and waked up again. I don't believe it would be itself with Mrs. +Hand in it, or even with the Halls, though they are so sweet and +fine-mannered." +</P> + +<P> +"Wise Judy," commended Patricia. "You've discovered half the secret. +But here's Elinor, like patience on a monument, with David's letter in +her lily-white paw. What does he say, Norn? Is he coming to town this +month as he promised? Does he like Prep as well as he did——" +</P> + +<P> +"Do let her read it to us," begged Judith. "You chatter so, Miss Pat, +that no one can get a word in edgewise." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia made a laughing face. +</P> + +<P> +"Fire away, Scheherezade," she commanded, folding her arms in eager +attention. "Unfold the tale of the letter of the long-lost twin +brother of the three lovely sisters of——" +</P> + +<P> +Judith, who had muffled the sparkling stream of Patricia's nonsense, +drew her hand away with a little squeal. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Ouch!</I>" she cried reproachfully. "That's not fair. You bit." +</P> + +<P> +"Not hard," Patricia reassured her gravely. "Just enough to turn you +loose. 'Twas not so deep as a grave nor so wide as a church door, but +it did answer. Go on, Elinor, love, it's getting late." +</P> + +<P> +Judith had picked up the envelope and was examining the seal. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't the frat paper lovely?" she sighed. "I do hope I shall go to +college—or else have a husband who belongs to a lot of——" +</P> + +<P> +"Silence!" thumped Patricia. +</P> + +<P> +Elinor, who had been quietly going on with her breakfast, laid down her +fork. +</P> + +<P> +"Read it for yourselves," she smiled, tossing the sheet across the +table. "My time's about up. It's criticism morning in the portrait +class, and I want to get a lot more done before Mr. Benton comes." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia grabbed the sheet before Judith could set down her glass, and +she read it aloud, with great enjoyment. +</P> + +<P> +"'Dear Elinor'—begins well, doesn't it, Judy? I couldn't have done +much better myself—'Tom Hughes and I are coming to town next Saturday, +and we are going to blow ourselves, for his birthday.' Not very +enlightening as to Tom Hughes—never heard of him before; but that's +neither here nor there, of course." +</P> + +<P> +"Do get on, Miss Pat," urged Judith, folding her napkin. "I've got to +get to school sometime this morning, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"Thus admonished, I return to the manuscript," said Patricia +gravely. "Where is it? 'His birthday.' Oh, yes. 'Don't you three +girls want to go to the matinee with us and have lunch at some swell +joint? Write me at once if you can go. We will be in on the +eleven-fifteen at the Terminal and have to leave on the 4.30. Yours,' +et cetera and so on, and all that stuff. Hallelujah, good gentleman, +what a lark!" +</P> + +<P> +"I think you ought to use better language, Miss Pat, now that you are +going to be a sculptor," said Judith severely, and then broke into open +delight. "We'll go, won't we, Elinor? We wouldn't disappoint David, +would we? On his birthday, too." +</P> + +<P> +"It must be Tom Hughes' birthday," said Elinor. "But whose ever it is, +we are going to celebrate, since we're invited. I'll write 'immejit,' +as Hannah Ann says." +</P> + +<P> +"But how do you know it isn't David's?" persisted Judith, as she +gathered up her letters. "We never asked David when his birthday came, +did we?" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia rolled her eyes in mock agony. +</P> + +<P> +"Did it occur to your massive mind that David Francis Edward had a twin +sister with whom you were fairly well acquainted?" she asked in smooth +and oily tones. "Twins, you know, have a quaint custom of celebrating +their birthdays on the same date. Don't swoon, Infant; it is +overpowering news, but you'll get over it in time." +</P> + +<P> +Judith tossed her head, with a little giggle at her own expense. +</P> + +<P> +"I forgot," she said. "I never can remember that you're both the same +age. You are always saying that he is so young, Miss Pat." +</P> + +<P> +"So he is," replied Patricia, promptly. "No end younger than I am; but +boys are that way. Who's your other letter from, Ju?" +</P> + +<P> +Judith's face assumed a smooth blankness that passed unnoticed by both +Elinor and Patricia, now intent on finishing their breakfast and +getting off. +</P> + +<P> +"Hannah Ann just says that the house is all right and Henry is as well +as usual," she replied, with an uneasy flush on her clear cheek. +</P> + +<P> +"What in the world did Hannah Ann write to you for?" queried Elinor +absently. "She usually sends her weekly reports to me." +</P> + +<P> +"She's all right," repeated Judith, with an apprehensive glance at +Patricia, who, however, was entirely oblivious, her attention now being +wholly concentrated on her breakfast and Bartine's Tours. +</P> + +<P> +"I must see Mrs. Hudson," said Elinor, rising. "I'll meet you at the +Academy, Squibs. Have you your candy all done up? I shan't take my +life-class stuff till this afternoon." +</P> + +<P> +"But you've got to turn in the head-class fee this morning, you know," +reminded Patricia, coming back from Italy with a jump. "I have my junk +all ready, and I'll tell you when I'm going to spring it on them, so +you can have a peep at the fun." +</P> + +<P> +"And I won't forget to let you know just when I'm ready to give in +mine, so we both can see how they take it," said Elinor from the door. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia laughed as she too rose. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll see to it that you don't forget, miss," she said gayly. +"Good-bye, Judy; don't be late for lunch, for it's short and sweet with +us real artists. We can't potter over our food like you idle +Philistines, you know." +</P> + +<P> +Judith gulped the last mouthful and flung down her napkin. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be there on time," she promised, eagerly. "Miss Hillis said I +could go five minutes earlier, as it was a holiday afternoon. I'll get +the rolls and oranges on my way." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll meet you at the door on Charter Street," Elinor reminded her, as +she kissed her. "Be sure to be there on time." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll remember," laughed Judith, her anticipation of the delights of +lunching at the Academy with grown-up artists shining in her starry +eyes. "I'm perfectly crazy over it. I'm going to write all about it +in my diary." +</P> + +<P> +"Then we <I>shall</I> be handed down to fame!" cried Patricia, giving Judith +a very hard squeeze and pinching her thin cheeks into color. "Look us +over well, Judy-pudy, and see how much you can make of your two +illustrious sisters; for I feel sure that I, for one, will never have a +chance to be 'writ up' again." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, go along, Miss Pat! You'll be awfully late," said Judith, +wriggling away, flushed and happy. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia watched, flying up the stairs two steps at a time, and she +turned to Elinor, with her hand on the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Ju's a clever young monkey, in spite of her grannified airs," she +said, warmly. "If we can only get some of the starch out of her by the +time she's old enough to take notice, her dream of being a great writer +may come half-way true." +</P> + +<P> +"If she's going to be a writer, she'll drop her dignified pose soon +enough," predicted Elinor easily. "She'll be too much interested in +other people and things to remember herself too vividly." +</P> + +<P> +"That's so," admitted Patricia readily. "You always hit the nail on +the head, old lady. Now I must run. See you later," and closing the +door behind her, she ran down the steps and hurried off through the +tingling morning air, with her parcel tight under her arm and a +kindling light on her mobile face. +</P> + +<P> +"I do hope they like it and won't be too hard on me," she thought, as +she hastened on. "It took a lot of trouble to make all the little +figures, but if they'll only let me off from speechifying, I'll feel it +was worth it." +</P> + +<P> +There was no one in the modeling room but Naskowski, the silent, +heavy-shouldered Slav who toiled early and late making up for his lost +youth. Him Patricia held to be as impersonal as any of the other +furnishings of the room, and she readily took him into her plan. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's wheel all the stands into a circle around the model stand," she +said briskly. "You see, I want them all to get them at once if I can +work it. I'll put the figures in under the cloths, beside each head, +so they won't show." +</P> + +<P> +Naskowski slowly shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"They will approach at different times—not? It will be more better to +place them during the first rest." +</P> + +<P> +"But how can I?" insisted Patricia. "They don't all go out at the +rests, you know." +</P> + +<P> +He held up his finger. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen," he said, impressively. "I make a figure that they all wish +to see, but I have not shown him. Well, when I show him, at the rest, +all, all go out to the clay room to see." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia clapped her hands. +</P> + +<P> +"And I stay in and slip the figures on the stands! How nice! It's +awfully good of you." She broke off with a sudden clouding of her +gayety. "But perhaps you don't really want them to see your figure? I +couldn't have you——" +</P> + +<P> +He interrupted her with an upheld hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I was to exhibit it today, and I am pleased to be serviceable to a +newcomer at once," he said gravely. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia was only too glad to give in. "That makes it perfectly +simple, then," she said gratefully. "I'm tremendously obliged to you +for helping me out." +</P> + +<P> +"It iss nothing," said Naskowski stolidly as he went back to the clay +room, but Patricia could see that he was pleased at the ardor of her +gratitude. +</P> + +<P> +"He's an awfully good sort, if he is queer and stubby," she said, +pausing to hide her parcel beneath her stand until the propitious +moment. +</P> + +<P> +The first half hour seemed longer than any that Patricia had spent in +the modeling room. The students straggled in at various times, and +when the gong rang there were still several of the usual number who had +not appeared. Naskowski, as the class broke up for the brief interval, +found chance to whisper a suggestion that she postpone it till the next +rest, and Patricia eagerly agreed. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll go look up my sister and tell her," she said. "We can smuggle +her into the clay room, too, to see your work, can't we? I know she'd +be crazy to get a glimpse of it, and then she might get a snap-shot at +the fun in here." +</P> + +<P> +Naskowski nodded a pleased assent, and Patricia sped away. +</P> + +<P> +She found Elinor perturbed and excited beyond her wont. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it horrid? Mr. Benton's come already, and I won't have a chance +with my candy before criticism, as I hoped. I don't know what to do +about it. I did so want to get it off my mind before I got my +criticism, for I'm scared stiff about both of them." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, you goose! Don't you see that it makes it easy for you!" cried +Patricia, her eyes dancing. "You can simply put your nice big box of +candy on the model stand during a rest, and they won't dare ask you to +do any stunts with him in the room." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor laughed helplessly. "I don't know what is the matter with my +brain," she said in relieved contempt of her own confusion of mind. +"Of course, it is ever so much easier. What a stupid I am not to see +it for myself!" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia squeezed her hand surreptitiously. "You're so far up in the +clouds these days that the commonplace side of life doesn't exist. +You'll be all right after you get used to it," she soothed. "You're +going to be pretty free to inhabit cloudland for this winter, and I'm +willing to bet any reasonable amount that Hannah Ann will see to it +that the housekeeping doesn't distract you next summer. She's +perfectly crazy over your painting, since it's like Aunt Louise. And +there won't be any boarders or any other money-making schemes this year +to harrow our souls." +</P> + +<P> +"It seems too good—after all those years at the boarding schools, and +the scrimmage we had when the mortgage was foreclosed—to feel secure +at last," said Elinor gratefully. "Everything seems to be heaping up +to make us happy." +</P> + +<P> +"Time's up!" cried Patricia, jumping up. "Be on hand at the next rest, +angel child. Come in the clay room 'immejit' the gong rings," and she +hurried off, humming a gay little song. +</P> + +<P> +The gay little song persisted, much to the dissatisfaction of the +severe monitor, Miss Green, whose fat and lugubrious countenance took +on a deeper shade of gloom at every hushed note that trembled in +Patricia's rounded throat. +</P> + +<P> +After casting a martyr-like glance of reproach at her, as she worked +on, all unconscious of the mental agony she was inflicting, Miss Green +cleared her throat slushily, and in the most subdued tone possible +addressed Patricia. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Kendall will not disturb the class, I am sure, if she realizes +that her humming is a source of annoyance," she said, her own really +musical voice fluting in melodious minor cadences. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia started and looked up with a sunny smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Was I humming?" she asked genially. "I didn't know I was making any +noise at all. I'm awfully sorry to have gotten on your nerves. I was +thinking about some exercises, and I must have thought out loud." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Green, much mollified by Patricia's ready acknowledgment, beamed +over her round spectacles. +</P> + +<P> +"I am sure Miss Kendall has the best intentions possible to any +agreeable young lady," she said in a hushed though ceremonious manner. +</P> + +<P> +She paused so long, regarding Patricia with her head on one side, that +Patricia was afraid she was going to orate further, and visions of a +premature initiation flitted uneasily through her nimble mind. Miss +Green, however, said nothing further, taking up her tools and going on +with her work with a complacent and benignant smile in her little pink +mouth. +</P> + +<P> +Griffin, who was just behind her, winked solemnly at Patricia and then +shook her head sadly, as if to indicate that the monitor was in her +opinion hopelessly incorrigible. +</P> + +<P> +"Doesn't Greeny make you a bit weary?" she asked, as she slipped over +beside Patricia as the gong was about to sound. "She's so drearily +ornate." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I don't know," replied Patricia easily. "She's kind, anyway. I +think if she were thin, people wouldn't find her half bad. Fat people +never seem quite as human as the rest of us." +</P> + +<P> +"Stuff!" said Griffin energetically. "She'd be simply awful if she +were thin. Aren't you coming in to see Naskowski's lion-tamer? He's +showing it in the clay room." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be along later. I've got something to attend to first," promised +Patricia, inwardly quaking lest the other should offer to wait for her; +but she went off with the crowd that was hurrying into the clay room, +and Patricia was free to arrange her surprise. +</P> + +<P> +Diving under her stand, she fished out the bundle and opened it with +trembling fingers. +</P> + +<P> +"If I can only get them all placed before they come back," she said to +herself, as she unwrapped each little bulky parcel. "I hope Naskowski +gives me time." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE INITIATIONS +</H3> + +<P> +"Wasn't it the flattest thing you ever saw?" said Patricia, +disgustedly, as they waited for Judith at the side door. "I thought it +was going off well when Griffin opened the ball by finding her little +figure poked away there on the stand back of her head, and made such a +cute speech to it, but the rest of them certainly behaved like tame +tabbies. I was never so disappointed in my life." +</P> + +<P> +"I thought Miss Green was really quite clever," said Elinor brightly. +"She certainly read the verse attached to her's with a lot of +expression. I didn't think she could be so sprightly." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia drummed on the railing. "She was well enough," she admitted +grudgingly. "But after I had modeled those figures and tried to get +something appropriate for each one—and it was hard to get the candy +into the inside of them, too, without spoiling it—they go and accept +them as though they were a cup of afternoon tea. I thought they'd show +more spirit. Don't talk to me about artists being gay and Bohemian +after this." +</P> + +<P> +"It was a little quiet," acknowledged Elinor, "but, at least, they were +very pleasant about it. They all agreed that it was the cleverest +thing that had been done in that line." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia gazed gloomily at the door of the life-class room. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish I were in the night life," she said resentfully. "I envy you, +Norn, being among live people." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor smiled ruefully. "And I'd like to swap with you," she said. +"I'd much prefer a quiet time like I had in the head class this +morning, or an agreeable time like you had, to anything riotous." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia sighed and stirred restlessly. "Isn't that like life?" she +commented, her face clearing as the thought took hold on her. "We're +all hankering after something that we haven't got—or we think we are. +Maybe—maybe we'd not like the other thing any better if we did get it, +though one's own things always seem awfully commonplace, don't they?" +</P> + +<P> +Before Elinor could respond, she started to the door with an +exclamation. +</P> + +<P> +"Here's Judy! On time to the dot!" she cried. "Come on in, Ju; drop +your plunder into my strong arm and let us introduce you to the +Academy." +</P> + +<P> +Judith, with her hat rather on one side and her cheeks flushed from the +wind and swift walking, kissed them both breathlessly and tumbled her +bundles into Patricia's capacious apron. +</P> + +<P> +She followed them into the dressing room with her eyes busy but without +a single word, and it was not until they had taken her through the +various class rooms, deserted at this noon hour, and were on their way +down to the lunch room that she found speech. +</P> + +<P> +"I must say, Elinor," she began, in response to a question, "that it's +very different from what you girls led me to expect." +</P> + +<P> +"Did we draw such rosy pictures?" asked Patricia in surprise. "I +thought we told you it was remarkably spotty and just as smelly." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>But,</I>" continued Judith with emphasis, "I must say that, dirt and +all, it is more <I>glorious-ified</I> than I thought it would be. That +big-winged angel or whatever it is at the top of the stairs looks as if +it would soar right up to the top of heaven—it's so white and strong!" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia's eyes filled with the ready tears as she caught the look on +Judith's thin face, raised in adoring admiration to the great Winged +Victory that stood poised at the top of the wide flight of stone +stairs, showing triumphant in the misty light that seems to fill all +great indoor spaces. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the part that makes up for all the soil and smudge, Ju +darling," said Elinor softly. "Paint and charcoal and clay are dirty +things, but when they're wielded with the force of an Ideal, they can +illuminate the world." +</P> + +<P> +Judith swept her adoring gaze from the Victory to her sister's face. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, oh," she breathed, "I didn't know you could talk like that, +Elinor. It sounds like some beautiful book." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor blushed and laughed. "I can't, usually," she said, gayly. "It +is the Victory that did it. She must have handed down some of the +thoughts of the old Greek that carved her out of the white marble under +that blue, blue sky of ancient days." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia nodded her quick appreciation. "I wonder how many she has +spoken to, in all the centuries?" she mused, her eyes growing wide and +absent. "Think of them, Norn—those people who felt her spell and +heard the message. What a glorious company!" +</P> + +<P> +It was Elinor's turn to raise misty eyes to the Messenger of the Ideal, +and, like Judith, she was silent, busy with this thought. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know," Patricia went on, the peculiarly sweet, clear tone that +marked her best self growing as she spoke, "I've come to care a lot +about that glorious company. 'The kings of the earth shall bring their +glory and honor into it,' and I don't see why we all shouldn't have +some chance to add our tiny scrap to the splendor. I know I shan't +ever do much—only commonplace, humdrum things, but if I can come at +last with the least, tiniest bit of a radiant snip to add to the glory +and honor, I'll be more than satisfied." +</P> + +<P> +She broke off suddenly, smiling a wistful smile at the two others. +</P> + +<P> +"I oughtn't to envy you, but I do," she said, softly. "You'll both +come in simply glittering, and I'll have to brag that you're my near +relatives. I'm such an ostentatious beast that I'd have to show off +even there." +</P> + +<P> +"Patricia!" gasped Judith, shocked out of her dreamy calm. "You +oughtn't to say things like that. It's—it's not religious!" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia dropped back instantly to her usual manner. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, anyway, I'm fearfully hungry," she said airily. "I can't stand +any more palaver. Come along to the cave and let us feed while there +is time." +</P> + +<P> +Luncheon was particularly gay, much to Judith's delight. Margaret +Howes joined Patricia as she carried Judith off to the them, and +Griffin with a kindred spirit had the next table. Doris Leighton, the +pretty girl whom Patricia had so ardently admired on her first day and +who had not been visible since then, appeared without her pale +companion, and took the table on the other side of them, and when +Margaret Howes, at Patricia's entreaty, introduced them, she brought +her chair over to their table and made one of their merry party. +</P> + +<P> +Judith was silent for the most part, but her eyes glowed like live +coals and she kept tossing her pale, straight mane in the way she had +when pleasantly excited. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what do you think of Bohemia?" asked Griffin, as they climbed +the narrow iron stair again, the time having come for Judith to say +good-bye. +</P> + +<P> +Judith was equal to the occasion, as usual. +</P> + +<P> +"I like it better than the land of the Amorites and the Hittites," she +responded so promptly that the other gaped. +</P> + +<P> +"Upon my word, you're a classy young 'un," she grinned. "Come again +soon and give us some more." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia as she carried Judith off to the dressing room for her wraps, +was moved to inquiry. +</P> + +<P> +"How in the world could you answer her so pat?" she asked, twinkling at +Judith's superior air. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I heard you say this morning that outside people were Philistines, +and when I tried to look it up in the Old Testament, I read a lot of +hard names, and I remembered them," she said, triumphantly. "I didn't +think, though, that I'd be able to use them so soon." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"You certainly are the limit," she said, gravely. "What makes you care +so much about words and names and such like things?" she asked, trying +to get at a clearer understanding of her little sister's mental +processes. +</P> + +<P> +Judith was entirely unconscious of the probe. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, because they're the very nicest things in the world, of course," +she replied spiritedly. "I love to get new ones and see how they work. +It's such fun. Like archery practice, when you hit the bull's eye. +Only words are somehow different, too. They sort of <I>taste</I> when you +say them—sometimes sweet and sometimes tingly and queer, like the +Amorites and Hittites," and she giggled at the memory. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't go tasting too many new ones around here," she cautioned with a +kiss. "You might hit on the wrong one, and they wouldn't understand +that it was merely a game with you." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I just guess it isn't any game," retorted Judith with a toss of +her mane. "It's the most important thing in life to me," and she +stalked off towards the door with great dignity. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia groaned as she watched her walk primly down the corridor and +out of the side entrance. "That infant," she said to Elinor who had +been leaving Judith out, "is trembling on the brink of becoming a +little prig. We've got to see to it, Norn, that she doesn't get too +satisfied with herself." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe she'll get spoiled," returned Elinor, easily. "She +<I>is</I> clever, you know, and I think it's rather nice that she can enjoy +it a bit. She isn't pretty, and it makes up to her for that." +</P> + +<P> +"All the same," said Patricia, darkly, "she needs to drop a peg in her +own esteem. Conceit is mighty crippling to the runner in the race that +Ju's picked out for herself. I'd hate her to be a fizzle, and I'm +going to see to it that she gets rid of it." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well; only don't be too hard on her," said Elinor, easily. "Come +help me with the candy for the night life, won't you? I can't get it +in shape." +</P> + +<P> +"Lots of time for it," said Patricia, yawning and flinging herself down +on the wide couch. "The men aren't through in there for more than an +hour yet." +</P> + +<P> +"But I've got to get it tied inside the lantern while no one is about," +insisted Elinor. "And the hall is absolutely deserted now. Come +along, do, and be useful." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia, protesting, dragged herself from the restful nest, but by the +time they had begun to arrange the gay little bags of candy in the big +red Japanese lantern, she was as enthusiastic as Elinor could wish. +</P> + +<P> +"Aren't the bags perfect ducks?" she laughed, handling the gauzy +bundles with dexterous fingers. "And those verses are too cute for +words. What a time we all had over them! Ju's are the best, though +she mustn't know it; funny without being personal. It was terribly +hard to get such a mob, too. How many are there altogether, Norn?" +</P> + +<P> +"Seventeen," replied Elinor, counting. "I hope it will work all right +when I pull the string. I've fixed the bottom of that lantern so it +ought to fall out when I give a hard jerk, and all the bags will tumble +down in a shower." +</P> + +<P> +"You can't try it, of course," said Patricia. "But I'm dead certain +it'll be all right. What is the matter?" she asked, looking up as the +door of the life room opened and the men began to come out carrying +their canvases and drawing-boards as though the pose were over. "It +can't be four o'clock, surely. Ju hasn't been gone a half hour." +</P> + +<P> +Naskowski, on his way to the modeling room, paused to answer Patricia's +question. +</P> + +<P> +"There iss a demonstration in the living anatomy, for all students—a +man who can dislocate his joints at will and do other methods of +showing muscle action," he explained. "So the life iss dismiss. You +will come—not?" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia and Elinor exchanged a swift glance. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll be along in a little while," replied Patricia easily. "Save a +seat for us if you can." +</P> + +<P> +When he had moved on she whispered excitedly: +</P> + +<P> +"Now's your chance, Norn! I'll skirmish for laggards and report." +</P> + +<P> +She came back in a moment, triumphant. +</P> + +<P> +"There isn't a soul in sight," she announced. "Hustle while the +coast's clear. Someone may come back at any moment." +</P> + +<P> +They hurried into the deserted room, and with eager haste they swung +the big lantern up to the circle of electric fixtures above the model +stand, the stout cord that Elinor had fastened to its bottom hanging +concealed among the drapery of the screen that stood behind the model's +chair. +</P> + +<P> +"It's all ship-shape now," whispered Patricia as they scrambled down +from the stools whereon they had perched to accomplish their purpose. +"Aren't we in luck? Not a soul even saw us come in." +</P> + +<P> +"Now for a sight of the dislocated gentleman," said Elinor gayly. "And +then for the great event." +</P> + +<P> +The anatomical wonder appealed to them so little that they gave up the +seats that the kind Slav had saved for them, and went out, rather +sickened by such limberness, to wait the gong of the night life in the +seclusion of the print room. +</P> + +<P> +The hall and corridor were dim and the circle of lights above the model +stand was twinkling brightly when Patricia peeped in at the crack of +the door during the first rest. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing seems to be happening," said Elinor to her in an undertone as +she joined her. "I believe I'll wait till later, unless I see signs of +action." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't keep me hanging on here in the dark too long," protested +Patricia. "I'm worn to a bone already." +</P> + +<P> +When she returned to her post after a brief nap on the wide couch, +everything was quiet, much to her disgust. +</P> + +<P> +"Why in the world doesn't Elinor loosen up?" she thought, impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +As she moved nearer she gave a start of surprise. The lights in the +night-life room were out. The transom showed black and empty above the +massive folded doors. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia drew in her breath with a gasp. She put her hand on the knob +of the door and noiselessly turned it. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll slip in behind the door screen," she thought, "and see what's +going on. Elinor may need me." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE GHOST DANCE +</H3> + +<P> +The room was very dark at first, and little whispers ran all about in +the gloom. There was a rustling and shuffling and a sound of hurried, +muffled steps. Patricia, from her hiding place behind the door screen, +could make out nothing but the dim oblong of the transom above her head +and the long pale mass of the skylight. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly a match flared and the twinkling tip of light grew at a candle +end and she saw a ghostly figure, its white hand busy with the candle +wick and its hollow, black eyes fixed on the tiny growing flame. +Instantly other matches flickered and more candles glimmered in ghostly +fingers, until the room was flashing with tiny points of light, while +the masses of heavy shadow trembled and surged about an array of +white-clad, mysterious, skull-faced figures that slowly formed in line +and, two by two, moved to the center of the room, chanting a low, +monotonous song as they walked in solemn procession. +</P> + +<P> +"My word!" breathed Patricia, stirred and chilled in spite of herself. +"They're doing it brown this time!" +</P> + +<P> +As her eyes grew accustomed to the flicker and motion, she searched for +Elinor, and saw her at last, the center of the weird procession, +standing quietly beside the chair from which she had risen, holding her +head with a sweet and gracious dignity that went straight to Patricia's +chilled heart. +</P> + +<P> +"Dear old Norn," she thought with a returning glow. "They can't scare +her, bless her heart!" +</P> + +<P> +Elinor stood smiling a little at the gruesome company as they slowly +paced about her in a narrowing circle, and when the leader took her +hand and led her to the model stand, motioning to her to mount it, she +acquiesced with graceful alacrity. +</P> + +<P> +Standing high above them in the semi-gloom, with that faint smile still +on her lips, she watched them calmly as they danced the famous Ghost +Dance of the Academy about her, omitting no gruesome detail that would +be calculated to affright the dismayed beholder, chanting and groaning +horribly the while. +</P> + +<P> +At a sign from the leader the dance stopped as suddenly as it had +begun, and the leader once more approached Elinor, followed by four of +the foremost ghosts. +</P> + +<P> +They mounted the platform and, seating Elinor in the chair, filed +before her, presenting one after another a grisly hand and cadaverous +cheek for her salute. +</P> + +<P> +"The horrid things!" murmured Patricia to herself, with her wrath +beginning to rise. "I'd pinch their noses for them if they made me +kiss them! Elinor's too gentle with them. I wonder why she doesn't +pull the string? She could reach it easily now." +</P> + +<P> +But Elinor, far from showing rancor, shook the bony hands and kissed +the sunken cheeks with as good grace as though she were receiving her +dearest friends. She even made some little speech to each, though +Patricia was too far away to catch more than a word or two. +</P> + +<P> +Her sweetness of temper, nevertheless, did not seem to appease the +ghosts, for, when the ceremony of salutation was finished, the four +seated themselves cross-legged on either side of her, while the leader +proceeded to catechize her. +</P> + +<P> +"What is your name?" she asked, in a high, squeaking voice that +Patricia failed to recognize. +</P> + +<P> +Elinor responded promptly. +</P> + +<P> +"Where do you live?" was the next question, to which Elinor again +replied good-naturedly. +</P> + +<P> +"Pooh! they're as stupid as the rest," thought Patricia contemptuously, +and she let her attention wander, studying the various ghosts, making +mental notes as to height and size for future reference. +</P> + +<P> +She was brought back to the center of interest by a sharp hiss from a +ghost on the edge of the assembly and a muffled cry of "No fair!" from +another nearer the stand. +</P> + +<P> +The leader raised a grisly hand and swept the assembly with her +cavernous eye sockets. +</P> + +<P> +"I repeat," she piped, turning to Elinor with a jerky bow, "I repeat my +question. Why were you admitted to our class without having worked in +any antique or life classes before?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that's too personal," said a ghost in a disgusted tone. "I +protest! This isn't a Board meeting." +</P> + +<P> +There was a general murmur of laughter at this, but the leader stood +rigid, awaiting Elinor's reply. +</P> + +<P> +"I have told anyone who asked me," said Elinor, evenly, though her +cheeks were beginning to burn. "I came in on Bruce Haydon's +recommendation." +</P> + +<P> +There was a rustle of approval at her quiet tone and a stir as of the +assembly breaking up, but again the leader motioned for silence. +</P> + +<P> +"The other four sisters will make their investigation after I have +finished," she announced in her shrill tones. "I have but three more +questions to put to the novice." +</P> + +<P> +There was a silence that made the next question come with more +insulting force, while Patricia again wondered why Elinor did not seize +this moment for her broadside of bonbons. +</P> + +<P> +"How much," squeaked the leader, more shrilly than ever, "did Bruce +Haydon bribe the Board to let you in?" +</P> + +<P> +Instantly there was a storm of hisses and protests; the four next +inquisitors jumped to their feet and down from the model stand with one +motion, crying that it was a shame that the fun was spoiled and that +they had all had enough for one night. +</P> + +<P> +"Initiation's over!" shouted someone in a voice of authority, and +suddenly the candle-lights vanished into a tumultuous darkness, while +there was a confusion of scurrying noises that made Patricia's head +swim for a moment. +</P> + +<P> +Then the lights flashed on, and she saw clearly the disheveled, excited +assembly hastily hiding bundles of white cloth in any available spot, +while hair and dress were hurriedly arranged and order generally +restored. Elinor still stood on the model stand under the brilliant +circle of lights, her wide eyes gleaming and her head uplifted. +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't been asked for a speech," she began clearly. "But I do want +to say a word or two, if you'll let me." +</P> + +<P> +She paused for some sign, and Patricia in her corner was delighted at +the Babel which answered her. Cries of "Of course we will!" +"<I>Dee-lighted!</I>" "Take all the time you want!" mingled with applause +and stamping, until Elinor could not forbear a laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"I won't wear out your patience," she promised, as quiet was restored +and her voice could again be heard. "I haven't any oration to deliver. +I only want to say that I don't know who it was asked me those +questions, and I hope I never shall know. You've all been very kind to +me, and I'd hate to think that any of you wanted to make me +uncomfortable. I'm sure it was simply an initiation stunt, and I for +one shall never think of it again." +</P> + +<P> +She paused with a bright, friendly glance on the upturned faces. +</P> + +<P> +"This is my real introduction to the night-life class," she said, with +a sweeping gesture that, unseen to all but the anxious Patricia, caught +the cord from its hiding place among the draperies. "And I want this +evening to be a sweet memory to us all." +</P> + +<P> +She stepped aside with a swift movement, and the big red lantern swayed +and threatened to topple as the cord tightened. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, what's that?" cried a voice, and all eyes were turned to the +gaudy swaying globe. Before anyone could speak, Elinor gave another +hard tug, tearing out the bottom of the lantern, and down came the +shower of gay little gauze bags with their cargoes of bonbons, +pell-mell on the heads of the crowd! +</P> + +<P> +"Hallelujah! It's the fee!" cried Griffin, with a green and gold +packet in her hands. "Hurrah for Kendall Major! She's the stuff!" +</P> + +<P> +"Verses, too!" cried Margaret Howes. "Verses on every one of them. +Read them aloud, everybody in turn. Hurry up and get them all +together." +</P> + +<P> +"Silence, will you?" shouted Griffin, pounding like mad. "Keep still +till the exercises are over. The first little girl to speak her piece +is Miss Doris Leighton. Come up, Doris, dear. Don't put your finger +in your mouth, and speak so we can all hear you. Fire away." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia thought Doris Leighton looked pale as she stood up on the +model stand to read the nonsense verse that was on her candy bag, but +her loveliness wrought the same spell on the others as it always had, +and they listened to her silvery voice in appreciative silence, and +applauded her warmly at the end. +</P> + +<P> +One after another, the girls mounted the stand beside Elinor, and read +the little verses, while the assembly listened, and even the model, +decorously cloaked, came from her little room, and with her crocheting +in hand sat smiling at the nonsense. +</P> + +<P> +When the last verse had been read and the laughter died down, Griffin +raised her voice again. +</P> + +<P> +"Nobody's asked me for a speech," she began and paused. +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't think you had to be asked," came from the crowd in a laughing +voice. +</P> + +<P> +Griffin looked sadly in the direction of the voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Nobody's asked me," she repeated more firmly, "and so I'm not going to +make any. So there!" +</P> + +<P> +Groans of relief sounded from the side of the room whence the voice had +come, and there was a general giggle. +</P> + +<P> +"I merely raised my voice above the general clamor," Griffin went on +with an icy stare towards her hidden critic, "to suggest that we show +our appreciation of the delightful entertainment Miss Kendall has so +thoughtfully provided us by giving her the Night Life Song, or the +Academy Howl, whichever she prefers." She bowed to Elinor with +exaggerated politeness. "Which shall it be, Miss Kendall? Each is +equally diverting, but the Howl has the merit of greater brevity. No +extra charge for the choice, you know, so speak up and name it." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor glanced about at the circle of laughing, friendly faces and her +eyes shone. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll choose the song," she announced, gayly. "I've heard a lot of +howling already this evening." +</P> + +<P> +"The song it is," cried Griffin, stepping on a chair and beginning to +beat time with a big paint-brush. "Now then, all together, my +children. Warble!" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia, thrilled by the sweetness of the rippling, crooning song, and +before the verse was half done, joined unconsciously in with the +others, forgetting the need of words in the melody of the lilting song. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"Creatures of the night are we,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Sisters of the glow-worm dim,</SPAN><BR> +Comrades of the hooting owl,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Toilers when the sunset's rim</SPAN><BR> +Overflows with shadows deep;<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Harken to our even-song,</SPAN><BR> +Night it is that makes us strong."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +The chorus swelled, with Griffin's thrilling treble soaring high and +clear: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"Glorious night that makes us strong,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Drowning day and ending strife;</SPAN><BR> +Guide the skilful hand and eye,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Shape our efforts into life."</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +Patricia's heart beat hard with the beauty of the woven word and +melody, and she gave a little gulp to keep back the tears that sprang +so readily. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't dream those uproarious creatures could be so serious. I +wonder where they got that song," she said to herself as she slipped +unnoticed out into the twilight of the corridor. +</P> + +<P> +She put the question to Griffin when she met her in the hall after the +class had broken up in disorder to celebrate the initiation by a +general gambol through the deserted halls and corridors. Patricia and +Griffin were seating themselves on a drawing-board at the top of the +short flight of stone steps that connected the back corridor with the +exhibition rooms above. +</P> + +<P> +"That? Oh, Carol Lawton wrote that for us before she left. She was a +corker, I can tell you." A shade flitted over Griffin's face as she +settled herself more firmly on the board. "She died last fall, and +we've sung that song ever since. Ready now! Let her <I>go</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +Away they sped down the stony stairs with a great clatter of board and +flutter of skirts, winding up at the bottom with a final heavy thump. +</P> + +<P> +"Phew! That's great!" cried Patricia, springing lightly to her feet. +"It's more like flying than anything else." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it's going some," returned Griffin nonchalantly, as she started +up the stair again, dragging the board after her. "The March Hare +originated it back in the dark ages, and we've been doing it off and +on—when the authorities don't get on to us." +</P> + +<P> +"The March Hare?" queried Patricia, much elated by this exhilarating +society, and wishing more ardently than ever that she were fitted for +this fascinating class. +</P> + +<P> +Griffin nodded. "Tabby March, you know. The young woman who paints +pussies. Used to go here three years ago, before she'd arrived. She +was a wild one, I can tell you." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean Elizabeth March, who got the Tassel prize this year?" +asked Patricia in surprise. "Why, I saw her last week at the +exhibition and she was awfully prim looking." +</P> + +<P> +Griffin chuckled. "It's fame that tames them, mark my words. Soon's +they get known they grow into a pattern. Ready now. Let her +r-r-r-<I>rip</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +Elinor intercepted them at the bottom just as they were preparing for a +third flight. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been looking for you everywhere, Miss Pat," she said radiantly. +"There's going to be a spread in the cave, and I've phoned home to Judy +not to wait for us, as we won't be there for dinner." +</P> + +<P> +"Am I asked?" demanded Patricia with eager eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, or I'd have sent word by you instead of phoning," said +Elinor quickly. "Come along down, both of you. Everything is ready, +and Margaret Howes is making Welsh rarebit just specially for you—she +heard you say you adored it. Hurry, hurry." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AFTERMATH +</H3> + +<P> +The feast was half over when Patricia, who sat between Margaret Howes +and Griffin and opposite to the adorable Doris Leighton, got a distinct +shock. +</P> + +<P> +The girls had been talking of the initiation and the part that Elinor +had played. +</P> + +<P> +"Your sister has covered herself with glory by the way she took her +hazing," said Margaret, deftly winding a long string of the rarebit +around a bread stick and popping it in her mouth. +</P> + +<P> +"She certainly saved us from a fluke by the nice fashion in which she +turned the popular attention from that idiot who was leading the band," +added Griffin, reaching for the mustard. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia longed to ask a question, but Margaret Howes saved her the +necessity. +</P> + +<P> +"Who was it, do you know, Griffin?" she inquired in a lowered tone. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't be certain, of course, but I have my doubts," replied Griffin, +in the same pitch. "I think that I recognized the silvery tones of a +fair one who is not too far away from us," and she glanced +significantly across the table to where Doris Leighton sat with the +candle-light shining in her bright hair and a little smile curving her +pink lips. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia caught the look, and was instantly both astonished and +indignant. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see how you can think that!" she cried hotly, and then hastily +lowering her voice, she added: "You must have known who they chose for +leader, even if you both were at the tail of the march." +</P> + +<P> +Griffin grinned good-naturedly. "Keep your righteous wrath for the +right fellow, young 'un. When you've been in the night life as many +years as I have, you'll know that we don't choose a leader—she simply +elects herself by taking the head of the procession. We never know +who's who after we rig up. That's part of the game. So, you see, it +may have been the charming Doris, or Howes here, or my unworthy self, +that put those obnoxious questions to your sister—no one knows for +sure, and the mean cuss won't tell." +</P> + +<P> +"Why should she want to be horrid to Elinor?" persisted Patricia, +frowning a little in her earnestness. "We don't know her very well +yet, but she's been perfectly sweet to us both." +</P> + +<P> +"That describes her to a T, doesn't it, Howes?" grinned the +imperturbable Griffin. "That's the way we find her—so sweet that she +is sickening, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hush, she'll hear you!" warned Howes, laughing a little, nevertheless, +whereupon Patricia instantly decided that she had been mistaken in +Margaret Howes' character, and that she was less open-minded and +warm-hearted than she had believed. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't see why you should pitch on her," insisted Patricia, kneading +her cake into pills in her agitation. "What could she have against +Elinor?" +</P> + +<P> +Griffin yawned elaborately and then addressed Margaret Howes with +lifted eyebrows. +</P> + +<P> +"This young person, though evidently of an investigating turn of mind, +has not quite fathomed the nature of the reigning beauty of our little +coterie. Being of a candid and affable nature herself, she fails to +comprehend how the fangs of the green-eyed monster, once fastened in +the tender heart of said beauty, make the said beauty so mortally +uncomfy that she's bound to take it out on somebody—and who so natural +or convenient as the critter who sicked the serpent on her." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean that she is jealous of Elinor?" asked Patricia, opening her +eyes very wide. "Why, Elinor is only a beginner, and <I>she's</I> studied +abroad!" +</P> + +<P> +"All the same, she sees that Kendall Major is about to snatch the +laurel wreath from all our heads, and she doesn't want to do without +any of her ornaments." +</P> + +<P> +"But Elinor didn't even get a criticism in the head class yet," +protested Patricia, unconvinced. "Mr. Benton didn't get around to her +this morning, and she doesn't get any criticism in the night life till +tomorrow afternoon. I don't see how she could be jealous." +</P> + +<P> +Griffin made a face over a sip of over-heated cocoa. "Just as you +please," she murmured benevolently. "Make the best of it, like a good +child. Charity is the chief Christian virtue and an ornament to all. +Are you going in for the prize design, Howes? I hear that it's open to +the whole class." +</P> + +<P> +"Haven't heard of it," replied Margaret Howes, with eager interest. +"What is it? And who's giving it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Roberts, the big New York decorator. He's offering a hundred dollars +for the best design for a panel for a library—originality to be the +chief feature. Popsy Brown told me. I thought it had been announced." +</P> + +<P> +"It wasn't on the bulletin board this afternoon," said a girl across +the table, who had been listening to this last speech. "Tell us about +it, Griffie dear. We're all dying to hear." +</P> + +<P> +"Spout it out loud!" called another from the end of the table. "We +can't catch your muffled accents down here." +</P> + +<P> +The announcement of the prize was received with such lively interest +that it routed all other subjects, and even Patricia caught the +enthusiasm. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope Elinor tries for it," she said excitedly. "She'll say she's +too green, I suppose." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell her to make a hack at it anyway," urged Margaret Howes earnestly. +"Originality is the thing that counts, and she's got as good a chance +as any of us there." +</P> + +<P> +"Better," said Griffin tersely. "We're so filled with other people's +ideas that we've degenerated into regular copy-cats. I can't undertake +any subject but that I have a lot of designs by famous painters popping +into my mind and mixing me up horribly." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish I could draw," mused Patricia, absently sugaring her +Frankfurter. "I've got tons of ideas already." +</P> + +<P> +"That reminds me," broke out Griffin. "There's a prize for the mud +larks, too. I've forgotten what it is, but it'll be posted in the +morning. There's your chance, young 'un. You're eligible for it." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia was about to speak, but there was a general stir and a voice +cried, authoritatively: +</P> + +<P> +"Eight o'clock. Time to break up! Three cheers for Kendall Major and +her candy toys. The Academy Howl, ladies, if you please!" +</P> + +<P> +A space was hurriedly cleared at the other end of the table, a chair +placed and Patricia saw Elinor, blushing and protesting, thrust into it +by a dozen laughing students. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia stood to one side, as they formed a hasty group in the open +space by the door, and, with Griffin beating time, stretched their +mouths to the utmost and gave the Academy Howl with a vim that was +deafening, drawing out the final deep growling notes to a weirdly +wailing finish that sent Patricia and Elinor into gales of mirth. +</P> + +<P> +"How in the world did you make up such an unearthly yodel?" demanded +Elinor, preparing to descend from her chair of state. "I hope I'm not +expected to answer in kind." +</P> + +<P> +"You don't budge from there, young lady, till you've given us a song," +declared Griffin, vigorously. "We know your dark secrets. We've heard +that you can warble a bit." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor sat down in surprise. "Oh, but I can't," she protested. "I +can't sing at all. Miss Pat——" +</P> + +<P> +A glare from Patricia stopped her, but it was too late. A chorus of +laughing voices took up the demand, "A song, Miss Pat!" "Don't be +stingy, Kendall Minor; tune up!" "Give us a sample, Miss Pat!" until +Griffin, with a bow, offered her arm to the rebellious Patricia and led +her, protesting and abashed, to the chair whence Elinor had escaped. +</P> + +<P> +Once on the impromptu platform, Patricia's embarrassment dropped from +her, and she smiled a ready acknowledgment to the shouts that demanded +a dozen different songs at once. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't sing them all at once," she said, gayly. "But if you'll +settle on one that I know, I'll do my best for you. You've given me an +awfully good time tonight, and I'm only too glad to sing for you." +</P> + +<P> +After a great deal of good-humored bickering and sifting of requests to +suit Patricia's repertoire, the tumult gradually quieted and Patricia +rose. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll sing 'Mary of Argyle' first, and then a new little song, but it +won't sound very well without any accompaniment," she said simply, and +then, folding her hands before her and tilting her head like a bird, +she began to sing, softly at first and then louder till her voice +soared and rang echoing through the bare, empty rooms that flanked the +lunch rooms. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"I have watched thy heart, my Mary,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">And its goodness was the wile,</SPAN><BR> +That has made me thine forever,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Bonnie Mary of Argyle."</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +Patricia's voice swelled and sank on the last lines of the old song, +and the girls broke into hearty applause, which was startlingly +reinforced from the doorway of the lumber cellar. The janitor's sallow +face appeared from the gloom and his deep voice boomed an encore. +</P> + +<P> +"Fine! Fine!" he cried, nodding his head approvingly. "That beats +them all! My wife, she used to sing that song, and I liked it fine, +but you beat them all!" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia blushed with pleasure, and Griffin called out heartily, +"Bring her in, Eitel. There's going to be another!" +</P> + +<P> +As the janitor padded away to the domestic portion of the basement to +fetch his smiling wife, Griffin added to Patricia, "They're an awfully +good sort. You don't mind, do you?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, indeed!" cried Patricia. "It's sweet of them to like it!" +</P> + +<P> +Doris Leighton smiled at Elinor in the crowd and murmured a word of +praise for the singing, adding, however, that she was afraid that the +janitor could hardly appreciate it. +</P> + +<P> +"What's that?" asked Griffin, whose quick ear had caught the last +words. "Not appreciate it? Why, do you know that Eitel used to be +butler for Patti in his youth? Fie, fie, my child; likewise, go to." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia caught her breath. "I hope he likes the next one," she said +anxiously, whereat Griffin chuckled. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't be too scared," she said in a quick undertone. "It's forty +years since he served the Diva, and he only stayed a month. I merely +exploited him musically to bluff off the Class Beauty. Hush! here they +are, large as life. Now, warble your prettiest, for Mrs. Eitel really +knows good stuff when she hears it." +</P> + +<P> +So Patricia flung her whole self into the sparkling "April Girl," and +at the finish had the reward of an ovation. The students clapped and +the Eitels applauded with hands and feet, and cried "Encore!" till they +were red in the face. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll sing just one more, and then I'll have to stop," she said with +eager brightness. "My voice isn't strong enough to do much, you know, +though I'm awfully glad you like the songs." +</P> + +<P> +So she sang another, a lullaby, that sank to its finish in flattering +silence. Not a word was spoken as she stepped to the floor, but Elinor +put out her hand and gave Patricia's a hard squeeze. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Eitel broke the silence. "That music has made me strong," she +declared, beaming. "These dishes I will now wash up for the reward of +those songs. Go along now, young ladies, and think nothing about the +disorder and the scrappishness, for it is I who will make them to come +to order." +</P> + +<P> +There were a few feeble protests, but Mrs. Eitel bore them down, and +the students trooped off upstairs to their lockers and the dressing +room, well pleased to escape the prosaic end to their fun. +</P> + +<P> +On the way home Patricia told Elinor of the suspicions that had been +whispered about Doris Leighton's part in the initiation, and, much to +her satisfaction, Elinor was as indignant as she had been. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't see how they can be so unfriendly to her," she said warmly. +"She is so kind and agreeable. Of course, she doesn't associate with +everybody, but neither does Margaret Howes nor Griffin either, for that +matter. So far from being jealous, she's been specially sociable with +me, and I felt quite flattered by it." +</P> + +<P> +"I knew you'd feel just that way about it," said Patricia, relieved and +triumphant. "I told them she'd been awfully sweet to us." +</P> + +<P> +"I think it more likely that it was Griffin herself," said Elinor with +spirit. "She's such a wild, harum-scarum thing, and she does love to +tease." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia was silent, weighing this suggestion. They both broke into +negation at once as they reached their own front door. +</P> + +<P> +"It couldn't be Griffin," said Patricia earnestly. "She was too +disgusted with it." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I didn't really mean that," cried Elinor, repentantly. "It wasn't +a bit like her teasing. Her's always has a good flavor." +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder who it could have been," they both murmured as they went +upstairs to their rooms. +</P> + +<P> +Judith was deeply interested with their recital of the whole affair, +and grew quite excited in the discussion as to the identity of the +leader of the Ghost Dance. +</P> + +<P> +"If I were there enough to know the different girls, I'd know who it +was without much trouble," she declared. +</P> + +<P> +"How would you manage it, Sherlock?" asked Patricia. "Give us a hint +of your method, and we may be able to locate the fiend ourselves." +</P> + +<P> +Judith tossed her head. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you may laugh, Miss Pat. But all the same, I'd <I>know</I>. I could +tell by the little things that you grown-ups don't notice." +</P> + +<P> +"Mercy, Judy!" cried Patricia in genuine consternation. "You mustn't +examine us all with your private microscope. It isn't fair!" +</P> + +<P> +Elinor put an end to the discussion by pointing to the clock. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you see the hour, infants?" she demanded. "Tomorrow is a full day, +and we must get to our beds. Toddle, Judy dear. If you aren't asleep +in ten minutes you'll have to take a nap in the afternoon." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, but Miss Jinny's coming at five, and David won't leave till +half-past four!" protested Judith, horrified at such a prospect, and +beginning to scramble out of her clothes with lively haste. "And you +promised to show me the night-life room, too, when all the students +were there and the model wasn't posing! Oh, dear Elinor, you're a very +agitating person! I'm twice as wide-awake as I was a minute ago!" +</P> + +<P> +When Elinor and Patricia were alone, Patricia opened the subject that +had been occupying her thought for the last few minutes. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll try for that library panel prize, won't you, Norn?" she asked, +pleadingly. "Griffin and Margaret Howes both say you ought. I know +you could do something worth while." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor paused in her hair brushing, and sank down on the stool, +absently propping her chin on her brush. +</P> + +<P> +"It doesn't seem worth while," she began, but Patricia broke in +impatiently: +</P> + +<P> +"You never know what you can do till you try. I'd try for anything I +was eligible for, if I couldn't draw a stroke, just to be in with the +rest." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor smiled and pulled Patricia down beside her on the stool. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't be too hard on your lazy old sister, Miss Pat," she said with a +kiss. "I'll promise to go in for it if you won't scold any more. If I +disgrace the family, you mustn't cast it up to me." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia tossed her bright head scornfully. +</P> + +<P> +"'Disgrace!'" she repeated hotly. "Why, do you know, Elinor Kendall, +that they're all saying <I>already</I> that you're a wonder?" Then with a +swift change, she broke into a giggle. "Wait till you lay eyes on my +contribution to the modeling competition. You'll have the treat of +your young life then!" +</P> + +<P> +"What's it to be?" asked Elinor, releasing her and beginning to braid +her dark hair. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't know," replied Patricia gayly. "Don't care, either. Whatever +it is, I'm going into it tooth and nail. I'll show them that I'm on +the turf even if I can't win a ribbon." +</P> + +<P> +Judith's voice came plaintively from her room. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think it's fair," she faltered. "You girls keep chattering so +I can't go to sleep, and the ten minutes are up long ago." +</P> + +<P> +"Bless your heart, Infant, you're a martyr to our long tongues!" cried +Patricia, jumping up and putting out the light. "Go to sleep now. We +won't chirp a single note. Good-night, and happy dreams!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DAVID'S TREAT +</H3> + +<P> +"I haven't had my criticism yet, and if I don't get it next pose, +you'll have to go to the station without me," said Elinor to the other +two girls as she met them in the corridor the next morning. "Mr. +Benton's awfully slow, but I can't miss this first criticism, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"David'll be fearfully disappointed," remarked Judith dispassionately. +"It's his first family spree, and I think it's your duty to go, Elinor." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'll be through in time for the luncheon," said Elinor, hastily. +"But if I'm not out here by eleven-fifteen, you'd better start without +me. I can meet you somewhere, or you all can come over here for me." +</P> + +<P> +Doris Leighton, passing, stopped for a gay word with Patricia and +Judith as they loitered in the hall. She made a laughing little +gesture of envy when she heard their program for the day, which +Patricia, eager to make amends for the unspoken slight upon her, poured +out generously. +</P> + +<P> +"What fun it will be," she said, with the faintest tinge of sadness in +her lovely voice. "It must be splendid to have a brother! I have +always so longed for one." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia caught herself in the act of offering her a share in David +Francis, but remembering his cold criticism of other attractive girls +in the past, closed her lips in time. +</P> + +<P> +"We didn't have one till this winter," she said cheerfully. "So I +guess we appreciate him for all he's worth." +</P> + +<P> +Doris Leighton's pretty eyes widened. "What in the world do you mean?" +she asked with such real interest that Patricia gladly rushed into the +tale of the kidnaping of her five-year-old twin brother, and how he had +been given up as dead for all the long years until the chance discovery +of his identity revealed him to them at the very time when they were +most in need of him. She did not dwell on the financial reinforcement +that he brought to them, feeling instinctively that the knowledge of +their straitened means would lower them in Doris Leighton's estimation, +but drew a lively picture of the jolly Christmas party they had had at +Greycroft, and the happy future they were looking forward to in their +life together. +</P> + +<P> +"He's at Prep now, but he'll enter Yale next year," she ended proudly. +"He's awfully clever, though he doesn't show it. He behaves just as +silly and stupid as other boys most of the time." +</P> + +<P> +"He must be a nice boy," returned the Class Beauty, with lagging +interest and a shade of condescension in her manner. "Of course, he's +young yet. I thought he was Kendall Major's twin." +</P> + +<P> +Judith, who had been scanning her narrowly, opened her eyes at this, +and asked innocently, "Is that why you thought you'd like him? Because +he was older and more grown-up?" +</P> + +<P> +Doris Leighton laughed a rippling laugh that had no shade of the +annoyance which Patricia felt rise hotly at Judith's rather pert +question. +</P> + +<P> +"Bless you, no, child," she said lightly. "I merely thought he would +be more apt to be like your oldest sister, whom I admire tremendously, +as everyone knows." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia could scarcely wait till Miss Leighton was out of earshot. +</P> + +<P> +"What in the world made you so disagreeable?" she demanded of the +unconcerned Judith. "Any blind bat could see that you wanted to be +nasty, in spite of your namby-pamby airs." +</P> + +<P> +Judith merely smiled her superior smile. "I know more about Miss Doris +Leighton than you think," she said, nonchalantly. "Her little sister +is in my class at school, and I just got acquainted with her yesterday." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia stamped her foot in vexation. "What <I>do</I> you mean?" she +cried. "You're the most exasperating——" +</P> + +<P> +The words died on her tongue, as Elinor suddenly emerged from the +portrait class door, her face radiant and with an exclamation of quick +pleasure at the sight of them. +</P> + +<P> +"I got my criticism! And he said the work was good! Now I can write +to Bruce," and her voice rang with a thrilling note of joy that carried +Patricia with her. +</P> + +<P> +"Good old Norn!" she cried, with a mighty hug. "I told you that you +were the real stuff! Ju and I are mighty proud of our big sister, +aren't we, Ju?" +</P> + +<P> +Judith caught Elinor's hand, and pressed close, silently adoring. +</P> + +<P> +"You girls are angels to wait for me till the very last moment," +chatted Elinor, stuffing her things into her locker recklessly. "I +hated to run the risk of not going to the station, but, oh, it was +worth it!" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia watched her with studious eyes as she pinned on her hat and +hurried into her wraps, holding forth the while in an exultation most +unusual to her. +</P> + +<P> +"You're 'fair lifted,' aren't you, Norn?" she asked curiously. "I +didn't know you ever got so daffy over anything. I've never seen you +if you have." +</P> + +<P> +Judith looked wise. "I know how she feels," she declared, sagely. "I +get awfully excited when I write something good. Why, sometimes I cry, +I'm so happy about it, and I jump up and down, too, all by myself." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia grinned. "You two geniuses understand each other, I see. +Might a humdrum mortal remind you that David is just about sliding into +the train shed at this moment?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mercy! Are we so late?" exclaimed Elinor, remorsefully. "Hurry, +Judith. Don't wait for me. I'll catch up to you before you get to the +corner." +</P> + +<P> +Off they raced, and came panting into the station, to find the express +ten minutes late, and David just stepping from the platform of the +still moving line of cars. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia, who denounced recklessness in others, flew to meet him with +loud reproaches, regardless of the thronging crowd of undergraduates +that were nimbly springing off after him. +</P> + +<P> +"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, David Carson!" she cried, her big +gray eyes alight and a pretty flush on her cheeks. "You'll simply +<I>kill</I> yourself some day, that's what you'll do! Why can't you wait +till it stops?" +</P> + +<P> +David, grinning broadly, cast a rather sheepish glance at the hurrying +throng. +</P> + +<P> +"Fellows were in a hurry," he explained good-naturedly, as he shook +hands with a grip that made her wince. "Couldn't keep you girls +waiting, anyway. Hullo, Elinor, how's the artist lady? Hullo, kid, +give us your paw. Don't need to ask you how you are—you look out of +sight." +</P> + +<P> +Judith as she kissed him was wrinkling her smooth brows at him. "But I +thought you were going to bring Tom Hughes——" she began, hesitatingly. +</P> + +<P> +David burst into a laugh. "Blest if I didn't forget all about Tommy," +he cried, turning to search the platform with eager eyes. "He's here +somewhere, but he's a shy youth and I guess he was afraid you'd want to +kiss him, too, Judy. Oh, there he is. Hullo, Tommy! Step lively, +please!" +</P> + +<P> +A tall dark-haired youth in a gray suit and overcoat, who had been +standing with his back to them a short distance away, turned and showed +a pleasant, homely face with two very lively eyes and a wide, firm +mouth. +</P> + +<P> +"This is the famous Hughes Junior," said David, introducing him to them +collectively. "Collector of dead bugs, and trouble generally. He +looks mild, but you want to watch him." +</P> + +<P> +Hughes Junior chuckled, in a slightly embarrassed fashion. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't give me away too hard," he said, in an agreeable voice. "I +haven't taken any of your bugs yet. I won't tell on him, Miss +Kendall," he added with an admiring glance at Elinor, "although I could +make you shudder with tales of his dark deeds." +</P> + +<P> +"Now, don't let's waste time," said David briskly. "Where are we bound +first? How about taking a peep at the art-joint? Do you allow +visitors in the morning?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you really want to go?" asked Patricia, beaming. "The modeling +room's open, and you can always see the antique." +</P> + +<P> +"Let's look them over then," returned David, promptly. "We aren't keen +on antiques—got too many in our boarding-house, but we want to see +what you've been up to, Miss, so lead on. Tommy here does not care +much for female pursuits, but he'll have to put up with it for once." +</P> + +<P> +"Female!" cried Patricia. "I like that! There are as many men as +there are girls, aren't there, Elinor? You're shockingly ignorant, +young man." +</P> + +<P> +They started off, leaving Tom Hughes and Elinor to follow, and Judith, +as she cast a searching backward glance at David's chum, whispered to +Patricia that he must be very nice and sociable for he seemed just as +much at home with Elinor as if she'd been another boy. +</P> + +<P> +"Think he'll do for that future helpmeet you're expecting to turn up +any old day, Judy?" Patricia mischievously whispered back. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Patricia</I>, he'll hear you!" gasped the scandalized Judith. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you two mumbling about?" demanded David, shouldering his way +through the assembly at the station door. "No fair talking secrets +today. I've got to be in everything that's going on. 'Fess up now, +Judy, you were complaining that Tommy's nose was too long for the hero +of your next novel, weren't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I never said a word about his nose," cried Judith, relieved to evade +the real topic. "I'd be more polite than to criticize his linny-ments +like that." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia joined in David's peal of laughter. "Shades of Hannah Ann +defend us!" she cried, gayly. "Don't spring any more bombs like that +on us, Infant. We've got to last till lunch time, anyway." +</P> + +<P> +"Lunch time!" repeated David, warmly. "I'm aiming to survive till at +least five minutes after! Think of all the good things we're going to +massacre. Where does Elinor want to go, Miss Pat? She didn't nominate +it in her note!" +</P> + +<P> +"We all want to go to the same place we had such fun in last spring, +when we thought we were so rich," said Judith quickly. "Elinor said +you were to have first choice, though, as it was your treat." +</P> + +<P> +"Litz-Tarlton, wasn't it?" asked David. "O.K. for me, and Tommy is a +good-natured brute, who doesn't care where he feeds, so that he feeds." +</P> + +<P> +They found the usual array of aproned students in the corridors and +work rooms, and although the boys tried to be enthusiastic it was plain +that the famous Academy did not appeal to them very strongly. +</P> + +<P> +"Pretty smelly sort of a place, isn't it?" said Tom Hughes to Patricia, +with great cheerfulness. "I suppose you get awfully mussed up with +that clay, too. Isn't it hard to work in?" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia, though a bit disappointed, felt delightfully superior as she +replied loftily, "It isn't so bad. We don't mind, you know, because +we're so interested in the work." +</P> + +<P> +They all stood around on the sloppy floor of the clay room as she undid +the moist wrappings of her half-finished head. As the cloths were laid +aside, there was a disheartening silence. +</P> + +<P> +"It looks sort of whopper-jawed, doesn't it, Miss Pat?" asked David, +hesitating. "I can see it's going to be a stunner when it's done, but +I guess I'm weak on sculpture anyway. I can't understand it in the +green stage." +</P> + +<P> +"It looks like a foreigner, all right," ventured Tom Hughes, and was +rewarded for his courage by a flash of passionate gratitude from +Patricia's big gray eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"He's a Russian refugee," she said, triumphantly, and as she quickly +covered her work again, and they passed out through the little side +entrance, she told them the tragic scrap of the model's history that +had sifted through the gossip of the work room. +</P> + +<P> +"I see why Judy is so keen on the fine arts just now," teased David as +he dropped into step again. "Lots of material for current fiction, eh, +Ju?" +</P> + +<P> +But Judith maintained a discreet silence, and David and Patricia fell +into talk of school and study till the door of the great hotel swung +wide to admit their little party. +</P> + +<P> +"I say, this is fine!" declared David, as he looked about him in the +palm-shaded, pink and gold dining-room. "Beats our refectory at the +Prep, doesn't it, Tommy old boy?" +</P> + +<P> +Hughes made a careful inventory of the delicate china and sparkling +silver before he delivered himself. +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't had a sample of the food yet," he said, gravely, "but if it +comes up to the equipment, I'll be perfectly satisfied." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia and Elinor, who, with Judith, had put on their best for the +little spree, were in the highest spirits and were delighted with +everything, remembering many of the chief features of the room and +pointing them out to each other until David protested. +</P> + +<P> +"I say, you needn't rub it in that Tom and I are greenhorns," he said, +grinning. "Don't forget that once you were quite as unaccustomed to +all this magnificence as we are now." +</P> + +<P> +"Listen to him!" exclaimed Patricia, gayly. "He's been abroad for +<I>months</I> in all sorts of grandeur, and he pretends——" +</P> + +<P> +She broke off suddenly at the swift remembrance of that futile search +for health that had led the gentle Mrs. Carson to her grave in far-away +Florence. She caught his hand under the table in a quick squeeze, +while Elinor hurried into comparisons that claimed Judith's and Tom's +close attention. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm a horrid pig to forget," she whispered contritely. "Don't be +cross, Frad dear; you know how sorry I am." +</P> + +<P> +David gave an answering squeeze that brought the tears to her eyes, as +he whispered in return, "That's all right, old lady. Don't you fret +about me." +</P> + +<P> +He dropped her hand at the obsequious voice of the waiter at his elbow. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you wish to order, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +After the man had gone, Patricia, who had flushed, suddenly giggled. +"Did you see him looking at us, Frad?" she asked, in an undertone. "He +thought he'd caught us holding hands, like regular grown-up spoons!" +</P> + +<P> +"Stuff and nonsense!" growled David, hotly. "He'd know better than +that." +</P> + +<P> +Nevertheless, in spite of his protest, David took great care to behave +with the utmost frigidity to Patricia whenever the smiling waiter made +his appearance, and instead lavished his care on Judith, who took on +airs of importance that were delightful to behold. +</P> + +<P> +"We caught our first view of Bruce Haydon here—remember, Norn?" said +Patricia, happily consuming her entrée. "Wouldn't it be fun if we'd +run across someone else this time?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think so," said David resolutely. "We haven't such a lot of +time to be together that we need anyone else butting in. I'm satisfied +as we are." +</P> + +<P> +"You must have had a thought wave, Miss Patricia," said Tom Hughes. +"The unexpected friend is here all right." +</P> + +<P> +The girls swept a puzzled glance around the room, but could discern no +familiar face among the gay groups at the many little tables. David, +however, gave an exclamation, and half rose in his chair. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure enough, Tommy. It's Hilton to the very life. Don't you see him, +Pat, coming in with that head waiter? Do you mind if we ask him to +join us, Elinor? He's coming right this way. He's English Lit., and a +dandy fellow, if he is a teacher." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor gave a hasty assent, but Patricia was ardent. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, do ask him, David," she urged, taking in the attractive athletic +figure with its wholesome self-reliant air. "He looks awfully nice." +</P> + +<P> +"He's all of that. He's the youngest professor in the school and no +end a good fellow," supplemented Tom Hughes, heartily. +</P> + +<P> +David half rose again, and signaled to attract the other's attention, +and when Mr. Hilton saw who was hailing him, a pleased smile ran over +his face and he strode forward with outstretched hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, this is luck!" he began, but paused, seeing the girls. "I'm in +for a bit of lunch before the matinee, and I can only say 'howdy.' +Going to take in the miracle play at the Globe,—finest thing in town, +they say. See you later, perhaps," and he bowed to them all, vaguely +including the three girls in his kindly glance. +</P> + +<P> +"Not much you won't!" cried David. "You're going to have lunch with +us—we've only just begun. I want you to meet my sisters. That is, if +you haven't any other engagement," and here he snickered, for there was +a rumor current in the Prep that Hilton was secretly devoted to some +unknown charmer. +</P> + +<P> +The insinuation fell harmless, as far as the young professor was +concerned. +</P> + +<P> +"I shall be delighted, if you'll be so good as to let me," he said +gratefully, with his sincere gaze on the festive group about the dainty +table. "I've heard of your good luck in finding your family, and am +very glad to meet them." +</P> + +<P> +A chair was brought and another luncheon ordered, and soon they were +chattering as gayly as though they had all known each other for ages. +Elinor inquired for Mr. Lindley, who by chance had been Mr. Hilton's +room-mate at college, and heard that he was in France on his belated +honeymoon. +</P> + +<P> +"He expected to be married last fall, but there was a hitch in getting +out his book," said Mr. Hilton, as he finished his salad. "So he +couldn't get away till last month." +</P> + +<P> +"We had a great interest in that book," said Elinor smiling, "for he +was compiling it when he boarded with us last summer. I'm glad to hear +it is out at last. We'll have to get a copy of it, for old times' +sake." +</P> + +<P> +Tom Hughes, who had been surreptitiously glancing at his watch beneath +the table cover, spoke reluctantly. +</P> + +<P> +"If you people don't want to miss the first act, we'll have to be +toddling," he said. "It's about five minutes after two." +</P> + +<P> +"Where are you going, Kendall?" asked Mr. Hilton as they pushed back +their chairs, and stood waiting for the last button on Judith's glove +to come to terms. "If you haven't settled on anything special, I'd +like to have you all see the new play with me. It's said to be the +finest thing in America, and I'm sure your sisters would enjoy it." +</P> + +<P> +David acquiesced, as far as the play was concerned. "But you are not +going to take us," he said firmly. "This is my spree and I can't let +any other fellow butt in. We'll get seats together, and have a bully +time, if you're willing to go with us. Come, Judy, we'll hustle on +ahead and secure the seats, while these elderly folks stroll after us +at their leisure." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia found Tom Hughes a very agreeable companion on the walk to the +theater, and they discussed tennis and swimming with an ardor that was +most exhilarating, while Elinor and Mr. Hilton kept up as best they +could among the holiday crowds to the brisk pace that they maintained +in the lead. +</P> + +<P> +The play was all that had been promised and they sat through its +mystic-scenes with rapt attention, comparing notes enthusiastically in +the intervals when the curtain was down, and when it was over they came +out into the daylight with that peculiar sensation of unreality in the +daylight world that follows an enthralling matinee. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't the people seem funny-looking?" said Judith, blinking at the +gayly dressed crush at the theater entrance. "They all seem like +actors in a play, with the twinkly electric lights and the streaky +yellow sunset behind those big buildings." +</P> + +<P> +They paused a moment on the corner for a look at the twilit streets +with their white pulsing points of electric lamps flickering above the +hurrying crowds, while behind the sky line, with its towers and +minarets and huge squares of office buildings, the clear topaz of the +winter sunset surged upward in the dimming turquoise sky. +</P> + +<P> +"There's a picture for you, Elinor," said David, pointing to the +beautiful serrated mass of the great buildings looming misty-blue +against the gold. "Can't you remember that, and put it on canvas when +you get home?" +</P> + +<P> +Elinor made no reply. Her eyes were fixed on the lovely fading +panorama of life that was shifting before them. The twilight, the +sunset, and the haunting magic of the miracle play still lingering with +them, touched them all into sudden seriousness, and they stood silent +and intent, forgetful of the whirl of pleasure and traffic that swept +about them. +</P> + +<P> +"See how the sunset catches on the big cross on the tower!" said +Patricia softly. "It's the only thing up there in the sky that answers +the sun's signaling." +</P> + +<P> +"'Light answering to light,'" quoted Mr. Hilton, and Patricia flashed +an eager glance of appreciation at his earnest face. +</P> + +<P> +After the young men had waved their last farewells from the car windows +and the train had puffed its way out of the great arching dome, +Patricia spoke her mind with her usual frankness. +</P> + +<P> +"Tom Hughes is an awfully nice boy," she said, slipping a hand into +Judith's and Elinor's arm, as they paced the platform, waiting for Miss +Jinny's train. "But for pure, sheer adorableness, give me Mr. Hilton, +every time. Don't you think he's a perfect duck, Elinor?" +</P> + +<P> +Elinor laughed easily. "He seems to be very pleasant and he certainly +is popular with the boys," she admitted, "but I must say I like Tommy +Hughes immensely." +</P> + +<P> +"Which have you selected for your future partner, Judy?" teased +Patricia, turning to her little sister. "I saw your speculative eye +upon them, and I knew you were weighing them well. Which is it to +be—Tommy or the Prof?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm getting too old to be treated like such a baby, Miss Pat," said +Judith with great dignity. "I wish you wouldn't be so silly! How +could I marry an old person like Mr. Hilton, anyway?" +</P> + +<P> +"Then it's Tom," cried Patricia delightedly. "I wonder if he'll mind +being tagged. Shall you tell him his fate soon, Ju, or let him +gradually waken to it?" +</P> + +<P> +Judith merely pursed her lips and tossed her head. "Don't you think +the train must be late?" she said to Elinor. "I do hope you can stay +till Miss Jinny gets here." +</P> + +<P> +"I have to leave in just five minutes," said Elinor, glancing at the +big illuminated clock face. "I can't be late for criticism in the +night life, you know." +</P> + +<P> +They paced for a minute or two in silence, and then Patricia gave a +little sigh. +</P> + +<P> +"Haven't we had a gorgeous time?" she said, thoughtfully. "I didn't +realize that we could enjoy ourselves so much for such a long time. +It's been a whole month now, and getting nicer every day. We've been +always so pinched that it seems almost wicked to be so careless about +spending money, doesn't it, Norn?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't feel that way," said Elinor gratefully. "I'm thankful every +minute of the day for the happiness we have, and I feel that it has +come to us from the same Lord that made the world full of beauty and +joy." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia gave her arm a quick squeeze. "If we weren't on a public +platform, I'd kiss you for that, Elinor Kendall," she said, ardently. +"You make things so comfortable for me." +</P> + +<P> +"We don't waste anything, anyway, and we do all we can to be nice to +other people," said Judith, seriously. "And that ought to count, +oughtn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Like a charm to keep off ghosts," laughed Patricia. "Perhaps we ought +to cross our fingers, Ju, when we remember to. That might help, too." +</P> + +<P> +But Judith was not attending. Her eyes were fixed on the far side of +the great station. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, there she is!" she cried in surprise. "She must have come in on +the wrong track! She's looking all around for us. Do hurry, Elinor! +I'll run on ahead and tell her you're coming." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SMOOTH WATERS +</H3> + +<P> +"Well, I declare, if you ain't just the same," said Miss Jinny, as +Patricia piloted her through the crowds to the cab-stand. +</P> + +<P> +Elinor, taking Judith with her, had said a hasty farewell and hurried +off to the Academy for her criticism in the night life, with promises +to return as soon as possible. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Jinny, in her fine, last-season's dress, with the usual up-to-date +hat on her scanty drab hair, and the twinkle of amusement at the +continuous entertainment that life afforded her, was looking so well +that Patricia voiced her wonder that she should have come to town for +doctoring, as her letter had intimated. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Jinny chuckled huskily. "Don't you worry about that," she said, +mysteriously. "It ain't my health. It's something I didn't want to +write on paper," and she tapped her upper lip suggestively. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia, noting the downy line that penciled the corners of her firm +mouth, hesitated to put an inquiry that could be delicate enough to +indicate the faint moustache without hurting Miss Jinny's feelings. +</P> + +<P> +"Uppers!" said Miss Jinny, wholly unconscious of Patricia's +perturbation. "Came in on the sly last week to have a new set made. +Got measured for 'em, and am going to get them day after tomorrow. +Thought I'd combine business with pleasure and make a visit while they +were being filed to fit. I don't reckon that dentist'll hit them off +first shot. They mostly never do, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope he doesn't," said Patricia, warmly. "For then you'll have to +stay longer with us. And we're going to have <I>such</I> a good time!" +</P> + +<P> +In the taxicab she unfolded the plans for the week that Miss Jinny had +promised them, dwelling on each detail with all the ardor of her +enthusiastic nature. +</P> + +<P> +"Lands alive!" cried Miss Jinny, enjoying herself hugely in prospect. +"I haven't the duds to do credit to such doings. Why, I'm all out of +style, and you know it, Louise Patricia Kendall! You'll have me +running into all sorts of extravagance, dyking out for your tea parties +and such like fandangos." +</P> + +<P> +The taxi stopped with a bump at the curb and Patricia sprang out, paid +the man and joined Miss Jinny on the sidewalk before the door had +opened to admit the little worn trunk that the driver shouldered with +such ease. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, it's a mansion for sure!" exclaimed Miss Jinny, gazing with +approval at the fine front of the tall, well-kept, brown-stone house. +"I was so afraid you girls might be poked away in some stuffy street +with never a tree or bit of sky to hearten you, but that park's most +equal to the real country." +</P> + +<P> +"It was the park that brought us here," said Patricia, leading the way +upstairs to the spacious front room where Miss Jinny was to be +domiciled. "And we're so glad we came. Mrs. Hudson is so kind to us +that we don't feel like strangers at all. Even Ju adores her, and you +know how hard she is to suit." +</P> + +<P> +"Who's talking about me?" demanded Judith's high treble, and they +turned to see her in the doorway, silhouetted against the brilliantly +lighted hall. +</P> + +<P> +"Mercy, Judy, where did you drop from?" asked Patricia, startled. "I +didn't expect you for an hour. Is Elinor home, too?" +</P> + +<P> +Judith explained that although she had been so eager for a visit to the +celebrated night life, she had tired of the loneliness of work hours, +and had run off home, leaving Elinor still expecting her criticism. +</P> + +<P> +"Besides, I wanted to see Miss Jinny," said Judith, affectionately +twining her arms about Miss Jinny's waist. "I haven't seen her for a +whole month, you know." +</P> + +<P> +Much to Patricia's surprise, Miss Jinny seemed not at all unused to the +reticent Judith's caresses, but stooped and kissed her on her white +forehead, rumpling her pale hair with kindly fingers. +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon you're wanting to hear all about mama, and the visit you're +going to make us," she said, wisely. "I'll get my old trunk here +unstrapped, and we'll talk while I lay out my duds in those nice wide +bureau drawers. You'll laugh, I guess, when you see what I've brought +you each, but I want you to promise that if you don't like them, you'll +say so, and I'll hunt up something that pleases you better." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, we'll be sure to <I>love</I> them, if they come from dear old Rockham +and <I>you</I>!" cried Patricia, gathering an armful of hangers from the +deep closet for Miss Jinny's use. "I'm perfectly crazy to see them, +aren't you, Judy? I do hope Elinor doesn't stay too late tonight. You +don't mind waiting for her, do you, Miss Jinny? It'll be so much more +fun when we're all together." +</P> + +<P> +"Bless your heart, no indeedy!" replied Miss Jinny emphatically. "I'd +rather keep them a week than to have you slight Elinor. We'll have +time to take the edge off our tongues, anyhow, before she gets here, +and get more settled down, I hope. I haven't felt so flighty in a blue +moon, and it's all your fault, Patricia Louise Kendall, with your tales +about theaters and parties and the like! We'll have to put a muzzle on +her, won't we, Judith?—like poor old Nero after he nipped Georgie +Smith when Georgie tried to make him walk the tight rope." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, do tell me about it," said Judith eagerly, settling down on a low +stool beside the trunk. "Your stories are always so nice and nippy." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Jinny laughed, as she shook out a creased skirt, and laid it +carefully in the long lower drawer. +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon most of the nippiness in this tale is Nero's work—not mine," +she said, smoothing the long folds of gray lansdown into shape with +absent fingers. "You see, it was this way. Old Miss Fell, who lives +in that big red brick house——" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I know," said Judith, expectantly, but Miss Jinny had whisked to +her feet and whirled about towards the door. +</P> + +<P> +"I saw you in the looking glass!" she cried gleefully. "You needn't +think you can surprise us, young lady!" +</P> + +<P> +She had Elinor in her arms, to everyone's great amazement, and Elinor, +far from being reluctant, was as responsive as though Miss Jinny were +her own mother. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you're just in time!" she cried, her cheeks flushed and her eyes +shining with a great light of happiness. "You were Aunt Louise's best +friend here, and you'll know just how she'd feel. I got my criticism!" +She paused, choking with emotion. "He came up behind me, and he stood +there so long I was afraid to go on working; and when I stopped, he +spoke out loud, twisting his moustache and popping off his eye-glasses." +</P> + +<P> +"What did he say?" burst out Patricia, unable to bear the suspense. +"Don't beat around the bush so long, for pity's sake, Norn!" +</P> + +<P> +"He spoke so loud I was ashamed," went on Elinor. "He sort of bawled +it out. '<I>Remarkable</I> talent, madame, remarkable talent.' And +everybody turned around and looked at me till I felt like sinking +through the floor." +</P> + +<P> +"How perfectly heavenly!" exclaimed Patricia, with rapture. "I wish +I'd been there to hear it." +</P> + +<P> +"Your Aunt Louise will rejoice to see this day," said Miss Jinny +solemnly. "For I'm sure she sees it, wherever she is, and I know just +how her dark proud eyes would shine. She always got regularly lighted +up when she was real pleased—like you look now, child." +</P> + +<P> +"Hannah Ann will be awfully proud, too," said Judith, thoughtfully. +"She's regularly wrapped up in Elinor, because she's so much like Aunt +Louise, she says." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor looked her surprise. "Why, I didn't know Hannah Ann liked me +specially," she protested. "I thought Miss Pat was her favorite." +</P> + +<P> +"She used to be," was Judith's frank reply. "But since you've become +an artist, like Aunt Louise, she fairly <I>adores</I> you!" +</P> + +<P> +The idea of Hannah Ann in any such state of loving frenzy was +irresistible, and they all pealed out their appreciation of Judith's +picture of the grim elderly housekeeper of Greycroft. +</P> + +<P> +"You may laugh, but it's true, all the same," said Judith decisively. +"And I'll prove it to you all before long—see if I don't." +</P> + +<P> +The soft chimes of the dinner gong began their melodious call before +anyone could answer, and in the mad scramble to make themselves +presentable in the shortest possible time, Hannah Ann's enthusiasms +were forgotten. +</P> + +<P> +That night, after Miss Jinny's trunk had finally been disposed of, and +all the gossip of Rockham village and outskirts had been thoroughly +aired, and Miss Jinny, tired from her strenuous day, had gone +thankfully to bed, Patricia and Elinor were talking over the day's +happenings as they brushed their hair in the seclusion of their own +room. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it wonderful how Miss Jinny seems to fit in?" said Patricia, +brushing the shining ripples till they fairly radiated. "I was so +afraid that she might feel strange among such different sort of people, +but she didn't care a bit. She's going to be awfully popular, if she +keeps on. That nice old Mr. Spicer talked to her a lot at dessert, and +he's awfully exclusive, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"He isn't any older than she is," Elinor replied indignantly. "He's +gray and pale from his illness. He was asking Miss Jinny about the air +at Rockham, and she praised it so that he was much impressed. We may +have him for a neighbor next summer." +</P> + +<P> +"You don't mean?" began Patricia, incredulously. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, I don't mean as Miss Jinny's special property, you goose; I +was only thinking of him as a pleasant addition to the old ladies' card +parties and porch teas,—they need men so badly." +</P> + +<P> +The idea lodged in Patricia's fertile brain was not so easily routed +out. +</P> + +<P> +"Still, <I>in case</I>," she insinuated with a giggle. "I don't think it +would be such a bad sort of thing, do you, Norn?" +</P> + +<P> +Elinor laid down her brush impressively. +</P> + +<P> +"Patricia Kendall," she said, severely, "don't ever let me hear you +even <I>whisper</I> such nonsense to yourself. Miss Jinny is too nice and +sensible to be made fun of in that way, and I won't have it. Remember, +once for all I won't have it!" +</P> + +<P> +"All right," acquiesced Patricia, meekly. "I didn't mean to be silly. +I'm a lot fonder of her than you are, and I was only thinking what fun +it would be for her, don't you see?" +</P> + +<P> +"I see that you are a feather-headed kitten," said Elinor, not at all +mollified. "Miss Jinny will do very well as she is without your +romantic nonsense to mortify her. I I'm ashamed of you, indeed I am, +Patricia. I thought you had more delicacy." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia lifted her brows, perplexed and inquiring, and then dropped +them with a shrug that seemed to indicate that the matter no longer +interested her. +</P> + +<P> +"What are <I>you</I> going to do with that lovely old shawl she brought you, +Elinor?" she asked, tossing the end of her long braid over her shoulder +and yawning luxuriantly. "I'd like to make a party dress of that +heavenly silk cloak I got, but it seems like cutting up one's own +grandmother." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor gave a start. "Well, I declare, if I didn't forget all about +it!" she exclaimed. "We were so excited with the presents and all, +that I never told you! It's going to be perfectly gorgeous. I know +you'll be crazy over it." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia flung herself on her sister, overwhelming her in a flurry of +pink kimono and white arms. "Tell me!" she cried. "Tell me this +minute, you aggravating thing! You're getting to be a regular miser of +your news—you won't give up till it's dragged out of you. Speak, or +I'll have your life!" +</P> + +<P> +Elinor held her close, laughing with enjoyment at her ardor. +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't anything to kill for, Miss Pat," she rippled. "It's merely +the Academy ball that takes place next week——" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia flung off the encircling arms, and was on her feet in an +instant. +</P> + +<P> +"And we are going?" she demanded breathlessly. "Oh, say that we are +going, Elinor!" +</P> + +<P> +"Of course we're going," said Elinor, evenly. "What else should we do? +And I want you to persuade Miss Jinny to stay over for it, Miss Pat." +</P> + +<P> +"That will I!" cried Patricia, heartily. "We'll ship Judy to Mrs. +Shelly on an afternoon train, and make Miss Jinny feel it's her duty to +chaperone us among the wild and woolly artists. Oh, it will be +contemptibly easy! But," and her face fell in dismay, "what are we to +wear? We haven't any party clothes, you know." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor rose, and going to her bag that was still dangling from the +chair back where she had flung it in her hurried preparation for +dinner, took out a cardcase, and drawing forth three square bits of +gray cardboard, handed them to Patricia. +</P> + +<P> +"'An Arabian Nights Entertainment,'" read Patricia, mumbling in her +haste. "'No guests admitted unless in costume' … m-m-m-m … +'The Sultan Haroun-al-Raschid' … Oh, I see! We can rig up in +anything we choose,—so that it looks sort of Turkish. <I>Dee</I>-licious! +I know what to do with my rose-colored cloak right now!" +</P> + +<P> +"My shawl will be stunning," rejoiced Elinor. "They've both come to us +in the very nick of time. With that old silk skirt of mine, and that +worn-out gold-beaded tunic of Aunt Louise's that we found in the closet +at Greycroft, we'll be simply dazzling. See if we're not, Patricia +Louise Kendall." +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder what Miss Jinny will say to a costume?" Patricia said, her +bright face clouding with the thought. +</P> + +<P> +"I believe she'll like it," declared Elinor, confidently. "She does so +love variety—and she has entered into everything already with such a +vim." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps she's been hungering for what she calls fripperies," said +Patricia, hopefully. "She's so tremendously alive that she must need +some play, and if she's only willing, we'll see that she gets it, won't +we, Norn?" +</P> + +<P> +"Find out in the morning how she feels about it," said Elinor, +switching off the light. "I'm pretty sure she'll want to go." +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +At the earliest permissible hour, Patricia slipped into her pink kimono +and slippers and sped softly to Miss Jinny's room, where she tapped +lightly, and was admitted at once by Miss Jinny, fully dressed and with +a little book in her hand. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia opened her plan with great expedition, pouring out explanation +and entreaty in one excited rush, while Miss Jinny sat opposite her on +the side of the bed, her rather protruding pale blue eyes cocked +sidewise at her in the meditative way she had when deeply interested. +</P> + +<P> +"So you see, we really <I>need</I> you. And you wouldn't have to wear +anything very outlandish, you know," urged Patricia, ending up with her +strongest argument. "And I'm sure Judy would love to be with Mrs. +Shelly alone—they'd have so much more chance for talk together." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Jinny said not a word for what seemed to Patricia a very long +minute; then she gave her deep chuckle and said decisively, "I'll go as +Sinbad the Sailor. I've a picture of him at home, and I know just how +he's dressed. He's so everlastingly muffled up about his shanks that I +used to think he was a lady when I was knee high to a grasshopper." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia gave a gasp. "But he wore a turban and great whiskers!" she +said, impulsively. "How in the world could you stand that?" +</P> + +<P> +Miss Jinny cocked her head knowingly. "Trust me," she replied, +laconically. "I had a cousin who was an actor and I saw him put on a +beautiful beard with spirit-gum and creped hair once. That was twenty +years ago, but I reckon they can still be had here in town." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia hesitated. "But perhaps you'd rather have an easier +costume,—Aladdin's mother, or——" +</P> + +<P> +Miss Jinny shook her head. "I always was bent on sea-life and I know a +lot about it. I can swap tales that'll make them believe I'm the only +genuine Sinbad, and I wouldn't miss the chance for a mint," she said +conclusively. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia was forced to give in gracefully. "I know you'll be +splendid," she declared with rather forced heartiness. "I wish we were +as well fixed for our parts." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Jinny, with a glance at the little book in her hand, gave a guilty +start and jumped up from the bed's edge with a horrified face. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know that it's Sunday morning, and I ought to be reading my two +chapters?" she demanded severely. "This town life is making me forget +my religion already, and as for you, you worldly-minded young sinner, +you ought to be ashamed of yourself, beguiling me with your heathenish +dance parties. Go along now and let me get my mind in order again." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, let me stay," urged Patricia. "You can read out loud, and I'll +slip in bed here to keep warm. What part are you reading now?" +</P> + +<P> +"You'll hear," returned Miss Jinny, settling herself with a jerk. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia curled up cozily while Miss Jinny read the two Sunday chapters +in a full, melodious voice, beginning with the ineffable words, "In my +Father's house are many mansions." +</P> + +<P> +She laid down the little worn book just as the soft notes of the gong +floated up from the lower hall. +</P> + +<P> +"Mercy on us!" she ejaculated, rising hurriedly. "I've gone and made +you late for breakfast!" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia wriggled out from her warm nest reluctantly. "There's lots of +time," she assured Miss Jinny. "That's the first call. We've got half +an hour yet." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll come over to your room in just twenty-five minutes to the dot," +called Miss Jinny after her, as she gathered her draperies about her +and fled down the hall. +</P> + +<P> +The day passed delightfully, with morning service at the famous Dr. +Arnold's stately church, a specially sociable dinner at home, and a +'bus ride through the crisp sunshine of the afternoon into the snowy +outskirts, with a cozy little tea in Miss Jinny's big front room, where +they could watch the twilight gather among the bare trees of the park +and the lamps sparkle out among the shadows. After supper Mr. Spicer +invited them in to see his collection of photographs which he had taken +in all parts of the civilized and barbarous world, before the long +illness, contracted in the swamps of West Africa, had put a stop to his +active, adventurous life as a collector for the University. +</P> + +<P> +The girls enjoyed this surprising revelation of the quiet, elderly +gentleman's vigorous taste, but Miss Jinny fairly reveled in such close +contact with the life she so ardently envied, and it was nearly +midnight when they said good-night and hurried to their rooms, Miss +Jinny declaring that she'd never spent such a satisfactory day in her +life, and all three full of the ideas for their costumes which Mr. +Spicer's photographs had suggested to them. +</P> + +<P> +The week that followed flew on winged feet. The costumes, simple +enough at first, grew in detail with every day and absorbed so much of +their spare time that Patricia frankly gave up any thought of work and +yielded herself to the enjoyment of Miss Jinny and the day's pleasure +without any effort at serious work. +</P> + +<P> +"The best thing about you, Miss Pat," said Elinor, the day before the +party, "is that you know when to stop. I simply haven't accomplished a +thing the last two days, and yet I couldn't have the courage to shirk +the Academy. You stay away joyously, and get the full benefit." +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" returned Patricia, her fingers busy with Sinbad's girdle. +"You can't do two things at once, to do them well. I'm commonplace +enough to realize that, but you geniuses go on trying to tear +yourselves into little pieces, and then howl because you aren't making +masterpieces in every department." +</P> + +<P> +"I know it," said Elinor, sinking wearily into a chair. "I've tried to +keep up with you all at home here, and do my work, too, but it hasn't +worked. I believe I'll stay home today and take a real holiday." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia nodded. "You'll be in better shape to begin on the library +design next week," she said briskly. "I'm not going to start my study +till I feel just like it. Doesn't pay to push yourself too hard. +We've had a glorious week, with the concerts and theater and the +museums and all, and I've learned more than I should have at the +school. Just <I>living</I> teaches you lots, if you'll learn, and I don't +believe in turning up my nose at things just because they aren't in a +roster." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Jinny, who had been out scouring the town for the materials for +Sinbad's beard, broke in on them breathlessly. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think?" she cried, her eyes popping with pleasurable +excitement. "The Haldens are in town for over Sunday, and the girls +are going to the party tomorrow night! They've just landed yesterday +and were in the customer's hunting up suits when I ran across them." +</P> + +<P> +"How splendid!" said Patricia, glowing. "To think that we'll meet them +here in town after all. Are they going to Rockham this summer?" +</P> + +<P> +"Going right up on Monday," said Miss Jinny, taking off her things. +"The two older girls go back to college, but the rest of the family go +right home and stay there." +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder what they are like, and if they'll like us," mused Elinor, +her gaze on the fire that was snapping on the hearth in Miss Jinny's +room where the sewing was being done. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll find out tomorrow night," said Patricia, readily. "And now that +the costumes are all done, tomorrow night can't come too soon for me." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm about ready, too," chimed in Miss Jinny. "I reckon they'll be +quite astonished when they meet with their old friend Sinbad the +Sailor." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE ACADEMY BALL +</H3> + +<P> +"What a crowd!" exclaimed Elinor, as they pushed their way to the cloak +room. "I hope the floor won't be too full for dancing!" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't give way to despair so soon—lots of these are maids and +chaperones. Naskowski told me when we squeezed past him at the door +that the rooms upstairs weren't half filled yet," said Patricia, +hopefully. "Here, Miss Jinny, squeeze in before me—there's a chance +to get inside if we form a flying wedge." +</P> + +<P> +"Mercy sakes, we'll be torn to tatters!" cried Miss Jinny from behind +her veil. "Good thing we're done up good and tight. Lands! There +goes my whisk—no, they don't either, it's only the veil. Oh, for +pity's sake, woman, let me through without any palaver! Can't you tell +I'm a female?" The attendant, who at the sight of Miss Jinny's bushy +beard had thrust a sturdy arm across the door, dropped the barrier with +a snort of laughter, and they were inside the swinging door of the +cloak room, with a flushed maid waiting for their wraps, and an edge +line of muffled newcomers pushing at their backs. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a blessing we finished ourselves up to the last notch at home," +said Patricia, with wide eyes of dismay for the throngs at the two +mirrors. "We haven't a chance to get a peep here, unless we stay all +night. Is my headpiece on all right, Elinor? I feel all askew after +that crush." +</P> + +<P> +"You're as sweet as can be," answered Elinor, with a fond pride in +voice and eyes. "You make the dearest Fairy Banou, with these filmy +scarfs and draperies! Doesn't she, Miss Jinny?" +</P> + +<P> +Miss Jinny, who was still enshrouded save for the torn veil, gave the +last pat to Patricia's gauzes, and handed the pink silk cloak to the +admiring maid, before she spoke. Then she looked Patricia over +thoroughly and gave her husky chuckle. +</P> + +<P> +"I declare if I ain't a firm believer in fairies after this," she said +with frank affection. "There isn't anything prettier nor sweeter in +the whole ball, I'll warrant!" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia laughed and blushed with pleasure, preening herself a little +and stretching on tiptoe to try to catch a glimpse in the crowded +mirror; there was a movement as a sultana who had been carmining her +full lips gave place to a dark beggar maid, and Patricia caught the +vision of a slender, airy figure, glittering beneath its gauzy +draperies with the sparkle of bright gold, and with the glint and +shimmer of rosy clanking bracelets and anklets, and the spangled glory +of the rose-crowned headpiece stirring a magical memory of Persia. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I am awfully nice!" she cried, delighted with the picture. "I'll +never know myself! Do get off your things, Norn, I'm crazy to see how +you look." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor, helped by Miss Jinny, shed her wrappings and stood revealed as +a lovely Princess of China, with billowing draperies and flashing glass +jewels and a tiny filet sparking on her dark hair. Some of the swarm +about the mirrors turned at Patricia's exclamation, and with generous +admiration pressed back upon themselves so that for a moment the dark, +serious beauty of the Princess of China flashed out at Elinor from the +long oblong of the glass, filling her lovely eyes with a gratified +light and flushing her tinted cheeks a deeper pink. +</P> + +<P> +"How sweet of you to let me see!" she cried impulsively to the houris +and queens and beggar-maids that had given her the brief tribute. "I +don't believe I know any of you, but I'm just as much obliged as——" +</P> + +<P> +She broke off in amazement at the familiar grin of one of the most +glittering queens. "Griffin, of all people!" she cried, delightedly, +and held out an eager hand. +</P> + +<P> +The sultana, speaking with decidedly un-oriental diction, came +shimmering over to them, and shook hands with occidental heartiness. +</P> + +<P> +"This is what I call luck," she said, genially. "I'm going to steer +you two peaches right into the thick of the tumult, and if you don't +have the time of your sad young lives, my name's not—well, here, you'd +better pronounce it for me," and she handed out a card on which was +printed in clear black letters, +</P> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE SULTANA KEHERRYSEENOGASSOLEHENNELECTRIZADE<BR> +(OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE LIGHT OF THE HARUMSCARUM)<BR> +</H3> + +<P> +Patricia and Elinor puckered their brows over it, but Miss Jinny, +craning her head over their shoulders, gave a snort. +</P> + +<P> +"Pooh, that's as easy as rolling off a log," she said, with a toss of +her turban. "If you'd added acetylene and alcohol you'd made it a bit +longer." +</P> + +<P> +Griffin grinned amiably at the whiskered countenance. "Good for you, +old top," she responded, cheerfully. "You ought to go into the Sunday +puzzle department. You'd be hung all over with gold-filled watches. +Where did you blow in from?" +</P> + +<P> +Miss Jinny had been quietly removing her outer coverings and as Griffin +spoke she dropped her last concealing wrap, and stepped out in turban +and embroidered jacket, vermillion girdle and wide, baggy blue trousers +whose voluminous folds almost hid the vermillion and gold tips of her +curling slippers. A simitar was thrust fiercely through the flaming +girdle, and a gaudy hookah cuddled in the crook of her arm, while the +bristling whiskers and encarmined cheeks and nose of the weather-beaten +seafarer proclaimed a strong masculine personality in striking contrast +to the pretty young men Turks and Persians that tittered in feminine +fashion all about her. +</P> + +<P> +"Upon my soul!" cried the sultana of the inflammable name. "You're a +corker! Do you mean to say, Miss Pat, that this buccaneer is the lady +from the rural districts you were spouting about?" +</P> + +<P> +Miss Jinny gave her husky chuckle. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm the only original Sinbad," she declared with a very un-Persian +hitch to her flowing trousers. "I've got tales that'll make you creep, +and as for hairbreadth escapes—why, I'm so full of 'em that I can't +see a tumbler of water but that I make a noise like a shipwreck." +</P> + +<P> +"Come along upstairs with me!" cried the sultana, excitedly, hooking +her arm in that of the embroidered jacket. "You're too good to waste! +I need you in my business." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia and Elinor followed, rejoicing in Miss Jinny's instant +success, for, as Elinor whispered to Patricia, if Griffin took Miss +Jinny about, she would be one of the features of the evening. +</P> + +<P> +They went slowly up the palm-banked, stately stairway, through a dim +ante-chamber where a line of twinkling barbaric lamps led to the great +curtained arch of the entrance to the main assembly room. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it lovely and mysterious?" murmured Elinor, pausing to enjoy the +sense of isolation that the obscurity of the blurred lamps emphasized. +"I almost hate to lift the curtain. It may be so disappointing." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia set her spangled roses twinkling with a nod of comprehension, +but she did not pause. +</P> + +<P> +"This is nice enough," she said incisively. "It takes away the taste +of the jumbled dressing room, but it makes me all the readier for the +real thing—the people and the lights and the dancing. I simply can't +waste another instant," and she parted the heavy fold and they slipped +into the radiant Arabian land of fairy. +</P> + +<P> +Lights were flashing everywhere, and everywhere silks and jewels +shimmered in oriental profusion, striking the eye with a bewildering +medley of color. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia drew in her breath with a sharp little sigh of satisfied +anticipation, but had no more than a murmur for Elinor's rapturous +exclamations, so busy was she with the brilliant scene before her. +</P> + +<P> +Among the palms and costly rugs that backgrounded a marvelous regal +dais occupying one long end of the great room, sat the glittering +figure of the portly Haroun-al-Raschid, Sultan of Bagdad and husband of +many lovely wives, whose multi-colored costumes made a glowing garden +on the rugs at the foot of the dais, while on the embroidered cushions +at the side of the monarch a lovely Scheherazade in shimmering white +satin with strings of glistening gems in her hair, on her breast, on +her arms and ankles, made an alluring picture of the new-made bride. +Tall palms reared their stately fronds above the group and slave girls, +with fierce Nubians in attendance, waited in mute homage at either side +of the throne. Lamps of brass glittered in the alcoves back of the +great dais, and above it all the roofs and minarets of the ancient city +gloomed in the moonlight of the thousand and second night. +</P> + +<P> +All about the spacious hall were groups of Arabians, of fair +Circassians, of dusky Nubians and turbaned Turks, while the rustle of +costly fabrics and the odor of heavy Eastern perfumes floated in the +air; the modern city outside in the wintry electric lights was well +forgot in the enchantment of the moment, and Patricia lost count of +time and sense of self in the pageant that swept across the lofty +chamber to make its obeisance at the imperial divan. +</P> + +<P> +"Look, Norn, look," she whispered, as Aladdin and his mother, in +rustling native embroidered silks, led another Princess of China in +bridal procession across the center of the scene, their rich dresses +making a bright spot in the shifting medley of color. "She's not half +so lovely as you, for all her things are so fine. I wonder who—why, +it's <I>Doris Leighton</I>! She never told us what she was going to be; and +she knew you were to be the Princess. Isn't it queer?" +</P> + +<P> +"We didn't many of us tell, you know," returned Elinor absently, with +her eyes on Morgiana meekly following her master with the basket of +fruit which was to be such a feature in her triumphant dance after the +robbers had been boiled alive in their own panniers. "There's Margaret +Howes. Isn't she lovely in that pomegranate and gold? What queer +slippers she has—just like the ballet dancers. And there's Ali Baba +with the forty thieves, all the portrait class men in a bunch." +</P> + +<P> +"And the young king of the Black Isles and his wife!" cried Patricia, +giggling. "That's Jeffries, the modeling-room pet, and Miss Green. +She'll exercise the black art in earnest. Did you ever see such +paralyzing expressions as she can call up! That pastry cook is +Peacock, the assistant in the antique. I know him by his red hair." +</P> + +<P> +As the procession wound to its finish the Sultan arose and with many +courteous speeches in the eastern phraseology welcomed the company to +the night's entertainment, explaining that the first half would be +employed in various acts by those who had appeared in the procession, +with an intermission when refreshments would be served by slaves, after +which there would be a general dance followed by supper in the +antechamber. +</P> + +<P> +A space was cleared in the center of the room, and there was a general +rush to secure good positions. Patricia found herself separated from +Elinor by a broad-shouldered Moslem whose slow speech revealed him as +the good-natured Naskowski. +</P> + +<P> +"I did work in the clay room till the hour for this ball," he said, +replying to her surprise. "And after I speak to you on the hall I +become a good Mohammedan very rapid—so rapid I see you and your most +beautiful sister come in by the great door. Many others see <I>also</I>. +We say she make a more fine Princess than the one——" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, hush!" cautioned Patricia, grasping his arm in her agitation. +"She'll hear you! She's just back of us this minute." +</P> + +<P> +Doris Leighton, with a rather flushed face, leaned forward as Patricia +spoke and touched her on the shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"I must congratulate you, Peri Banou," she said with sharp gayety. +"Everyone is saying that the Princess—your sister—is the <I>clou</I> of +the ball.", +</P> + +<P> +Patricia had an uneasy sense of insincerity in the light tone, but a +swift glance into the wide eyes of the smiling Doris reassured her. +</P> + +<P> +"She <I>is</I> lovely, isn't she?" she replied ardently. "But her dress +isn't half so gorgeous as yours," she added heartily. +</P> + +<P> +Doris Leighton's lashes drooped till her eyes were a narrow line of +inscrutable blue. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you so much," she said in a tone of such even sweetness that +Patricia felt uncomfortable, though she did not know why. +</P> + +<P> +Doris sank back to her place and Patricia turned her attention to the +laughable parodies and excellent dances and necromancy that filled the +first half of the program. It was all hugely diverting, and she +laughed and applauded with the rest, but all the while at the back of +her mind there was a little uneasiness, a sense of insecurity and +disillusionment that flavored all the gayety with its fleeting +bitterness. She was uneasy till she had found Elinor and in the +telling of the insignificant incident had regained enough confidence to +laugh at her foolish disquiet. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm always making mountains out of mole-hills, and having you level +them for me, Norn," she said, taking a glass of sherbet from the +flower-wreathed tray of the charming slave. "I wish I wasn't such an +alarmist. I felt as frantic as though Doris Leighton had drawn a +dagger, and now I can see what a goose I am." +</P> + +<P> +"That's because you expect people to be perfect and then, when they +show the tiniest human weakness, you declare them demons at once," said +Elinor, gayly. "You couldn't expect her to <I>like</I> overhearing them +praise me, could you? I think she tried to be very kind, and I admire +her tremendously for it." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia puckered her brows judicially. +</P> + +<P> +"I do, too, <I>now</I>," she declared. "But I've been paid up for my +evilmindedness by losing half my good time. I think I'll try to find +her and be awfully agreeable to her. I'll feel better for it, I'm +sure." +</P> + +<P> +The dancing was beginning as Patricia made her way slowly across the +great room to the laughing group where she had seen Doris Leighton but +a moment ago, and before she was halfway across Doris and a tall Turk +swung past her in the whirl of the newest dance, followed by Elinor and +Aladdin, and then by Griffin and the young king of the Black Isles. +Patricia stood still in sudden swift contrition. +</P> + +<P> +"If I haven't forgotten all about Miss Jinny!" she thought +remorsefully. "How fearfully self-absorbed I'm getting to be. I'm a +perfect <I>pig</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +She had a long search before she discovered the valiant Sinbad in a far +corner of the now deserted divan surrounded by a circle of kindred +spirits to whom Griffin had delivered her, holding her own with great +spirit and enjoyment among the dashing wit and pungent repartee. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Jinny, at the sight of Patricia fluttering in among them in her +white gauzy draperies like some dainty moth, held out a reproving +finger. +</P> + +<P> +"Why aren't you dancing?" she demanded sternly, her whiskers trembling +with the fervor of her interest. "What is Elinor up to that you're not +dancing?" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia, abashed by being thus publicly admonished, murmured something +about its being only the first dance, and not knowing many people, but +Miss Jinny cut her short. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't tell me," she said abruptly. "You ought to be dancing instead +of wasting your time on old ladies like me." Here there was a burst of +mirth at the incongruity of the words with Miss Jinny's ferocious +masculine aspect, but she silenced it with a wave of her hookah stem. +"Let me introduce the Second Calendar, who I hope knows enough +respectable young men here to see that you aren't a wall flower." +</P> + +<P> +A good-natured, whole-some looking young man in the clothes of a +calendar, with a patch on his right eye, laid aside his long-necked +lute and rose with a bow. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm usually known as Herbert Lester, Miss Kendall," he said, smiling +as he led her to the dancing floor. "Sinbad can tell you that my +mother was an old friend of your aunt. I've just learned that you and +your sister are students here. Have you seen the Haldens? They were +asking me about you a moment before the intermission, and I was +commissioned to hunt you up when I ran into the circle there in the +divan and was hypnotized by Sinbad's wonderful sea tales." +</P> + +<P> +He rattled on all through the dance, Patricia getting in only a few +words here and there, and when the music stopped he steered her to a +particularly gay group under a big palm in a corner, and introduced her +to the two Halden girls and their mother, and then went off in search +of Elinor and Miss Jinny. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia found the Haldens, mother and daughters, so much to her mind +that she was full of regret that she had not met them earlier. They +were kindly, whole-hearted people who lived without any quarrel with +life, and Patricia, as well as Elinor and Miss Jinny, rejoiced openly +in the prospect of a summer together in dear old Rockham. +</P> + +<P> +They parted, at the end of the sumptuous supper in the transformed +ante-chamber, with a thousand plans for the coming season and a strong +sense of enrichment in the friendship of these sincere and attractive +neighbors. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think of the artists <I>now</I>?" asked Patricia, leaning back +in the carriage as they were being whirled homeward. "Are they such +serious people as you thought them, Norn?" +</P> + +<P> +"They're so mighty much in earnest that they'll break their necks to do +a thing right," retorted Miss Jinny with spirit. "It's their being so +serious that makes them play so well." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor smiled assent, and Miss Jinny went on. +</P> + +<P> +"When folks are sure a thing's worth while, they make it <I>go</I>. Think +of how that same party would have slumped if everybody hadn't felt it +was the most serious thing in the world to make it real." Then, with a +sudden pounce, she changed the subject. "I've seen your wonderful +Doris Leighton, Miss Pat, and I must say I don't take very much stock +in her." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia felt that same indefinite sense of loss and disillusionment +which had haunted her earlier in the evening, and she shrank back into +her corner without a word, fearing that Miss Jinny's clear vision might +after all substantiate her shadowy misgivings. +</P> + +<P> +It was Elinor who rushed to the defense. "We've always found her +sweet-tempered and kind, haven't we, Patricia? She's very popular and +perhaps you thought her spoiled, but I'm sure, dear Miss Jinny, if you +knew her better you'd like her as much as we do." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Jinny gave a snort that almost shook her whiskers off. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be bound for you, Elinor Kendall, to find the sweetness in every +sour apple. Not that your Doris Leighton is sour on the outside. +She's much too sweet for my taste. I don't trust them when they're so +unearthly sweet." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia recalled Griffin's remarks on the same subject, but she +loyally suppressed the memory and called up instead the radiant vision +of Doris as she had first seen her in her green apron, smiling back at +her eager whisper of admiration, and her heart warmed to the memory. +</P> + +<P> +"First impressions are always best, I find," she said sagely. "I won't +believe I've been mistaken till I have to. What did she do that made +you dislike her?" +</P> + +<P> +Miss Jinny, cornered, had to admit that there was nothing she could put +her finger on. "But I don't trust her eyes," she ended obstinately. +"You have been deceived before, Miss Pat, and you may be again. +However, I won't say another word against her. If you like her, that's +enough. Now, let's talk about the nice people. How did you like that +Lester boy? His mother was your Aunt Louise's chum at school." +</P> + +<P> +"He was awfully nice," said Patricia enthusiastically. "Architects are +so much better scrubbed than art students. He has lovely hair, too. +He's tremendously fond of Miriam Halden, did you notice?" +</P> + +<P> +Miss Jinny gave her husky chuckle. "Trust your eyes for spying out +secrets," she said. "That boy has been devoted to Miriam all his life. +She refused him when she was ten, and has kept on ever since. It's got +to be a habit, he says. He's as jolly as a grig, but he doesn't give +up, and I suppose some day Miriam will give in." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia thrilled with interest. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I hope it happens next summer, when we're home!" she cried. "I've +always been perfectly crazy to know an engaged couple and I never +have—except Mr. Bingham and Miss Auborn, and they weren't so very +interesting anyway." +</P> + +<P> +"They won't be of much use to you if they do get engaged," returned +Miss Jinny sententiously. "'Two's company' after the ring appears." +</P> + +<P> +"David says they're <I>slushy</I>," pursued Patricia, meditating. "But he's +only a boy." +</P> + +<P> +She was silent for a while, and then she sat up alive with enthusiasm. +</P> + +<P> +"I've got it!" she exclaimed. "I'll make a study of a man and girl for +the prize design, and I'll call it 'Two's company.' I'll have them +looking at the ring on her hand, with a lovely rapt expression. Oh, +how I wish it weren't Sunday tomorrow. I'm crazy to begin it." +</P> + +<P> +"You'd better be thanking your stars for a day of rest, you +incorrigible kitten," said Miss Jinny as the carriage stopped at the +curb. "You'll need an extra nap after all these fandangos." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia, however, was unconvinced. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll show you when Monday comes!" she exulted, stepping lightly out +into the frosty night. "You'll see if it isn't worth while." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE PRIZE DESIGNS +</H3> + +<P> +"It doesn't seem to come right," said Patricia, rumpling her hair with +the back of one soiled hand and staring ruefully at the lumpy, +meaningless group of two stiff figures in modeling-wax that stood +stolidly on a thick little board on top of the piano stool. +</P> + +<P> +"They do look a bit queer," admitted Elinor, reluctantly. "Perhaps +when you've worked on them more——" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia interrupted her hotly. "I won't waste another hour on them!" +she declared vehemently. "I've slaved and slaved all my spare time, I +missed the last of Miss Jinny's visit, and I didn't have time to hear a +word of Judy's tales about Greycroft and the village, and I haven't +taken a moment to myself this whole week! I've done with it now for +good and all. I was an idiot to think I could do anything, anyway." +</P> + +<P> +"I believe if you tried something that was more simple, you'd do +better," said Elinor sympathetically. "You've taken such a +tremendously elusive sort of thing in this. Why not try something that +either Judith or I could pose for? That would help a lot, you know." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia gave the stool a whirl, staring discontentedly at the +afflicting group. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a sorry mess," she commented dejectedly. "I don't believe I want +to make a goose of myself again. No, I won't try, Norn. You're +awfully good to offer to pose, but I'm done with prize designs till +I've had more experience," and with a swoop she crumpled the two little +stolid figures into an indistinguishable mass, pounding them fiat with +her pink palm. +</P> + +<P> +"There! That's the last of <I>you</I>!" she said vindictively. "Let's see +what you've been working on, Elinor. Ju said it was 'very +satisfactory.'" +</P> + +<P> +Elinor smiled. "I only started this afternoon while you were in +class," she replied, bringing out a fair-sized canvas with a rough +charcoal drawing on it. "I'm just blocking in the outlines, as you +see; but I've made a little color study that shows you how it will go." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia took the bit of canvas board, and held it at arm's length, +squinting at it with eyes that gradually brightened. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, it's dandy, Elinor Kendall!" she cried. "It'll be perfectly +lovely if you can put it through even as well as you've managed it +here. Judy was drawing it mild!" +</P> + +<P> +Judith, who was studying under the lamp at the center table with her +fingers screwed into her ears and her mouth twisted intently in pursuit +of knowledge, came abruptly back to life. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I didn't want you to expect too much," she said, with a gentle +impatience. "If I'd praised it too much, you'd have been disappointed +with the thing itself." +</P> + +<P> +"Right-o, Miss Judith," laughed Patricia, flinging an arm about the +young sage. "My word, but you're a crafty young one! I'd have raved +about it till even Michael Angelo or Raphael couldn't have satisfied +the expectations of the beholder. How do you come by so much wisdom, +Miss Minerva?" +</P> + +<P> +Judith tossed her mane. "Don't call names," she responded, hiding the +gratified smile that lurked in the corners of her mouth. "You'd think +of things, too, if you didn't talk <I>quite</I> so much, Miss Pat. It's +dreadfully hard to talk and think at the same time." +</P> + +<P> +"Is it?" cried Patricia, delighted as usual with Judith's maxims. +"Hear that now, will you, Norn? Ju's going to reform me. I hope I'll +be a satisfactory subject, Judy darling. 'Thinking Taught While You +Wait.' It's a great idea and it may lead to a new school of mental +science. Ju would look fine in cap and gown as president of the +college——" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia broke off laughing at Judith's absolutely unconscious face, +as, with fingers once again screwed into her ears and mouth twisted +intently, she immersed herself in the dignified oblivion of study. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia looked at her with laughing eyes that gradually grew sober. +</P> + +<P> +"I've got it!" she said, eagerly turning to Elinor. "I've got the idea +for the sort of thing you meant. I'll do Judy just as she is—you'll +pose, won't you, Ju? I won't be too hard on you." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't I always study like this?" replied Judith without looking up. +"Go ahead as long as you like—only don't talk. I want to study." +</P> + +<P> +"Good girl, Judith!" cried Patricia, pulling the stool with its burden +nearer to the light. "I'll plunge in right away and get it blocked in +tonight. Do you know where I put that other package of modeling-wax, +Elinor?" +</P> + +<P> +She set to work with a will, humming to herself as she worked, the +failure of her more ambitious undertaking forgotten in the joy of +renewed hope, and her intimate knowledge of Judith's face and figure +helping unconsciously to better work than she could have done in the +schools. +</P> + +<P> +When nine o'clock rang from the church tower across the park she laid +down her tools with an air of great content. +</P> + +<P> +"I believe it's going to go," she announced to the absorbed pair of +workers before her. "Wake up, Norn, and give me a criticism. Ju has +to go to bed and can't hold the pose much longer anyway." +</P> + +<P> +"Pooh, I'm not a bit tired," protested Judith. "I sit this way every +night for <I>hours</I>." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor laid down her brushes and turned in her chair. Her face lighted +as she saw the rough, vigorous outlines of Patricia's latest effort. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the real thing, Miss Pat!" she said enthusiastically. "If you +can keep it up like that, you won't have to be ashamed of it, I can +tell you!" +</P> + +<P> +She came and stood behind Patricia, her hands on her shoulders, eager +and interested. +</P> + +<P> +"That shoulder is a little too high, and the head needs more fullness +at the top—Ju has lots of hair—but it's going along splendidly, +<I>splendidly</I>! Don't touch it again till Judith poses tomorrow. You +want to keep close to life and not make up anything." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia, meek in experience of past failure, covered her work and put +it safely away. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll go on with it when I'm rested and Judy is fresh," she said +contentedly. "If it goes on as rapidly as it has tonight, it will be +ready to turn in at the end of the week. We have until Saturday night +to put in our stuff, you know. You have to get yours in by noon, don't +you?" +</P> + +<P> +Elinor nodded. "But I shan't have any trouble finishing in time, I'm +sure," she said with bright confidence. "I feel as though it were +almost going to do itself." +</P> + +<P> +The spare hours of the rest of that week were devoted to the prize +designs, and both progressed so happily that their authors were filled +with a greater measure of content as the days sped. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to take mine in to the Academy to work on this afternoon +while I wait for the night life," said Elinor on Thursday as they were +leaving the breakfast room. "I want to see how it looks among the big +casts and life studies. I'm afraid it won't show up very well among +the real things, but it may help me to see its faults and remedy them +while I still have time." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia gazed approvingly at the dim, shadowy study of graceful +figures grouped in attentive attitudes about a reader in a landscape of +suggested loveliness that spoke to any observer with delicate symbolism. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the best ever," she declared. "I'll 'wagger,' as Hannah Ann +says, that you lift the medal." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor gave a gently contemptuous sniff as she stowed it away in its +corner. "No doubt—with all those experienced students competing! +Some of them have been there ten years, Miss Pat. I simply haven't the +ghost of a show, and you know it." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia was silenced, though unconvinced. "Don't you let any of those +hyenas see it, all the same," she cautioned. "I know them better than +you do. They'd rush another version in before yours, and then where +would you be?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe anyone would be so low minded!" cried Elinor, shocked +and reproachful. "How can you say such things, Miss Pat?" +</P> + +<P> +"Take my advice, my dear," grinned Patricia. "You're too good to see +through some of those fakes, and this is one instance when my eyes are +clearer than yours. It isn't often I can give you points, so do be +grateful. Don't let those long-haired boys get a glimpse of it, or +it's all up with you." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor promised, smiling at Patricia's vehemence, and went off with her +canvas, securely wrapped against curious eyes, held firmly in one +gray-gloved hand. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia looked after her with loving pride. "How pretty she is, and +how clever," she thought tenderly. "And the best part of it is that +she doesn't know what an adorable dear she is. I hope she gets an +honorable mention, even if she can't hit the prize. She deserves a lot +of good times, after all those lean years when she took such good care +of us." +</P> + +<P> +When Patricia came home from the library at half-past five, she was +surprised to find Elinor stretched on the couch, with a thick +comfortable drawn up to her chin, and her face gray and haggard. +</P> + +<P> +"What in the world—" she began in alarm, but Elinor silenced her +questioning with a weak wave of one tired hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not really sick," she said, in a faint tone, as Patricia cuddled +down on the floor beside her and took the chilly hand in her warm one. +"I have one of my old headaches. I forgot to get any lunch. I had +just put the key in my locker, when everything grew black and I'd have +collapsed if Doris Leighton hadn't helped me to a chair. She gave me +some milk and got my things for me, and when I felt well enough, she +came over here with me. She's certainly the sweetest thing. She had +to miss getting her criticism, too. Mr. Benton had just gone in when I +crumpled up." +</P> + +<P> +"She's a perfect angel," cried Patricia, her heart warming at the +thought of Doris' genuine sweetness of nature. "If Miss Jinny really +had known her, she'd been the last to suspect her." +</P> + +<P> +"She's coming over after life class," Elinor went on, closing her eyes +wearily. "I found I'd forgotten my keys when I got home, and she's +going to bring them over for me on her way home." +</P> + +<P> +"You'd better go to sleep," said Patricia, smoothing the white brow +with deft fingers. "I'll keep everything quiet, so that you can sleep +it off as you used to be able to. I hope you'll be all right in the +morning." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor nodded mutely, and Patricia, pulling down the shades so that the +street light did not flicker on the pale wall, tiptoed out of the room, +to caution Judith and await the coming of Doris Leighton. +</P> + +<P> +Dinner was long over, Judith's lessons done and bed-time come, when at +last Patricia hurried down to the long parlor where Doris sat in the +dim light. +</P> + +<P> +She was very pale and tired looking, but as graceful and charming as +ever. She inquired after Elinor with a profuse sympathy that more than +satisfied the warm-hearted Patricia, whose compassion stirred at her +look of fatigue. +</P> + +<P> +"You ought to be taking more care of yourself," she said, with concern. +"You're tired to death, and yet you come out of your way to see about +Elinor. You look dreadfully fagged." +</P> + +<P> +Doris smiled wanly. She laid an impulsive hand on Patricia's arm and +opened her pretty lips, but before the words came she evidently obeyed +another differing impulse, for she underwent a subtle change, an +imperceptible hardening that was so delicately veiled by her still +gracious manner that Patricia had only a baffling sense of being gently +shut out from her real confidence. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been working on my panel study," she said, with an effort at +brightness. "I don't seem to get it finished to my liking, and the +time is getting perilously short, you know." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia looked her surprise. "Why, I thought you hadn't started it +yet. You said you'd rush it off at the last moment without a bit of +trouble." +</P> + +<P> +"That's the way I usually do," assented Doris evenly. "But I'm going +out of town on Saturday, and I have to turn it in before I leave +tomorrow night. I'll stay home and work on it in the morning, so I +shan't see you perhaps before I go." +</P> + +<P> +She said good-night absently, and Patricia, watching her hurry down +the frosty street, found herself wondering at the subtle barrier that +she could feel so keenly, while she yet tried to disbelieve. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder what she was going to say?" she thought, as she went slowly +up to Judith's room, where she was to spend the night. "It can't be my +imagination this time, for she actually did start to speak, and then +stopped." She frowned and then her face cleared. "What a stupid I +am—always getting up in the air about trifles! Doris Leighton is +tired to death, and wanted to get home. She was just as pleasant as +ever, even though she didn't have time or strength to be as sociable as +she'd liked. If she hadn't felt an interest in Elinor, she'd not +troubled to bring her keys back tonight. I hope she makes good with +her prize study, now that she's gotten an idea for it. She's a +stunning worker when she goes at it." +</P> + +<P> +She tiptoed softly in to Elinor, who was sleeping quietly, and she +stood looking down at the sweep of eyelash and rounded cheek that the +low-turned light caught out from the jumbled masses of dark hair. +</P> + +<P> +"Dear old Norn," she thought fondly. "You'll be at the head of the +night life, too, some day, like Doris is now, and you'll be cleverer +than any of them, for you aren't ever a bit cocked up about yourself." +Her eyes grew wide with thought. "That's the reason," she whispered +triumphantly, "that you're going to be a howling success—you've got +time to care about all the other things in life first, to think about +them and to enjoy them. And that means O-RIG-INAL-ITY. You've got +more ideas now than any of those old stagers, you adorable duck!" she +ended, so overcome by her feelings that she dropped on her knees by the +couch and pressed her warm lips on the dark hair. +</P> + +<P> +Elinor merely stirred and mumbled something indistinct, much to the +contrite Patricia's relief. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll never learn to be composed and considerate," she sighed as she +crept in beside the slumbering Judith. "I'm crazy for Elinor to finish +that lovely study of hers, and yet I'd wake her up just for my silly +whims. She's got to get it done tomorrow if she can. Wish I could +help her. Thank goodness, mine's done at last," and she drifted off to +sleep with a jumble of prize designs and golden dreams for the future +mingling with that recurring memory of Doris Leighton's hardening face +as she spoke of her study for the library panel. +</P> + +<P> +The next afternoon when Elinor, completely restored after a day's rest, +took out her drawing-board and began to work, Patricia brought out her +own study for a final criticism before laboriously lugging it up to the +Academy. +</P> + +<P> +Elinor and Judith were very enthusiastic over the intent, studious +figure that bent over its book in such lifelike fashion. +</P> + +<P> +"It's that air of real hard study that makes it so good," said Elinor, +twirling the stool to catch every view of the figure. "I don't know +how you managed to get it so well." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Ju was studying hard and not merely posing," returned Patricia +seriously. "Somehow it gets into the work. There isn't anything that +tells the truth so straight as our sort of work, Norn. You simply +can't fake. Judy deserves part of the credit. And then, I liked it +so, I couldn't help getting on with it. It's so fearfully jolly to a +<I>producer</I>." +</P> + +<P> +Judith gave her pale locks a toss. "Why, we're all doing it!" she +crowed. "You two in the Academy, and I at home here in my diary and my +stories! Aren't we a talented lot!" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Stuff!</I>" said Patricia disgustedly. "You and I needn't brag yet a +while, Judy. Elinor's the only one that's got a ghost of a showing. +You've a long lane to run before you can even be considered, and I'm +just common, every-day stuff like everyone else. This is just a flyer +I'm taking in the company of my betters," and she gave a whimsical +glance at Elinor with the insight that was occasionally hers in brief +glimpses. "I can't fly far, I warn you, but it's simply ripping while +I'm on the wing!" +</P> + +<P> +"Judy likes to see herself go by in the mirror," smiled Elinor +leniently. "I suppose that's the literary mind." +</P> + +<P> +"Literary grandmother!" exclaimed Patricia scornfully. "She's a +conceited chicken that thinks she's a nightingale because she can peep +louder than some. Wait till you've had some of your stuff printed, +Judy, before you boast. Anyone can scribble——" +</P> + +<P> +"You'll hurt her feelings, Miss Pat," protested Elinor, as Judith's +dignified back disappeared into her own room and the door closed +firmly. "She doesn't mean to be boastful." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense! I'm her only hope," returned Patricia with spirit. "She +won't amount to a row of pins if she goes on this way. Don't you worry +about her feelings. She's got sense enough to know I'm right. Come +along over to the Academy with me now. The walk will do you good, and +I'll feel more respectable with a good-looking escort while I'm lugging +this huge thing." +</P> + +<P> +They met Doris Leighton coming out of the students' door, and after a +few inquiries found that she had just accomplished the same errand that +Patricia was bent on. Her study for the prize panel was safely stowed +away in the office of the curator. +</P> + +<P> +"What was it like?" eagerly demanded Patricia. "It doesn't matter now, +you know, if you tell. We won't tell, and it's too late, anyway, to +make any difference." +</P> + +<P> +Doris hesitated, undergoing again that subtle change that Patricia had +seen before. +</P> + +<P> +"I think I'll wait till they're all in," she replied softly. "It will +be better for us all to be able to say truthfully that we had no idea +of what the others were like till after ours were in. Don't you think +so?" +</P> + +<P> +"Of course it will," agreed Elinor heartily. "I'm glad you thought of +it. I'd much rather not know. Mine isn't finished yet, and I'm so new +at the work that I might be influenced." +</P> + +<P> +"I thought about that," said Doris with veiled eyes on Elinor's pale +face. "I know how the same thought wave will pass through peoples' +minds when they're working together, and I feel that one should be very +careful not to influence another, particularly in a case like this." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not so sure that it makes a bit of difference," said Patricia +carelessly. "I've heard of people miles apart having the same idea at +the same time. Patents are always being duplicated, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed they are!" cried Doris with singular fervor. "But the one who +gets the idea first is always the real inventor. The jury wouldn't +hesitate to decide on that, I'm positive, if anyone was so unfortunate +as to turn in a duplicate of any of the studies." +</P> + +<P> +After she had said good-bye and they Were waiting at the curator's +desk, Elinor spoke musingly. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder," she said, wrinkling her brows, "if Doris Leighton was +afraid I'd garnish my panel with any of her ideas; she was so +unnaturally stirred up about it." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia, with her mind wholly on her own absorbing business, gave +scant attention. +</P> + +<P> +"She's rattled for fear she won't take the prize as usual," she said, +gayly. "I bet she opens her eyes when she sees yours, Norn. Hers may +be lots better done, but it simply can't be as lovely and as +<I>different</I>." +</P> + +<P> +She pushed her bulky package carefully across the curator's counter, +with an eager request that it be tenderly treated, and that official +reassured her as to its entire safety by placing it at once in the +locked ante-room where the modeling competition studies were stored. +</P> + +<P> +"When will the prizes be announced?" she asked breathlessly, as the +door clicked in its lock. "Shall we have to wait long?" +</P> + +<P> +The curator smiled at her eagerness. "The library panel will be +announced at noon on Tuesday in the first antique room," he said. "And +the modeling class will be notified immediately before, while the class +is still in session." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia shivered with excited anticipation as they closed the heavy +outer door of the Academy after them. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Jiminy</I>, I wish Tuesday were here and over!" she said fervently. +"I'm scared stiff when I think of my poor little study with all those +artists focusing their eagle eyes on it." +</P> + +<P> +"It does seem ages to wait," agreed Elinor. "After I turn mine in +tomorrow morning, I'll be consumed with curiosity to see the +others—particularly Doris Leighton's." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE LITTLE RIFT +</H3> + +<P> +"What do you think?" cried Patricia radiantly, swooping down on Elinor +as she came slowly out of the portrait room at high noon on the +momentous Tuesday. "What <I>do</I> you think, Elinor Kendall? I've gotten +'Honorable Mention' for my silly little old head! Isn't it wonderful? +I'm so stunned I can't talk. I never dreamed it could have the ghost +of a show," she rattled on ecstatically. "Miss Green was paralyzed, +and Naskowski kept nodding till I thought he'd loosen his brain, and +Griffin—she got first prize you know—cheered right out loud before +them all. I was simply too limp for words, and I rushed out to tell +you right away." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor's eyes filled with a glad light, and she took Patricia in her +arms. "It's perfectly glorious, Miss Pat, darling," she said with a +rapturous squeeze. "I'm so delighted I can't help kissing you on the +spot," and she did it with a heartiness that made Patricia wriggle. +</P> + +<P> +"Ouch, that's my loose wisdom-tooth you're pushing against!" she +protested plaintively. "You've wobbled it all out of place, you +reckless thing. There goes the crowd into the first antique. Come +along or we'll be too late!" +</P> + +<P> +The doors of the exhibition room were pushed quickly open as Mr. Benton +led the expectant band of students in for their first sight of the +prize designs, and Patricia's heart beat fast with the thrilling hope +that Elinor's might be among the first in rank. +</P> + +<P> +Her eyes swept one wall and then the other, searching for the familiar +canvas, but all in vain, until she lifted them to the screen which +stood in the center of the room, and where three canvases were hung, +Elinor's below the other two. +</P> + +<P> +"There it is!" she whispered eagerly, nudging Elinor to make her see. +"It's on the screen. Oh, Norn, it <I>must</I> have——" +</P> + +<P> +"Hush!" said Elinor in an undertone. "Don't make a fuss. There's +Doris Leighton waving to us from the model stand. She looks awfully +well, doesn't she? Her little vacation——" +</P> + +<P> +But Patricia was impatiently deaf. "Why doesn't he get on?" she +whispered testily. "We know all about the conditions of the prize. +What we want to know is—oh, Elinor, I'm horribly disappointed. I was +afraid Doris Leighton would get it, but you ought to have had Honorable +Mention. Griffin's isn't half so good as yours; she said so herself. +Can you see what their canvases are like? I'm just so that the light +glares on them for me. What's that he's saying now? He's talking +about your study." +</P> + +<P> +The words cut the air with an incisive clearness that left no shadow of +a doubt, though Patricia could scarcely credit her own ears. +</P> + +<P> +"I regret to say that the third study on the screen," said Mr. Benton, +toying with his eyeglass ribbon, "is merely placed there as a warning +to students of all classes to stick to their own ideas and +imaginations, and not to attempt the hazardous task of copying stronger +and more experienced workers. This canvas shows so much delicacy of +appreciation of the subject that, had no other of absolutely the same +design been previously turned in earlier, the jury should have given it +the prize. Miss Leighton's cleverly executed study of precisely the +same subject, while more finished in treatment, is far below this one +in feeling, and it is a matter of regret to me that the student who +executed it should not have possessed more originality and +self-reliance. Miss Leighton will please come forward to receive the +Roberts prize." +</P> + +<P> +Of what followed—the bestowing and graceful acceptance of the pretty +purse with the hundred dollars, the congratulations and murmurs of +surprise that ran about the assembly—Patricia had little knowledge. +Those astonishing words of Mr. Benton had so stung and bewildered her +that the room swung about her dizzily and she clutched the back of a +chair for support. Elinor's stricken face faded in the blurred +background of all the other faces, as she flung out vain hands of +protest. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it isn't fair—" she broke out, but the words that boomed so +loudly in her ears were only a faint whisper, and she staggered blindly +for a moment. +</P> + +<P> +When she recovered herself in the dim corridor, Elinor, calm and +reassuring, was on one side of her, while her other arm was in the firm +grip of the cheery Griffin. +</P> + +<P> +"That's all right, old pal," Griffin encouraged her. "You're almost +into port now. Keep a stiff upper lip till we land you." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia saw that they were steering for the dressing-room couch, and +meekly allowed them their way. +</P> + +<P> +"Now you're safe and sound, with no bones broken," said Griffin, as +Patricia sank down on the roomy couch. "You're a nice one, you are, +scaring us into a blue fit just when we were about to blister our paws +with applause for the heroine of the day." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia looked inquiringly at Elinor, who smiled at her serenely in +return, much to Patricia's bewilderment. +</P> + +<P> +"But," she protested, raising herself on one elbow. "It wasn't true, +what Mr. Benton said about your design. Why don't you tell him so, +Elinor?" +</P> + +<P> +Elinor merely shook her head gently, while Griffin stood in embarrassed +silence. +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't you <I>do</I> something?" cried Patricia again. "Why don't you +tell him? Griffin, it wasn't true—that she copied it! You know she'd +not do a thing like that!" +</P> + +<P> +"Any fool knows that," replied Griffin gruffly. "If Leighton had any +stuff in her, she'd have spoken up. I was just going to when I saw you +begin to crumple. It wasn't etiquette for me to speak, but I'd have +given them something to think of!" +</P> + +<P> +"It's too late now to bother about denying it, Miss Pat dear," said +Elinor soothingly. "It doesn't really matter much, you know, since we +three know I didn't copy. After all, it's a very little thing. I'd +rather be blamed unjustly than have done such a poor act. Don't feel +so badly about it, dear. We can tell our friends that it was a mistake +on Mr. Benton's part, and they'll believe us, I'm sure. It doesn't +matter for the rest." +</P> + +<P> +"Doesn't it, really?" blazed Patricia, sitting up very stiff and +straight. "Well, it may not to you, but to my mind it's as bad as +telling any other untruth. You're not guilty of it, and if you let the +accusation pass unnoticed, you are party to the falsehood." +</P> + +<P> +Griffin, who was winking at her behind Elinor's back in a particularly +portentous fashion, turned to the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Calm down, Miss Pat," she said, with her hand on the knob. "I'm going +to corral a few of the elect and put it to them. Brace up and look +pleasant by the time I get back." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia was about to break into angry tears on Elinor's neck, but the +brisk and significant air with which Griffin spoke roused her to +herself again. She put Elinor's arms away, and going to the mirror, +smoothed her tumbled hair, and whisked away the telltale traces of her +collapse, while Elinor sat quietly on the edge of the couch watching +her with fond anxiety. +</P> + +<P> +Not a word was spoken till the door opened again, and Griffin with +Doris Leighton and Miss Green came quickly in. +</P> + +<P> +Doris Leighton, who was flushed and animated, went directly up to +Elinor. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a shame," she said, with a marked effort to subdue her own +complacency. "Everybody knows you are much too conscientious to do +such a thing. I've told everybody how shocked I am that Mr. Benton +should make such a horrid mistake. It's simply a thought wave, and +I've told everyone that you're not at all to blame." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor looked at her very calmly, and said with a tinge of amusement in +her level voice, "You must be very thankful that you got your study in +first, for then you would have had to congratulate me instead of +commiserating me." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia felt rather ashamed of Elinor's lack of response to what she +considered Doris' loyal support, and she broke out gratefully, "You'll +tell them all, won't you? They'll soon understand if you tell them!" +</P> + +<P> +She had her reward in Doris' dazzling smile, and her assurances that +she would do all she could to make Elinor's vindication speedy and +thorough. +</P> + +<P> +Elinor was more cordial to Miss Green's solemn and indignant protest +against the powers that be. The stout monitor had so much genuine good +feeling that the sincerity of her wrath could not be doubted. +</P> + +<P> +"It is most unfair, unfair, Miss Kendall," she reiterated, with her two +dewlaps solemnly wagging to and fro. "It is most unprofessional of Mr. +Benton, and, even if you had copied (which of course no one dreams of +saying), it would still be most indelicate to expose a student directly +to the publicity of such a reprimand. I deplore it. I deplore it most +heartily. And your manner of receiving the unmerited rebuke has made +me admire you more than I can say." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor thanked her with pretty gratitude. +</P> + +<P> +"I shall make it a personal matter to report to the committee," said +Miss Green, as she prepared to follow the vanishing skirts of the prize +bearer. "I shall certainly bring the matter to their notice before the +next meeting," and with a cordial shake of Elinor's hand she sailed +out, with her black cloak billowing behind her and her plume quivering +with suppressed indignation. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't she the good old sport?" cried Griffin, in lively admiration. +"She'll do the work of a half dozen niminy-piminy dolls like Leighton. +Margaret Howes and your humble servant will back her up, too, and that +committee will sit up and take notice before it's a week older, or my +name's not Virginia Althea Frigilla Griffin—just like that." +</P> + +<P> +It was hard work later on, when they had to face the inquiries of the +wrathful Judith, to convince her that the whole thing was not a plot +against Elinor by some envious rival. +</P> + +<P> +"Mark my words, Elinor Kendall," she said impressively. "Some one is +at the bottom of this, and I have my suspicions, too, who that someone +is. I'm not going to tell, for you girls always laugh at me, but I'm +going to prove it to you before that committee meets that you're the +victim of a conspiracy." +</P> + +<P> +The relish with which Judith pronounced these ominous words made Elinor +smile, but Patricia felt only aggravation at what she considered airs +on Judith's part. +</P> + +<P> +"Stuff and nonsense, Judy!" she said, impatiently. "You've been +soaking your brain in fiction till you can't see straight. Don't you +meddle with Elinor's affairs unless she gives you permission. You'll +only make her ridiculous." +</P> + +<P> +Judith, ignoring Patricia's pungent remarks, turned her calm eyes +inquiringly to Elinor. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't mind if I can help prove that someone else was the deceiver, +do you, Elinor?" she asked with such seriousness that Elinor rippled +with enjoyment: +</P> + +<P> +"Bless your heart, kitten, make yourself as happy as you please with my +affairs; only, I beseech of you, do it quietly and with as little +martial music as possible." +</P> + +<P> +Judith pulled herself free from Elinor's circling arms and made for the +door, pausing on the threshold. +</P> + +<P> +"As if I'd publish it on the housetops!" she cried in infinite disdain. +"It's plain you aren't much up in detective stories." +</P> + +<P> +After their laughter at her dramatic disappearance had died down, they +sat quietly in the twilight watching the lamps flicker into life across +the park, each one busy with her own thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know, Miss Pat," said Elinor, breaking a long silence "that I +don't like Doris Leighton any more. It isn't because she got the +prize—you know me better than to think that—but I've been noticing +her more closely recently and I don't think she rings true." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I wish you wouldn't, Norn," protested Patricia, in a small voice. +"I do so want to have her for a friend. She's so lovely and talented +and attractive. What is the matter with her now that you say such +things? You didn't use to feel like that." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor hesitated. "I don't know," she replied slowly, measuring her +words. "I can't put my finger on it, but she doesn't seem the same to +me as she did at first. She isn't jealous of my poor work, of course, +but I can feel a something—a wall or barrier—that she raises up +between us whenever my work is spoken of. I felt it when we talked +about the subject of the prize designs, and I felt it today more +clearly than ever. We can't be friends any more as we were, I'm +afraid. Something has come between us. 'The little rift within the +lute,'" she quoted sorrowfully. +</P> + +<P> +"'That by and by will make the music mute,'" ended Patricia dismally. +"Oh, I hope not, Norn. I hope it'll all turn out well and we can go on +pleasantly and peaceably for the rest of the term. I hate rows and +suspicions. I'd like to live 'in charity and love to all men,' but I'm +always getting into scrapes. I no sooner learn to like a person than +they turn out to be fakes." +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't gone that far," Elinor gently reminded her. "I didn't mean +to say that Doris Leighton was a fake. I only meant that my feelings +toward her had changed. You don't have to give up your admiration for +her, Pat dear." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia shook her head slowly from side to side. "'Whither thou goest +I will go,'" she quoted. "I won't have her for a friend if she gives +you the creeps, Norn, and you know it. I've been mistaken in people +before, but you've always been the same old true blue. You and Miss +Jinny know better than I do, and I give in. I won't be an enemy—you +wouldn't want that—but I won't be a real friend like I have been, +doing errands and helping her stretch canvases and all that. You and I +will stand together always, old lady, and if the Roberts prize has done +nothing but show us how very nice we each think the other is, it will +have had its uses as far as we are concerned." +</P> + +<P> +They sat in comfortable silence till they heard the front door slam and +Judith's feet on the stair. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder what that young monkey is up to?" laughed Patricia as they +heard Judith moving about in her room, preparing for dinner with the +alacrity of hungry virtue. "She won't let on for the world, but I know +she's feeling mighty important about something. I can tell by the way +she whisks about that she's enjoying herself immensely." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +JUDITH'S DISCOVERY +</H3> + +<P> +"I'll never again say that the literary instinct is a burden and a +reproach, Ju," said Patricia, with her eyes dancing and her head high. +"Your thirst for 'plots' has proved too serviceable for me ever to +point the finger of scorn in its direction." +</P> + +<P> +It was a brisk, sunny day, and they were waiting for Elinor on the +steps of the Academy. Judith was looking very happy, and Patricia, +while she had a perturbed air, was no less triumphant in her manner. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder what keeps Elinor? She's awfully late," complained Judith, +shifting on one foot. "Let's go in and have lunch without her." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia shook her head decisively. +</P> + +<P> +"Not much. You'll wait here in solitude till she comes. I'm not going +to have you spout it out before any old person, and get us into hot +water, perhaps. Here's Elinor now. Come on, Norn, we're about dead, +standing on these flinty-hearted steps. Got the sandwiches you +promised?" +</P> + +<P> +Elinor showed a neat parcel tucked under her muff-arm. "Chicken and +lettuce," she said delectably. "White grapes for dessert. Have you +seen Margaret Howes and Griffin?" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia nodded as she held the door wide for Elinor. "Griffin said +she'd be ready for us, and Margaret Howes is coming straight down from +composition class." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor glanced at them as she went in. "You two look remarkably +hilarious," she said casually. "Is it the spring in the air or the +prospect of a festive lunch that so illuminates you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Both and more too," laughed Patricia. "We've got a surprise for you, +Norn, but we won't tell till we've had lunch; will we, Ju?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not till the very last crumb is done for," declared Judith, +emphatically, putting down her parcels on the dressing-room couch. +"You may not like it very much, Elinor——" +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense! Don't put such ideas in her head," cried Patricia stabbing +her hat-pins into her hat to secure it on the hanger. "Of course, +she'll be sorry for part of it, but right is right, and justice ought +to be done. But there, I'll blab it all myself if I don't look out. +Hurry up, Judy, let's get the cocoa stewing while Elinor prinks." +</P> + +<P> +They had the table arranged in gala array, and the cocoa steaming in +its receptacle, before Elinor and Margaret Howes joined them. +</P> + +<P> +"Griffin says not to wait—she's got to finish stretching a canvas," +Margaret Howes told them, but Patricia and Judith would not hear to +beginning the little feast without the staunch and genial Griffin. +</P> + +<P> +"There's no hurry, anyway," insisted Patricia. "The cocoa will keep +hot on the corner of the stove and the rest of the things don't matter. +You girls haven't any classes this afternoon, so we have an eternity to +feed in." +</P> + +<P> +They loitered about the room, chatting at various tables, and were +taken by surprise at last by the breathless arrival of their late +guest. She hailed them with an air of the bearer of important news, +and as soon as they were ensconced in their corner with the cocoa +safely bestowed on a stool at Patricia's right hand, she opened her +heart. +</P> + +<P> +"Awful row in the Committee room," she announced gleefully. "Good old +Greenie marched right in to the grave and reverend seniors while they +were in session just now, and she gave them ballyhoo. <I>She</I> called it +a remonstrance in the cause of justice, but, my word, it was ripping!" +</P> + +<P> +"What was it all about?" asked Patricia, much diverted by the picture +of the mournful monitor facing the dreaded Board. "What did she say?" +</P> + +<P> +Griffin chuckled. "You see, I was in the ante-room, cataloguing the +prints—you know I got that job last week. Well, the Board was droning +on in the big room in their usual uninteresting fashion and I was deep +in admiration of a Rembrandt etching—that one with the hat and the +open window behind him—when Green sails past me, head up and majesty +writ large on her bulging brow. She always does put on lugs when she +reports to the Committee, so I didn't sit up and take notice right +away. But in a minute or two I came to life, I can tell you! She was +rolling off the sentences about 'injustice to a high-minded student' +and 'unnecessary humiliation' and 'reparation to one who was an +ornament to any school,' and a lot of other junk like that. I tell +you, I could have hugged the old girl! The Board just sat still, like +school-boys caught stealing jam, and she went on, getting more flowery +all the time." +</P> + +<P> +"But what—" began Patricia again. +</P> + +<P> +Griffin waved her to silence. "All of a sudden she seemed to realize +that she was giving them a drubbing instead of a gentle rebuke. She +hauled in her sails and stood winking at them behind her huge +spectacles, while they all sat staring at her. It was a picture, I can +tell you. Then dear old Farrer cleared his throat in that nervous way +he has, and he bowed to Bottle Green as though she were the finest +ever. 'We have heard with surprise and I am sure with regret,' he +says, 'Miss Green's account of this matter. I think we will all agree +that an investigation should be undertaken, and if there has been +injustice done, such reparation as is possible shall be made.' Then +they came and closed the door and I lit out for here. You've got a +fine champion, Kendall Major, and we'll all see you through if it comes +to a public demonstration, you can gamble on that!" +</P> + +<P> +Elinor's face was perplexed. "But I don't see what can be done," she +said gently. "I'd hate to have the thing dragged up before the school +again. Of course, if it had been denied right then and there, I'd have +been very glad, but now, after all these days——" +</P> + +<P> +"It's only a week," protested Margaret Howes, firmly. "We had to wait +till the Board met, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"They can make an announcement, just as the prize announcement was +made," explained Griffin, drumming impatiently on the table. "You may +be too modest to be there, but it can be put through without you, and +you will be cleared, don't you see?" +</P> + +<P> +"Is Miss Green still in the Committee room?" asked Patricia suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," returned Griffin, shortly. "She had other reports to +make. She usually stays about half an hour, she'll be longer today. +Why?" +</P> + +<P> +"I thought I'd like to have her here," she said, with a sidelong glance +at Judith. "We've found out something about——" +</P> + +<P> +She stopped, trying to arrange her speech so as to present the intended +disclosure in the clearest form possible, but Judith, whose cheeks had +been burning at Griffin's account of the interview in the Committee +room, took the words out of her mouth. +</P> + +<P> +"We've found out all about it!" she cried triumphantly. "Doris +Leighton copied Elinor's design, and put it in ahead of Elinor! I know +all about it, and I'll tell Miss Green and the whole committee, too, if +I have to!" +</P> + +<P> +Griffin was the first of the three to recover. She leaned forward, a +thin, eager hand on Judith's arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Say that again, young one," she demanded imperatively. "Make it good +and plain this time." +</P> + +<P> +Judith repeated her startling statement, adding that she had proof for +everything she said. Her manner was so genuine and convincing that +Griffin started up with a quick gesture of command. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't say another word till I get back," she said, authoritatively, +and was gone before any questions could be formed. +</P> + +<P> +They sat in absolute silence, absently watching the occupants of the +now nearly deserted tables straggle out in twos and threes, until the +room was quite empty, and Patricia could bear it no longer. +</P> + +<P> +"We don't have to petrify, do we?" she said, with a nervous ripple. +"Griffin may keep us sitting here for hours——" +</P> + +<P> +Judith's dramatic sense asserted itself, and she frowned at Patricia's +frivolous interruption of the portentous silence. +</P> + +<P> +"Do be still, Miss Pat," she said sedately. "We've waited two whole +days already—five minutes more won't hurt us." +</P> + +<P> +Margaret Howes glanced at Elinor, as she sat quietly with chin in one +pink palm, her brows drawn level and her dark eyes steady and +thoughtful. +</P> + +<P> +"You're a wonder, Kendall Major," she broke out. "Here am I all +fluffed up and on positive pins and needles over this affair, while you +are as calm as a picture. Don't you feel excited? Aren't you wild to +hear what it is?" +</P> + +<P> +Elinor laid her hands on the table and Patricia could see that the +fingers were twisted together until the knuckles showed white. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, I am anxious," she said evenly. "But I've had a different +sort of life from most girls, and it's taught me that there's always a +lot more to any surprise than we're looking for. I've been wondering +just how much pain there's going to be, back of the pleasure of being +set right in the eyes of the school." +</P> + +<P> +"There oughtn't to be any for <I>you</I>," said Margaret Howes, impulsively +laying her hand on Elinor's. "There isn't anything coming to you but +plain every-day satisfaction in getting your rights." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, but how about Doris?" questioned Elinor sadly. "Isn't she to be +remembered?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why should she be?" returned the other warmly. "Did she have any +thought for anything but her own parade when she pretended to be sorry +for you? There's such a thing as carrying virtue too far, my dear +girl, and I think you're straining your charity with too fine a sieve." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor smiled a wistful little puckered smile. "Perhaps I am rather +lop-sided in my feelings," she confessed. "I always feel so dreadfully +sorry for the wrong-doers, and the less they care the sorrier I am." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia had opened her lips to sustain Margaret Howes' point of view, +when Griffin, followed by Miss Green, came breathlessly in to the room. +</P> + +<P> +"Now we're all ready," she said eagerly when they had made room for the +generous figure of the monitor. "Fire away with your tale, young one, +and don't spare the details. We're game for any length of story, so +long as you can prove it." +</P> + +<P> +Judith, with her cheeks flushing and paling and her composed tones +carrying conviction, laid the story of her discoveries before them, +telling them how she had thought of it first "for fun, like a plot for +a story," and then how she had remembered that Doris Leighton had +Elinor's keys with access to the locker where the two studies for the +prize designs were left that night that Elinor was taken ill; how she +had discovered through Doris' younger sister that Doris had made her +study for the Roberts prize from a little rough color sketch "just like +Elinor had." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd heard her say the Saturday that Miss Jinny came to see us that she +never made sketches beforehand," said Judith, earnestly. "And she told +Patricia the very day Elinor fainted that she hadn't begun her study. +So I pretended to myself that we were all in a story, and I thought and +thought what I should make of it if I were reading about it all instead +of living in it. Then I saw that the thing to do was to find out if +Doris Leighton had the little color sketch that she used for her study, +and compare it with Elinor's." +</P> + +<P> +Here Elinor gave a start, and then composed herself as Judith went on. +</P> + +<P> +"I hunted and hunted for Elinor's, which I knew very well, for it was +made on the back of one of my old tablets, but I couldn't find it. +Geraldine couldn't find the one Doris used either, and then I got +awfully interested. I told Geraldine that I was making up a story and +I wanted to act it all out in life, and she was glad to help. She was +mad at Doris anyway, and so she hunted everywhere for her sketch, but +she couldn't find it. I was pretty near giving up then, for I thought +I was mistaken; but the men were just making ready to take out +Leighton's ashes when I thought, like a flash, 'There's where it would +be, if anywhere,' and I told Geraldine. So we got sticks and we +rummaged. My gracious, but it was dusty!" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia gave a gasp of comprehension. "That's what made you so grimy +that day Mrs. Halden came in for tea!" she exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +Judith nodded. "We found it!" she went on, growing more excited as the +end approached. "We found it, all in little bits, along with other +stuff from Doris' waste basket!" +</P> + +<P> +The girls looked at one another in shamed silence. The actual +discovery of the deception was so much more disconcerting than they had +foreseen. They seemed to visualize Doris Leighton as she tore those +guilty fragments and hid them in the rubbish, and the sight sickened +them. +</P> + +<P> +Griffin held out a hand for Judith's envelope. "You'll verify these, +Kendall?" she said brusquely, pushing the bulky oblong across the table +to Elinor. +</P> + +<P> +Spread out on the cloth, the scraps pieced perfectly into the study +that Elinor had made for the Roberts prize. The back showed the stamp +of the Keystone tablet, with Judith's name partly erased and Doris' +scribbled over it. +</P> + +<P> +"It's my sketch," admitted Elinor in a low tone. "I missed it the next +day, but I thought Miss Pat had dropped it when she brought my things +home to me. My study was almost done, and I forgot all about it after +that." +</P> + +<P> +There was a disconcerting silence, while Judith breathed hard and kept +her eyes glued on Miss Green. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly Patricia spoke. "It's a horrid mess, and I'm sorry that it +had to come out, but there's no use shirking, is there? If someone, no +matter who, stole your hat, you'd feel they should be brought to +justice. Isn't stealing an idea a lot worse? I don't really think you +ought to feel so badly, Elinor. If Doris Leighton could do such a +thing, and then be friends with you afterward, she isn't worth breaking +your heart over. I felt badly enough when Ju told me, but I've kept +getting madder and madder, as I've seen how she goes on acting her part +of kind friend to you." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Green rose majestically and Griffin sprang up at the same time. +</P> + +<P> +"I shall ask to be allowed to have the evidence," said the impressive +representative of justice. "There is no time to be lost. Come, Miss +Griffin, I shall need you and Miss Howes too." +</P> + +<P> +At the door she turned, with expansive kindliness. +</P> + +<P> +"Do not distress yourself, my dear Miss Kendall," she said, +benignantly. "There is no cause for apprehension. Absolute secrecy +and perfect amenity will prevail. You will be sent for later perhaps, +but nothing unpleasant will occur. Depend upon it, the Board will +welcome this revelation of the true state of affairs, and will do its +duty gently." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +RESTITUTION +</H3> + +<P> +"Did you see Elinor?" whispered Judith to Patricia, as she edged her +way to her in the packed assembly room. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia shook her head. "She's with Griffin and Bottle Green," she +answered under her breath. "What do you want her for?" +</P> + +<P> +Judith's bow was on one eye and her hat under her arm, showing that she +had made great haste to join the growing crowd in the first antique +room. She looked even more agitated than Patricia had expected her to +be. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter?" insisted Patricia, nudging her to compel her +attention, but Judith's gaze was wandering all about in search of +Elinor, and she answered absently. "There she is, up on the stand with +Griffin," she murmured in dismay. "I can never let her know. I wish I +could catch her eye; can't you signal her, Miss Pat? You're taller +than I am." +</P> + +<P> +"What'll I tell her, if I do?" demanded Patricia indignantly. "I +haven't any idea what you want to telegraph?" +</P> + +<P> +"Tell her Bruce Haydon is here," said Judith. "Oh, there she goes! I +was afraid you couldn't get her. She's sitting down beside Miss Green +now, and we'll never be able to let her know." +</P> + +<P> +"Bruce Haydon!" exclaimed Patricia, astonished. "Why, he's in Italy, +isn't he? Elinor had a letter yesterday——" +</P> + +<P> +"He's here all the same," said Judith, interrupting her surprise. "And +he sent a message to Elinor, so she'd be prepared, I guess. But I +simply can't get to her now. She'll have to find it out for herself." +</P> + +<P> +"What's Bruce doing here?" asked Patricia, as they resigned themselves +to the inevitable and prepared to await the event. +</P> + +<P> +"He says he finished his studies, and has come back because he wanted +to keep an eye on you two art students," replied Judith. "He looks +awfully well. You ought to have seen them stare when he grabbed me up +and kissed me in the corridor just now." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia gave a happy sigh. "It'll be good to have him around again," +she said appreciatively. "I never knew how weak in the knees I was +until this very moment. Things are bound to go right with Bruce +hovering around. I hope Elinor sees him. She's feeling mighty shaky +right now, I fancy." +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it queer how wobbly one feels?" commented Judith uneasily. +"We've been crazy for the time to come, and now we feel like running +away. I know I'll simply <I>drop</I> when Mr. Benton makes his speech." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense," said Patricia stoutly, although her own knees were not too +steady. "Keep your eyes on Elinor, and remember how glad you are that +she's getting an official apology, after all the cheating and +nastiness—then you won't want to collapse." +</P> + +<P> +"Sounds like you were prescribing for yourself," retorted Judith with a +flash of intuition. "You look just as——" +</P> + +<P> +"Hush, he's coming," warned Patricia, turning pale in spite of her +brave words. "Listen, he has begun." +</P> + +<P> +Her eyes sought the pale pure outline of Elinor's profile, caught +between the intervening faces, and held it during the brief explanatory +speech, wherein Mr. Benton paid his tribute to Elinor's generous +silence, and apologized in the name of the Board for the unjust +accusation. She saw the wave of color sweep over it at the +commendatory words, and the dark eyes fall under the shame of the +hinted treachery of the unnamed student whose face was in every one's +mind. Then at the next words she saw the light flash into full +radiance, as Mr. Benton, with something in his extended hand, turned +full toward Elinor where she sat. +</P> + +<P> +"And now, Miss Kendall," he finished with grave satisfaction in every +word. "It is my privilege to award to you the Roberts prize of one +hundred dollars, in recognition of the meritorious work done by you in +the late competition. Will you kindly come forward to receive it?" +</P> + +<P> +There was a general murmur of surprise and a following rustle of +gratification. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia's eyes were too blurred with happy tears to see very clearly, +but she made out Elinor's figure bowing over the same purse that Doris +Leighton had received ten short days ago, and she whispered to herself +joyously, "Dear old Norn, they've more than paid up for all the +horridness now, haven't they? And you deserve it all, too." +</P> + +<P> +Judith, whose eyes were still wide with astonishment, touched her arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you know?" she asked breathlessly. "Did anyone know she was going +to get it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Can't you tell by looking at them?" demanded Patricia. "Do they look +as though they'd expected anything like this? Of course we didn't +know. The Board didn't even peep to Bottle Green, for she's gaping +like the rest." +</P> + +<P> +"I see," acknowledged Judith, sweeping the ringleaders with her sharp +scrutiny. "They're all simply stunned, but they're mighty glad, too. +They're going to give the Academy Howl. Oh, Patricia, I wish I could +howl, too!" +</P> + +<P> +"Go ahead, if you can do it," said a masculine voice at her elbow. +"The Academy won't object, I'm sure." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia turned with a gasp of delight. "Bruce!" she cried +delightedly. "You dear thing! You've come in the nick of time. Isn't +it splendid that Elinor's won the prize? Did you hear about it? +Aren't you perfectly crazy over it?" +</P> + +<P> +Bruce laughed good-naturedly as he shook hands. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't undertake to answer all that at once, Miss Pat," he said. +"Let's go find what Elinor thinks about it." +</P> + +<P> +He pushed a way for them to the group which surrounded the flushed and +gracious recipient of the Roberts prize, and before Patricia quite +realized how he did it, he had them ensconced with Elinor in a cozy +corner of the print room, and had heard the whole story of the stolen +design. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a good thing you two innocents have a responsible person like +Judith to look after you," he said seriously. "I don't know what you'd +do without a protector to play providence for you." +</P> + +<P> +Judith flushed and tossed her mane with a gratified air. "Oh, they +don't think much of <I>me</I>," she rejoined. "They make fun of me lots of +times." +</P> + +<P> +"Is that so?" said Bruce, with great concern. "I'm sorry to hear that. +I tell you what, Judy, we'll form a partnership, you and I, and we'll +see to it that they behave themselves better in the future. They've +proved that they can't take proper care of themselves, so we'll have to +play guardian angels." +</P> + +<P> +Elinor merely smiled her gentle, affectionate smile, but Patricia +rippled out in mocking laughter. +</P> + +<P> +"I like that!" she cried. "Who took care of us all those years when we +were poor and alone in the world? It's late in the day for Elinor to +need protectors." +</P> + +<P> +"Nevertheless, she's going to have 'em," declared Bruce with +undisturbed geniality. "You may mock us and you may shock us and you +may say you don't care, but we're on the job for keeps, aren't we, +Judith, <I>ma chère</I>? And the first step we're going to take in our new +position is to drag you both off to luncheon this very minute. You'd +best give in gracefully, for both Judy and I are fearfully strong and +ferocious." +</P> + +<P> +Judith giggled, but Patricia rose briskly. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess you won't have to chloroform us to drag us there this time," +she retorted. "I'm glad we're presentable, anyway. Aren't you +thankful I made you put on your best duds, Norn? There's nothing like +being contented when one feeds, and I couldn't partake of the stalled +ox with any satisfaction in my old school rags." +</P> + +<P> +Judith cuddled close to Bruce on the settee while Elinor went for her +wraps. +</P> + +<P> +"Patricia's awfully superficial, I think," she confided to him +cheerfully, as she watched her readjusting her bright hair beneath the +pretty hat rim at the quaint old mirror of the bookcase. "She's so set +on pretty things. She just worships anyone who is pretty—no matter +whether she understands their character or not. I wish we could make +her more serious-minded and careful." +</P> + +<P> +"Pooh," said Patricia, turning from her own reflection with a gay +laugh. "You don't need to try. I do worship beauty, and I always +shall. I like to laugh and sing and be happy. I like blue skies +because God made them that way. And I don't think a pink rose is +wickeder for being pink than if it were grubby gray. <I>I</I> think being +happy is the serious business of life—when you take other people in +with you—and I reckon God thinks so too." +</P> + +<P> +"Pa-tri-cia!" ejaculated Judith in prim rebuke, but Bruce gave her hand +a restraining squeeze, and Patricia went on, glowing with earnestness. +</P> + +<P> +"There isn't any more goodness in dismal looks, no, nor half so much, +as in happy faces. Don't the cherubim sing eternally? Is there +anything said about dark days in the New Jerusalem? I'm ashamed of +you, Judith Kendall, for not knowing that it's twice as brave and good +to be cheerful and pretty as it is to be moping and dull. Look at +Elinor—would we love her if she'd been fussing about the hard times we +had? Not much! Every bright smile she had for those horrid times has +made her more adorable to me and I look on every bit of happiness we +had in those poor days as just so much wrested from the powers of +darkness." She stopped suddenly, with a little gasp of embarrassment, +as Elinor entered. +</P> + +<P> +"Patricia's spouting again," remarked Judith with the serene cruelty of +extreme youth. "I didn't mind, because I'm used to it, but I guess +Bruce is thankful you didn't keep us any longer, Elinor." +</P> + +<P> +Bruce rose and held out his hand to Patricia, who was flushing +painfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't mind the kid, Miss Pat dear," he said, with his most winning +smile. "She doesn't know any better yet. Your religion is the sort +we've got to <I>grow</I> into, and, even then, some of us aren't ever quite +big enough to realize it." +</P> + +<P> +Judith's face had been undergoing swift changes during this short +speech, but now it cleared and a beatific expression shone upon it. +</P> + +<P> +"I know what you mean, now, Miss Pat," she declared loftily. "I've +read it in Stevenson's verses, about 'those who … sow gladness in +the peopled lands,' Isn't that it, Bruce? I didn't <I>quite</I> understand +the way Patricia put it, but I think it's perfectly lovely, really I +do." +</P> + +<P> +Bruce pinched her cheek, with a tolerant laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"It's all right, so long as it's in a book, eh?" he asked. "What a +perfect little chameleon you are, Judy Kendall. I don't know whether +to take you into the grand surprise that I'm going to spring on these +two young ladies, or leave you at the nearest library while I disclose +my dark projects. What do you say, Elinor?" +</P> + +<P> +Elinor slipped Judith's nervous hand into her muff within her own. +</P> + +<P> +"I think we might let her share with us this time," she said gently, +and Judith's relief was beautiful to behold. +</P> + +<P> +"Bruce says we're going to a French restaurant," she announced proudly. +"I hope I can remember enough French to talk politely. Mademoiselle +makes us say so many fine sentences when we have our 'calling days' in +the French class that I get awfully twisted and never know whether I'm +masculine or feminine." +</P> + +<P> +"You won't need to think about it here," said Bruce. "The waiters are +both Belgians and they speak English pretty well. You know that +English is taught in the public schools in Belgium, and even the little +children can say a few words to you. It's the old folks that don't +understand." +</P> + +<P> +Judith flew back to his side, pushing Patricia ahead to Elinor. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, do tell me all about it," she pleaded, and Bruce, with his +customary good nature, launched into a very diverting account of the +habits and customs of the Flemings and the year spent among them in his +student days. +</P> + +<P> +The first breath of spring was in the air, softening the chill of the +crowded streets with warming sunshine and a hint of the coming miracle +of the yearly resurrection. The shops were filled with the crisp, +fresh-tinted goods of the nearing season, and here and there among the +smartly dressed women was a modish straw hat brightening the winter +furs and velvets. Patricia's cup was full and running over. She had +no need for speech with Elinor, but she kept giving her hands quick +little squeezes in her muff, while now and again they exchanged swift +telegraphic glances of appreciation. +</P> + +<P> +Bruce swung the door for them, and they passed into a little narrow +shop-like place. +</P> + +<P> +Judith's eyes were wide and dismayed. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think this is very nice," she whispered as Bruce was +exchanging a few words with the smiling proprietor in the little cage +behind the tiny counter. +</P> + +<P> +"Hush," cautioned Patricia, using her eyes industriously. "It must be +all right, or Bruce wouldn't have brought us. I like it. The floor is +<I>sanded</I>, Judy! And those people at the snippy little tables under the +stairs are French—just hear them gabble to the waiter." +</P> + +<P> +Judith recovered sufficiently to take notice. +</P> + +<P> +"There isn't any table—" she had begun, still with slight protest in +her voice, when Bruce ushered them up the narrow vertical stair to the +larger room above where more tables and windows made a cozy dining +place for about a dozen people. +</P> + +<P> +The waiter, a broad-faced Belgian, rushed forward with a smile of +genuine welcome and a flourish of the spotless towel which he wore upon +his left shoulder, and, with a few murmured words in French, motioned +them to a table by the front window. +</P> + +<P> +When they were being settled in their places, Judith found opportunity +to whisper to Bruce, who immediately turned to the Belgian, who was +helping Patricia remove her coat. +</P> + +<P> +"You have good custom today, François," he said with a gesture toward +the chattering groups at the other tables. +</P> + +<P> +The waiter bowed as he folded the coat carefully. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Mr. Haydon, sir," he said clearly. "We do not complain. Our +trade keeps up, sir. We are the same as when you left, sir. We do not +complain." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia laughed at Judith's expression, as she watched François whisk +away to the dumb-waiter in the far corner of the little apartment, and +roar stentorian commands in indistinguishable French to an unseen +source of supply below. +</P> + +<P> +"He just uses his French to plot his dark plots with, Judy darlin'," +she said, merrily. "You needn't try to make them out, for he doesn't +intend you to." +</P> + +<P> +"I heard 'Chateaubriand,' anyway," retorted Judith triumphantly. "And +that means beefsteak. So I did understand something, you see." +</P> + +<P> +Bruce made a gesture of mock despair. "Heavens, I'm discovered!" he +cried, with a twinkle. "Judy knows just what she's going to have for +lunch, and there won't be any surprise, after all." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia looked inquiringly at him. +</P> + +<P> +"Is <I>that</I> the grand surprise you meant, Bruce Haydon? Sure you aren't +fooling us? Oh, you are! You've got <I>something</I> else—I know it by +your eyes. You look awfully guilty." +</P> + +<P> +"Do I?" asked Bruce innocently. "I wish there was a mirror here so I +could see how that looks. Here comes François with the bouillon and +omelets. Don't let him see me, please, till I've gotten up a better +expression." +</P> + +<P> +François served them deftly, while still attending to all the other +tables, and Patricia, in the intervals of merry chatter, wondered at +the innumerable bits of respectful conversation he managed to supply +his patrons in addition to his very satisfactory table service, and she +said so to Bruce, just as the dessert had been placed and François had +withdrawn to a party of newcomers. +</P> + +<P> +Bruce, however, was remarkably absent in his reply. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, he's a wonder," he said, cracking nuts studiously. "I hope he's +as good on breakfasts as he used to be." +</P> + +<P> +"Breakfast!" cried Patricia, bubbling. "Are we going to keep on eating +till——" +</P> + +<P> +"No, no, I didn't mean that," returned Bruce hastily. "I was thinking +of something else." +</P> + +<P> +"The surprise, I am sure," announced Judith calmly. "Let's try to +guess what it is, like charades or Dumb Crambo. You can tell us if we +guess right, Bruce. I'll begin first." +</P> + +<P> +Bruce laid down his cracker with a grin. "No, you don't, young 'un," +he said decisively. "I'm not going to turn my choicest possession into +a puzzle department. I'm going to spring it myself, right now." +</P> + +<P> +All eyes were upon him as he crumpled his napkin into a hard ball and +crushed it between his flexible fingers, while his face assumed an +earnest and rather anxious expression. +</P> + +<P> +"I am going to ask you to think first and speak last," he began. "I +don't want you to go into it hastily or unless you're quite sure you +will like it." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll like it, all right enough, if you have a hand in it," Patricia +assured him heartily. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a scheme I've been thinking of for nearly a month now, and I've +made all the arrangements before I came home; but if it doesn't appeal +to you—well, there are no bones broken, and I can easily fix it up +with Miss J—— that is, I can make other arrangements." +</P> + +<P> +Judith gave an impatient wriggle, but it was Patricia again who spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Please, please, <I>do</I> tell us what it is! Suspense is so awful!" +</P> + +<P> +Bruce cocked his head on one side meditatively. "I'll make a stab at +it," he acceded, and then paused, while they waited in breathless +silence. +</P> + +<P> +"I've taken a studio apartment, and I've got someone to keep +house—just for a month—and I'm banking on you all coming to spend +that month with me. I want you to have this chance at some outside +work," he said to Elinor. "I'm not so keen on this academic work for a +steady job. I want you to keep up your life class, of course, but +there's a big lot of education lying around in the studios for this +short time anyway. I may not be able to offer it to you again, as I'll +have to be off as soon as this contract is finished. Will you come?" +</P> + +<P> +Elinor sat looking at him with her eyes shining, and then she drew a +quick breath. +</P> + +<P> +"I think it would be perfectly glorious," she said gratefully. "It's +wonderful that you should bother with us. I can't thank you——" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't want any thanks," returned Bruce gruffly. "Your aunt would +understand it. I'm only beginning to pay my debt to her, and it's +going to take a mighty long while, too." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia held out her hand across the cloth. "I can't kiss you, but +here's the substitute. You're a <I>duck</I>, Bruce Haydon. Where is the +studio?" +</P> + +<P> +Bruce laughed in a relieved way. "That's the way to talk, Miss Pat. +I'll show it to you as soon as you've all finished. Judy, haven't you +anything to say?" +</P> + +<P> +Judith finished dabbling her fingers in the finger-bowl, and wiped them +daintily. Then she raised her clear eyes to the expectant company. +</P> + +<P> +"The only thing I'm afraid of is that Mrs. Hudson won't let us go a +whole month sooner," she said with the calmness of despair. "I suppose +I'll have to stay there all by myself, just because I'm the youngest +and not an artist. But I tell you all this—I'm not going to stay +alone. I'll get Mrs. Shelly to come in——" +</P> + +<P> +"Good idea, Judy," said Bruce encouragingly. "We'll see what we can do +about it. Come along now, we're going to inspect the new premises. +You girls get your duds on while I settle up. It's only around the +corner, and we'll be there in a jiffy." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +NEW QUARTERS AND OLD FRIENDS +</H3> + +<P> +They went up in the little box of an elevator, and as they got out, +Bruce jingled his keys invitingly. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll let you open the door—for luck, Judy," he said, holding out a +key. "See if you can guess which door it belongs to." +</P> + +<P> +Judith scanned the doors critically, her brows puckered and her head +aslant. +</P> + +<P> +"We-e-ll," she said, slowly revolving so as to see each hall in turn. +"I'll take the one just ahead there. It hasn't any card on the door +and all the others have." +</P> + +<P> +"Clever child!" commended Bruce. "That escaped my notice. You're +right, of course. Go ahead. Open up." +</P> + +<P> +Judith put the key in its lock, turned it easily and then swung the +door wide, but before the others could catch even a glimpse of the +interior, she gave a little squeaking cry and rushed in, leaving the +door to bang after her. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, of all things!" exclaimed Patricia indignantly. "We're locked +out!" +</P> + +<P> +"We can ring if Bruce has no other key," said Elinor hastily. "She'll +surely let us in." +</P> + +<P> +So, as there was no other key, Patricia put her finger to the bell on +the lintel and kept it there till the knob rattled and the door was +flung open wide. Judith was standing in the middle of the big, +comfortable studio and her face was flushed, but not one word did she +say in explanation of her singular behavior. +</P> + +<P> +Elinor and Patricia were so occupied with the room that she almost +escaped reproof, but Patricia, as she turned from admiring the stairway +that wound up one side of the studio to a nook in the peaked roof +above, caught a very knowing look on her little sister's face which was +meant for Bruce, and she pounced on her immediately. +</P> + +<P> +"What is the matter with you today, Ju?" she asked in an undertone, "I +do wish you'd behave yourself. Bruce will be sorry he asked us if +we're going to act like wild Indians." +</P> + +<P> +Judith's only reply was a giggle. +</P> + +<P> +Bruce and Elinor were inspecting the rooms on the other side of the +studio, and had passed out of sight behind the second doorway. +Patricia forgot her censorship as the spirit of the explorer rose in +her. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's look at these rooms, Ju," she proposed, with a hand on the heavy +curtain at her right. +</P> + +<P> +Judith caught her hand with a cry of dismay. +</P> + +<P> +"It's not fair, till Elinor comes, too!" she protested hotly. "Wait, +they'll be back. I'll call them." +</P> + +<P> +But Patricia, with a laugh, broke from her and lifted the curtain. +</P> + +<P> +"Elinor didn't wait for us," she began gayly, "and I'm not——" +</P> + +<P> +She broke off with her mouth and eyes opened to their widest, for there +in the chair by the cozy grate sat Mrs. Shelly, while Miss Jinny stood +chuckling her husky chuckle and rubbing her elbows nervously with both +hands. +</P> + +<P> +"They've come to stay!" shouted Judith in wild excitement. "They're +going to be here the whole month! Wasn't it lovely of Bruce to get +them, and won't it be <I>transcendant</I>, with all of us together!" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia had for once no words, but she fell on Miss Jinny's willing +neck, and to Judith's great wonder and Mrs. Shelly's delight, she +kissed Miss Jinny with great vigor and despatch. +</P> + +<P> +"You <I>duck</I>!" she cried, and, although Judith gasped and paled at the +audacious epithet, Miss Jinny merely chuckled and patted her tenderly +and then passed her on to the smiling, pink-cheeked little old lady in +the rocker. +</P> + +<P> +Such a time as they had all together when Elinor and Bruce joined them! +And such a happy circle as they made around the studio fire, as +twilight came on and the shadows crept out from the vast corners of the +big room, and they made plans for the future and compared notes as to +the past months of separation, with the cheerful flicker leaping and +flaring on their ruddy faces, quite as it had in the old house at +Rockham. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you remember how we planned for this year?" said Patricia, her chin +on her hand and her eyes on the leaping flame. "That was at Christmas +time, only three short months ago, and we've all broken our plans +already. David and Judy are the only ones who have stuck to theirs, +and that is mainly because they can't help themselves. Here am I, +studying at the Academy, after vowing I'd not waste money on myself at +all. Elinor is dropping half her studies there and starting on an +entirely new course—Interior Decoration and Stained Glass—under Mr. +Bruce Haydon's personal supervision; and as for Mrs. Shelly and Miss +Jinny—they are so far out of their plans I don't believe they'll ever +get back into them again." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Jinny gave a snort of defiance. "Just you wait till this month is +over, Patricia Louise Kendall," she said belligerently. "I'll be back +in that old rut so tight you won't be able to see where I ran in again. +Not go back to housekeeping with mama, indeed! I'll bet that I put up +as many extra pickles and jams this year as I ever did, and with the +exception of having the library and you people and the Haldens again, I +don't see much change ahead of me, I can tell you!" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia sighed and stretched herself luxuriantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I haven't any complaint to make with the new arrangements," she +said expansively. "Things keep getting deliciouser and deliciouser all +the time. I only wish we didn't have to go back to the boarding house +tonight——" +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed, you're not going to budge a step!" said Miss Jinny +triumphantly. "We planned it all out. You're to stay here and begin +to be at home right off. You can go and pack tomorrow and have your +things sent over as soon as you please." +</P> + +<P> +"But," insisted Elinor, "we haven't anything——" +</P> + +<P> +Again Miss Jinny interrupted. "I got your negligees and all from Mrs. +Hudson this morning," she chuckled. "She knows you won't be back, and +she's just as well pleased, for she's a good chance to rent your rooms +right away, and I told her to go ahead. She'll keep your things till +tomorrow or the next day. Now, come along and choose bunks, though +there isn't much choice, for there is only one big room with three beds +in it. Mama and I are right next to you, you see." +</P> + +<P> +The rooms on the right of the studio, a small one with a double bed in +it for Miss Jinny and her mother, and the enormous room with the three +beds for the girls, were separated by a tiled bath and were quite +remote from the rooms on the other side, where was a corresponding +small room to be used for a sitting-room, and a slightly larger one for +Bruce. Altogether, the arrangement was as satisfactory as could be +wished and everyone was enthusiastic over the many comforts and +conveniences that the place boasted. +</P> + +<P> +"Fortunate that Symons had to hurry off to South America for that +commission, wasn't it?" said Bruce, rubbing his hands before the fire. +"We couldn't have got a snugger place, and just for the length of time +we want it. I told Miss Jinny it would be flying in the face of +Providence for her to refuse to come and occupy it." +</P> + +<P> +Judith had been studying the problem of the rooms, and now put her +question. "But where are we to have our meals?" she ventured. "I +don't see any dining-room." +</P> + +<P> +"They are coming in from Dufranne's and we're going to imbibe them in +that room to the left," replied Bruce with a wave toward the +sitting-room. "When we feel like it, we're going to Dufranne's for +them." He turned to Mrs. Shelly with an air of charming courtesy that +sat well on his strong face. "Are you still in the humor for dining +out, madam?" he asked, in a tone easily heard by her. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Shelly nodded, smiled her twinkly smile and rose with alacrity. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll put on my new bonnet," she promised, and trotted off to her room, +smoothing the tails of her basque with eager fingers. +</P> + +<P> +"She's just as happy as a lark," said Miss Jinny to the others. "I was +so scared for fear she'd hate town life, but, lands alive, she takes to +it like a duck to water. I shouldn't wonder if it did her a lot of +good. She's been uncommonly quiet recently, and I believe she's been +missing you girls." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Shelly in her new bonnet with a gay little pansy on it, Miss Jinny +in another bran new hat, made quite a festive appearance, and the great +humor of them both and their sincere pleasure in being so important a +part in the little home group gave an added zest to the evening's +merry-making. +</P> + +<P> +"Ju hasn't let go of Mrs. Shelly's hand since we left the restaurant," +said Patricia apart to Elinor, as they were taking off their wraps in +the studio again. "Poor little kid, she certainly does worship that +dear little old lady." +</P> + +<P> +"How she'd have adored mother, if she had only lived," said Elinor +softly. "Mother was so lovely. I always feel that you two have been +cheated out of so much—not even to have a dim memory of her." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia's face grew wistful. "She went away when I was so little," +she murmured absently. "Sometimes I do fancy that I can recall how she +looked as she kissed me good-bye in the big station, but it must be +only fancy—one doesn't remember much at two years old. I can see just +how Judy looked though, when they brought her home after mother died, +and I was only three and a half then." +</P> + +<P> +"What are you two conspirators hatching up over there in the corner?" +called Bruce from the fireside. "We're making out our schedule, and +you don't know what you're missing!" +</P> + +<P> +Settled in their places—they already had their own selected places in +the ingle nook—with Mrs. Shelly rocking contentedly in the center of +the half circle and Bruce smoking in the deep armchair, they grew +enthusiastic again over the delightful prospect of the month that Bruce +outlined for them. +</P> + +<P> +"Judy, of course, will go to school," he said, blowing a little smoke +ring at her. "Miss Pat will go to the sculpturing as usual, but may +have a hand in any game here that she is able to hold up. You'll learn +a heap, Paddy Malone, if you keep those ears of yours open, for +Grantly, the fellow who is doing the bas-reliefs for the State Capitol +building, will be about occasionally, and he's a cracker-jack in his +line." +</P> + +<P> +"See here," interrupted Miss Jinny, cocking her eyes severely at Bruce. +"I'm not going to have Patricia hobnobbing with those <I>Bohemians</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +Bruce roared with laughter. "My dear Dragon!" he cried, "don't you be +afraid of your precious charges. Grantly hasn't any time to waste on +young 'uns like Miss Pat. He's <I>working</I>, I tell you, and he doesn't +like young ladies, anyway. Her only chance would be to overhear him +spouting to me, which if she's discreet she may occasionally be able to +do." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, indeed!" said Miss Jinny subsiding. "Well, that's another matter. +I don't object to that." +</P> + +<P> +"Hope not," retorted Bruce amiably. "Now as to Elinor." He stopped +for so many rings that Judith stirred and cleared her throat +impatiently, whereon he grinned cheerfully at her and went on. "As to +Elinor. She will keep on with the night life, but the rest of her time +will be spent in the studio here, working on studies and cartoons for a +big wall decoration for a church, and a stained glass window for the +same church—a purely mythical one, my dear Dragon, but intended to +develop our promising student more rapidly than the easygoing method of +the schools. What do you say to the program, young ladies?" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia smiled at Elinor's fervid response and Judith's calm approval, +but she uttered never a word, though Bruce looked at her inquiringly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" he said at last. "What's the verdict?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think it is simply great," replied Patricia with a ripple of mirth. +"I honestly do, Bruce. I'm going to have a gorgeous time, and I'm +awfully grateful to you for it." +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" he repeated. "That's not all you're thinking, Miss Pat. +You're simpering at some hidden invention of your own, and you know it. +Out with it or we'll put the X-rays on it." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia flung a look at Miss Jinny. "Really and truly I haven't any +secret to confess, Bruce. I was only thinking how very nice it was for +us, Judy and me, that we had such a genius for a sister." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Jinny's eyes twinkled, but Bruce flushed and flicked his cigar ash +into the fire with a dexterous finger. +</P> + +<P> +"What has that to do with your meek and lowly gratitude?" he asked with +the trace of a smile. +</P> + +<P> +"It has everything to do with all of us," responded Patricia promptly. +"We're just the tail of the comet, you know." +</P> + +<P> +Bruce opened his eyes and sat up, piercing Patricia with a keen gaze. +Evidently he found no reserve behind her words, for he broke into a +laugh and shook his head at her. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm in a regular nest of female detectives," he retaliated gayly. +"Between you and Judy I shan't have a single secret left at the end of +the month. I'll have to watch myself like thunder, Miss Jinny, or +they'll make a miserable hen-pecked man of me!" +</P> + +<P> +Miss Jinny grunted amiably at him, and then rose. "I guess you know +what you're about, Bruce Haydon. Don't look to me to protect you, +though, for I'm a mighty active <I>feminist</I>, and I can't waste any of my +valuable time taking care of such a common critter as a man." With a +nod to the girls, she beckoned her mother. +</P> + +<P> +"Time for bed, mama dear," she said clearly. "I've got your ginger tea +ready for you, and I guess it's the last you'll want this year." In a +lower tone she explained to the others: "Just brewed it to make her +feel more at home, you know. She doesn't need it in this fiery furnace +of a place." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Shelly, with a kindly good-night to Bruce, trotted after them, +fumbling with her watch pocket. +</P> + +<P> +"I declare, if it isn't half-past ten!" she exclaimed, as she snapped +the blue enameled lid of her little watch. "My little girl ought to +have been in bed an hour ago." +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +Judith twined her arms about her and kissed her fondly. +</P> + +<P> +"It doesn't matter just for tonight, does it, Mama Shelly?" she asked +with pretty deference. "There are going to be such a lot of nights to +go to bed early in." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Shelly nodded briskly. "And I'll come sit with you while you're +getting ready," she promised, patting Judith's hand. "We can have some +good talks together then, and I'll remember more stories for you, too." +</P> + +<P> +Much to Judith's delight she kissed them all around, and then she +hustled off after Miss Jinny, leaving them to themselves in the big, +comfortable room. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia flung herself on the fur rug that lay before the empty +fireplace. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't feel as if I'd ever want to go to sleep," she said +rapturously. "It seems like a glorious dream that we're going to live +in this romantic place a whole month. Bruce is a perfect duck to fix +it up so we can all be together. I shan't study much here, I feel that +in my bones, but I'll have a gorgeous time. How do you feel about it, +Judy?" +</P> + +<P> +Judith sat with one stocking in her hand, dreaming, and she awoke with +a start. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to <I>write</I>!" she declared, dramatically waving the stocking +about. "This is truly inspiring!" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia gave a short laugh. "Did it ever occur to you that our little +Judy might make a fair actress, Norn?" she asked, deftly catching the +bare foot that supported Judith and bringing her down on the rug beside +her. "Her passion for the limelight grows, I notice, and recent events +have not tended to make her unmindful of her merits." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, stop teasing, Miss Pat," cried Judith, wriggling free. "I +wouldn't be an actress if you'd hire me. I'm going to be a writer, and +now I'm going to bed. Good-night," and she made a flying leap into her +pillows and covered herself to the eyes. "Don't say another word to me +tonight," she warned, "or I'll call Miss Jinny. I'm going to sleep." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia yawned and rose. "I guess I'll follow her virtuous example. +I'm really getting awfully drowsy, now it's so quiet," she confessed. +</P> + +<P> +Elinor was already half asleep when Patricia suddenly sat up with a +mirthful gurgle. +</P> + +<P> +"What fun it'll be to tell the gang at the Academy," she crowed. +"Won't Griffin rejoice and won't Doris Leighton wish she'd been good! +Margaret Howes will have a chance to meet Bruce, too. It'll be a +perfect lark all around!" +</P> + +<P> +Elinor sighed in deep content. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe Bruce will let Margaret work with me sometimes," she murmured +joyfully. "I know he's going to like Griffin tremendously; she's just +the sort to fit in with us all. Miss Jinny's crazy over her. I don't +believe we'll see poor Doris Leighton again. Griffin told me she was +leaving." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia cuddled down in the pillows again, with a chuckle. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Jinny told me that Mr. Spicer had asked us all to tea at the +Science and Arts Club," she said. "The Haldens are coming in for +Easter and all the other holidays, and we're going to simply revel in +delightful doings right here in the studio. It's a dream of goodly +revelry, Norn, isn't it?" "It means more than that to me," replied +Elinor. "It means work—glorious, big, beautiful work——" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know," interrupted Patricia, suddenly alert again, "I don't +believe I'll ever amount to a row of pins as an artist? I always +forget the work and think only of the <I>people</I> and the fun. I wonder +if I can't brace up and do something worth while. I'll start in +tomorrow—see if I don't." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AFTERNOON TEA +</H3> + +<P> +The days slipped by with wonderful swiftness after the trunks had been +unpacked and things had settled down to the regular routine. Patricia +wondered at the evenness of their minds and the serenity of their +hearts in those first three weeks of studio life. +</P> + +<P> +"Everything goes so smoothly," she confided to Miss Jinny one day at +the end of the fortnight. "It sounds monotonous, but I don't mean it +that way at all. We're all so <I>naturally</I> polite and agreeable. We +don't seem to have to force ourselves a bit." +</P> + +<P> +"That's because we've each of us got something to do," declared Miss +Jinny emphatically. "If we were idling around, musing on ourselves +from morning till night like some poor creatures do, we'd get prickly +mighty soon. People were made to work, and it's flying in the face of +Providence to try to get away from it. We all got our share in the +curse of Adam, and the sooner we realize it, the better for us." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia played with the handle of the great glittering brass amphora +that stood by the low stool where she sat. Her face was puzzled though +not disquiet. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder just what my work will turn out to be?" she said +thoughtfully. "I'm beginning to be afraid I haven't any real work of +my own. I've tried so hard to get on with the modeling—for I do love +it—but it just seems as though I couldn't. That first head that they +liked so much, and the study of Ju is about all the sculpture I've got +in my system, I reckon. I'm downright ashamed to let them know——" +</P> + +<P> +"You needn't be," declared Miss Jinny vigorously. "You never pretended +you were in it for anything but sport, did you? Bruce knows you're +about through with it; I heard him say so to Elinor yesterday." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, did he though?" cried Patricia, kindling. "How clever of him to +see. I thought no one <I>dreamed</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +Miss Jinny chuckled. "We knew you were only marking time till you +stepped off into your music," she said encouragingly. "It was nice, of +course, that you got along so well, but no one expected you to take to +it for good and all." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia sighed contentedly. "How nice you all are!" she said +appreciatively. "I thought you'd all be disgusted with me if I quit. +After Mr. Grantly said that study of Ju showed promise, I nearly wore +myself to a bone trying to make good. I've been scared stiff about it." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you worry, Miss Pat. You'll find your own work all in good +time. It mayn't be what you'd like it to, but it'll be something that +you can do better than any one else," said Miss Jinny with kind wisdom. +"Look at me. I'm sure that books and catalogues is my forte, but the +Lord knows better. He's given me the sense to see it, too, and so mama +is comfortable and happy and someone else who hasn't a dear mother +depending on her does the library work in my place." +</P> + +<P> +"You're a darling," said Patricia, "and the Lord must be terribly fond +of you." +</P> + +<P> +"Patricia Louise Kendall! That's sacrilege!" gasped the scandalized +Miss Jinny. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it?" exclaimed Patricia, equally startled. "I didn't know it was. +Mr. Spicer said it himself yesterday when he was talking to me in the +print room, and I was telling him about your poor basket and saving +bank, and all that. I'm awfully sorry, Miss Jinny." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Jinny had a queer look, Patricia thought, as she turned hurriedly +away with a murmured excuse about the tea table. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, it's all ready," cried Patricia wondering at her changed manner. +"We put the sliced lemon on the very last thing." +</P> + +<P> +But Miss Jinny was not to be diverted into talk again, and as she +started out of the studio the bell came to her aid, buzzing shrilly an +insistent summons to the door. +</P> + +<P> +"That's Griffin; I know her ring!" cried Patricia jumping up. "I'll +go." +</P> + +<P> +Griffin it was, in the highest good humor and bursting with news. She +did not wait to get out of her coat before she began to unbosom herself +to them both, alternately addressing each in turn. +</P> + +<P> +"Kendall Major's missed it, I tell you, going off to that poky +architectural show," she declared to Miss Jinny. "We had the time of +our lives today in life class. Benton's up in the air because Howes +showed him that Ascension study she did over here—you know he never +could bear Haydon or his work—and he was as mad as hops that he should +be butting in with any of his own special pets like Howes." +</P> + +<P> +"How mean!" cried Patricia spiritedly. "Bruce hasn't even seen that +study. What did he say about it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he couldn't <I>say</I> anything right out," replied Griffin knowingly, +"but he made it hot for us, I tell you. Poor old Bottle Green caught +it first, for painting before he'd given her permission, and then he +jumped on me for not painting. Radford caught it and then he lit on +Slovinski for using the Whistler palette, and she just <I>blew up</I>! +These Poles aren't like us tame tabbies, you know, and she's full of +ginger, for all her sleepy ways. She's terribly high-born, you know, +and can't bear anyone to look cross-eyed at her." +</P> + +<P> +"What did she do?" asked Patricia eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"Slammed him good and hard," returned Griffin succinctly. "Told him he +was fifteen different sorts of a lobster." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, do talk English, Griffie dear," begged Patricia, laughing. "Miss +Jinny doesn't understand your Choctaw speech." +</P> + +<P> +"Well then, she rebuked him thoroughly for his variable though severe +criticisms, and stated, with some emotion, that the Board should be +enlightened as to his unfitness, through his captious temper, for the +delicate task of nourishing the tender sensibilities of the budding +artist." +</P> + +<P> +"My word, she wasn't shy, was she?" interpolated Patricia, much +diverted. +</P> + +<P> +"Not she," declared Griffin. "We were all in a blue fit. Not that we +old stagers are sorry for the man, but it shocked our sense of what's +due him as a teacher. I was fearfully ashamed of Slovinski, but it +<I>was</I> fun to see how astounded he looked. He just stood looking at her +more quietly than I'd ever seen him look at any one, and then he bowed +and asked her if she'd quite finished. Jiminy, but he was polite! We +all got a chill. Slovinski sat down, and we took to work again. +Benton went on criticizing as if nothing had happened, but we felt +mighty queer. Then Bottle Green stooped over to get her paint-box, and +up she starts, most tragic-like, with her hand, on her shoulder, and +she solemnly announces she's broken her arm." +</P> + +<P> +"Poor thing, she's done it at last!" cried Patricia compassionately. +"Then what happened?" +</P> + +<P> +"She got safely off, and then the model began to look queer, and in a +minute she'd fainted. Howes brought her to with a glass of mineral +water, and the class broke up. But the model didn't go. After Benton +had made a small spicy speech of farewell—he's leaving, can't stand +being sassed—she got up on the stand and gave us a bunch of monologues +that were out of sight. She used to be on the variety stage until she +lost her voice. I tell you, Kendall missed it." +</P> + +<P> +"What did I miss?" called Elinor's voice from the other room, where she +had come in unnoticed. +</P> + +<P> +She came to the doorway with her hat and furs still on and repeated the +question. Griffin gave her a synopsis of the row and the casualties +following, which she received with a little protesting laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't say it sounds better than the architectural show," she said, +pulling out her hat-pins. +</P> + +<P> +"That part wasn't," agreed Griffin, "though a bit more sporting +perhaps. But what came after was. Mary Miller, the model, told us the +most wonderful story—her own life, first in the bush in Australia and +then here in New York and Chicago; and who do you think she is?" +</P> + +<P> +"Melba in disguise?" mocked Elinor gayly. +</P> + +<P> +"Stuff!" snorted Griffin, impatiently. "Her family comes from Rockham, +and her grandmother used to live at Greycroft. She's going out to see +the place when it gets warmer. I didn't tell her you lived there now, +for I didn't know whether you'd want——" +</P> + +<P> +"Lands to goodness, I believe I've seen her!" exclaimed Miss Jinny. +"There was a Mary Miller, a little thing about five, used to play about +the place when old Miss Spence lived there. Her mother married again +and went to Australia. Must be the same one." +</P> + +<P> +"Come over to the shop tomorrow and see if it isn't—" Griffin began, +when there was a sound of laughter and talking in the outer hall and +the door opened to admit Bruce, Margaret Howes, the two Halden girls +and Judith. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Spicer and Mrs. Shelly came in almost at the same time, and Miss +Jinny's delicious tea and nut-cakes were served with great gayety and +lively chatter. The Haldens, having come from a two-days vacation at +Rockham, were full of neighborhood gossip and gave very circumstantial +accounts of Greycroft, Hannah Ann and Henry. +</P> + +<P> +"We saw Hannah Ann and Henry on Saturday and got all the news about the +place from them. Major had the colic one night, but Hannah Ann saved +him with a quart of homeopathic pills," laughed Miriam. "Everything +looked just as natural as life when we drove by this morning. They'll +be mighty glad to see you all when you go back." +</P> + +<P> +"What are you putting up in the garden, Elinor?" asked Madalon, +stirring her tea. "I noticed that Henry had a lot of poles planted +along the south shrubbery——" +</P> + +<P> +Judith's dismayed exclamation cut short her account of the activities +at Greycroft. +</P> + +<P> +"Now you've done it!" cried Judith in distress. "She knows all about +it, and I meant it for a surprise! Oh dear!" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm awfully sorry—" began Madalon, contritely, but Judith was too +deeply disappointed to be very polite. +</P> + +<P> +"Hannah Ann and I have been writing about it for ever so long," she +lamented, "and we were having it put just where you wanted it, Elinor, +and Henry got the trees from the wood lot, and we were going to have it +for a surprise—" She broke off, choking. +</P> + +<P> +Elinor slipped an arm about her. "But what is it, Ju dear?" +</P> + +<P> +"A pup-pup-pergola," spluttered Judith, recovering a bit. "Just the +sort you wanted. And we planned for Miss Pat to make one of those +lovely stone seats out of concrete. But it isn't any use, now," she +ended forlornly. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't be a muff," said Patricia briskly. "It's twice as good, don't +you see, coming out this way? Here are eight people surprised all in a +bunch, instead of merely Elinor and poor me. You've sprung it in the +very nick of time, Infant." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure thing," supplemented Griffin genially. "I'm in it now, and if +you'd put it off, I'd been in Kalamazoo or Madagascar, and missed it +all." +</P> + +<P> +Judith with this encouragement began to take heart, and by the time Mr. +Spicer and Margaret Howes had joined their congratulations to the +others, she was fully recovered and enjoying herself immensely, arguing +with Margaret Howes and Bruce as to the shape of the projected seat +with a freedom that was usually denied her. +</P> + +<P> +The subject of Mary Miller was brought up and discussed with great +interest. Everyone advocated Miss Jinny's visit to the Academy, and +Judith added the hope that the descendant of the old housekeeper at +Greycroft might be able to throw some light on the disappearance of the +old miser's silver and bank books, a remark that caused some +consternation among the elder members of the party. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you go making suggestions of that sort," warned Bruce, with +impressive authority. "The girl will feel as though her +great-grandmother were a thief." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I wouldn't put it that way," cried Judith, scandalized. "I'd just +sort of hint around gently. Maybe they dug it up long ago." +</P> + +<P> +"Ju's got the idea from her last thriller that the Dutchman who used to +live at Greycroft buried his treasure somewhere about the place," +explained Patricia to Griffin. "I suppose she'll spend her time +grubbing this summer." +</P> + +<P> +Griffin pushed up her blouse sleeve, showing a remarkably thin arm. +"I'm your man, if you ever want a pal," she said to Judith. "I'm +trained down to the right weight now and ready for business." +</P> + +<P> +Judith did not know whether she was being chaffed or not, so she +dexterously changed the subject. +</P> + +<P> +"Doris Leighton's sister has the scarlet fever," she announced, +enjoying the stir that the name caused, "and Doris is nursing her. She +takes turns with the nurse, and Geraldine cries when she goes out of +the room." +</P> + +<P> +"Phew, that doesn't sound like our fine lady of the stony heart!" +exclaimed Griffin. "Are you sure, kidlet?" +</P> + +<P> +Judith nodded emphatically. "Mrs. Leighton told Miss Hillis over the +phone, and she told the class, as 'an example of sisterly devotion,' +she called it. I felt like telling her <I>what I knew</I>." +</P> + +<P> +"Judith Kendall, you're a little monster!" cried Patricia, indignantly. +"Even if Doris did cheat, she's doing a noble thing now, and we ought +to be the last to blab, since Elinor got the prize. Doris had to pay +for her sins and she has human feelings, too." +</P> + +<P> +"Pooh, she didn't have to pay much," said Judith with the callousness +of childhood. "She only gave back the prize and left the Academy." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad to hear that she is making good now," said Margaret Howes +gravely. "I always felt there was a lot of good in Leighton under her +fluff." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps it took hard rubs to bring it out," said Miss Jinny, pouring +another cup for Mr. Spicer. "We poor human critters are like that +sometimes. Good times spoil us. Maybe she's had it too easy, poor +girl." +</P> + +<P> +"Souls have muscles, the same as bodies do, and they need exercise," +agreed Bruce thoughtfully. "I know lots of fellows who are failures +through having too much money. It's a dangerous thing to let your soul +get seedy." +</P> + +<P> +"Golly, that pretty nearly hits us all, doesn't it?" said Griffin +apprehensively. "I'm not so sure about myself, now you mention it. +Doris Leighton may be one ahead of me in this business. Fatty +degeneration of the soul is a new one to me." +</P> + +<P> +They were all rather serious for a silent moment, and then Patricia +spoke. Her clear voice was rather low and timid, but her eyes were +shining. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's phone to her and tell her that we all hope Geraldine will soon +be well," she said, looking at Elinor with loving confidence. +</P> + +<P> +There was a murmur of assent and Elinor rose quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"The very thing, Miss Pat," she agreed radiantly. "I'll look up the +number for you." +</P> + +<P> +But Patricia shrank from appearing too magnanimous. +</P> + +<P> +"It's your affair, Norn," she demurred. "You ought to do the talking." +</P> + +<P> +So Elinor went into the sitting-room where the telephone was, and in +the intervals of their rather forced conversation, they could hear +scraps of her kind questions and gentle answers. When she returned to +the studio, her face was glowing. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm so glad you thought of phoning, Miss Pat," she said, taking her +plate and cup from Bruce and seating herself by Miss Jinny. "Doris +was—well, I can't tell you what she said, but she certainly isn't as +bad as we thought her. She's just wrapped up in Geraldine and she +seems to think that this illness is a judgment on her for the prize +study." +</P> + +<P> +"Poor thing," exclaimed Griffin. "Did you tell her we all asked for +her?" +</P> + +<P> +Elinor nodded. "She said I might as well tell you all, for it would be +in the papers tomorrow. Her father has failed, and they're dreadfully +poor. It's been coming on for a long while, and that was why she +wanted the prize so much—not that she excused herself for it, she only +said I could see how she came to stoop so low. She was frantic for the +money and was so worried that she couldn't think of any subject for +herself. She thought I was rich and happy and wouldn't care. She even +thought I might not turn in my study at all, when I got sick that +night. She's had a terrible time about it, but she was so glad to have +the chance to explain." +</P> + +<P> +"Why in the world didn't she say so before?" cried Griffin indignantly. +"She had a chance to defend herself. We're not absolutely inhuman." +</P> + +<P> +"She couldn't, don't you see, without telling her father's private +affairs?" said Elinor gently. "She didn't feel that it was any excuse +for her conduct, anyway." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia heaved a deep sigh. "Well, I must say," she said with a +triumphant look at Miss Jinny, "I do believe in first impressions and +I'm glad I always liked Doris Leighton." +</P> + +<P> +Miriam Halden rose regretfully. "Sorry to break up the festivities, +Miss Jinny," she said, shaking hands, "but our train leaves in just ten +minutes, and Madalon has on bran-new pumps with heels that cut her down +to a mile an hour. We'll see you all again next week at the +house-breaking, as Judith calls it." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll be here," promised Madalon, following her sister's example. +"We'll have to miss lunch and the Senior dance, but what's a mere dance +compared to helping a neighbor say farewell to their happy little home. +Look for us at twelve-thirty sharp and prepare an extra mess of +pottage, for we'll both be fearfully hungry. Tell David and Tom Hughes +we'll come in on the same train they do. Good-bye, be good till +Saturday and then we'll all be happy." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +APRIL SHOWERS +</H3> + +<P> +"That Miller girl needs a good rest," said Miss Jinny emphatically. +</P> + +<P> +She had come in from her visit to the Academy, where she had +interviewed the model with a thoroughness that left little of her past +unexplored, and her face was sad and thoughtful as she stood pulling +off her gloves, finger by finger, by the big side window in the studio. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Shelly went on with her knitting, but Patricia, who was mending a +long rent in her best blouse, looked up with eager interest. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you have a chance to talk to her much?" she asked, snapping off +her thread in her absorption. "What is she really like? Does she +remember Rockham? And does she know we have the old place?" +</P> + +<P> +Miss Jinny chuckled and then grew grave and thoughtful. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess she wouldn't last much longer at this business," she said, +smoothing the creases out of the glove fingers. "She's got a pinched +look and her cheeks are mighty pink. No, it ain't paint; I asked right +out, and she answered just as nice as could be. She seems tired, poor +girl, and mortally glad to have some one take an interest. She says +the class rooms are so hot, and the change from living in eighty +degrees to sixty-five, like it is in her room, has made her downright +sick part of the time." +</P> + +<P> +"It must be hard on her," acquiesced Patricia. "Why didn't she get +something else to do?" +</P> + +<P> +"Couldn't," said Miss Jinny, briefly. "A girl without friends or money +hasn't much show in a big town. I'm going to take charge of that girl, +Patricia." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia felt a thrill of alarm. +</P> + +<P> +"You aren't going to bring her <I>here</I>?" she queried, a faint flush of +shame at the selfishness of her speech creeping into her cheeks. +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly <I>not</I>," said Miss Jinny crisply. "I'm merely a guest here. +I'm going to do something more practical, and I want you to help me, if +you can stop being jealous of the poor girl, for——" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia flung the sewing aside and threw her arms about her friend in +a tempest of contrition. "I didn't mean to be horrid," she cried. +"You know I wouldn't really be so selfish—if I thought you wanted it. +But we have been so happy together here, and I wanted it to go onto the +end, just like a beautiful story that ends happily. I'm sorry I seemed +mean." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Jinny gave her a pat and a kiss. "I guess I feel quite as much +that way as you do, Miss Pat," she said with unusual softness. "I +hadn't the wildest notion of bringing Mary Miller here. I'm going to +take her to Rockham with me." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia's heart sank, but she concealed her feelings sufficiently to +reassure Miss Jinny, who went on briskly: +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to take her out with us day after tomorrow—she's not going +back to the Academy—and I'm going to get work for her. There's where +you can help. She's a good sewer, she says, though she'd rather live +with someone and do housework." +</P> + +<P> +"Shouldn't think she'd be strong enough for housework," said Patricia, +puckering her brow. "Mrs. Hand wants a 'lady houseworker,' but I don't +believe she'd have an ex-model. She's so awfully particular, you know." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Jinny nodded. "She'd work her to death, anyway," she agreed. +"She's mighty inhuman under her soft outside. Her help don't hear much +of her purry ways, I can tell you. That's why they're always leaving. +No, Mrs. Hand won't do." She sighed in perplexity. "I wish we were +well enough off to keep her ourselves. I've taken a liking to her +quiet ways, and I'd enjoy having her about, I'm sure. Most country +girls are so loud and clumping that I've never wanted help before, but +she's mighty different." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia rubbed the end of her nose with the scissors. "There are the +Haldens and the Berkleys and Tattans," she mused. "They're all +supplied. Perhaps someone will leave and then she can get their place. +Maybe Hannah Ann will have her help sometimes,—we can't afford to have +anyone regularly, you know." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Jinny rose abruptly, and putting away her things, began +preparations for tea. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it's settled that she's going with us," she said comfortably. +"I guess the future will take care of itself. If we do the best we can +and leave the rest to the Lord, we can't go far astray. I feel that +Mary Miller is going to be taken care of some way." +</P> + +<P> +It had been raining all the afternoon, a gentle persistent rain that +gave no sign of clearing, and they decided, after a cozy dinner at +home, that their projected trip to Rockham the next day would have to +be given up; but when Bruce pulled aside the curtain from the studio +window to compare his watch with the illuminated disc of the St. +Francis clock tower, he gave an exclamation of satisfaction. +</P> + +<P> +"It's cleared off, after all," he said. "It's going to be a ripping +fine day tomorrow." +</P> + +<P> +They crowded to the big window, and saw, through the wet flicker of +tiny sprouting leaves, a wind-swept sky with racing clouds and +brilliant stars blazing in the dark, serene spaces between the hurrying +masses of billowy vapor. +</P> + +<P> +Judith clapped her hands. "We'll go, won't we, Bruce, and Elinor, and +Miss Jinny?" she asked, whirling to each authority in turn. "We'll see +dear, delectable Greycroft and have our picnic in the barn?" +</P> + +<P> +"And the pup-pup-pergola, too," added Patricia mischievously. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Jinny meditated for a moment. "I don't believe I'll go," she +said. "I'm going back in another day or so, and mama and I will have +enough of Rockham anyway. I'll stay with her and finish that library +book that Mr. Spicer lent me. It's overdue now, anyway." +</P> + +<P> +So it was arranged that the four of them, Elinor, Patricia, Judith, and +Bruce, should take the early train to Rockham and spend the day in +adjusting matters at Greycroft for their return the following Saturday, +coming back to town in the late afternoon or early evening. +</P> + +<P> +Just as they had finished, to their great satisfaction the studio +knocker sounded the quick double knock that always heralded Griffin, +and Judith flew to welcome her. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't ring," she explained, standing on the little blue rug by the +umbrella stand, and jabbing her dripping umbrella into the stand. "The +hall door was open and I came right in." She hesitated, and then +rushed on, directing most of her speech to Elinor. "Geraldine Leighton +is dying, they say, and I thought we might each send a little note to +Doris—she's awfully alone, now that Mrs. Leighton is ill, you know. +It mightn't help her much, but it would show her that we——" +</P> + +<P> +"Dying!" cried Patricia, aghast. "Why they said she was better this +morning." +</P> + +<P> +Judith crept near to Mrs. Shelly and caught her hand close in both of +hers. The others put eager questions. Griffin, who was deeply +stirred, answered breathlessly. Suddenly, in the midst of the quiet, +home-like, cozy evening, had come tragedy and the shadow of death. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia had known Geraldine Leighton in a very slight and casual way, +but with the word "dying," she became the heroic center of her hurrying +thoughts. She saw her in the dim room with Doris and the nurse and +doctor, each agonizingly intent on the slow, faltering heart-beats and +the fitful, irregular breathing. As her swift mind galloped on to the +end, and the subdued sounds of grief caught her inner ear, another face +began to print itself rapidly on that quick-moving scene—Doris, white +and haggard, looked into her eyes, and she felt her whole heart go out +to her. +</P> + +<P> +Griffin was just ending the sentence that had hurried the fleeting +pictures through her mind when Patricia slipped away unnoticed into the +hall, where she flung on a cape and soft hat of Judith's and softly let +herself out. +</P> + +<P> +The Leighton house was a big dark pile at the end of the street and the +only light visible was in the back room where Patricia knew the +struggle against death and disease was being fought out. She paused +for a long look and then she ran lightly up the steps and put a +shrinking finger on the bell. +</P> + +<P> +It seemed an eternity till the door was grudgingly opened and a +white-faced, gruff boy asked unrecognizingly what she wanted. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia put her questions tremblingly, for she feared the stern, +strange face of the boy in knickerbockers. She had seen him playing +and shouting in the square on other days, and the change was so great +that she felt death alone could have wrought it. But he answered +evenly that 'Geraldine was just the same,' and was closing the door +when Patricia stopped him. After a hasty parley, on his part, at first +stubborn and then yielding, the door closed and Patricia, with beating +heart, ran down the steps and hurried to the side of the house where +the long windows of the drawing room protruded their iron balconies +over the sidewalk. +</P> + +<P> +Here she waited in the shadow of the fluttering violet arc light, with +her eyes fastened to the silent, insensible windows. Ten minutes that +seemed ten eternities went lagging by. Tears of disappointment rose to +Patricia's eyes and she shivered as the gusts of west wind flung the +drops from the saturated trees in a silver shower across the darkened +panes. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll count ten, and then I'll go," she said to herself. +</P> + +<P> +The windows remained dark, and the only sounds on the quiet side street +were the wind in the wet trees and the sizzle of the arc light above +her head. +</P> + +<P> +"Five, six, sev——" +</P> + +<P> +She sprang forward as the second window slowly moved and a muffled +figure stood on the balcony. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Doris!" was all she found to say, as she stretched eager hands +toward her. +</P> + +<P> +Doris shrank back with a low, horrified cry. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't come near me!" she warned in a stifled voice. "Go back as far +as the tree. Don't you know it's scarlet fever? I'll go in at once if +you come nearer." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia retreated to the tree, and Doris stood with one hand clutching +the cloak and the light strong on her face. She looked more beautiful +than ever to Patricia's friendly eyes, and there was a calm strength in +her manner that awed while it comforted her. All consciousness of +herself was gone, and, Patricia felt, gone forever, and in its place a +quiet courage that spoke of conquered pride and vanity and selfishness. +Doris Leighton had found herself. +</P> + +<P> +In the hurried words that they exchanged there was a more solid welding +of their renewed friendship than the telephone could have accomplished +for them in many interviews, and they parted at the end of the allotted +five minutes, each with a growing faith in the mercies of that +Providence which had led them to a nobler comradeship. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia, promising to give Doris' messages to Elinor and the rest, +hurried off, leaving the drawing-room windows once more blank and +impassive. She ran into the studio as Griffin was rising to go, with +her umbrella, reclaimed from the stand, still dripping slow occasional +drops unheeded on the polished floor. +</P> + +<P> +They had not missed her, much to her surprise. She felt she had +undergone so much, and they were still in the very state she had left +them. She blurted out her triumphant account of the new Doris, almost +forgetting Geraldine, and to their excited questionings and comments +she flashed illuminating replies, making them see the very figure in +the muffled cloak with the courageous expression on its lovely face. +</P> + +<P> +There was generous and general rejoicing at her account of the brief +interview, and a strong feeling that under this happier augury +Geraldine must recover. Patricia went to bed feeling that the storm of +the afternoon had been a type of her own day, and that for her the +stars were serenely shining after the tempest of doubt and estrangement. +</P> + +<P> +"Geraldine won't die," she said fervently to Elinor as she put out the +light. "I <I>know</I> she won't die." +</P> + +<P> +And the morning proved her prophecy, for at the first inquiry came the +joyful news that the crisis was past and Geraldine already improving. +</P> + +<P> +"Now we can go on our spree with clear minds," said Judith, as they sat +down to breakfast in the sunny sitting-room. "It's a perfect day and +Rockham will look too sweet for anything." +</P> + +<P> +"What a beautiful description of a spring day in the country by a +budding literary light," commented Patricia merrily. "I'm afraid your +style is rather going off, Ju! You haven't been consulting that +dictionary of yours recently." +</P> + +<P> +Judith merely shrugged and went on with her breakfast, while Bruce and +Elinor, who had been up unusually early and were already equipped, +discussed Elinor's finished wall-decoration which stood at the far end +of the studio, just visible from the breakfast table. Bruce was much +elated over the progress of his pupil, and prophesied great things for +Elinor in time. He even went so far as to promise that the stained +glass window for which she had made a cartoon should be executed and +put in the little Rockham church. +</P> + +<P> +Altogether they were in a happy frame of mind and life seemed very +satisfactory to them. As they left the town behind and the dimpling, +downy, spring-time country rolled out beyond their flying windows, they +became positively hilarious, intoxicated by sunshine and spring. They +found Greycroft, Hannah Ann and Henry all equally admirable. The +pergola was inspected and found well-composed and attractive, and the +site for Patricia's concrete seat was decided on hopefully. The picnic +luncheon in the big barn, which Hannah Ann served with great delight +while Henry hurried back and forth to the house with warm dishes and +reinforcements of delicious food, was a glorious frolic, and even the +big black clouds that swept suddenly over the luminous sky did not +distress them. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's stay here for a minute or two, and then run up to the house +before it comes," suggested Patricia, with her chin on the half door of +the barn, looking out over the tender landscape and down at the flowers +in the unused barnyard far below. +</P> + +<P> +Hannah Ann and Henry had disappeared with the remains of the feast and +the four were alone in the big solid structure, with hay mows on either +side of their banqueting floor and a smell of dry, sweet herbage in the +air. +</P> + +<P> +Bruce scanned the rushing yellow clouds. +</P> + +<P> +"Better shut the windows there, Miss Pat," he said. "I'll close the +doors and then we'll hustle. It's going to be a stunner when it comes." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia had barely clicked the bolts in the glass upper doors and +heard the heavy clash of the wooden contact as Bruce slid the great +leaves of the big door into place, when with a swish and sweep the +storm broke. +</P> + +<P> +"We can't go now," cried Patricia, throwing her voice above the sound +of the wind, but Bruce and Elinor at the other end of the barn were +apparently absorbed in the spectacle, and did not hear her. Judith +cuddled close and Patricia felt her hands go cold, but she could only +clasp them harder to reassure her—no words could reach her ear. +</P> + +<P> +The wind, driving furiously from the west, flung the clouds before +it—great sullen masses of flying gray vapor that now broke into +drenching torrents, shaking the barn and tearing at the casements. In +a moment the place was dark with its roar and the rumble of coming fury +undertoned the shrill screams of the greedy tempest wind. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia held Judith close, with her own heart beating tumultuously to +the rhythm of the storm. Hard rattling drops castinetted at the glass, +beating an accompaniment to the roar of the racing clouds. For a +moment all was black, then, as the whirling cloud masses swept apart, +the pelting drops lulled and a gray twilight full of ominous murmurs +filled the place. Before Patricia could frame the swift thought that +the storm was passing, darkness swept over them again, and the fierce +scream of the relentless wind tore at the corners of the barn. The +rain beat, deluged, engulfed the out-of-doors; it drummed gayly with +diminishing ferocity; then it roared sullenly, flooding the rain spouts +to bursting; it raged again, with the scream of the wind growing +higher, and snapping branches flung themselves past the gray squares of +the windows, flying leaves pasted wet green blurs on the streaming +glass. Judith shuddered. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Patricia!" she cried in Patricia's ear, but the words died into +the tempest. +</P> + +<P> +The sound of running water outside their shelter gradually forced its +way into the tumult. The road was a yellow waterway; the brook tore +above the limit of its deep banks into a widening saffron river among +the green meadows, which showed in the ghastly light in crude and ugly +colors. +</P> + +<P> +Then, suddenly as it had come, the storm passed, trailing dark, +yellow-gray, ragged clouds in its wake. The light came back and the +awed girls at the little window saw below them in the emerald meadows, +wide ugly yellow splotches that grew as they looked, meeting other +growing patches of swirling yellow water from the lanes and roads. +Trees showed fresh wounds and masses of broken branches clotted the +discolored waters of the brook. Birds called excitedly and flew +exultantly about in the limpid air. The sun flung gay greens and +golds. The storm was past. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia drew a deep breath. +</P> + +<P> +"Look, look!" cried Judith, her eyes alight and her whole slender +little figure relaxed. "Two trees are down!" +</P> + +<P> +Across the road a huge sycamore blocked the way and on the pike a giant +willow had crashed down. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Bruce, the sycamore you painted is gone!" called Patricia, not +turning. "Come and see!" +</P> + +<P> +Elinor came, with the painter following, and as soon as they saw the +work of the storm, Bruce awoke to immediate action. +</P> + +<P> +"You girls tell Henry to come down with the axe and grubbing-hoe," he +commanded briskly. "I'm off." And flinging his coat to Elinor, he +seized a hatchet that was lying in the stairway and started for the +wreckage, while Patricia and Judith flew to fulfill his orders. +</P> + +<P> +The sun shone and the birds sang while the work went on, and far down +the pike they could see other prone trees with busy choppers clearing +limbs and entangling foliage from the highway. A band of men begirt +with axes, cords and other implements passed on their way to the school +house where a big maple blocked the pike. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia was tremendously interested and it was with the greatest +regret that she heard the whistle of the up-train, while the tangle of +the sycamore was still undisturbed in the roadway. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, do let's stay till it's all done," she urged, but Bruce and Elinor +were adamant. +</P> + +<P> +"What does it matter if we do miss the train?" she insisted. "We can +take the early one in the morning. We'll be home almost as soon." +</P> + +<P> +"I've got to pack tonight, young lady," Bruce reminded her. "I'm not +so fortunate as to be coming to Greycroft, you'll remember. It takes +longer to get to Chicago than to Rockham." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that's so," acquiesced Patricia. "I suppose you do have to be +there for that private view of the panels." +</P> + +<P> +"And a fresh suit is advisable, too," added Bruce. "I don't want my +duds to come a week later, as they did in Milwaukee. I'll make sure +this time." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," said Patricia, amiably. "We've had a glorious day anyway, +and we'll soon be back here for keeps. I guess I'm not pig enough to +grumble. Come on, Judy, we've got to go see Hannah Ann's new hat +before we go. I wish she'd left us get it for her. I'm sure it's a +fright." +</P> + +<P> +Judith followed sedately with her head in the air. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to ask Elinor if Hannah Ann and Henry can't come in town +Saturday for the 'housebreaking,'" she said to Patricia as they climbed +the stairs. "I think it would be very nice for them to see all our +friends. They're such <I>urbane dependents</I>." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FAREWELL TO THE STUDIO +</H3> + +<P> +"Did you see the Haldens on the train, Frad?" asked Patricia as she and +David were talking aside by the studio window while Elinor was +welcoming Tom Hughes and Griffin, Margaret Howes and Mr. Spicer, who +had all arrived in a bunch, Tom having lagged behind to get a big sheaf +of roses for Elinor, whom he admired immensely. +</P> + +<P> +"No, we looked for them high and low, but didn't see hide nor hair of +them," he answered, ruffing his hair in a way that distressed Patricia, +who was very proud of his straight, shining locks. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder what keeps them?" she said anxiously. "They'd surely phone +if they were detained or weren't coming. All of Bruce's friends are +here, and Hannah Ann is on pins and needles for fear we'll be delayed +and not get through in time for the four-forty. She was awfully glad +to see you, wasn't she?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yep," replied David, grinning. "I was afraid she'd regard me as an +interloper in the family abode, but she gave me the glad hand in great +shape. I didn't think it was in her to be so hearty. She's taken me +in, all right." +</P> + +<P> +"She had your room all fixed with the best covers, but Elinor persuaded +her to reconsider it," smiled Patricia. "You're going to be as much at +home as any of us, Frad dear, and I'm glad the time will soon be here +for your school to shut up and let you come H-O-M-E, <I>home</I>." +</P> + +<P> +The clock on St. Francis' tower boomed the hour. +</P> + +<P> +"I think we'll have to begin with the feeding," said Bruce, as Miss +Jinny and Mrs. Shelly, gorgeous in their very best raiment, entered +from their bedroom. "Madam, may I have the privilege of escorting you +to the head of the table?" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Shelly made him a pretty little bow. +</P> + +<P> +"I shall be delighted, Mr. Haydon," she said primly, to the great +gratification of Judith, who had previously arranged this incident. +</P> + +<P> +Elinor followed with Mr. Grantly, and Miss Jinny came next with Mr. +Spicer, who was very ceremonial and splendid in new clothes of the +latest pattern. Patricia thought he looked particularly radiant, and +wondered how he could be so glad to say good-bye. She was about to +whisper to Tom Hughes, who was next in the merry jumble that followed +the first three precise couples, when there was a tremendous rapping at +the studio door, and Hannah Ann in her treasured new hat rushed from +Miss Jinny's room, where she had been in ambush, to the besieged portal. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia, Hannah Ann, and the Haldens met on the blue rug, and Patricia +was the first to find her voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, of all people in the world!" she cried delightedly to the +newcomers. "Where <I>did</I> you come from? Why aren't you in Paris? And +where's Mr. Bingham?" +</P> + +<P> +A tall, good-looking man in tweeds was shaking hands heartily with +Hannah Ann, while an esthetically dressed, rather languid young lady in +pastel green was trying to introduce a pretty, smiling blond girl in +black furs whom Patricia easily recognized as the original of the +photograph that had stood on Mr. Lindley's desk at Greycroft, and the +Haldens were explaining how they heard that the Lindleys were in town +and so had come in on an earlier train specially to capture them for +the house-breaking. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia bubbled with enjoyment of the surprise. She kissed Mrs. +Bingham and Mrs. Lindley, too, though she had never laid eyes on her +before, and she came near kissing the tall Mr. Lindley, much to the +edification of the others who had rushed from the sitting-room at the +sound of the outcry. +</P> + +<P> +Griffin and other intimates were introduced to the late Miss Auborn and +the professor, both of whom had starred as boarders in the past summer +at Greycroft when, at Judith's suggestion, the three girls had tried to +retrieve their broken fortunes by means of "paying guests." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Bingham will be along presently," said the late Miss Auborn with +great composure, arranging her draperies with a careful hand. She was +looking remarkably smart and it was evident that the amiable Mr. +Bingham had totally eclipsed Art for her. "We only met the Lindleys by +chance and Ferdinand had some business to transact that could not wait." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia studied her with eager interest. The bride of half a year was +still a bride to her, and the transformation of the limp, bedraggled +art student into this languid, elegant young lady was an affair that +had its beginnings at Greycroft, for it was under that hospitable roof +that Mr. Bingham had first seen Miss Auborn. In the merry Babel of the +studio party Mrs. Bingham held her own with a calm assurance that Miss +Auborn had not possessed, and when Mr. Bingham, pink and smiling as +ever and just a bit more bald, joined them, the air of mild authority +with which she welcomed that gentleman impressed Patricia even more +strongly. +</P> + +<P> +As they went back to the flower-decked sitting-room, Judith edged close +to whisper in her ear. +</P> + +<P> +"I think Miss Jinny has hurt her hand, Miss Pat," she said with +exaggerated anxiety. "She's got her handkerchief wrapped about it. I +hope it isn't badly hurt—she doesn't look as if it were <I>inimical</I>, +does she?" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia made a gesture of amused impatience. "You monkey, you aren't +thinking of Miss Jinny's hand at all. Where did you get that stuffy +word?" +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't stuffy," defended Judith with a flash. "It's a nice, +crackling word, and I got it from Arnold Bennet, if you want to know. +He uses it all the time. And I've got another, too—'inept'—and +that's what you are now, Patricia Kendall. I'm ashamed of your extreme +indifference to the beauties of your own language." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia halted by the chair at a side table where her name card lay. +Her eyes were fastened on Judith with a peculiarly penetrating gaze, +and her firm grasp detained the arm that would have escaped. +</P> + +<P> +"Judith, my child, there's something up, and you'd better confess at +once," she said gravely. "No one will hear you now while we're getting +our places. What is it you're plotting?" +</P> + +<P> +Judith wriggled from her with an expression of injured innocence that +almost satisfied her. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not going to do anything, Miss Pat," she declared with emphasis. +"You can ask Bruce if I'm 'up to' anything, as you call it." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia reluctantly released her and she slipped away to her own table +with Madalon Halden, Tom Hughes, and little Jack Grantly, a nephew of +the sculptor, who had been invited specially for Judith's sake, and who +was promptly set down by that discriminating young person as being much +too young for the high post of companion to her. +</P> + +<P> +Miriam Halden, Mr. Hilton, Griffin, Margaret Howes, Herbert Lester and +David—officially known as Francis Edward, but particularly recognized +by his twin as Frad—all sat at the same rose-decked table with +Patricia, and, as Griffin put it, they made the other tables look "like +thirty cents in pennies." The candle light sparkled on laughing eyes +and white teeth, and ripples of merriment enlivened every mouthful of +the savory dishes that Dufranne's dignified François, aided by the +radiant Henry, served continuously. +</P> + +<P> +Patricia felt sorry for Elinor and Bruce that they should be marooned +among the elder and more serious members of the party, but, as David +pointed out to her in an answering whisper, they seemed uncommonly +satisfied where they were and not at all in need of sympathy. +</P> + +<P> +"We're going to see the decoration—the one Elinor made for the church, +you know," said Patricia to Miriam as they left the festive, disheveled +sitting-room to the rejuvenating hands of Hannah Ann and Henry, and +went with the chatting crowd into the big studio again. "Bruce +wouldn't have the luncheon in here because we couldn't get a good view +of it if the place was cluttered up with tables and things. He's +fearfully proud of it. He says it's as good as lots of regular artists +could do." +</P> + +<P> +"She hasn't been studying long, has she?" asked Miriam, with her eyes +intent on the long blue curtain that screened the decoration from sight. +</P> + +<P> +"Just last summer with Miss Auborn and Bruce, and then three months at +the Academy and with Bruce again," replied Patricia proudly. "Bruce +wouldn't let her stay at the Academy all the time. He thinks it's best +to work like the old masters used to, in the studio of some artist, +doing things right away. He didn't want Elinor's originality to get +barnacles, he said." +</P> + +<P> +Bruce stepped to the space that had been with difficulty kept at the +west side of the studio, and stood before them with his hand raised. +</P> + +<P> +"We asked you today to help us break up housekeeping," he said with his +winning smile; "but I must confess that I for one have deceived you. I +planned to get you all here for a totally different purpose, and I +trust you will approve of my craftiness when you have seen what I have +to show you." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure we will," interposed Tom Hughes in an unexpectedly audible stage +whisper, which greatly confused him, but delighted Patricia and David. +</P> + +<P> +"You all know," Bruce went on, "that I have been trying an experiment +of my favorite theory of art education, but very few of you know how it +has progressed. And it is to show you the result that I have lured you +here today—to crow over some of you, in fact. The canvas I am going +to show you was designed, executed as far as it has gone, entirely by +Miss Elinor Kendall, a student of hardly more than nine months' study. +The subject is the 'Nativity' and it is designed for a chancel in a +small church." +</P> + +<P> +As the curtain was drawn from the long canvas Patricia's eyes were on +the faces of those in whose impressions she was most interested, and +they gave her great satisfaction. Mrs. Bingham's eyes were wide and +startled as those of the small hen who discovers that her ungainly +child is really a white swan. +</P> + +<P> +"She won't be patronizing Elinor after this," thought Patricia with a +chuckle. "And Mr. Grantly has to swallow himself, too. He'll hate to +have to eat humble pie to Bruce after all his din against Bruce's way +of thinking. But they all like it, Mr. Lindley and the Halls and Mr. +Spicer, too. Dear old Norn, how proud I am of you!" +</P> + +<P> +Judith nudged her sharply. "Miss Jinny's got her hand unwrapped and +it's <I>a ring</I>!" she hissed. +</P> + +<P> +But Patricia was too much absorbed to heed. +</P> + +<P> +"Hush!" she cautioned, slipping an absent hand into Judith's quivering +palm. "Bruce is talking. Oh, isn't he <I>dear</I>, to say nice things of +each of us. It's like commencement time, Ju, isn't it? All the good +little girls get prizes, but I wish he wouldn't go back to that +honorable mention of mine. I feel like an impostor." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you needn't," expostulated Judith sagely. "You got it, didn't +you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Y—yes," responded Patricia dubiously. "But I'll never be an artist. +I sort of felt that long ago, but now I'm dead certain of it, and it +seems like a sham to haul out that effort in the face of Elinor's +splendid work." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't feel that way at all—" began Judith, but their murmured +comments halted at Bruce's next words. +</P> + +<P> +"And I am glad to tell you that the youngest of our promising students +has also made good in her own department," he said, with a smile at the +corner where Judith reared her head with sudden pride. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Judith Kent Kendall has just had her first story accepted and +printed in <I>The Girl's Companion</I>." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia gasped, and in the moment's silence that fell she gave the +promising authoress a little shake. +</P> + +<P> +"So that was what you were up to?" she said. "I knew you had something +on your mind, Judy Kendall, you crafty, clever thing. How perfectly +glorious to think you're really in print!" +</P> + +<P> +Judith pulled out of her embrace. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't make a show of me, Miss Pat," she commanded reproachfully. "It +isn't correct to show that you are so delighted." +</P> + +<P> +She turned to receive the congratulations that crowded on her, and +Patricia, with a gay little ripple of amusement, watched the slender +childish figure straighten to its utmost height and assume an air of +grave affability as Judith responded to her ovation. +</P> + +<P> +"That kid is a born actress," said David in her ear. "Look at her, +Miss Pat. Isn't she the picture of an eminent authoress at a club +reception?" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia smiled and opened her lips, but the words died away, as Bruce, +now with a gayety that bespoke a different sort of announcement, +mounted the model stand in the middle of the room, and rapped loudly +for attention. Miss Jinny had vainly tried to grab his sleeve as he +slipped past her and now stood with an expression of grim martyrdom +glaring at Mr. Spicer, who was smiling at her openly and, Patricia +thought, heartlessly. +</P> + +<P> +"I have a postscript to add," smiled Bruce. "Sometimes, as you know, +the postscript is of great importance." +</P> + +<P> +He paused a moment till the silence was perfect and then he said, with +a pretense of reading a notice from a sheet of paper: +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Virginia P. Shelly announces the engagement of her daughter +Virginia E. to Mr. Nathaniel Spicer, late of the Geological Survey——" +</P> + +<P> +He got no further. Miss Jinny, who had won first place in the interest +of the art community as Sinbad and kept it by her own wholesome +goodness, was surrounded and overwhelmed. Patricia was the first to +seize her unwilling hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Now I <I>shall</I> see how an engaged couple behaves!" she cried +triumphantly. "You shan't escape me, mind you, for I'm your very +nearest friend, and I'll be your bridesmaid if you'll let me." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Jinny came to herself with a chuckle. "My gracious, Patricia +Kendall, what are you thinking of!" she exclaimed in growing amazement. +"Are you mad enough to imagine I'm going to behave like a lunatic, just +because I'm taking a new name to myself? Do behave or I'll never speak +to you again!" +</P> + +<P> +"That's the way to squelch her," laughed Griffin, who was pumping the +beaming Mr. Spicer's hand like mad. "She'd be a regular nuisance if +you encouraged her. I'll warn Bottle Green——" +</P> + +<P> +"What, you don't mean to say—" interrupted Margaret Howes. "I heard +that Jeffries took her to the vaudeville show and I thought that was a +tremendous change of heart for nice old Greenie." +</P> + +<P> +"Yep, she's engaged to Jeffries," announced Griffin with great +enjoyment. "Has Elinor heard? Let's go break the news." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia preceded them to the corner where Elinor, rather pale and +agitated, was holding back as Bruce tried to lead her to the model +stand. Patricia thought that Bruce's insistence had something to do +with the decoration, which was half forgotten by most of the company, +and she laid a detaining hand on Elinor's other arm. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you want to make a show of her for, Bruce?" she remonstrated +feelingly. "You can say all you have to say right here, can't you?" +</P> + +<P> +Then her breath caught in her throat and her heart gave a sudden +<I>flop</I>, for, as Elinor raised her left hand there was a flash and +glitter of gems—a new splendid circle of diamonds scintillated on +Elinor's third finger. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Norn," she gasped, dropping her hand and searching Elinor's +flushing face with questioning eyes. "You too?" +</P> + +<P> +Elinor nodded mutely and clasped Patricia's two hands in her own. +Bruce took Patricia's other hand in his strong, warm grasp and the +three stood for a silent second as much apart from the gay, noisy scene +as though a curtain had dropped between them. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm awfully glad," said Patricia, recovering herself first and +beginning to realize the joyfulness of the astounding news. "Let me +tell them, will you?" +</P> + +<P> +It was not until all the guests had gone, and David and his friends had +taken their reluctant leave with fervid promises of speedy reunion at +Greycroft, and the packers had disappeared with the big canvas and the +cartoons [Transcriber's note: cartons?], and Hannah Ann and Henry had +reduced everything to a state of perfection that even the most critical +Symons in the world could not cavil at, and Bruce had said his last +farewells and was on the blue rug at the studio door with his hand on +the knob to usher them out, that Patricia found utterance for her +seething thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +"I may be a believer in votes for women," she said solemnly, clasping +her vanity case so hard that she unconsciously shattered its clasp. "I +may be a yellow suffragist, as Judy calls me, but I must say, men can +make things mighty comfortable for you." +</P> + +<P> +There was a shout of amazed laughter, but Patricia persisted: +</P> + +<P> +"Look at us last fall before we discovered David; look at us now; look +at Miss Jinny; look at Elinor's canvas—which she couldn't have dreamed +of doing if Miss Auborn had been chaperoning her! I tell you, men have +ways of doing things that hit <I>the spot</I>, and I think it's a shame they +don't get the credit for it." +</P> + +<P> +Bruce cocked his head mischievously at her. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you going to promulgate that doctrine at the Suffrage League?" he +asked, beginning to turn the knob. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I am—if I ever go there," returned Patricia with great spirit. +"But I shan't have time for a long while. I'm going to raise chickens +with Miriam Halden this summer, and I've got to start in right away +with the plans for the houses and yards." +</P> + +<P> +Bruce flung the door wide. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we're turning another page of our lives," he said with a +backward glance at the rooms where they had been so busy and so happy. +"Who can say what will be written there?" +</P> + +<P> +Judith shrugged uneasily. +</P> + +<P> +"That gives me the creeps," she remonstrated. "I don't like it. It +sounds like funerals and ghosts——" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia broke in on her dismal forebodings with a rippling, silvery +laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"It sounds like wedding bells to me!" she cried, gayly. "You and I +don't hear alike, Ju. It sounds like wedding bells, and commencement +essays, and checks for stories, and—and—and——" +</P> + +<P> +"What, else?" demanded Judith, whose color had been rising at the +alluring forecast. Patricia made a despairing little gesture. "I +can't think of anything that will fit poor me," she confessed with mock +dejection. "I'm so everlastingly commonplace that I don't sound at +all." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, you do, too!" cried Judith ardently, flinging out a masterpiece. +"You sound like a <I>syncopated opera</I>; doesn't she, Bruce?" +</P> + +<P> +Patricia started as the grotesque words sank deep. +</P> + +<P> +"You just wait till <I>I</I> try my real wings," she said with a queer +little catch in her throat. "I've forgotten all about my dear music in +these three riotous months, but I'll soon be ready to begin again." +</P> + +<P> +"Is your laurel wreath on good and tight, Judy?" asked Bruce with a +twinkle. "I'm going to beg Elinor to have hers tied on with nice +little blue ribbons. Miss Pat is on the rampage for fame, and it isn't +safe to take chances." +</P> + +<P> +Patricia underwent a swift change as she lifted her shining eyes to +Bruce's laughing face. +</P> + +<P> +"Pooh, I'm not a bit dangerous and you know it, Bruce Haydon," she said +with returning gayety. "I'm the family grub, and Judy and Elinor are +the splendid butterflies." She paused with a merry gurgle. "I'm going +to raise chickens for these two glittering geniuses. Greycroft shall +be my field of conquest and the white plume that leads to victory will +be an Orpington. Lead on!" +</P> + +<P> +The door clicked behind them and they set their faces to the sunset, +and Greycroft, and home. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> +<hr class="full" noshade> + +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISS PAT AT SCHOOL***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 22995-h.txt or 22995-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/9/9/22995">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/9/9/22995</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Miss Pat at School + + +Author: Pemberton Ginther + + + +Release Date: October 16, 2007 [eBook #22995] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISS PAT AT SCHOOL*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 22995-h.htm or 22995-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/9/9/22995/22995-h/22995-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/9/9/22995/22995-h.zip) + + + + + +MISS PAT AT SCHOOL + +by + +PEMBERTON GINTHER + +Frontispiece by the Author + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: PATRICIA TOILED ALL AFTERNOON WITH THE ARDOR OF +IGNORANCE AND HOPE.] + + + +Philadelphia +The John C. Winston Company +Publishers + +Copyright, 1915, by +The John C. Winston Company. + + + + +TO NANCY + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. THE TWO NEW STUDENTS + II. GETTING ACQUAINTED + III. ANTICIPATION + IV. THE INITIATIONS + V. THE GHOST DANCE + VI. AFTERMATH + VII. DAVID'S TREAT + VIII. SMOOTH WATERS + IX. THE ACADEMY BALL + X. THE PRIZE DESIGNS + XI. THE LITTLE RIFT + XII. JUDITH'S DISCOVERY + XIII. RESTITUTION + XIV. NEW QUARTERS AND OLD FRIENDS + XV. AFTERNOON TEA + XVI. APRIL SHOWERS + XVII. FAREWELL TO THE STUDIO + + + + +Miss Pat at School + + +CHAPTER I + +THE TWO NEW STUDENTS + +"Isn't it jolly--to be here in a real Academy of Fine Arts, just like +all the famous artists when they were young and unknown? Doesn't it +make you feel all excited and quivery, Norn?" asked Patricia, as she +fitted her key into the narrow gray locker with an air of huge +enjoyment. "I don't see how you can look so cool. You are as calm and +refrigerated as a piece of the North Pole." + +Elinor smiled and her shining eyes traveled down the wide dim corridor +with its rows of battered gray lockers, past the confusion of chairs +and easels that clustered around the big screen of the composition +room, straight into the farthest nook of the great bare work rooms +beyond, where an array of heroic-sized white casts loomed conspicuous +in the cold north light above the clutter of easels, stools and +drawing-boards that encompassed the silent, intent workers. + +"I'm not half so calm as I look, Miss Pat," she said, seriously. "I'm +more excited than I ever was in my life. It's too deep to come to the +surface, I guess. I haven't any words for it." + +Patricia nodded approval. + +"That's your 'sensitive, artistic temperament,' as Mrs. Hand calls it. +It must be awfully trying, though, not to be able to babble when you're +pleased. It's such a relief to get it out of your system. I'd simply +burst if I tried to keep quiet when I felt excited." + +Elinor smiled absently, and then burst out fervently, "Isn't it all +gloriously workmanlike--the bare walls and smudged doors and the painty +smell, too? It's so serious. Outside, the people regard a picture as +a mere luxury, but in here, _here_," she said, exultantly, "it is +absolutely the necessary thing in life." + +Patricia shut her door with a snap and turned to her sister with a +glowing face, sweeping her stray tendrils back with an eager gesture. + +"I know it!" she cried. "It makes even me feel as though I could turn +off masterpieces _instanter_. Merely to look at those lumps of clay in +the modeling room made me simply _ache_ to get my hands into them. I +was enchanted the moment I came in here with you this morning, never +dreaming that I should be so lucky as to be one of the illustrious band +myself. You're a perfect duck, Norn, to let me tag along after you +here." + +"You might as well do that as anything else," said Elinor, rather +absently. "The best of it is that we shall be together. It will be +such fun to see how we each get along." + +"'We!'" echoed Patricia. "You mean how _you_ get along. I shan't +count at all. I may have to give up when I actually get at it." Then +with a swift change of spirit she added: "All the same, if I couldn't +do better than some of those smudgy celebrities in the modeling room +were doing, I'd feel pretty sorry for myself. Such forlorn, lop-sided +caricatures of human beings I never saw. I don't see how they can do +them." + +Elinor's soft laugh rippled out. "It's clear that you haven't tried to +do it, or you'd see how easy it is to make caricatures instead of +portraits," she said. "I didn't think they were so very bad." + +"I'd be ashamed to have anyone see them if I'd done them," declared +Patricia, unconvinced. "They seemed quite cocky over them, poor +idiots. I hope some of them do better than that, or I shan't learn +much." + +"It would be wonderful if you did make a success of it," said Elinor, +beginning to put her newly acquired implements into her locker. "How +surprised Bruce will be that you are studying here, too." + +"Don't tell him, for the world!" cried Patricia, her brow wrinkling at +the thought of that noted artist's surprise. "I shouldn't have dared +to take the course if he was ever to see anything I did! I'm only +going into it for fun, and I shouldn't have dreamed of doing it if it +hadn't been the cheapest course in the whole school. You know I +shouldn't have, Elinor dear, so please don't tell." + +Elinor gave her a reassuring squeeze. "Don't be afraid, Miss Pat. I +won't give away your dark secrets to anyone till you want me to. +You'll tell David, won't you?" + +Patricia pondered a moment. "I don't believe I'll tell anyone until I +see what I can do," she decided. "I'd love to surprise Francis Edward +David Carson Kendall, otherwise known as Frad, but I'll wait till I +know whether it is to be the sort of surprise he'd welcome before I +spring it on him. He wouldn't appreciate a hideous fizzle, like some +of those we saw, and I'd hate to inflict a newly discovered twin +brother with anything of that sort myself." + +"I don't believe Fra--David would be very critical; he's so good +natured," said Elinor. "Isn't it hard to get used to him as our +brother, after knowing him as David Carson for a whole summer? I can't +ever feel sure of what is his right name now. We knew him as David +Carson for so long, and now that he wants to be called by his real +name, I simply get more twisted all the time." + +"That's why I call him Frad," said Patricia, with a twinkle. "Combines +the whole and is entirely original, and so suited to his situation. I +don't think he ought to drop all the Carson name, particularly while +we're all living comfortably on the Carson money. It seems sort of +ungrateful to me." + +"But you know Mrs. Carson always wanted him to take his own name if he +ever found it," said Elinor, closing her locker and dropping the key +into her bag. + +"Well, he's dear with any name, and I'm glad Judy discovered him when +she did, money or no money," said Patricia seriously. "He was so +disappointed when Madam Blitz said my voice needed another year to grow +in, that I'm awfully glad I've hit on something to do that will fill in +the time, and keep me learning. That's really the great thing, isn't +it, after all?" + +As she spoke a gong sounded from beyond the closed door of a nearby +class room; there was sound of movement and subdued voices, then the +door swung grudgingly and a number of students of various ages with +smudged hands and soiled aprons came straggling out into the dim +corridor, laden with canvases and drawings to be stowed in the long +line of lockers that stretched on either side of the hallway. + +Elinor looked at them with a little quick sigh of excited envy. + +"They are all so used to it," she said, with a note of humility in her +sweet voice. "They make me feel so _green_!" + +"Poof! You needn't care," said Patricia, breezily. "If Bruce Haydon +says you can draw, you shouldn't mind a lot of sloppy students. Wait +till you've been here a month--you'll be rearing your crest as high as +any." + +Elinor shook her head. "To tell the truth, Miss Pat dear, I almost +wish Bruce hadn't gotten me into the life and portrait classes without +the regular term in the antique rooms. I shouldn't feel half so +shivery about going in there and drawing from those big casts, for I +know they are all more or less beginners there." + +"Stuff!" protested Patricia stoutly. "You know you've been simply +crazy to get here. Why spoil it all by _squibbling_? I think it's +perfectly gorgeous. I'm wild to begin myself, and I'm about as green +as any old shamrock. Besides, it's a mighty poor way to show your +gratitude to Bruce for putting you right slap into the highest classes +without slaving your life out for years, perhaps. I'll tell him----" + +"Indeed, you'll do no such thing!" cried Elinor, the color rushing to +her cheeks and her authority as eldest sister asserting itself +promptly. "I don't intend that Bruce shall hear a word until I've had +my first good criticism." + +Patricia smiled to herself at the effect of her ruse. "All right. +I'll be good," she promised. "Now, to come down to earth again--where +are we going to feed? I wish we could find the lunch room. It would +be such fun to look our future classmates over while we browse." + +"I think it's in the basement," said Elinor dubiously, "but I don't +believe we can buy things there. We'd have to go out, anyway, I'm +afraid." + +A blue-aproned girl who had been packing her materials in an adjoining +locker turned civilly. + +"Are you speaking about the lunch room?" she asked in a pleasant +contralto voice. "I can show you where it is, but you'll have to bring +your lunch with you. There are gas stoves to cook on in the back room, +and tables and chairs in the front one, if you're not too late to get a +place." + +Elinor thanked her cordially, while Patricia almost dislocated her neck +trying to get a glimpse of the big canvas that protruded from the +locker while still keeping far enough behind Elinor for her curiosity +to pass unnoticed. + +"It is down a little iron stairway behind that screen," said the girl, +tucking a paper parcel into the capacious pocket of her blue jean paint +dress, "and it's only for girls. The men have one on the other side of +the building. Come down as soon as you can, for it's fearfully crowded +later on." + +Patricia watched her disappear behind the big screen of the composition +room, and then she turned excitedly to Elinor. + +"Isn't she nice?" she asked admiringly. "She's so cock-sure of herself +and so calm about it. I like the way her eyebrows meet over her +haughty nose, and that superior kink in her nice, crinkly lips. I know +she's going to be worth while when we know her." + +"For goodness' sake, don't be jumping into admirations wholesale, Miss +Pat, darling," said Elinor, gently pulling Patricia's arm through hers +as they passed into the narrow entrance to the dressing room. "Don't +rush at it so, ducky. You can't know the right people at once, and it +saves a lot of bother not to get too familiar with the wrong ones." + +"Just as you say, Miss Solomon," rippled Patricia, too happy to be +depressed by anything. "I'll be as frigid as you like, and if any of +these frivolous young things try to scrape an acquaintance with me, +I'll snub them good and hard." + +She lowered her voice as two newcomers entered--one a slender, faded +young woman with near-sighted pale eyes, and the other a blond girl +with a dazzling skin and glorious shimmering hair wound around a +shapely head. Both were in aprons, but the younger wore a dull green +that set off her fair beauty to perfection, while the checked gingham +of the other proclaimed a hopelessly downright taste. + +Patricia, at the mirror, paused in the act of pinning on her hat, her +eyes riveted on the vision in dull green. + +"Isn't she lovely?" she demanded in a thrilling whisper of Elinor, who +had slipped into her things and was already at the door. + +The girl unmistakably caught the words, for she turned a brilliant, +measuring, half-approving look on her while she slowly began to divest +herself of the alluring green apron. She was so evidently used to +admiration that her smooth cheek showed no change of color, though the +panic red of swift confusion flamed on Patricia's bright face. + +Pinning on her hat hastily, she fled after Elinor, feeling that she +must seem most inexperienced and childish in the eyes of this +fascinating creature who at once had eclipsed all previous claimants to +her admiration. + +"I wonder if she is in the modeling class?" she said as she caught up +with Elinor in the composition room. "I don't suppose there's any such +luck as that. She looks too clean----" + +Elinor interrupted her with a little shake. "You hopeless little +goose," she said, in laughing despair. "You've just promised me not +to, and here you are it, hammer and tongs, under my very eyes." + +"My word!" cried Patricia indignantly. "You don't mean I'm not to look +at anyone! I can't even express a little tame approval without your +accusing me of grabbing a new soul mate. You can't say she isn't +simply ravishing, and just because she's alive instead of being a +picture or statue or some such _made-up_ thing, you want me to turn up +my nose at her. I must say you are getting to be awfully extreme, +Elinor Kendall. You'll want me to wear a muzzle next." + +Elinor gave her a loving look, and Patricia, appropriating a corner of +her big muff, gave her hand a surreptitious squeeze. + +"I wish I could kiss you, you old angel," she said, irrelevantly. +"Let's lay in our pemmican, and hustle back for a seat in the parquet +circle. I'm dying to look them over and see who's who and what's what +before I make any more breaks." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +GETTING ACQUAINTED + +"Why, it's like a laundry," exclaimed Patricia in disappointment as she +looked about her. The low-ceiled whitewashed apartment into which they +had descended from the winding iron stair was sepulchrally bare and +empty in the flicker of its noisy gas jets, the rusty gas stoves at its +farther end emphasizing its general air of desolation. + +Elinor glanced beyond, through the low doorway to the next room. + +"Suppose we do without hot things today?" she proposed. "The tables +look pretty full in there. We mightn't get a place if we delay too +long." + +"Suits me to a gnat's heel," declared Patricia eagerly. "Food is a +secondary article, anyway, when it comes to character study. I'm not +so keen on cookery since I sighted this tasteful apartment." + +She followed Elinor into the larger room where a feeble daylight, +filtering in through heavily grated basement windows, struggled with +the flaring gas jets, and the odor of cocoa and bread and butter +mingled with sachet and the fumes of turpentine and paint. + +Elinor made her way over the mottled stone floor with as easy a grace +as though it were a flowery turf, but Patricia, not so well schooled in +concealing her feelings, made a wry mouth. + +"If this is where the celebrities eat, I don't wonder they're smudgy," +she said in an undertone, as they seated themselves at the last vacant +table and spread their purchases on its discolored surface. "This +doesn't strike me as being very appetizing." + +"It's clean, anyway, Miss Pat," said Elinor, whose practiced eyes had +been busy. "It looks soiled because the table-tops are old marble and +the floor is mottled cement, but it is really clean, though I can't +honestly say it is attractive on first sight." + +"One gets used to anything in time," said Patricia airily. "You +remember how Sally Lukes missed the doing of those five weekly washes +after Johnny got prosperous enough to keep her in comfort. I reckon +we'll be just like that after a while--can't eat without smudges on the +table and paint-splotches on the dining-room walls." + +Her eyes strayed about, resting on one group after another till they +lighted with sudden interest. + +"There she is," she said ardently. "You can't deny, Elinor, that she's +terribly good to look at. Why, the very way she manipulates that +frilly napkin reconciles me to my food. I declare I'm twice as hungry +as I was before." + +The girl certainly did make a charming and refreshing picture in her +pretty gown, and with a dainty lunch covering the objectionable table. +Opposite to her sat the drab young woman, silently eating while she +read hurriedly from a technical magazine. The contrast between the two +was so great that it made Elinor wonder. + +"She must be unselfish and agreeable," she said, forgetting her +momentary prejudice, "particularly when the other doesn't seem to +appreciate her society very highly. I fancy that one isn't very +diverting. I wonder why they are such chums." + +"Relatives, perhaps," hazarded Patricia, reveling in Elinor's +conversion. "I hope we get to know her soon, don't you, Norn? She +must be awfully popular. See how they all turn when she passes. I'm +sorry she's going, though, for I could simply feast my eyes on her for +hours." + +Their new acquaintance of the corridor stopped at their table as she, +too, made her way out. + +"I am going into the portrait class when I go up," she said, her +dark-fringed eyes smiling frankly down on Elinor. "They tell me you +are going to take your first plunge this afternoon. I'll be glad to +show you about if you need any chaperoning." + +Elinor's eyes met hers gratefully. "I'll be so glad to have you tell +me what I should do," she said with relief and instant friendliness in +her soft voice. "I'm just a beginner, you know. I've never been in a +class in my life and I'm rather scared about it." + +The lips that Patricia had designated as "nice and crinkly" widened in +a bright smile that held no hint of hauteur. + +"I'll be about in the corridor when you come up," she promised. "You +don't need to feel that way about it. It's the simplest thing in the +world--after you once get settled. You're in great luck to get into +life and head classes without ever having gone to school before. I +fancy you are a very special brand of genius to have such privileges." + +Elinor blushed and shook her head. + +"I studied with Bruce Haydon last summer," she said. "He got me in +here." + +"O--oh," responded the girl, her face suddenly alight. "That is +splendid. You know he's the most severe critic we have, but we all +adore his work." Then she added as an afterthought: "He's tremendously +popular with the men. He studied here, you know." + +Patricia opened her eyes wide. "Why, Bruce is the most amiable sort," +she protested. "He'll simply eat out of your hand up at home. I +didn't know he ever criticized here," she ended, rather suspiciously. + +Elinor's new friend smiled good-naturedly. "He only drops in once in a +while," she said. "He was here pretty often last month, but he hadn't +been here before that for nearly four years, they said. He's abroad +now, isn't he?" + +Elinor told her that Bruce was in Italy, getting his studies for the +Francais Society's panel of early Italian history. + +"It must be jolly to know him out of the limelight," said the girl, +seriously. "The girls were so crazy over him here that there wasn't a +chance for a rational word with him, unless one were a man. He simply +evaporated when he saw an apron." + +Patricia laughed. "He's not so retiring in private," she declared, +gayly. "He was one of our happy family for three months last summer +and we never noticed any shyness; did we, Norn?" + +Elinor reared her head with dignity. "He was very kind and friendly to +us," she explained to their companion, "because he had been very much +devoted to my aunt, who left us the house where we now live. He had no +mother and Aunt Louise was very fond of him." + +"Well, you're awfully in luck, however it is," replied the girl. "I'll +see you in about fifteen minutes," and she nodded as she moved off, her +dark hair gleaming in the mingled lights as she carried her small fine +head proudly on her slender neck. + +Patricia was about to make a comment when she suddenly turned and came +back to them. + +"I forgot to tell you my name," she said, holding out a strong, slender +hand. "I am Margaret Howes, and I know you are Elinor Kendall, for I +saw it on your locker. I don't know your sister's name--she _is_ your +sister, isn't she?" + +Patricia was introduced, and Margaret Howes, with promises to meet them +later, went off finally, and Patricia and Elinor set to work to dispose +of their neglected lunch, enjoying their own comments on the assembled +groups more than they did the cakes and fruit. + +"Just look at that mournful creature." Patricia motioned with her +eyebrows to the opposite side of the room, where a large, stout young +woman in somber cloak and wide-plumed hat was eating her way through a +chocolate eclair with just such an air of tragic and settled melancholy +as one sometimes sees in a child whose grief is momentarily its most +cherished possession. + +"Isn't she the limit?" said Patricia in disdain. "She oughtn't to eat +frivolous things like eclairs. I wonder at her lack of judgment." + +"She isn't in mourning," said Elinor, making a discovery. "I wonder +who she is. She's impressive enough to be the president of the board, +and Bruce says that's the most important person in the place." + +"She's rather too _collap-y_ for my taste," volunteered Patricia, +gathering up the remains of their repast. "I like the looks of lots of +the others far better than hers. Let's ask Miss Margaret Howes about +her. No doubt she can tell us what is her secret trouble." + +They followed the general exodus upstairs, feeling more and more at +home with every step. + +"Isn't it funny how familiar that antique room looks?" said Patricia +with enjoyment. "I feel quite like an old residenter already. By the +time my clay comes I'll have the sensations of the oldest inhabitant." + +Elinor was breathing fast as she swept the corridor with anxious glance. + +"I hope Miss Howes doesn't forget," she said apprehensively. "I'd so +much rather go into the class with her." + +A girl sauntered past them as they loitered before their lockers. + +"Looking for anyone?" she asked briskly, and hardly waiting for the +answer, she raised her voice and called through the door of the next +room: + +"Hello, Howes! Here's someone looking for you!" + +Patricia expected Margaret Howes as she emerged to show some surprise +or annoyance at this summary mode of speech, but she was as serene and +unconscious as ever. + +"I'm busy, Griffin," she began, and then broke off as she saw the +girls. "Oh, here you are," she said to Elinor. "I was looking for you +in the modeling room." + +The newcomer raised her pale eyebrows. "Absent-minded as ever, I see, +Howes," she said with a whimsical sort of fondness in her peculiar +voice. "Better run off to the head class before you forget where +you're due." + +She watched Margaret Howes and Elinor till they turned into the +screened entrance to the portrait room; then she turned to Patricia +with easy friendliness. + +"You're fresh meat, aren't you?" she asked with a grin that widened her +full mouth to a line. "When'd you come?" + +Patricia gave her the brief outlines of her enrolment, and she nodded +approvingly. + +"Good stuff in the modeling room," she commented briskly. "But don't +let old Bottle Green bulldoze you into thinking it's a deaf and dumb +asylum or the vestibule to the morgue or any such sequestered spot. +She's deadly dull, you know, and she almost faints if you whisper while +the model is posing. She's monitor and I will say she enjoys the job." + +"What does she do?" asked Patricia, delighted with the ease and candor +of this speech. She felt sure this rickety, loose-jointed, +pale-colored young woman was going to be worth while. + +"As monitor, you mean?" responded the other, opening a locker near by +and beginning to assemble her implements from a jumble of all sorts of +odds and ends with which the locker was overflowing. "As merely +monitor she sees that the models are posed, gets the numbers ready for +us to draw when there is a new model, sees to it that we don't riot too +loudly through the pose, takes any complaints we may have to make, to +the powers above. But as guardian angel of the class, she soars far +above our low conception of duty and propriety. Phew! Wait till you +see her at it." Here her speech was lost while she delved head first +into the welter. + +Patricia occupied herself getting her tools from the convenient shelf +on her own locker, hoping that the talk was not to end there. + +Griffin emerged as suddenly as she had disappeared. "But it's the men +that spoil her," she went on as though no interruption had occurred. +"They're polite to her because she's so everlastingly gloomy. Same +sort of politeness they'd show to a hearse, you know--respectful but +not companionable." + +Patricia gave an exclamation. "I believe I've seen her!" she cried. +"She wears a long cloak and a hat with a big black plume, doesn't she? +We noticed her at lunch and wondered what was the matter with her." + +"Just a case of permanent glooms, if you ask me," replied Griffin +airily. "She loves melancholy, though she is an awfully good sort, +too. She gets on my nerves, though, she's so _brittle_." + +Patricia puckered her brow inquiringly. + +"Breaks a bone every time anyone looks hard at her," explained the +other, shoving the protruding conglomeration of her locker inside and +snapping the door quickly on it. "She's more bones than the average, +and she breaks them regularly every time she learns the name of a new +one. I think she oughtn't to be allowed in the dissecting room for any +consideration. She's just out of splints now for a right arm fracture, +and, believe me, she worked all the time with her left." + +"How could she?" wondered Patricia, feeling awed by this devotion to +art. + +"She couldn't," grinned Griffin. "That's the point. She's so taken up +with her pose as suffering martyr that she overlooks a trifle like good +work. Heavens, there's the gong! I've kept you here gassing when I +know you're crazy to get to work. Come along in, and I'll help you set +up your stand before the model poses again." + +Patricia followed her into the big, clay-soiled, dusty room, clutching +her new smooth wooden tools with nervous fingers. + +On the large revolving model stand in the center sat a dark, slender +Russian-looking young man, indifferent to the group that with their +tall-wheeled stands were circled about him. He sat with his narrow +blue eyes sleepily fixed on the wall, regardless alike of the sturdy +smocked men and slender boys in full blue-paint jackets, as of the +equally silent and clayey girls and women that scrutinized him with +earnestly squinting eyelids. The only creature in the room that seemed +to evoke the slightest responsive flicker of intelligence was the +black-robed, gray-aproned, redundant figure of the monitor. + +Patricia's stand, with its heavy curved iron head-piece and some +lengths of copper and lead wire, was waiting for her in the clay room, +and together they wheeled it into the modeling room, where the gloomy +Miss Green scanned them with kind but somber eyes, plainly regarding +their entrance as an interruption. + +"You've got to make butterflies of the wire-loops, you know, to hold +the clay up, or it'll slump down off the iron headpiece soon as you get +your head set up," explained her instructor in an agreeable tone. +"It's easier to set up a head than a figure, I can tell you----" + +"_Miss Griffin!_" came the dreary voice of the monitor, as with a fat +and dimpled finger she pointed solemnly to the sign on the door, "No +TALKING." + +Griffin grinned amiably at the reproving finger. "Only the necessary +instructions to a novice, Green dear," she protested smoothly. "I'm +saving you the trouble of showing her how. You really ought to thank +me instead of holding me up to scorn." + +Miss Green, with a kindly glance at Patricia, puckered up her lips in +the circle that only fat, soft-fleshed people can accomplish and laid +the impartial finger on them as a sign that no more words were to be +wasted, and the class, temporarily attentive to the newcomers, became +absorbed again. + +A heavy-shouldered dark man, whose workmanlike appearance was +heightened by the torn and spotted linen apron he wore, came quietly +over to Patricia, and, taking the wire from Miss Griffin's thin, +nervous hands, silently and swiftly finished the work she had begun, +while she, with a nod of acquiescence, went to her own stand and began +to thump lumps of clay into shape about her own iron head-piece. + +Patricia accepted the help as silently as it was offered, and when he +brought her clay and, still mute, showed her how to block the rough +clay into a semblance of a human head, she smiled at him with ready +gratitude, not daring more for fear of the omnipotent Miss Green. + +"How do you like it now?" asked Griffin, as the gong released them for +the rest, and they slipped out in the corridor to look for Elinor. + +"Perfectly fine and dandy!" cried Patricia, glowing. "My word, but +that Miss Green is severe! I never _heard_ such silence as in that +room. Why, an ordinary schoolroom is a perfect Babel compared to it." + +"You'll get used to old Bottle Green, all right," said Griffin +reassuringly. "Her bark is a whole lot worse than her bite. She's a +trump at heart, though she _is_ awful fool on the outside." + +Elinor was waiting for them, and Patricia could see that she was in a +state of great agitation. She hurried to her, while her companion +dropped behind to exchange notes with one of the men from the +composition room. + +"What is it, Norn? Didn't you get along all right?" she asked +breathlessly. + +Elinor dropped on a stool and raised her face to her sister, and +Patricia was surprised to see that her eyes were shining with joy +instead of tears. + +"Oh, Miss Pat!" she cried in an ecstasy. "I've made good, and I can +write to Bruce and tell him!" + +"What, already?" exclaimed Patricia rapturously. "You _duck_! Tell me +all about it instantly." + +She swept Elinor off the stool, away from the crowded dressing room, +and at last found a deserted corner behind a big cast. + +"Now," she demanded, "tell me all about it, or I'll simply die of +ingrowing curiosity." + +Elinor rippled and dimpled in a surprisingly sparkling fashion as she +recounted her experience in the portrait room, and Patricia, while she +listened, marveled at the change in her placid sister. + +"And so," concluded Elinor, "when I had just gotten ready to come out +to see you, some more of them came over and looked at it. And one of +them said, 'Dorset's right. It's a pace-maker all correct,' and then +they brought some other men, and I left." + +Patricia, greatly excited, patted her hard on the shoulder. "I told +you you'd be a winner," she crowed. "I guess Bruce knew what he was +talking about." + +Elinor's face clouded. "But I have only started the outline," she +confessed. "And I'm awfully weak on putting in the tones. I'm afraid +I'll make a fizzle of it." + +"See here," said Patricia, facing her severely. "I'm tired of your +deceptive timidity. Just let someone else say you can't do it, and +you'd feel mighty mad about it, but you're willing to scare me out of +my feeble senses by croaking." + +Elinor jumped up laughing, and hugged her. "I'll be as conceited as +you like, if you'll stop scolding," she promised, gayly. "It doesn't +look well to be too much under the thumb of a younger sister, even if +she is a promising sculptor. By the way, how are _you_ getting on? I +hear that Miss Griffin is a wonderful worker. Did you see anything of +her work?" + +Patricia gave her a brief outline of the class and its chief +characters, as far as she had observed, dwelling on Miss Green with +great satisfaction. + +"I know she's going to be a treat," she declared. "I hope she keeps +whole for a while at least, until I get better acquainted." + +"And do you know," she went on, "that the model is a Russian refugee, +and he tried to kill himself because he was so homesick. He's just out +of the hospital, and he has a great red scar across his breast. Isn't +it exciting to be among such different sort of people? We've always +been so sort of tabbified." + +"We've had enough ups and downs, I am sure," said Elinor vaguely. It +was evident that her mind was not on either their varied past nor even +the fascinating present, but was busy with a future of progress and +achievement. + +"Wake up, old lady," cried Patricia. "There's the gong, and we must +fly." + +Patricia toiled all that afternoon with the ardor of ignorance and +hope. The others looked at her with occasional interest, but otherwise +paid little attention to her. In the rests she went out to visit +Elinor, or Elinor came in to watch her progress. Her head fairly swam +with the delightful novelty of this new and quick-flowing life. When +the last gong rang she heard it with regret. + +"It's better than I ever dreamed," she said to the amiable Griffin as +she was showing her how to put the wet cloths about her work. "It's +not half so hard as I thought it would be, either." + +"Wait till Saturday, when old Jonesy lights on you," warned her new +friend. "You won't find life so lightsome when his eagle eye discovers +you." + +"Pooh, I shan't mind how criss-cross he is," declared Patricia +valiantly. "I'm only the rankest greenhorn, anyway. He can't expect +me to be a Rodin." + +She washed her tools in the grimy tanks of the clay room, more in love +with it every minute, and when she joined Elinor at their lockers, she +was fairly bursting with enthusiasm. + +"It's simply heavenly, and I don't know how we got along without it!" +she cried, rapturously. "It makes me wild to think of the _months_ +we've wasted this fall." + +Elinor laughed her low ripple. "We didn't find Francis Edward David +till the middle of December, and it's now the third week in January. I +don't think we've let much grass grow under our feet." + +"I wish this were the night for night life," said Patricia fervently. +"I'd stay and watch you begin----" + +"No, you wouldn't," said Elinor, promptly. "They don't allow other +people in the life-class rooms. You'd have to go home and see that +Judith was all right. We can't leave her too much to her own devices, +even if she is the best little thing in the world." + +"Bless her heart!" cried Patricia, with a laugh. "I'd clean forgot +that I had any relatives in the world. It's a good thing I have you to +keep me straight, Norn. Mercy, what a jam! I don't believe we'll ever +get a place at the wash-stands." + +The dressing room was crowded to its limit, paint brushes were being +washed and stained hands scrubbed at the line of faucets that occupied +two sides of the room; girls were hurrying into their street clothes, +while others, coming in for the night life, were getting into aprons +and paint dresses; some few who were staying for the night life were +curled up on the wide couches, exchanging comments with their friends +among the hurrying crowd while they refreshed themselves with crackers +or cakes. + +Patricia, with her cheeks glowing and twin lights dancing in her big +eyes, loitered so over her dressing that they were among the last to +leave. + +"I hate to go, don't you?" she said, as they came out into the +corridor, which was dimmer than ever in the sparsely lit twilight. "I +love-- Oh, how you made me jump!" she cried, starting back as a figure +stepped from the alcove by the street entrance. + +The girl, who was unknown to them both, addressed them impartially. + +"The Committee on Initiation hereby notify you that your initiation +will take place on Friday of this week, and you are instructed to +produce the usual initiation fee, or answer to the committee for the +failure." + +Patricia gasped. "My word!" she cried. "They don't postpone things +much around here, do they? What is the fee?" + +"Three pounds of candy for the modeling and composition class, four for +the head and illustration class, and five for the life," was the prompt +response. + +Patricia giggled. "You're in for it, Norn. You have to pony up for +the head and the night life, too. I'm in luck to be in the mudpie +department." + +"What is the initiation itself?" asked Elinor, as the girl turned away. + +"You'll find out when it happens," she replied, over her shoulder. +"They never know themselves till the last moment. The day classes are +tame--just a speech when you turn in your candy or some such mild +diversion, but the night life is more sporting, and they may put you +through a course of sprouts, but they're good-natured idiots on the +whole. None of us are as outrageous as we seem." + +Elinor looked after her thoughtfully. + +"I hope they won't be too hard on me," she said slowly. "I'd be sorry +to begin my term with anything that left the least bitter taste. +Everything here is so free-spirited and high-minded that I want it to +keep on being so for me always." + +Patricia's eyes narrowed. "I believe I'll make my candy up in as +attractive a way as I possibly can, and I'll spring it on them first +thing, so they'll be in too good a humor to want to haze me very hard. +Don't you think that might work for you, too?" + +"Indeed I do," replied Elinor, heartily. "I'm getting an idea already, +and if I can put it through, I don't believe the committee will have so +much fun with me as they may think." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +ANTICIPATION + +"What a pack of mail," said Judith. + +It was Friday morning, and the three girls were the last in the +dining-room. The sun was slanting brightly in over the table and fell +across the pile of letters with a prophetic shimmer, making the little +red and green patches of the stamps flame into gay prominence. + +Patricia sorted them over rapidly before Elinor had reached the table. + +"Here's one for you from Frad," she announced, "and one for me from +Miss Jinny, and there are two for Judy from Rockham--looks like Mrs. +Shelly and Hannah Ann, but I'm not sure--and the rest are only +circulars. Atkins' Diablo Water and Bartine's Foreign Tours." + +"I do wish they wouldn't send those circulars to us. They're so +disappointing, for half the time they look like real letters," said +Judith, reaching an eager hand for her own mail. "I think they ought +to keep them for older people who don't care so much. Oh, it is Mrs. +Shelly, Miss Pat," she broke off, as she tore open the first envelope +and began eagerly to scan the sheets. + +Patricia, absorbed in her own letter, merely grunted "Uh-huh" and +turned the page. Then she burst out joyfully, "Well, of all people in +the world! Listen, Norn. Miss Jinny is coming to town next week to +stay four or five days, and she wants to know if we can get her a place +here. Isn't that jolly!" + +Elinor, who had lifted her eyes perfunctorily, gave real attention. + +"How splendid!" she cried. "Now we'll have a chance to give back a few +of the kindnesses she showered on us last summer. Of course we can +find a place, and we won't let her come except as our guest, and we'll +give her the very best sort of a time we can, to show how glad we are +to have her here." + +"If Mrs. Hudson hasn't any other room, she can have mine," said Judith +promptly. "She never would let us make up for all those afternoons +that she kept the library for us, and I'd love to be _dreadfully_ +uncomfortable if I could help make her comfortable." + +Elinor laughed and patted the slender hand that pressed the table with +such nervous force. + +"I don't think Miss Jinny'd want any of us to suffer for her pleasure, +Ju dear," she said gently. "I'm sure Mrs. Hudson has a good front room +that we can get. I heard that Miss Snow had left and her room wasn't +to be filled till next week; so we are just in the nick of time, you +see." + +"Isn't it lucky?" cried Patricia radiantly. "You'll see about it right +away, won't you, Elinor? It has a splendid view of the park. I know +she'll love that. You know how she hates 'bricks and mortar.'" + +Elinor nodded, picking up her letter again. "You don't seem at all +keen about David," she began, when Judith broke out excitedly, holding +up her letter. + +"Mrs. Shelly wants me to come with Miss Jinny and stay over Sunday. +Please, please let me go, Elinor, for she says she'll get out all her +old stories and letters, and we'll have a splendid time!" + +Patricia and Elinor swept a swift, remembering glance at the pale, +eager face, and the memory of that scene in the old bookroom at +Greycroft, when Judith had the vision of her future, flashed into each +mind. They had had no laughter then for Judith's prophecy of her +literary career, and so now they had only instant sympathy with their +little sister's enthusiasm. + +"Of course you shall go, Ju dear," said Elinor, warmly. "It's sweet of +Mrs. Shelly to ask you, and you'll have a lovely time in that dear +little old-fashioned house with her and Miss Jinny." + +"Won't it seem queer to you to be anywhere but at Greycroft, though?" +mused Patricia, her eyes wide and absent. "Although we've only had the +place not quite a year, I feel as though we'd always been there, and I +can't imagine how it would seem to have to live anywhere else _now_." + +"That's because it is the first real home you've known," said Elinor. +"One always feels that way about a _home_." + +Judith cocked her blond head thoughtfully. + +"Don't you think it's the house, too?" she asked critically. "Some +houses seem to be so alive and to belong to some people. Greycroft +just fitted Aunt Louise, and when she left, it was lonesome till it +found someone who liked the same things she did, and then it opened its +eyes and waked up again. I don't believe it would be itself with Mrs. +Hand in it, or even with the Halls, though they are so sweet and +fine-mannered." + +"Wise Judy," commended Patricia. "You've discovered half the secret. +But here's Elinor, like patience on a monument, with David's letter in +her lily-white paw. What does he say, Norn? Is he coming to town this +month as he promised? Does he like Prep as well as he did----" + +"Do let her read it to us," begged Judith. "You chatter so, Miss Pat, +that no one can get a word in edgewise." + +Patricia made a laughing face. + +"Fire away, Scheherezade," she commanded, folding her arms in eager +attention. "Unfold the tale of the letter of the long-lost twin +brother of the three lovely sisters of----" + +Judith, who had muffled the sparkling stream of Patricia's nonsense, +drew her hand away with a little squeal. + +"_Ouch!_" she cried reproachfully. "That's not fair. You bit." + +"Not hard," Patricia reassured her gravely. "Just enough to turn you +loose. 'Twas not so deep as a grave nor so wide as a church door, but +it did answer. Go on, Elinor, love, it's getting late." + +Judith had picked up the envelope and was examining the seal. + +"Isn't the frat paper lovely?" she sighed. "I do hope I shall go to +college--or else have a husband who belongs to a lot of----" + +"Silence!" thumped Patricia. + +Elinor, who had been quietly going on with her breakfast, laid down her +fork. + +"Read it for yourselves," she smiled, tossing the sheet across the +table. "My time's about up. It's criticism morning in the portrait +class, and I want to get a lot more done before Mr. Benton comes." + +Patricia grabbed the sheet before Judith could set down her glass, and +she read it aloud, with great enjoyment. + +"'Dear Elinor'--begins well, doesn't it, Judy? I couldn't have done +much better myself--'Tom Hughes and I are coming to town next Saturday, +and we are going to blow ourselves, for his birthday.' Not very +enlightening as to Tom Hughes--never heard of him before; but that's +neither here nor there, of course." + +"Do get on, Miss Pat," urged Judith, folding her napkin. "I've got to +get to school sometime this morning, you know." + +"Thus admonished, I return to the manuscript," said Patricia +gravely. "Where is it? 'His birthday.' Oh, yes. 'Don't you three +girls want to go to the matinee with us and have lunch at some swell +joint? Write me at once if you can go. We will be in on the +eleven-fifteen at the Terminal and have to leave on the 4.30. Yours,' +et cetera and so on, and all that stuff. Hallelujah, good gentleman, +what a lark!" + +"I think you ought to use better language, Miss Pat, now that you are +going to be a sculptor," said Judith severely, and then broke into open +delight. "We'll go, won't we, Elinor? We wouldn't disappoint David, +would we? On his birthday, too." + +"It must be Tom Hughes' birthday," said Elinor. "But whose ever it is, +we are going to celebrate, since we're invited. I'll write 'immejit,' +as Hannah Ann says." + +"But how do you know it isn't David's?" persisted Judith, as she +gathered up her letters. "We never asked David when his birthday came, +did we?" + +Patricia rolled her eyes in mock agony. + +"Did it occur to your massive mind that David Francis Edward had a twin +sister with whom you were fairly well acquainted?" she asked in smooth +and oily tones. "Twins, you know, have a quaint custom of celebrating +their birthdays on the same date. Don't swoon, Infant; it is +overpowering news, but you'll get over it in time." + +Judith tossed her head, with a little giggle at her own expense. + +"I forgot," she said. "I never can remember that you're both the same +age. You are always saying that he is so young, Miss Pat." + +"So he is," replied Patricia, promptly. "No end younger than I am; but +boys are that way. Who's your other letter from, Ju?" + +Judith's face assumed a smooth blankness that passed unnoticed by both +Elinor and Patricia, now intent on finishing their breakfast and +getting off. + +"Hannah Ann just says that the house is all right and Henry is as well +as usual," she replied, with an uneasy flush on her clear cheek. + +"What in the world did Hannah Ann write to you for?" queried Elinor +absently. "She usually sends her weekly reports to me." + +"She's all right," repeated Judith, with an apprehensive glance at +Patricia, who, however, was entirely oblivious, her attention now being +wholly concentrated on her breakfast and Bartine's Tours. + +"I must see Mrs. Hudson," said Elinor, rising. "I'll meet you at the +Academy, Squibs. Have you your candy all done up? I shan't take my +life-class stuff till this afternoon." + +"But you've got to turn in the head-class fee this morning, you know," +reminded Patricia, coming back from Italy with a jump. "I have my junk +all ready, and I'll tell you when I'm going to spring it on them, so +you can have a peep at the fun." + +"And I won't forget to let you know just when I'm ready to give in +mine, so we both can see how they take it," said Elinor from the door. + +Patricia laughed as she too rose. + +"I'll see to it that you don't forget, miss," she said gayly. +"Good-bye, Judy; don't be late for lunch, for it's short and sweet with +us real artists. We can't potter over our food like you idle +Philistines, you know." + +Judith gulped the last mouthful and flung down her napkin. + +"I'll be there on time," she promised, eagerly. "Miss Hillis said I +could go five minutes earlier, as it was a holiday afternoon. I'll get +the rolls and oranges on my way." + +"We'll meet you at the door on Charter Street," Elinor reminded her, as +she kissed her. "Be sure to be there on time." + +"I'll remember," laughed Judith, her anticipation of the delights of +lunching at the Academy with grown-up artists shining in her starry +eyes. "I'm perfectly crazy over it. I'm going to write all about it +in my diary." + +"Then we _shall_ be handed down to fame!" cried Patricia, giving Judith +a very hard squeeze and pinching her thin cheeks into color. "Look us +over well, Judy-pudy, and see how much you can make of your two +illustrious sisters; for I feel sure that I, for one, will never have a +chance to be 'writ up' again." + +"Oh, go along, Miss Pat! You'll be awfully late," said Judith, +wriggling away, flushed and happy. + +Patricia watched, flying up the stairs two steps at a time, and she +turned to Elinor, with her hand on the door. + +"Ju's a clever young monkey, in spite of her grannified airs," she +said, warmly. "If we can only get some of the starch out of her by the +time she's old enough to take notice, her dream of being a great writer +may come half-way true." + +"If she's going to be a writer, she'll drop her dignified pose soon +enough," predicted Elinor easily. "She'll be too much interested in +other people and things to remember herself too vividly." + +"That's so," admitted Patricia readily. "You always hit the nail on +the head, old lady. Now I must run. See you later," and closing the +door behind her, she ran down the steps and hurried off through the +tingling morning air, with her parcel tight under her arm and a +kindling light on her mobile face. + +"I do hope they like it and won't be too hard on me," she thought, as +she hastened on. "It took a lot of trouble to make all the little +figures, but if they'll only let me off from speechifying, I'll feel it +was worth it." + +There was no one in the modeling room but Naskowski, the silent, +heavy-shouldered Slav who toiled early and late making up for his lost +youth. Him Patricia held to be as impersonal as any of the other +furnishings of the room, and she readily took him into her plan. + +"Let's wheel all the stands into a circle around the model stand," she +said briskly. "You see, I want them all to get them at once if I can +work it. I'll put the figures in under the cloths, beside each head, +so they won't show." + +Naskowski slowly shook his head. + +"They will approach at different times--not? It will be more better to +place them during the first rest." + +"But how can I?" insisted Patricia. "They don't all go out at the +rests, you know." + +He held up his finger. + +"Listen," he said, impressively. "I make a figure that they all wish +to see, but I have not shown him. Well, when I show him, at the rest, +all, all go out to the clay room to see." + +Patricia clapped her hands. + +"And I stay in and slip the figures on the stands! How nice! It's +awfully good of you." She broke off with a sudden clouding of her +gayety. "But perhaps you don't really want them to see your figure? I +couldn't have you----" + +He interrupted her with an upheld hand. + +"I was to exhibit it today, and I am pleased to be serviceable to a +newcomer at once," he said gravely. + +Patricia was only too glad to give in. "That makes it perfectly +simple, then," she said gratefully. "I'm tremendously obliged to you +for helping me out." + +"It iss nothing," said Naskowski stolidly as he went back to the clay +room, but Patricia could see that he was pleased at the ardor of her +gratitude. + +"He's an awfully good sort, if he is queer and stubby," she said, +pausing to hide her parcel beneath her stand until the propitious +moment. + +The first half hour seemed longer than any that Patricia had spent in +the modeling room. The students straggled in at various times, and +when the gong rang there were still several of the usual number who had +not appeared. Naskowski, as the class broke up for the brief interval, +found chance to whisper a suggestion that she postpone it till the next +rest, and Patricia eagerly agreed. + +"I'll go look up my sister and tell her," she said. "We can smuggle +her into the clay room, too, to see your work, can't we? I know she'd +be crazy to get a glimpse of it, and then she might get a snap-shot at +the fun in here." + +Naskowski nodded a pleased assent, and Patricia sped away. + +She found Elinor perturbed and excited beyond her wont. + +"Isn't it horrid? Mr. Benton's come already, and I won't have a chance +with my candy before criticism, as I hoped. I don't know what to do +about it. I did so want to get it off my mind before I got my +criticism, for I'm scared stiff about both of them." + +"Why, you goose! Don't you see that it makes it easy for you!" cried +Patricia, her eyes dancing. "You can simply put your nice big box of +candy on the model stand during a rest, and they won't dare ask you to +do any stunts with him in the room." + +Elinor laughed helplessly. "I don't know what is the matter with my +brain," she said in relieved contempt of her own confusion of mind. +"Of course, it is ever so much easier. What a stupid I am not to see +it for myself!" + +Patricia squeezed her hand surreptitiously. "You're so far up in the +clouds these days that the commonplace side of life doesn't exist. +You'll be all right after you get used to it," she soothed. "You're +going to be pretty free to inhabit cloudland for this winter, and I'm +willing to bet any reasonable amount that Hannah Ann will see to it +that the housekeeping doesn't distract you next summer. She's +perfectly crazy over your painting, since it's like Aunt Louise. And +there won't be any boarders or any other money-making schemes this year +to harrow our souls." + +"It seems too good--after all those years at the boarding schools, and +the scrimmage we had when the mortgage was foreclosed--to feel secure +at last," said Elinor gratefully. "Everything seems to be heaping up +to make us happy." + +"Time's up!" cried Patricia, jumping up. "Be on hand at the next rest, +angel child. Come in the clay room 'immejit' the gong rings," and she +hurried off, humming a gay little song. + +The gay little song persisted, much to the dissatisfaction of the +severe monitor, Miss Green, whose fat and lugubrious countenance took +on a deeper shade of gloom at every hushed note that trembled in +Patricia's rounded throat. + +After casting a martyr-like glance of reproach at her, as she worked +on, all unconscious of the mental agony she was inflicting, Miss Green +cleared her throat slushily, and in the most subdued tone possible +addressed Patricia. + +"Miss Kendall will not disturb the class, I am sure, if she realizes +that her humming is a source of annoyance," she said, her own really +musical voice fluting in melodious minor cadences. + +Patricia started and looked up with a sunny smile. + +"Was I humming?" she asked genially. "I didn't know I was making any +noise at all. I'm awfully sorry to have gotten on your nerves. I was +thinking about some exercises, and I must have thought out loud." + +Miss Green, much mollified by Patricia's ready acknowledgment, beamed +over her round spectacles. + +"I am sure Miss Kendall has the best intentions possible to any +agreeable young lady," she said in a hushed though ceremonious manner. + +She paused so long, regarding Patricia with her head on one side, that +Patricia was afraid she was going to orate further, and visions of a +premature initiation flitted uneasily through her nimble mind. Miss +Green, however, said nothing further, taking up her tools and going on +with her work with a complacent and benignant smile in her little pink +mouth. + +Griffin, who was just behind her, winked solemnly at Patricia and then +shook her head sadly, as if to indicate that the monitor was in her +opinion hopelessly incorrigible. + +"Doesn't Greeny make you a bit weary?" she asked, as she slipped over +beside Patricia as the gong was about to sound. "She's so drearily +ornate." + +"Oh, I don't know," replied Patricia easily. "She's kind, anyway. I +think if she were thin, people wouldn't find her half bad. Fat people +never seem quite as human as the rest of us." + +"Stuff!" said Griffin energetically. "She'd be simply awful if she +were thin. Aren't you coming in to see Naskowski's lion-tamer? He's +showing it in the clay room." + +"I'll be along later. I've got something to attend to first," promised +Patricia, inwardly quaking lest the other should offer to wait for her; +but she went off with the crowd that was hurrying into the clay room, +and Patricia was free to arrange her surprise. + +Diving under her stand, she fished out the bundle and opened it with +trembling fingers. + +"If I can only get them all placed before they come back," she said to +herself, as she unwrapped each little bulky parcel. "I hope Naskowski +gives me time." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE INITIATIONS + +"Wasn't it the flattest thing you ever saw?" said Patricia, +disgustedly, as they waited for Judith at the side door. "I thought it +was going off well when Griffin opened the ball by finding her little +figure poked away there on the stand back of her head, and made such a +cute speech to it, but the rest of them certainly behaved like tame +tabbies. I was never so disappointed in my life." + +"I thought Miss Green was really quite clever," said Elinor brightly. +"She certainly read the verse attached to her's with a lot of +expression. I didn't think she could be so sprightly." + +Patricia drummed on the railing. "She was well enough," she admitted +grudgingly. "But after I had modeled those figures and tried to get +something appropriate for each one--and it was hard to get the candy +into the inside of them, too, without spoiling it--they go and accept +them as though they were a cup of afternoon tea. I thought they'd show +more spirit. Don't talk to me about artists being gay and Bohemian +after this." + +"It was a little quiet," acknowledged Elinor, "but, at least, they were +very pleasant about it. They all agreed that it was the cleverest +thing that had been done in that line." + +Patricia gazed gloomily at the door of the life-class room. + +"I wish I were in the night life," she said resentfully. "I envy you, +Norn, being among live people." + +Elinor smiled ruefully. "And I'd like to swap with you," she said. +"I'd much prefer a quiet time like I had in the head class this +morning, or an agreeable time like you had, to anything riotous." + +Patricia sighed and stirred restlessly. "Isn't that like life?" she +commented, her face clearing as the thought took hold on her. "We're +all hankering after something that we haven't got--or we think we are. +Maybe--maybe we'd not like the other thing any better if we did get it, +though one's own things always seem awfully commonplace, don't they?" + +Before Elinor could respond, she started to the door with an +exclamation. + +"Here's Judy! On time to the dot!" she cried. "Come on in, Ju; drop +your plunder into my strong arm and let us introduce you to the +Academy." + +Judith, with her hat rather on one side and her cheeks flushed from the +wind and swift walking, kissed them both breathlessly and tumbled her +bundles into Patricia's capacious apron. + +She followed them into the dressing room with her eyes busy but without +a single word, and it was not until they had taken her through the +various class rooms, deserted at this noon hour, and were on their way +down to the lunch room that she found speech. + +"I must say, Elinor," she began, in response to a question, "that it's +very different from what you girls led me to expect." + +"Did we draw such rosy pictures?" asked Patricia in surprise. "I +thought we told you it was remarkably spotty and just as smelly." + +"_But,_" continued Judith with emphasis, "I must say that, dirt and +all, it is more _glorious-ified_ than I thought it would be. That +big-winged angel or whatever it is at the top of the stairs looks as if +it would soar right up to the top of heaven--it's so white and strong!" + +Patricia's eyes filled with the ready tears as she caught the look on +Judith's thin face, raised in adoring admiration to the great Winged +Victory that stood poised at the top of the wide flight of stone +stairs, showing triumphant in the misty light that seems to fill all +great indoor spaces. + +"That's the part that makes up for all the soil and smudge, Ju +darling," said Elinor softly. "Paint and charcoal and clay are dirty +things, but when they're wielded with the force of an Ideal, they can +illuminate the world." + +Judith swept her adoring gaze from the Victory to her sister's face. + +"Oh, oh," she breathed, "I didn't know you could talk like that, +Elinor. It sounds like some beautiful book." + +Elinor blushed and laughed. "I can't, usually," she said, gayly. "It +is the Victory that did it. She must have handed down some of the +thoughts of the old Greek that carved her out of the white marble under +that blue, blue sky of ancient days." + +Patricia nodded her quick appreciation. "I wonder how many she has +spoken to, in all the centuries?" she mused, her eyes growing wide and +absent. "Think of them, Norn--those people who felt her spell and +heard the message. What a glorious company!" + +It was Elinor's turn to raise misty eyes to the Messenger of the Ideal, +and, like Judith, she was silent, busy with this thought. + +"Do you know," Patricia went on, the peculiarly sweet, clear tone that +marked her best self growing as she spoke, "I've come to care a lot +about that glorious company. 'The kings of the earth shall bring their +glory and honor into it,' and I don't see why we all shouldn't have +some chance to add our tiny scrap to the splendor. I know I shan't +ever do much--only commonplace, humdrum things, but if I can come at +last with the least, tiniest bit of a radiant snip to add to the glory +and honor, I'll be more than satisfied." + +She broke off suddenly, smiling a wistful smile at the two others. + +"I oughtn't to envy you, but I do," she said, softly. "You'll both +come in simply glittering, and I'll have to brag that you're my near +relatives. I'm such an ostentatious beast that I'd have to show off +even there." + +"Patricia!" gasped Judith, shocked out of her dreamy calm. "You +oughtn't to say things like that. It's--it's not religious!" + +Patricia dropped back instantly to her usual manner. + +"Well, anyway, I'm fearfully hungry," she said airily. "I can't stand +any more palaver. Come along to the cave and let us feed while there +is time." + +Luncheon was particularly gay, much to Judith's delight. Margaret +Howes joined Patricia as she carried Judith off to the them, and +Griffin with a kindred spirit had the next table. Doris Leighton, the +pretty girl whom Patricia had so ardently admired on her first day and +who had not been visible since then, appeared without her pale +companion, and took the table on the other side of them, and when +Margaret Howes, at Patricia's entreaty, introduced them, she brought +her chair over to their table and made one of their merry party. + +Judith was silent for the most part, but her eyes glowed like live +coals and she kept tossing her pale, straight mane in the way she had +when pleasantly excited. + +"Well, what do you think of Bohemia?" asked Griffin, as they climbed +the narrow iron stair again, the time having come for Judith to say +good-bye. + +Judith was equal to the occasion, as usual. + +"I like it better than the land of the Amorites and the Hittites," she +responded so promptly that the other gaped. + +"Upon my word, you're a classy young 'un," she grinned. "Come again +soon and give us some more." + +Patricia as she carried Judith off to the dressing room for her wraps, +was moved to inquiry. + +"How in the world could you answer her so pat?" she asked, twinkling at +Judith's superior air. + +"Oh, I heard you say this morning that outside people were Philistines, +and when I tried to look it up in the Old Testament, I read a lot of +hard names, and I remembered them," she said, triumphantly. "I didn't +think, though, that I'd be able to use them so soon." + +Patricia shook her head. + +"You certainly are the limit," she said, gravely. "What makes you care +so much about words and names and such like things?" she asked, trying +to get at a clearer understanding of her little sister's mental +processes. + +Judith was entirely unconscious of the probe. + +"Why, because they're the very nicest things in the world, of course," +she replied spiritedly. "I love to get new ones and see how they work. +It's such fun. Like archery practice, when you hit the bull's eye. +Only words are somehow different, too. They sort of _taste_ when you +say them--sometimes sweet and sometimes tingly and queer, like the +Amorites and Hittites," and she giggled at the memory. + +Patricia shook her head. + +"Don't go tasting too many new ones around here," she cautioned with a +kiss. "You might hit on the wrong one, and they wouldn't understand +that it was merely a game with you." + +"Well, I just guess it isn't any game," retorted Judith with a toss of +her mane. "It's the most important thing in life to me," and she +stalked off towards the door with great dignity. + +Patricia groaned as she watched her walk primly down the corridor and +out of the side entrance. "That infant," she said to Elinor who had +been leaving Judith out, "is trembling on the brink of becoming a +little prig. We've got to see to it, Norn, that she doesn't get too +satisfied with herself." + +"I don't believe she'll get spoiled," returned Elinor, easily. "She +_is_ clever, you know, and I think it's rather nice that she can enjoy +it a bit. She isn't pretty, and it makes up to her for that." + +"All the same," said Patricia, darkly, "she needs to drop a peg in her +own esteem. Conceit is mighty crippling to the runner in the race that +Ju's picked out for herself. I'd hate her to be a fizzle, and I'm +going to see to it that she gets rid of it." + +"Very well; only don't be too hard on her," said Elinor, easily. "Come +help me with the candy for the night life, won't you? I can't get it +in shape." + +"Lots of time for it," said Patricia, yawning and flinging herself down +on the wide couch. "The men aren't through in there for more than an +hour yet." + +"But I've got to get it tied inside the lantern while no one is about," +insisted Elinor. "And the hall is absolutely deserted now. Come +along, do, and be useful." + +Patricia, protesting, dragged herself from the restful nest, but by the +time they had begun to arrange the gay little bags of candy in the big +red Japanese lantern, she was as enthusiastic as Elinor could wish. + +"Aren't the bags perfect ducks?" she laughed, handling the gauzy +bundles with dexterous fingers. "And those verses are too cute for +words. What a time we all had over them! Ju's are the best, though +she mustn't know it; funny without being personal. It was terribly +hard to get such a mob, too. How many are there altogether, Norn?" + +"Seventeen," replied Elinor, counting. "I hope it will work all right +when I pull the string. I've fixed the bottom of that lantern so it +ought to fall out when I give a hard jerk, and all the bags will tumble +down in a shower." + +"You can't try it, of course," said Patricia. "But I'm dead certain +it'll be all right. What is the matter?" she asked, looking up as the +door of the life room opened and the men began to come out carrying +their canvases and drawing-boards as though the pose were over. "It +can't be four o'clock, surely. Ju hasn't been gone a half hour." + +Naskowski, on his way to the modeling room, paused to answer Patricia's +question. + +"There iss a demonstration in the living anatomy, for all students--a +man who can dislocate his joints at will and do other methods of +showing muscle action," he explained. "So the life iss dismiss. You +will come--not?" + +Patricia and Elinor exchanged a swift glance. + +"We'll be along in a little while," replied Patricia easily. "Save a +seat for us if you can." + +When he had moved on she whispered excitedly: + +"Now's your chance, Norn! I'll skirmish for laggards and report." + +She came back in a moment, triumphant. + +"There isn't a soul in sight," she announced. "Hustle while the +coast's clear. Someone may come back at any moment." + +They hurried into the deserted room, and with eager haste they swung +the big lantern up to the circle of electric fixtures above the model +stand, the stout cord that Elinor had fastened to its bottom hanging +concealed among the drapery of the screen that stood behind the model's +chair. + +"It's all ship-shape now," whispered Patricia as they scrambled down +from the stools whereon they had perched to accomplish their purpose. +"Aren't we in luck? Not a soul even saw us come in." + +"Now for a sight of the dislocated gentleman," said Elinor gayly. "And +then for the great event." + +The anatomical wonder appealed to them so little that they gave up the +seats that the kind Slav had saved for them, and went out, rather +sickened by such limberness, to wait the gong of the night life in the +seclusion of the print room. + +The hall and corridor were dim and the circle of lights above the model +stand was twinkling brightly when Patricia peeped in at the crack of +the door during the first rest. + +"Nothing seems to be happening," said Elinor to her in an undertone as +she joined her. "I believe I'll wait till later, unless I see signs of +action." + +"Don't keep me hanging on here in the dark too long," protested +Patricia. "I'm worn to a bone already." + +When she returned to her post after a brief nap on the wide couch, +everything was quiet, much to her disgust. + +"Why in the world doesn't Elinor loosen up?" she thought, impatiently. + +As she moved nearer she gave a start of surprise. The lights in the +night-life room were out. The transom showed black and empty above the +massive folded doors. + +Patricia drew in her breath with a gasp. She put her hand on the knob +of the door and noiselessly turned it. + +"I'll slip in behind the door screen," she thought, "and see what's +going on. Elinor may need me." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE GHOST DANCE + +The room was very dark at first, and little whispers ran all about in +the gloom. There was a rustling and shuffling and a sound of hurried, +muffled steps. Patricia, from her hiding place behind the door screen, +could make out nothing but the dim oblong of the transom above her head +and the long pale mass of the skylight. + +Suddenly a match flared and the twinkling tip of light grew at a candle +end and she saw a ghostly figure, its white hand busy with the candle +wick and its hollow, black eyes fixed on the tiny growing flame. +Instantly other matches flickered and more candles glimmered in ghostly +fingers, until the room was flashing with tiny points of light, while +the masses of heavy shadow trembled and surged about an array of +white-clad, mysterious, skull-faced figures that slowly formed in line +and, two by two, moved to the center of the room, chanting a low, +monotonous song as they walked in solemn procession. + +"My word!" breathed Patricia, stirred and chilled in spite of herself. +"They're doing it brown this time!" + +As her eyes grew accustomed to the flicker and motion, she searched for +Elinor, and saw her at last, the center of the weird procession, +standing quietly beside the chair from which she had risen, holding her +head with a sweet and gracious dignity that went straight to Patricia's +chilled heart. + +"Dear old Norn," she thought with a returning glow. "They can't scare +her, bless her heart!" + +Elinor stood smiling a little at the gruesome company as they slowly +paced about her in a narrowing circle, and when the leader took her +hand and led her to the model stand, motioning to her to mount it, she +acquiesced with graceful alacrity. + +Standing high above them in the semi-gloom, with that faint smile still +on her lips, she watched them calmly as they danced the famous Ghost +Dance of the Academy about her, omitting no gruesome detail that would +be calculated to affright the dismayed beholder, chanting and groaning +horribly the while. + +At a sign from the leader the dance stopped as suddenly as it had +begun, and the leader once more approached Elinor, followed by four of +the foremost ghosts. + +They mounted the platform and, seating Elinor in the chair, filed +before her, presenting one after another a grisly hand and cadaverous +cheek for her salute. + +"The horrid things!" murmured Patricia to herself, with her wrath +beginning to rise. "I'd pinch their noses for them if they made me +kiss them! Elinor's too gentle with them. I wonder why she doesn't +pull the string? She could reach it easily now." + +But Elinor, far from showing rancor, shook the bony hands and kissed +the sunken cheeks with as good grace as though she were receiving her +dearest friends. She even made some little speech to each, though +Patricia was too far away to catch more than a word or two. + +Her sweetness of temper, nevertheless, did not seem to appease the +ghosts, for, when the ceremony of salutation was finished, the four +seated themselves cross-legged on either side of her, while the leader +proceeded to catechize her. + +"What is your name?" she asked, in a high, squeaking voice that +Patricia failed to recognize. + +Elinor responded promptly. + +"Where do you live?" was the next question, to which Elinor again +replied good-naturedly. + +"Pooh! they're as stupid as the rest," thought Patricia contemptuously, +and she let her attention wander, studying the various ghosts, making +mental notes as to height and size for future reference. + +She was brought back to the center of interest by a sharp hiss from a +ghost on the edge of the assembly and a muffled cry of "No fair!" from +another nearer the stand. + +The leader raised a grisly hand and swept the assembly with her +cavernous eye sockets. + +"I repeat," she piped, turning to Elinor with a jerky bow, "I repeat my +question. Why were you admitted to our class without having worked in +any antique or life classes before?" + +"Oh, that's too personal," said a ghost in a disgusted tone. "I +protest! This isn't a Board meeting." + +There was a general murmur of laughter at this, but the leader stood +rigid, awaiting Elinor's reply. + +"I have told anyone who asked me," said Elinor, evenly, though her +cheeks were beginning to burn. "I came in on Bruce Haydon's +recommendation." + +There was a rustle of approval at her quiet tone and a stir as of the +assembly breaking up, but again the leader motioned for silence. + +"The other four sisters will make their investigation after I have +finished," she announced in her shrill tones. "I have but three more +questions to put to the novice." + +There was a silence that made the next question come with more +insulting force, while Patricia again wondered why Elinor did not seize +this moment for her broadside of bonbons. + +"How much," squeaked the leader, more shrilly than ever, "did Bruce +Haydon bribe the Board to let you in?" + +Instantly there was a storm of hisses and protests; the four next +inquisitors jumped to their feet and down from the model stand with one +motion, crying that it was a shame that the fun was spoiled and that +they had all had enough for one night. + +"Initiation's over!" shouted someone in a voice of authority, and +suddenly the candle-lights vanished into a tumultuous darkness, while +there was a confusion of scurrying noises that made Patricia's head +swim for a moment. + +Then the lights flashed on, and she saw clearly the disheveled, excited +assembly hastily hiding bundles of white cloth in any available spot, +while hair and dress were hurriedly arranged and order generally +restored. Elinor still stood on the model stand under the brilliant +circle of lights, her wide eyes gleaming and her head uplifted. + +"I haven't been asked for a speech," she began clearly. "But I do want +to say a word or two, if you'll let me." + +She paused for some sign, and Patricia in her corner was delighted at +the Babel which answered her. Cries of "Of course we will!" +"_Dee-lighted!_" "Take all the time you want!" mingled with applause +and stamping, until Elinor could not forbear a laugh. + +"I won't wear out your patience," she promised, as quiet was restored +and her voice could again be heard. "I haven't any oration to deliver. +I only want to say that I don't know who it was asked me those +questions, and I hope I never shall know. You've all been very kind to +me, and I'd hate to think that any of you wanted to make me +uncomfortable. I'm sure it was simply an initiation stunt, and I for +one shall never think of it again." + +She paused with a bright, friendly glance on the upturned faces. + +"This is my real introduction to the night-life class," she said, with +a sweeping gesture that, unseen to all but the anxious Patricia, caught +the cord from its hiding place among the draperies. "And I want this +evening to be a sweet memory to us all." + +She stepped aside with a swift movement, and the big red lantern swayed +and threatened to topple as the cord tightened. + +"Why, what's that?" cried a voice, and all eyes were turned to the +gaudy swaying globe. Before anyone could speak, Elinor gave another +hard tug, tearing out the bottom of the lantern, and down came the +shower of gay little gauze bags with their cargoes of bonbons, +pell-mell on the heads of the crowd! + +"Hallelujah! It's the fee!" cried Griffin, with a green and gold +packet in her hands. "Hurrah for Kendall Major! She's the stuff!" + +"Verses, too!" cried Margaret Howes. "Verses on every one of them. +Read them aloud, everybody in turn. Hurry up and get them all +together." + +"Silence, will you?" shouted Griffin, pounding like mad. "Keep still +till the exercises are over. The first little girl to speak her piece +is Miss Doris Leighton. Come up, Doris, dear. Don't put your finger +in your mouth, and speak so we can all hear you. Fire away." + +Patricia thought Doris Leighton looked pale as she stood up on the +model stand to read the nonsense verse that was on her candy bag, but +her loveliness wrought the same spell on the others as it always had, +and they listened to her silvery voice in appreciative silence, and +applauded her warmly at the end. + +One after another, the girls mounted the stand beside Elinor, and read +the little verses, while the assembly listened, and even the model, +decorously cloaked, came from her little room, and with her crocheting +in hand sat smiling at the nonsense. + +When the last verse had been read and the laughter died down, Griffin +raised her voice again. + +"Nobody's asked me for a speech," she began and paused. + +"Didn't think you had to be asked," came from the crowd in a laughing +voice. + +Griffin looked sadly in the direction of the voice. + +"Nobody's asked me," she repeated more firmly, "and so I'm not going to +make any. So there!" + +Groans of relief sounded from the side of the room whence the voice had +come, and there was a general giggle. + +"I merely raised my voice above the general clamor," Griffin went on +with an icy stare towards her hidden critic, "to suggest that we show +our appreciation of the delightful entertainment Miss Kendall has so +thoughtfully provided us by giving her the Night Life Song, or the +Academy Howl, whichever she prefers." She bowed to Elinor with +exaggerated politeness. "Which shall it be, Miss Kendall? Each is +equally diverting, but the Howl has the merit of greater brevity. No +extra charge for the choice, you know, so speak up and name it." + +Elinor glanced about at the circle of laughing, friendly faces and her +eyes shone. + +"I'll choose the song," she announced, gayly. "I've heard a lot of +howling already this evening." + +"The song it is," cried Griffin, stepping on a chair and beginning to +beat time with a big paint-brush. "Now then, all together, my +children. Warble!" + +Patricia, thrilled by the sweetness of the rippling, crooning song, and +before the verse was half done, joined unconsciously in with the +others, forgetting the need of words in the melody of the lilting song. + + "Creatures of the night are we, + Sisters of the glow-worm dim, + Comrades of the hooting owl, + Toilers when the sunset's rim + Overflows with shadows deep; + Harken to our even-song, + Night it is that makes us strong." + + +The chorus swelled, with Griffin's thrilling treble soaring high and +clear: + + "Glorious night that makes us strong, + Drowning day and ending strife; + Guide the skilful hand and eye, + Shape our efforts into life." + + +Patricia's heart beat hard with the beauty of the woven word and +melody, and she gave a little gulp to keep back the tears that sprang +so readily. + +"I didn't dream those uproarious creatures could be so serious. I +wonder where they got that song," she said to herself as she slipped +unnoticed out into the twilight of the corridor. + +She put the question to Griffin when she met her in the hall after the +class had broken up in disorder to celebrate the initiation by a +general gambol through the deserted halls and corridors. Patricia and +Griffin were seating themselves on a drawing-board at the top of the +short flight of stone steps that connected the back corridor with the +exhibition rooms above. + +"That? Oh, Carol Lawton wrote that for us before she left. She was a +corker, I can tell you." A shade flitted over Griffin's face as she +settled herself more firmly on the board. "She died last fall, and +we've sung that song ever since. Ready now! Let her _go_!" + +Away they sped down the stony stairs with a great clatter of board and +flutter of skirts, winding up at the bottom with a final heavy thump. + +"Phew! That's great!" cried Patricia, springing lightly to her feet. +"It's more like flying than anything else." + +"Yes, it's going some," returned Griffin nonchalantly, as she started +up the stair again, dragging the board after her. "The March Hare +originated it back in the dark ages, and we've been doing it off and +on--when the authorities don't get on to us." + +"The March Hare?" queried Patricia, much elated by this exhilarating +society, and wishing more ardently than ever that she were fitted for +this fascinating class. + +Griffin nodded. "Tabby March, you know. The young woman who paints +pussies. Used to go here three years ago, before she'd arrived. She +was a wild one, I can tell you." + +"Do you mean Elizabeth March, who got the Tassel prize this year?" +asked Patricia in surprise. "Why, I saw her last week at the +exhibition and she was awfully prim looking." + +Griffin chuckled. "It's fame that tames them, mark my words. Soon's +they get known they grow into a pattern. Ready now. Let her +r-r-r-_rip_!" + +Elinor intercepted them at the bottom just as they were preparing for a +third flight. + +"I've been looking for you everywhere, Miss Pat," she said radiantly. +"There's going to be a spread in the cave, and I've phoned home to Judy +not to wait for us, as we won't be there for dinner." + +"Am I asked?" demanded Patricia with eager eyes. + +"Of course, or I'd have sent word by you instead of phoning," said +Elinor quickly. "Come along down, both of you. Everything is ready, +and Margaret Howes is making Welsh rarebit just specially for you--she +heard you say you adored it. Hurry, hurry." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +AFTERMATH + +The feast was half over when Patricia, who sat between Margaret Howes +and Griffin and opposite to the adorable Doris Leighton, got a distinct +shock. + +The girls had been talking of the initiation and the part that Elinor +had played. + +"Your sister has covered herself with glory by the way she took her +hazing," said Margaret, deftly winding a long string of the rarebit +around a bread stick and popping it in her mouth. + +"She certainly saved us from a fluke by the nice fashion in which she +turned the popular attention from that idiot who was leading the band," +added Griffin, reaching for the mustard. + +Patricia longed to ask a question, but Margaret Howes saved her the +necessity. + +"Who was it, do you know, Griffin?" she inquired in a lowered tone. + +"Can't be certain, of course, but I have my doubts," replied Griffin, +in the same pitch. "I think that I recognized the silvery tones of a +fair one who is not too far away from us," and she glanced +significantly across the table to where Doris Leighton sat with the +candle-light shining in her bright hair and a little smile curving her +pink lips. + +Patricia caught the look, and was instantly both astonished and +indignant. + +"I don't see how you can think that!" she cried hotly, and then hastily +lowering her voice, she added: "You must have known who they chose for +leader, even if you both were at the tail of the march." + +Griffin grinned good-naturedly. "Keep your righteous wrath for the +right fellow, young 'un. When you've been in the night life as many +years as I have, you'll know that we don't choose a leader--she simply +elects herself by taking the head of the procession. We never know +who's who after we rig up. That's part of the game. So, you see, it +may have been the charming Doris, or Howes here, or my unworthy self, +that put those obnoxious questions to your sister--no one knows for +sure, and the mean cuss won't tell." + +"Why should she want to be horrid to Elinor?" persisted Patricia, +frowning a little in her earnestness. "We don't know her very well +yet, but she's been perfectly sweet to us both." + +"That describes her to a T, doesn't it, Howes?" grinned the +imperturbable Griffin. "That's the way we find her--so sweet that she +is sickening, eh?" + +"Hush, she'll hear you!" warned Howes, laughing a little, nevertheless, +whereupon Patricia instantly decided that she had been mistaken in +Margaret Howes' character, and that she was less open-minded and +warm-hearted than she had believed. + +"I can't see why you should pitch on her," insisted Patricia, kneading +her cake into pills in her agitation. "What could she have against +Elinor?" + +Griffin yawned elaborately and then addressed Margaret Howes with +lifted eyebrows. + +"This young person, though evidently of an investigating turn of mind, +has not quite fathomed the nature of the reigning beauty of our little +coterie. Being of a candid and affable nature herself, she fails to +comprehend how the fangs of the green-eyed monster, once fastened in +the tender heart of said beauty, make the said beauty so mortally +uncomfy that she's bound to take it out on somebody--and who so natural +or convenient as the critter who sicked the serpent on her." + +"You mean that she is jealous of Elinor?" asked Patricia, opening her +eyes very wide. "Why, Elinor is only a beginner, and _she's_ studied +abroad!" + +"All the same, she sees that Kendall Major is about to snatch the +laurel wreath from all our heads, and she doesn't want to do without +any of her ornaments." + +"But Elinor didn't even get a criticism in the head class yet," +protested Patricia, unconvinced. "Mr. Benton didn't get around to her +this morning, and she doesn't get any criticism in the night life till +tomorrow afternoon. I don't see how she could be jealous." + +Griffin made a face over a sip of over-heated cocoa. "Just as you +please," she murmured benevolently. "Make the best of it, like a good +child. Charity is the chief Christian virtue and an ornament to all. +Are you going in for the prize design, Howes? I hear that it's open to +the whole class." + +"Haven't heard of it," replied Margaret Howes, with eager interest. +"What is it? And who's giving it?" + +"Roberts, the big New York decorator. He's offering a hundred dollars +for the best design for a panel for a library--originality to be the +chief feature. Popsy Brown told me. I thought it had been announced." + +"It wasn't on the bulletin board this afternoon," said a girl across +the table, who had been listening to this last speech. "Tell us about +it, Griffie dear. We're all dying to hear." + +"Spout it out loud!" called another from the end of the table. "We +can't catch your muffled accents down here." + +The announcement of the prize was received with such lively interest +that it routed all other subjects, and even Patricia caught the +enthusiasm. + +"I hope Elinor tries for it," she said excitedly. "She'll say she's +too green, I suppose." + +"Tell her to make a hack at it anyway," urged Margaret Howes earnestly. +"Originality is the thing that counts, and she's got as good a chance +as any of us there." + +"Better," said Griffin tersely. "We're so filled with other people's +ideas that we've degenerated into regular copy-cats. I can't undertake +any subject but that I have a lot of designs by famous painters popping +into my mind and mixing me up horribly." + +"I wish I could draw," mused Patricia, absently sugaring her +Frankfurter. "I've got tons of ideas already." + +"That reminds me," broke out Griffin. "There's a prize for the mud +larks, too. I've forgotten what it is, but it'll be posted in the +morning. There's your chance, young 'un. You're eligible for it." + +Patricia was about to speak, but there was a general stir and a voice +cried, authoritatively: + +"Eight o'clock. Time to break up! Three cheers for Kendall Major and +her candy toys. The Academy Howl, ladies, if you please!" + +A space was hurriedly cleared at the other end of the table, a chair +placed and Patricia saw Elinor, blushing and protesting, thrust into it +by a dozen laughing students. + +Patricia stood to one side, as they formed a hasty group in the open +space by the door, and, with Griffin beating time, stretched their +mouths to the utmost and gave the Academy Howl with a vim that was +deafening, drawing out the final deep growling notes to a weirdly +wailing finish that sent Patricia and Elinor into gales of mirth. + +"How in the world did you make up such an unearthly yodel?" demanded +Elinor, preparing to descend from her chair of state. "I hope I'm not +expected to answer in kind." + +"You don't budge from there, young lady, till you've given us a song," +declared Griffin, vigorously. "We know your dark secrets. We've heard +that you can warble a bit." + +Elinor sat down in surprise. "Oh, but I can't," she protested. "I +can't sing at all. Miss Pat----" + +A glare from Patricia stopped her, but it was too late. A chorus of +laughing voices took up the demand, "A song, Miss Pat!" "Don't be +stingy, Kendall Minor; tune up!" "Give us a sample, Miss Pat!" until +Griffin, with a bow, offered her arm to the rebellious Patricia and led +her, protesting and abashed, to the chair whence Elinor had escaped. + +Once on the impromptu platform, Patricia's embarrassment dropped from +her, and she smiled a ready acknowledgment to the shouts that demanded +a dozen different songs at once. + +"I can't sing them all at once," she said, gayly. "But if you'll +settle on one that I know, I'll do my best for you. You've given me an +awfully good time tonight, and I'm only too glad to sing for you." + +After a great deal of good-humored bickering and sifting of requests to +suit Patricia's repertoire, the tumult gradually quieted and Patricia +rose. + +"I'll sing 'Mary of Argyle' first, and then a new little song, but it +won't sound very well without any accompaniment," she said simply, and +then, folding her hands before her and tilting her head like a bird, +she began to sing, softly at first and then louder till her voice +soared and rang echoing through the bare, empty rooms that flanked the +lunch rooms. + + "I have watched thy heart, my Mary, + And its goodness was the wile, + That has made me thine forever, + Bonnie Mary of Argyle." + + +Patricia's voice swelled and sank on the last lines of the old song, +and the girls broke into hearty applause, which was startlingly +reinforced from the doorway of the lumber cellar. The janitor's sallow +face appeared from the gloom and his deep voice boomed an encore. + +"Fine! Fine!" he cried, nodding his head approvingly. "That beats +them all! My wife, she used to sing that song, and I liked it fine, +but you beat them all!" + +Patricia blushed with pleasure, and Griffin called out heartily, +"Bring her in, Eitel. There's going to be another!" + +As the janitor padded away to the domestic portion of the basement to +fetch his smiling wife, Griffin added to Patricia, "They're an awfully +good sort. You don't mind, do you?" + +"No, indeed!" cried Patricia. "It's sweet of them to like it!" + +Doris Leighton smiled at Elinor in the crowd and murmured a word of +praise for the singing, adding, however, that she was afraid that the +janitor could hardly appreciate it. + +"What's that?" asked Griffin, whose quick ear had caught the last +words. "Not appreciate it? Why, do you know that Eitel used to be +butler for Patti in his youth? Fie, fie, my child; likewise, go to." + +Patricia caught her breath. "I hope he likes the next one," she said +anxiously, whereat Griffin chuckled. + +"Don't be too scared," she said in a quick undertone. "It's forty +years since he served the Diva, and he only stayed a month. I merely +exploited him musically to bluff off the Class Beauty. Hush! here they +are, large as life. Now, warble your prettiest, for Mrs. Eitel really +knows good stuff when she hears it." + +So Patricia flung her whole self into the sparkling "April Girl," and +at the finish had the reward of an ovation. The students clapped and +the Eitels applauded with hands and feet, and cried "Encore!" till they +were red in the face. + +"I'll sing just one more, and then I'll have to stop," she said with +eager brightness. "My voice isn't strong enough to do much, you know, +though I'm awfully glad you like the songs." + +So she sang another, a lullaby, that sank to its finish in flattering +silence. Not a word was spoken as she stepped to the floor, but Elinor +put out her hand and gave Patricia's a hard squeeze. + +Mrs. Eitel broke the silence. "That music has made me strong," she +declared, beaming. "These dishes I will now wash up for the reward of +those songs. Go along now, young ladies, and think nothing about the +disorder and the scrappishness, for it is I who will make them to come +to order." + +There were a few feeble protests, but Mrs. Eitel bore them down, and +the students trooped off upstairs to their lockers and the dressing +room, well pleased to escape the prosaic end to their fun. + +On the way home Patricia told Elinor of the suspicions that had been +whispered about Doris Leighton's part in the initiation, and, much to +her satisfaction, Elinor was as indignant as she had been. + +"I can't see how they can be so unfriendly to her," she said warmly. +"She is so kind and agreeable. Of course, she doesn't associate with +everybody, but neither does Margaret Howes nor Griffin either, for that +matter. So far from being jealous, she's been specially sociable with +me, and I felt quite flattered by it." + +"I knew you'd feel just that way about it," said Patricia, relieved and +triumphant. "I told them she'd been awfully sweet to us." + +"I think it more likely that it was Griffin herself," said Elinor with +spirit. "She's such a wild, harum-scarum thing, and she does love to +tease." + +Patricia was silent, weighing this suggestion. They both broke into +negation at once as they reached their own front door. + +"It couldn't be Griffin," said Patricia earnestly. "She was too +disgusted with it." + +"No, I didn't really mean that," cried Elinor, repentantly. "It wasn't +a bit like her teasing. Her's always has a good flavor." + +"I wonder who it could have been," they both murmured as they went +upstairs to their rooms. + +Judith was deeply interested with their recital of the whole affair, +and grew quite excited in the discussion as to the identity of the +leader of the Ghost Dance. + +"If I were there enough to know the different girls, I'd know who it +was without much trouble," she declared. + +"How would you manage it, Sherlock?" asked Patricia. "Give us a hint +of your method, and we may be able to locate the fiend ourselves." + +Judith tossed her head. + +"Oh, you may laugh, Miss Pat. But all the same, I'd _know_. I could +tell by the little things that you grown-ups don't notice." + +"Mercy, Judy!" cried Patricia in genuine consternation. "You mustn't +examine us all with your private microscope. It isn't fair!" + +Elinor put an end to the discussion by pointing to the clock. + +"Do you see the hour, infants?" she demanded. "Tomorrow is a full day, +and we must get to our beds. Toddle, Judy dear. If you aren't asleep +in ten minutes you'll have to take a nap in the afternoon." + +"Oh, but Miss Jinny's coming at five, and David won't leave till +half-past four!" protested Judith, horrified at such a prospect, and +beginning to scramble out of her clothes with lively haste. "And you +promised to show me the night-life room, too, when all the students +were there and the model wasn't posing! Oh, dear Elinor, you're a very +agitating person! I'm twice as wide-awake as I was a minute ago!" + +When Elinor and Patricia were alone, Patricia opened the subject that +had been occupying her thought for the last few minutes. + +"You'll try for that library panel prize, won't you, Norn?" she asked, +pleadingly. "Griffin and Margaret Howes both say you ought. I know +you could do something worth while." + +Elinor paused in her hair brushing, and sank down on the stool, +absently propping her chin on her brush. + +"It doesn't seem worth while," she began, but Patricia broke in +impatiently: + +"You never know what you can do till you try. I'd try for anything I +was eligible for, if I couldn't draw a stroke, just to be in with the +rest." + +Elinor smiled and pulled Patricia down beside her on the stool. + +"Don't be too hard on your lazy old sister, Miss Pat," she said with a +kiss. "I'll promise to go in for it if you won't scold any more. If I +disgrace the family, you mustn't cast it up to me." + +Patricia tossed her bright head scornfully. + +"'Disgrace!'" she repeated hotly. "Why, do you know, Elinor Kendall, +that they're all saying _already_ that you're a wonder?" Then with a +swift change, she broke into a giggle. "Wait till you lay eyes on my +contribution to the modeling competition. You'll have the treat of +your young life then!" + +"What's it to be?" asked Elinor, releasing her and beginning to braid +her dark hair. + +"Don't know," replied Patricia gayly. "Don't care, either. Whatever +it is, I'm going into it tooth and nail. I'll show them that I'm on +the turf even if I can't win a ribbon." + +Judith's voice came plaintively from her room. + +"I don't think it's fair," she faltered. "You girls keep chattering so +I can't go to sleep, and the ten minutes are up long ago." + +"Bless your heart, Infant, you're a martyr to our long tongues!" cried +Patricia, jumping up and putting out the light. "Go to sleep now. We +won't chirp a single note. Good-night, and happy dreams!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +DAVID'S TREAT + +"I haven't had my criticism yet, and if I don't get it next pose, +you'll have to go to the station without me," said Elinor to the other +two girls as she met them in the corridor the next morning. "Mr. +Benton's awfully slow, but I can't miss this first criticism, you know." + +"David'll be fearfully disappointed," remarked Judith dispassionately. +"It's his first family spree, and I think it's your duty to go, Elinor." + +"Oh, I'll be through in time for the luncheon," said Elinor, hastily. +"But if I'm not out here by eleven-fifteen, you'd better start without +me. I can meet you somewhere, or you all can come over here for me." + +Doris Leighton, passing, stopped for a gay word with Patricia and +Judith as they loitered in the hall. She made a laughing little +gesture of envy when she heard their program for the day, which +Patricia, eager to make amends for the unspoken slight upon her, poured +out generously. + +"What fun it will be," she said, with the faintest tinge of sadness in +her lovely voice. "It must be splendid to have a brother! I have +always so longed for one." + +Patricia caught herself in the act of offering her a share in David +Francis, but remembering his cold criticism of other attractive girls +in the past, closed her lips in time. + +"We didn't have one till this winter," she said cheerfully. "So I +guess we appreciate him for all he's worth." + +Doris Leighton's pretty eyes widened. "What in the world do you mean?" +she asked with such real interest that Patricia gladly rushed into the +tale of the kidnaping of her five-year-old twin brother, and how he had +been given up as dead for all the long years until the chance discovery +of his identity revealed him to them at the very time when they were +most in need of him. She did not dwell on the financial reinforcement +that he brought to them, feeling instinctively that the knowledge of +their straitened means would lower them in Doris Leighton's estimation, +but drew a lively picture of the jolly Christmas party they had had at +Greycroft, and the happy future they were looking forward to in their +life together. + +"He's at Prep now, but he'll enter Yale next year," she ended proudly. +"He's awfully clever, though he doesn't show it. He behaves just as +silly and stupid as other boys most of the time." + +"He must be a nice boy," returned the Class Beauty, with lagging +interest and a shade of condescension in her manner. "Of course, he's +young yet. I thought he was Kendall Major's twin." + +Judith, who had been scanning her narrowly, opened her eyes at this, +and asked innocently, "Is that why you thought you'd like him? Because +he was older and more grown-up?" + +Doris Leighton laughed a rippling laugh that had no shade of the +annoyance which Patricia felt rise hotly at Judith's rather pert +question. + +"Bless you, no, child," she said lightly. "I merely thought he would +be more apt to be like your oldest sister, whom I admire tremendously, +as everyone knows." + +Patricia could scarcely wait till Miss Leighton was out of earshot. + +"What in the world made you so disagreeable?" she demanded of the +unconcerned Judith. "Any blind bat could see that you wanted to be +nasty, in spite of your namby-pamby airs." + +Judith merely smiled her superior smile. "I know more about Miss Doris +Leighton than you think," she said, nonchalantly. "Her little sister +is in my class at school, and I just got acquainted with her yesterday." + +Patricia stamped her foot in vexation. "What _do_ you mean?" she +cried. "You're the most exasperating----" + +The words died on her tongue, as Elinor suddenly emerged from the +portrait class door, her face radiant and with an exclamation of quick +pleasure at the sight of them. + +"I got my criticism! And he said the work was good! Now I can write +to Bruce," and her voice rang with a thrilling note of joy that carried +Patricia with her. + +"Good old Norn!" she cried, with a mighty hug. "I told you that you +were the real stuff! Ju and I are mighty proud of our big sister, +aren't we, Ju?" + +Judith caught Elinor's hand, and pressed close, silently adoring. + +"You girls are angels to wait for me till the very last moment," +chatted Elinor, stuffing her things into her locker recklessly. "I +hated to run the risk of not going to the station, but, oh, it was +worth it!" + +Patricia watched her with studious eyes as she pinned on her hat and +hurried into her wraps, holding forth the while in an exultation most +unusual to her. + +"You're 'fair lifted,' aren't you, Norn?" she asked curiously. "I +didn't know you ever got so daffy over anything. I've never seen you +if you have." + +Judith looked wise. "I know how she feels," she declared, sagely. "I +get awfully excited when I write something good. Why, sometimes I cry, +I'm so happy about it, and I jump up and down, too, all by myself." + +Patricia grinned. "You two geniuses understand each other, I see. +Might a humdrum mortal remind you that David is just about sliding into +the train shed at this moment?" + +"Mercy! Are we so late?" exclaimed Elinor, remorsefully. "Hurry, +Judith. Don't wait for me. I'll catch up to you before you get to the +corner." + +Off they raced, and came panting into the station, to find the express +ten minutes late, and David just stepping from the platform of the +still moving line of cars. + +Patricia, who denounced recklessness in others, flew to meet him with +loud reproaches, regardless of the thronging crowd of undergraduates +that were nimbly springing off after him. + +"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, David Carson!" she cried, her big +gray eyes alight and a pretty flush on her cheeks. "You'll simply +_kill_ yourself some day, that's what you'll do! Why can't you wait +till it stops?" + +David, grinning broadly, cast a rather sheepish glance at the hurrying +throng. + +"Fellows were in a hurry," he explained good-naturedly, as he shook +hands with a grip that made her wince. "Couldn't keep you girls +waiting, anyway. Hullo, Elinor, how's the artist lady? Hullo, kid, +give us your paw. Don't need to ask you how you are--you look out of +sight." + +Judith as she kissed him was wrinkling her smooth brows at him. "But I +thought you were going to bring Tom Hughes----" she began, hesitatingly. + +David burst into a laugh. "Blest if I didn't forget all about Tommy," +he cried, turning to search the platform with eager eyes. "He's here +somewhere, but he's a shy youth and I guess he was afraid you'd want to +kiss him, too, Judy. Oh, there he is. Hullo, Tommy! Step lively, +please!" + +A tall dark-haired youth in a gray suit and overcoat, who had been +standing with his back to them a short distance away, turned and showed +a pleasant, homely face with two very lively eyes and a wide, firm +mouth. + +"This is the famous Hughes Junior," said David, introducing him to them +collectively. "Collector of dead bugs, and trouble generally. He +looks mild, but you want to watch him." + +Hughes Junior chuckled, in a slightly embarrassed fashion. + +"Don't give me away too hard," he said, in an agreeable voice. "I +haven't taken any of your bugs yet. I won't tell on him, Miss +Kendall," he added with an admiring glance at Elinor, "although I could +make you shudder with tales of his dark deeds." + +"Now, don't let's waste time," said David briskly. "Where are we bound +first? How about taking a peep at the art-joint? Do you allow +visitors in the morning?" + +"Do you really want to go?" asked Patricia, beaming. "The modeling +room's open, and you can always see the antique." + +"Let's look them over then," returned David, promptly. "We aren't keen +on antiques--got too many in our boarding-house, but we want to see +what you've been up to, Miss, so lead on. Tommy here does not care +much for female pursuits, but he'll have to put up with it for once." + +"Female!" cried Patricia. "I like that! There are as many men as +there are girls, aren't there, Elinor? You're shockingly ignorant, +young man." + +They started off, leaving Tom Hughes and Elinor to follow, and Judith, +as she cast a searching backward glance at David's chum, whispered to +Patricia that he must be very nice and sociable for he seemed just as +much at home with Elinor as if she'd been another boy. + +"Think he'll do for that future helpmeet you're expecting to turn up +any old day, Judy?" Patricia mischievously whispered back. + +"_Patricia_, he'll hear you!" gasped the scandalized Judith. + +"What are you two mumbling about?" demanded David, shouldering his way +through the assembly at the station door. "No fair talking secrets +today. I've got to be in everything that's going on. 'Fess up now, +Judy, you were complaining that Tommy's nose was too long for the hero +of your next novel, weren't you?" + +"I never said a word about his nose," cried Judith, relieved to evade +the real topic. "I'd be more polite than to criticize his linny-ments +like that." + +Patricia joined in David's peal of laughter. "Shades of Hannah Ann +defend us!" she cried, gayly. "Don't spring any more bombs like that +on us, Infant. We've got to last till lunch time, anyway." + +"Lunch time!" repeated David, warmly. "I'm aiming to survive till at +least five minutes after! Think of all the good things we're going to +massacre. Where does Elinor want to go, Miss Pat? She didn't nominate +it in her note!" + +"We all want to go to the same place we had such fun in last spring, +when we thought we were so rich," said Judith quickly. "Elinor said +you were to have first choice, though, as it was your treat." + +"Litz-Tarlton, wasn't it?" asked David. "O.K. for me, and Tommy is a +good-natured brute, who doesn't care where he feeds, so that he feeds." + +They found the usual array of aproned students in the corridors and +work rooms, and although the boys tried to be enthusiastic it was plain +that the famous Academy did not appeal to them very strongly. + +"Pretty smelly sort of a place, isn't it?" said Tom Hughes to Patricia, +with great cheerfulness. "I suppose you get awfully mussed up with +that clay, too. Isn't it hard to work in?" + +Patricia, though a bit disappointed, felt delightfully superior as she +replied loftily, "It isn't so bad. We don't mind, you know, because +we're so interested in the work." + +They all stood around on the sloppy floor of the clay room as she undid +the moist wrappings of her half-finished head. As the cloths were laid +aside, there was a disheartening silence. + +"It looks sort of whopper-jawed, doesn't it, Miss Pat?" asked David, +hesitating. "I can see it's going to be a stunner when it's done, but +I guess I'm weak on sculpture anyway. I can't understand it in the +green stage." + +"It looks like a foreigner, all right," ventured Tom Hughes, and was +rewarded for his courage by a flash of passionate gratitude from +Patricia's big gray eyes. + +"He's a Russian refugee," she said, triumphantly, and as she quickly +covered her work again, and they passed out through the little side +entrance, she told them the tragic scrap of the model's history that +had sifted through the gossip of the work room. + +"I see why Judy is so keen on the fine arts just now," teased David as +he dropped into step again. "Lots of material for current fiction, eh, +Ju?" + +But Judith maintained a discreet silence, and David and Patricia fell +into talk of school and study till the door of the great hotel swung +wide to admit their little party. + +"I say, this is fine!" declared David, as he looked about him in the +palm-shaded, pink and gold dining-room. "Beats our refectory at the +Prep, doesn't it, Tommy old boy?" + +Hughes made a careful inventory of the delicate china and sparkling +silver before he delivered himself. + +"I haven't had a sample of the food yet," he said, gravely, "but if it +comes up to the equipment, I'll be perfectly satisfied." + +Patricia and Elinor, who, with Judith, had put on their best for the +little spree, were in the highest spirits and were delighted with +everything, remembering many of the chief features of the room and +pointing them out to each other until David protested. + +"I say, you needn't rub it in that Tom and I are greenhorns," he said, +grinning. "Don't forget that once you were quite as unaccustomed to +all this magnificence as we are now." + +"Listen to him!" exclaimed Patricia, gayly. "He's been abroad for +_months_ in all sorts of grandeur, and he pretends----" + +She broke off suddenly at the swift remembrance of that futile search +for health that had led the gentle Mrs. Carson to her grave in far-away +Florence. She caught his hand under the table in a quick squeeze, +while Elinor hurried into comparisons that claimed Judith's and Tom's +close attention. + +"I'm a horrid pig to forget," she whispered contritely. "Don't be +cross, Frad dear; you know how sorry I am." + +David gave an answering squeeze that brought the tears to her eyes, as +he whispered in return, "That's all right, old lady. Don't you fret +about me." + +He dropped her hand at the obsequious voice of the waiter at his elbow. + +"Do you wish to order, sir?" + +After the man had gone, Patricia, who had flushed, suddenly giggled. +"Did you see him looking at us, Frad?" she asked, in an undertone. "He +thought he'd caught us holding hands, like regular grown-up spoons!" + +"Stuff and nonsense!" growled David, hotly. "He'd know better than +that." + +Nevertheless, in spite of his protest, David took great care to behave +with the utmost frigidity to Patricia whenever the smiling waiter made +his appearance, and instead lavished his care on Judith, who took on +airs of importance that were delightful to behold. + +"We caught our first view of Bruce Haydon here--remember, Norn?" said +Patricia, happily consuming her entree. "Wouldn't it be fun if we'd +run across someone else this time?" + +"I don't think so," said David resolutely. "We haven't such a lot of +time to be together that we need anyone else butting in. I'm satisfied +as we are." + +"You must have had a thought wave, Miss Patricia," said Tom Hughes. +"The unexpected friend is here all right." + +The girls swept a puzzled glance around the room, but could discern no +familiar face among the gay groups at the many little tables. David, +however, gave an exclamation, and half rose in his chair. + +"Sure enough, Tommy. It's Hilton to the very life. Don't you see him, +Pat, coming in with that head waiter? Do you mind if we ask him to +join us, Elinor? He's coming right this way. He's English Lit., and a +dandy fellow, if he is a teacher." + +Elinor gave a hasty assent, but Patricia was ardent. + +"Oh, do ask him, David," she urged, taking in the attractive athletic +figure with its wholesome self-reliant air. "He looks awfully nice." + +"He's all of that. He's the youngest professor in the school and no +end a good fellow," supplemented Tom Hughes, heartily. + +David half rose again, and signaled to attract the other's attention, +and when Mr. Hilton saw who was hailing him, a pleased smile ran over +his face and he strode forward with outstretched hand. + +"Well, this is luck!" he began, but paused, seeing the girls. "I'm in +for a bit of lunch before the matinee, and I can only say 'howdy.' +Going to take in the miracle play at the Globe,--finest thing in town, +they say. See you later, perhaps," and he bowed to them all, vaguely +including the three girls in his kindly glance. + +"Not much you won't!" cried David. "You're going to have lunch with +us--we've only just begun. I want you to meet my sisters. That is, if +you haven't any other engagement," and here he snickered, for there was +a rumor current in the Prep that Hilton was secretly devoted to some +unknown charmer. + +The insinuation fell harmless, as far as the young professor was +concerned. + +"I shall be delighted, if you'll be so good as to let me," he said +gratefully, with his sincere gaze on the festive group about the dainty +table. "I've heard of your good luck in finding your family, and am +very glad to meet them." + +A chair was brought and another luncheon ordered, and soon they were +chattering as gayly as though they had all known each other for ages. +Elinor inquired for Mr. Lindley, who by chance had been Mr. Hilton's +room-mate at college, and heard that he was in France on his belated +honeymoon. + +"He expected to be married last fall, but there was a hitch in getting +out his book," said Mr. Hilton, as he finished his salad. "So he +couldn't get away till last month." + +"We had a great interest in that book," said Elinor smiling, "for he +was compiling it when he boarded with us last summer. I'm glad to hear +it is out at last. We'll have to get a copy of it, for old times' +sake." + +Tom Hughes, who had been surreptitiously glancing at his watch beneath +the table cover, spoke reluctantly. + +"If you people don't want to miss the first act, we'll have to be +toddling," he said. "It's about five minutes after two." + +"Where are you going, Kendall?" asked Mr. Hilton as they pushed back +their chairs, and stood waiting for the last button on Judith's glove +to come to terms. "If you haven't settled on anything special, I'd +like to have you all see the new play with me. It's said to be the +finest thing in America, and I'm sure your sisters would enjoy it." + +David acquiesced, as far as the play was concerned. "But you are not +going to take us," he said firmly. "This is my spree and I can't let +any other fellow butt in. We'll get seats together, and have a bully +time, if you're willing to go with us. Come, Judy, we'll hustle on +ahead and secure the seats, while these elderly folks stroll after us +at their leisure." + +Patricia found Tom Hughes a very agreeable companion on the walk to the +theater, and they discussed tennis and swimming with an ardor that was +most exhilarating, while Elinor and Mr. Hilton kept up as best they +could among the holiday crowds to the brisk pace that they maintained +in the lead. + +The play was all that had been promised and they sat through its +mystic-scenes with rapt attention, comparing notes enthusiastically in +the intervals when the curtain was down, and when it was over they came +out into the daylight with that peculiar sensation of unreality in the +daylight world that follows an enthralling matinee. + +"Don't the people seem funny-looking?" said Judith, blinking at the +gayly dressed crush at the theater entrance. "They all seem like +actors in a play, with the twinkly electric lights and the streaky +yellow sunset behind those big buildings." + +They paused a moment on the corner for a look at the twilit streets +with their white pulsing points of electric lamps flickering above the +hurrying crowds, while behind the sky line, with its towers and +minarets and huge squares of office buildings, the clear topaz of the +winter sunset surged upward in the dimming turquoise sky. + +"There's a picture for you, Elinor," said David, pointing to the +beautiful serrated mass of the great buildings looming misty-blue +against the gold. "Can't you remember that, and put it on canvas when +you get home?" + +Elinor made no reply. Her eyes were fixed on the lovely fading +panorama of life that was shifting before them. The twilight, the +sunset, and the haunting magic of the miracle play still lingering with +them, touched them all into sudden seriousness, and they stood silent +and intent, forgetful of the whirl of pleasure and traffic that swept +about them. + +"See how the sunset catches on the big cross on the tower!" said +Patricia softly. "It's the only thing up there in the sky that answers +the sun's signaling." + +"'Light answering to light,'" quoted Mr. Hilton, and Patricia flashed +an eager glance of appreciation at his earnest face. + +After the young men had waved their last farewells from the car windows +and the train had puffed its way out of the great arching dome, +Patricia spoke her mind with her usual frankness. + +"Tom Hughes is an awfully nice boy," she said, slipping a hand into +Judith's and Elinor's arm, as they paced the platform, waiting for Miss +Jinny's train. "But for pure, sheer adorableness, give me Mr. Hilton, +every time. Don't you think he's a perfect duck, Elinor?" + +Elinor laughed easily. "He seems to be very pleasant and he certainly +is popular with the boys," she admitted, "but I must say I like Tommy +Hughes immensely." + +"Which have you selected for your future partner, Judy?" teased +Patricia, turning to her little sister. "I saw your speculative eye +upon them, and I knew you were weighing them well. Which is it to +be--Tommy or the Prof?" + +"I'm getting too old to be treated like such a baby, Miss Pat," said +Judith with great dignity. "I wish you wouldn't be so silly! How +could I marry an old person like Mr. Hilton, anyway?" + +"Then it's Tom," cried Patricia delightedly. "I wonder if he'll mind +being tagged. Shall you tell him his fate soon, Ju, or let him +gradually waken to it?" + +Judith merely pursed her lips and tossed her head. "Don't you think +the train must be late?" she said to Elinor. "I do hope you can stay +till Miss Jinny gets here." + +"I have to leave in just five minutes," said Elinor, glancing at the +big illuminated clock face. "I can't be late for criticism in the +night life, you know." + +They paced for a minute or two in silence, and then Patricia gave a +little sigh. + +"Haven't we had a gorgeous time?" she said, thoughtfully. "I didn't +realize that we could enjoy ourselves so much for such a long time. +It's been a whole month now, and getting nicer every day. We've been +always so pinched that it seems almost wicked to be so careless about +spending money, doesn't it, Norn?" + +"I don't feel that way," said Elinor gratefully. "I'm thankful every +minute of the day for the happiness we have, and I feel that it has +come to us from the same Lord that made the world full of beauty and +joy." + +Patricia gave her arm a quick squeeze. "If we weren't on a public +platform, I'd kiss you for that, Elinor Kendall," she said, ardently. +"You make things so comfortable for me." + +"We don't waste anything, anyway, and we do all we can to be nice to +other people," said Judith, seriously. "And that ought to count, +oughtn't it?" + +"Like a charm to keep off ghosts," laughed Patricia. "Perhaps we ought +to cross our fingers, Ju, when we remember to. That might help, too." + +But Judith was not attending. Her eyes were fixed on the far side of +the great station. + +"Why, there she is!" she cried in surprise. "She must have come in on +the wrong track! She's looking all around for us. Do hurry, Elinor! +I'll run on ahead and tell her you're coming." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +SMOOTH WATERS + +"Well, I declare, if you ain't just the same," said Miss Jinny, as +Patricia piloted her through the crowds to the cab-stand. + +Elinor, taking Judith with her, had said a hasty farewell and hurried +off to the Academy for her criticism in the night life, with promises +to return as soon as possible. + +Miss Jinny, in her fine, last-season's dress, with the usual up-to-date +hat on her scanty drab hair, and the twinkle of amusement at the +continuous entertainment that life afforded her, was looking so well +that Patricia voiced her wonder that she should have come to town for +doctoring, as her letter had intimated. + +Miss Jinny chuckled huskily. "Don't you worry about that," she said, +mysteriously. "It ain't my health. It's something I didn't want to +write on paper," and she tapped her upper lip suggestively. + +Patricia, noting the downy line that penciled the corners of her firm +mouth, hesitated to put an inquiry that could be delicate enough to +indicate the faint moustache without hurting Miss Jinny's feelings. + +"Uppers!" said Miss Jinny, wholly unconscious of Patricia's +perturbation. "Came in on the sly last week to have a new set made. +Got measured for 'em, and am going to get them day after tomorrow. +Thought I'd combine business with pleasure and make a visit while they +were being filed to fit. I don't reckon that dentist'll hit them off +first shot. They mostly never do, you know." + +"I hope he doesn't," said Patricia, warmly. "For then you'll have to +stay longer with us. And we're going to have _such_ a good time!" + +In the taxicab she unfolded the plans for the week that Miss Jinny had +promised them, dwelling on each detail with all the ardor of her +enthusiastic nature. + +"Lands alive!" cried Miss Jinny, enjoying herself hugely in prospect. +"I haven't the duds to do credit to such doings. Why, I'm all out of +style, and you know it, Louise Patricia Kendall! You'll have me +running into all sorts of extravagance, dyking out for your tea parties +and such like fandangos." + +The taxi stopped with a bump at the curb and Patricia sprang out, paid +the man and joined Miss Jinny on the sidewalk before the door had +opened to admit the little worn trunk that the driver shouldered with +such ease. + +"Why, it's a mansion for sure!" exclaimed Miss Jinny, gazing with +approval at the fine front of the tall, well-kept, brown-stone house. +"I was so afraid you girls might be poked away in some stuffy street +with never a tree or bit of sky to hearten you, but that park's most +equal to the real country." + +"It was the park that brought us here," said Patricia, leading the way +upstairs to the spacious front room where Miss Jinny was to be +domiciled. "And we're so glad we came. Mrs. Hudson is so kind to us +that we don't feel like strangers at all. Even Ju adores her, and you +know how hard she is to suit." + +"Who's talking about me?" demanded Judith's high treble, and they +turned to see her in the doorway, silhouetted against the brilliantly +lighted hall. + +"Mercy, Judy, where did you drop from?" asked Patricia, startled. "I +didn't expect you for an hour. Is Elinor home, too?" + +Judith explained that although she had been so eager for a visit to the +celebrated night life, she had tired of the loneliness of work hours, +and had run off home, leaving Elinor still expecting her criticism. + +"Besides, I wanted to see Miss Jinny," said Judith, affectionately +twining her arms about Miss Jinny's waist. "I haven't seen her for a +whole month, you know." + +Much to Patricia's surprise, Miss Jinny seemed not at all unused to the +reticent Judith's caresses, but stooped and kissed her on her white +forehead, rumpling her pale hair with kindly fingers. + +"I reckon you're wanting to hear all about mama, and the visit you're +going to make us," she said, wisely. "I'll get my old trunk here +unstrapped, and we'll talk while I lay out my duds in those nice wide +bureau drawers. You'll laugh, I guess, when you see what I've brought +you each, but I want you to promise that if you don't like them, you'll +say so, and I'll hunt up something that pleases you better." + +"Oh, we'll be sure to _love_ them, if they come from dear old Rockham +and _you_!" cried Patricia, gathering an armful of hangers from the +deep closet for Miss Jinny's use. "I'm perfectly crazy to see them, +aren't you, Judy? I do hope Elinor doesn't stay too late tonight. You +don't mind waiting for her, do you, Miss Jinny? It'll be so much more +fun when we're all together." + +"Bless your heart, no indeedy!" replied Miss Jinny emphatically. "I'd +rather keep them a week than to have you slight Elinor. We'll have +time to take the edge off our tongues, anyhow, before she gets here, +and get more settled down, I hope. I haven't felt so flighty in a blue +moon, and it's all your fault, Patricia Louise Kendall, with your tales +about theaters and parties and the like! We'll have to put a muzzle on +her, won't we, Judith?--like poor old Nero after he nipped Georgie +Smith when Georgie tried to make him walk the tight rope." + +"Oh, do tell me about it," said Judith eagerly, settling down on a low +stool beside the trunk. "Your stories are always so nice and nippy." + +Miss Jinny laughed, as she shook out a creased skirt, and laid it +carefully in the long lower drawer. + +"I reckon most of the nippiness in this tale is Nero's work--not mine," +she said, smoothing the long folds of gray lansdown into shape with +absent fingers. "You see, it was this way. Old Miss Fell, who lives +in that big red brick house----" + +"Yes, I know," said Judith, expectantly, but Miss Jinny had whisked to +her feet and whirled about towards the door. + +"I saw you in the looking glass!" she cried gleefully. "You needn't +think you can surprise us, young lady!" + +She had Elinor in her arms, to everyone's great amazement, and Elinor, +far from being reluctant, was as responsive as though Miss Jinny were +her own mother. + +"Oh, you're just in time!" she cried, her cheeks flushed and her eyes +shining with a great light of happiness. "You were Aunt Louise's best +friend here, and you'll know just how she'd feel. I got my criticism!" +She paused, choking with emotion. "He came up behind me, and he stood +there so long I was afraid to go on working; and when I stopped, he +spoke out loud, twisting his moustache and popping off his eye-glasses." + +"What did he say?" burst out Patricia, unable to bear the suspense. +"Don't beat around the bush so long, for pity's sake, Norn!" + +"He spoke so loud I was ashamed," went on Elinor. "He sort of bawled +it out. '_Remarkable_ talent, madame, remarkable talent.' And +everybody turned around and looked at me till I felt like sinking +through the floor." + +"How perfectly heavenly!" exclaimed Patricia, with rapture. "I wish +I'd been there to hear it." + +"Your Aunt Louise will rejoice to see this day," said Miss Jinny +solemnly. "For I'm sure she sees it, wherever she is, and I know just +how her dark proud eyes would shine. She always got regularly lighted +up when she was real pleased--like you look now, child." + +"Hannah Ann will be awfully proud, too," said Judith, thoughtfully. +"She's regularly wrapped up in Elinor, because she's so much like Aunt +Louise, she says." + +Elinor looked her surprise. "Why, I didn't know Hannah Ann liked me +specially," she protested. "I thought Miss Pat was her favorite." + +"She used to be," was Judith's frank reply. "But since you've become +an artist, like Aunt Louise, she fairly _adores_ you!" + +The idea of Hannah Ann in any such state of loving frenzy was +irresistible, and they all pealed out their appreciation of Judith's +picture of the grim elderly housekeeper of Greycroft. + +"You may laugh, but it's true, all the same," said Judith decisively. +"And I'll prove it to you all before long--see if I don't." + +The soft chimes of the dinner gong began their melodious call before +anyone could answer, and in the mad scramble to make themselves +presentable in the shortest possible time, Hannah Ann's enthusiasms +were forgotten. + +That night, after Miss Jinny's trunk had finally been disposed of, and +all the gossip of Rockham village and outskirts had been thoroughly +aired, and Miss Jinny, tired from her strenuous day, had gone +thankfully to bed, Patricia and Elinor were talking over the day's +happenings as they brushed their hair in the seclusion of their own +room. + +"Isn't it wonderful how Miss Jinny seems to fit in?" said Patricia, +brushing the shining ripples till they fairly radiated. "I was so +afraid that she might feel strange among such different sort of people, +but she didn't care a bit. She's going to be awfully popular, if she +keeps on. That nice old Mr. Spicer talked to her a lot at dessert, and +he's awfully exclusive, you know." + +"He isn't any older than she is," Elinor replied indignantly. "He's +gray and pale from his illness. He was asking Miss Jinny about the air +at Rockham, and she praised it so that he was much impressed. We may +have him for a neighbor next summer." + +"You don't mean?" began Patricia, incredulously. + +"Of course, I don't mean as Miss Jinny's special property, you goose; I +was only thinking of him as a pleasant addition to the old ladies' card +parties and porch teas,--they need men so badly." + +The idea lodged in Patricia's fertile brain was not so easily routed +out. + +"Still, _in case_," she insinuated with a giggle. "I don't think it +would be such a bad sort of thing, do you, Norn?" + +Elinor laid down her brush impressively. + +"Patricia Kendall," she said, severely, "don't ever let me hear you +even _whisper_ such nonsense to yourself. Miss Jinny is too nice and +sensible to be made fun of in that way, and I won't have it. Remember, +once for all I won't have it!" + +"All right," acquiesced Patricia, meekly. "I didn't mean to be silly. +I'm a lot fonder of her than you are, and I was only thinking what fun +it would be for her, don't you see?" + +"I see that you are a feather-headed kitten," said Elinor, not at all +mollified. "Miss Jinny will do very well as she is without your +romantic nonsense to mortify her. I I'm ashamed of you, indeed I am, +Patricia. I thought you had more delicacy." + +Patricia lifted her brows, perplexed and inquiring, and then dropped +them with a shrug that seemed to indicate that the matter no longer +interested her. + +"What are _you_ going to do with that lovely old shawl she brought you, +Elinor?" she asked, tossing the end of her long braid over her shoulder +and yawning luxuriantly. "I'd like to make a party dress of that +heavenly silk cloak I got, but it seems like cutting up one's own +grandmother." + +Elinor gave a start. "Well, I declare, if I didn't forget all about +it!" she exclaimed. "We were so excited with the presents and all, +that I never told you! It's going to be perfectly gorgeous. I know +you'll be crazy over it." + +Patricia flung herself on her sister, overwhelming her in a flurry of +pink kimono and white arms. "Tell me!" she cried. "Tell me this +minute, you aggravating thing! You're getting to be a regular miser of +your news--you won't give up till it's dragged out of you. Speak, or +I'll have your life!" + +Elinor held her close, laughing with enjoyment at her ardor. + +"It isn't anything to kill for, Miss Pat," she rippled. "It's merely +the Academy ball that takes place next week----" + +Patricia flung off the encircling arms, and was on her feet in an +instant. + +"And we are going?" she demanded breathlessly. "Oh, say that we are +going, Elinor!" + +"Of course we're going," said Elinor, evenly. "What else should we do? +And I want you to persuade Miss Jinny to stay over for it, Miss Pat." + +"That will I!" cried Patricia, heartily. "We'll ship Judy to Mrs. +Shelly on an afternoon train, and make Miss Jinny feel it's her duty to +chaperone us among the wild and woolly artists. Oh, it will be +contemptibly easy! But," and her face fell in dismay, "what are we to +wear? We haven't any party clothes, you know." + +Elinor rose, and going to her bag that was still dangling from the +chair back where she had flung it in her hurried preparation for +dinner, took out a cardcase, and drawing forth three square bits of +gray cardboard, handed them to Patricia. + +"'An Arabian Nights Entertainment,'" read Patricia, mumbling in her +haste. "'No guests admitted unless in costume' . . . m-m-m-m . . . +'The Sultan Haroun-al-Raschid' . . . Oh, I see! We can rig up in +anything we choose,--so that it looks sort of Turkish. _Dee_-licious! +I know what to do with my rose-colored cloak right now!" + +"My shawl will be stunning," rejoiced Elinor. "They've both come to us +in the very nick of time. With that old silk skirt of mine, and that +worn-out gold-beaded tunic of Aunt Louise's that we found in the closet +at Greycroft, we'll be simply dazzling. See if we're not, Patricia +Louise Kendall." + +"I wonder what Miss Jinny will say to a costume?" Patricia said, her +bright face clouding with the thought. + +"I believe she'll like it," declared Elinor, confidently. "She does so +love variety--and she has entered into everything already with such a +vim." + +"Perhaps she's been hungering for what she calls fripperies," said +Patricia, hopefully. "She's so tremendously alive that she must need +some play, and if she's only willing, we'll see that she gets it, won't +we, Norn?" + +"Find out in the morning how she feels about it," said Elinor, +switching off the light. "I'm pretty sure she'll want to go." + + +At the earliest permissible hour, Patricia slipped into her pink kimono +and slippers and sped softly to Miss Jinny's room, where she tapped +lightly, and was admitted at once by Miss Jinny, fully dressed and with +a little book in her hand. + +Patricia opened her plan with great expedition, pouring out explanation +and entreaty in one excited rush, while Miss Jinny sat opposite her on +the side of the bed, her rather protruding pale blue eyes cocked +sidewise at her in the meditative way she had when deeply interested. + +"So you see, we really _need_ you. And you wouldn't have to wear +anything very outlandish, you know," urged Patricia, ending up with her +strongest argument. "And I'm sure Judy would love to be with Mrs. +Shelly alone--they'd have so much more chance for talk together." + +Miss Jinny said not a word for what seemed to Patricia a very long +minute; then she gave her deep chuckle and said decisively, "I'll go as +Sinbad the Sailor. I've a picture of him at home, and I know just how +he's dressed. He's so everlastingly muffled up about his shanks that I +used to think he was a lady when I was knee high to a grasshopper." + +Patricia gave a gasp. "But he wore a turban and great whiskers!" she +said, impulsively. "How in the world could you stand that?" + +Miss Jinny cocked her head knowingly. "Trust me," she replied, +laconically. "I had a cousin who was an actor and I saw him put on a +beautiful beard with spirit-gum and creped hair once. That was twenty +years ago, but I reckon they can still be had here in town." + +Patricia hesitated. "But perhaps you'd rather have an easier +costume,--Aladdin's mother, or----" + +Miss Jinny shook her head. "I always was bent on sea-life and I know a +lot about it. I can swap tales that'll make them believe I'm the only +genuine Sinbad, and I wouldn't miss the chance for a mint," she said +conclusively. + +Patricia was forced to give in gracefully. "I know you'll be +splendid," she declared with rather forced heartiness. "I wish we were +as well fixed for our parts." + +Miss Jinny, with a glance at the little book in her hand, gave a guilty +start and jumped up from the bed's edge with a horrified face. + +"Do you know that it's Sunday morning, and I ought to be reading my two +chapters?" she demanded severely. "This town life is making me forget +my religion already, and as for you, you worldly-minded young sinner, +you ought to be ashamed of yourself, beguiling me with your heathenish +dance parties. Go along now and let me get my mind in order again." + +"Oh, let me stay," urged Patricia. "You can read out loud, and I'll +slip in bed here to keep warm. What part are you reading now?" + +"You'll hear," returned Miss Jinny, settling herself with a jerk. + +Patricia curled up cozily while Miss Jinny read the two Sunday chapters +in a full, melodious voice, beginning with the ineffable words, "In my +Father's house are many mansions." + +She laid down the little worn book just as the soft notes of the gong +floated up from the lower hall. + +"Mercy on us!" she ejaculated, rising hurriedly. "I've gone and made +you late for breakfast!" + +Patricia wriggled out from her warm nest reluctantly. "There's lots of +time," she assured Miss Jinny. "That's the first call. We've got half +an hour yet." + +"I'll come over to your room in just twenty-five minutes to the dot," +called Miss Jinny after her, as she gathered her draperies about her +and fled down the hall. + +The day passed delightfully, with morning service at the famous Dr. +Arnold's stately church, a specially sociable dinner at home, and a +'bus ride through the crisp sunshine of the afternoon into the snowy +outskirts, with a cozy little tea in Miss Jinny's big front room, where +they could watch the twilight gather among the bare trees of the park +and the lamps sparkle out among the shadows. After supper Mr. Spicer +invited them in to see his collection of photographs which he had taken +in all parts of the civilized and barbarous world, before the long +illness, contracted in the swamps of West Africa, had put a stop to his +active, adventurous life as a collector for the University. + +The girls enjoyed this surprising revelation of the quiet, elderly +gentleman's vigorous taste, but Miss Jinny fairly reveled in such close +contact with the life she so ardently envied, and it was nearly +midnight when they said good-night and hurried to their rooms, Miss +Jinny declaring that she'd never spent such a satisfactory day in her +life, and all three full of the ideas for their costumes which Mr. +Spicer's photographs had suggested to them. + +The week that followed flew on winged feet. The costumes, simple +enough at first, grew in detail with every day and absorbed so much of +their spare time that Patricia frankly gave up any thought of work and +yielded herself to the enjoyment of Miss Jinny and the day's pleasure +without any effort at serious work. + +"The best thing about you, Miss Pat," said Elinor, the day before the +party, "is that you know when to stop. I simply haven't accomplished a +thing the last two days, and yet I couldn't have the courage to shirk +the Academy. You stay away joyously, and get the full benefit." + +"Why not?" returned Patricia, her fingers busy with Sinbad's girdle. +"You can't do two things at once, to do them well. I'm commonplace +enough to realize that, but you geniuses go on trying to tear +yourselves into little pieces, and then howl because you aren't making +masterpieces in every department." + +"I know it," said Elinor, sinking wearily into a chair. "I've tried to +keep up with you all at home here, and do my work, too, but it hasn't +worked. I believe I'll stay home today and take a real holiday." + +Patricia nodded. "You'll be in better shape to begin on the library +design next week," she said briskly. "I'm not going to start my study +till I feel just like it. Doesn't pay to push yourself too hard. +We've had a glorious week, with the concerts and theater and the +museums and all, and I've learned more than I should have at the +school. Just _living_ teaches you lots, if you'll learn, and I don't +believe in turning up my nose at things just because they aren't in a +roster." + +Miss Jinny, who had been out scouring the town for the materials for +Sinbad's beard, broke in on them breathlessly. + +"What do you think?" she cried, her eyes popping with pleasurable +excitement. "The Haldens are in town for over Sunday, and the girls +are going to the party tomorrow night! They've just landed yesterday +and were in the customer's hunting up suits when I ran across them." + +"How splendid!" said Patricia, glowing. "To think that we'll meet them +here in town after all. Are they going to Rockham this summer?" + +"Going right up on Monday," said Miss Jinny, taking off her things. +"The two older girls go back to college, but the rest of the family go +right home and stay there." + +"I wonder what they are like, and if they'll like us," mused Elinor, +her gaze on the fire that was snapping on the hearth in Miss Jinny's +room where the sewing was being done. + +"We'll find out tomorrow night," said Patricia, readily. "And now that +the costumes are all done, tomorrow night can't come too soon for me." + +"I'm about ready, too," chimed in Miss Jinny. "I reckon they'll be +quite astonished when they meet with their old friend Sinbad the +Sailor." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE ACADEMY BALL + +"What a crowd!" exclaimed Elinor, as they pushed their way to the cloak +room. "I hope the floor won't be too full for dancing!" + +"Don't give way to despair so soon--lots of these are maids and +chaperones. Naskowski told me when we squeezed past him at the door +that the rooms upstairs weren't half filled yet," said Patricia, +hopefully. "Here, Miss Jinny, squeeze in before me--there's a chance +to get inside if we form a flying wedge." + +"Mercy sakes, we'll be torn to tatters!" cried Miss Jinny from behind +her veil. "Good thing we're done up good and tight. Lands! There +goes my whisk--no, they don't either, it's only the veil. Oh, for +pity's sake, woman, let me through without any palaver! Can't you tell +I'm a female?" The attendant, who at the sight of Miss Jinny's bushy +beard had thrust a sturdy arm across the door, dropped the barrier with +a snort of laughter, and they were inside the swinging door of the +cloak room, with a flushed maid waiting for their wraps, and an edge +line of muffled newcomers pushing at their backs. + +"It's a blessing we finished ourselves up to the last notch at home," +said Patricia, with wide eyes of dismay for the throngs at the two +mirrors. "We haven't a chance to get a peep here, unless we stay all +night. Is my headpiece on all right, Elinor? I feel all askew after +that crush." + +"You're as sweet as can be," answered Elinor, with a fond pride in +voice and eyes. "You make the dearest Fairy Banou, with these filmy +scarfs and draperies! Doesn't she, Miss Jinny?" + +Miss Jinny, who was still enshrouded save for the torn veil, gave the +last pat to Patricia's gauzes, and handed the pink silk cloak to the +admiring maid, before she spoke. Then she looked Patricia over +thoroughly and gave her husky chuckle. + +"I declare if I ain't a firm believer in fairies after this," she said +with frank affection. "There isn't anything prettier nor sweeter in +the whole ball, I'll warrant!" + +Patricia laughed and blushed with pleasure, preening herself a little +and stretching on tiptoe to try to catch a glimpse in the crowded +mirror; there was a movement as a sultana who had been carmining her +full lips gave place to a dark beggar maid, and Patricia caught the +vision of a slender, airy figure, glittering beneath its gauzy +draperies with the sparkle of bright gold, and with the glint and +shimmer of rosy clanking bracelets and anklets, and the spangled glory +of the rose-crowned headpiece stirring a magical memory of Persia. + +"Why, I am awfully nice!" she cried, delighted with the picture. "I'll +never know myself! Do get off your things, Norn, I'm crazy to see how +you look." + +Elinor, helped by Miss Jinny, shed her wrappings and stood revealed as +a lovely Princess of China, with billowing draperies and flashing glass +jewels and a tiny filet sparking on her dark hair. Some of the swarm +about the mirrors turned at Patricia's exclamation, and with generous +admiration pressed back upon themselves so that for a moment the dark, +serious beauty of the Princess of China flashed out at Elinor from the +long oblong of the glass, filling her lovely eyes with a gratified +light and flushing her tinted cheeks a deeper pink. + +"How sweet of you to let me see!" she cried impulsively to the houris +and queens and beggar-maids that had given her the brief tribute. "I +don't believe I know any of you, but I'm just as much obliged as----" + +She broke off in amazement at the familiar grin of one of the most +glittering queens. "Griffin, of all people!" she cried, delightedly, +and held out an eager hand. + +The sultana, speaking with decidedly un-oriental diction, came +shimmering over to them, and shook hands with occidental heartiness. + +"This is what I call luck," she said, genially. "I'm going to steer +you two peaches right into the thick of the tumult, and if you don't +have the time of your sad young lives, my name's not--well, here, you'd +better pronounce it for me," and she handed out a card on which was +printed in clear black letters, + + THE SULTANA KEHERRYSEENOGASSOLEHENNELECTRIZADE + (OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE LIGHT OF THE HARUMSCARUM) + + +Patricia and Elinor puckered their brows over it, but Miss Jinny, +craning her head over their shoulders, gave a snort. + +"Pooh, that's as easy as rolling off a log," she said, with a toss of +her turban. "If you'd added acetylene and alcohol you'd made it a bit +longer." + +Griffin grinned amiably at the whiskered countenance. "Good for you, +old top," she responded, cheerfully. "You ought to go into the Sunday +puzzle department. You'd be hung all over with gold-filled watches. +Where did you blow in from?" + +Miss Jinny had been quietly removing her outer coverings and as Griffin +spoke she dropped her last concealing wrap, and stepped out in turban +and embroidered jacket, vermillion girdle and wide, baggy blue trousers +whose voluminous folds almost hid the vermillion and gold tips of her +curling slippers. A simitar was thrust fiercely through the flaming +girdle, and a gaudy hookah cuddled in the crook of her arm, while the +bristling whiskers and encarmined cheeks and nose of the weather-beaten +seafarer proclaimed a strong masculine personality in striking contrast +to the pretty young men Turks and Persians that tittered in feminine +fashion all about her. + +"Upon my soul!" cried the sultana of the inflammable name. "You're a +corker! Do you mean to say, Miss Pat, that this buccaneer is the lady +from the rural districts you were spouting about?" + +Miss Jinny gave her husky chuckle. + +"I'm the only original Sinbad," she declared with a very un-Persian +hitch to her flowing trousers. "I've got tales that'll make you creep, +and as for hairbreadth escapes--why, I'm so full of 'em that I can't +see a tumbler of water but that I make a noise like a shipwreck." + +"Come along upstairs with me!" cried the sultana, excitedly, hooking +her arm in that of the embroidered jacket. "You're too good to waste! +I need you in my business." + +Patricia and Elinor followed, rejoicing in Miss Jinny's instant +success, for, as Elinor whispered to Patricia, if Griffin took Miss +Jinny about, she would be one of the features of the evening. + +They went slowly up the palm-banked, stately stairway, through a dim +ante-chamber where a line of twinkling barbaric lamps led to the great +curtained arch of the entrance to the main assembly room. + +"Isn't it lovely and mysterious?" murmured Elinor, pausing to enjoy the +sense of isolation that the obscurity of the blurred lamps emphasized. +"I almost hate to lift the curtain. It may be so disappointing." + +Patricia set her spangled roses twinkling with a nod of comprehension, +but she did not pause. + +"This is nice enough," she said incisively. "It takes away the taste +of the jumbled dressing room, but it makes me all the readier for the +real thing--the people and the lights and the dancing. I simply can't +waste another instant," and she parted the heavy fold and they slipped +into the radiant Arabian land of fairy. + +Lights were flashing everywhere, and everywhere silks and jewels +shimmered in oriental profusion, striking the eye with a bewildering +medley of color. + +Patricia drew in her breath with a sharp little sigh of satisfied +anticipation, but had no more than a murmur for Elinor's rapturous +exclamations, so busy was she with the brilliant scene before her. + +Among the palms and costly rugs that backgrounded a marvelous regal +dais occupying one long end of the great room, sat the glittering +figure of the portly Haroun-al-Raschid, Sultan of Bagdad and husband of +many lovely wives, whose multi-colored costumes made a glowing garden +on the rugs at the foot of the dais, while on the embroidered cushions +at the side of the monarch a lovely Scheherazade in shimmering white +satin with strings of glistening gems in her hair, on her breast, on +her arms and ankles, made an alluring picture of the new-made bride. +Tall palms reared their stately fronds above the group and slave girls, +with fierce Nubians in attendance, waited in mute homage at either side +of the throne. Lamps of brass glittered in the alcoves back of the +great dais, and above it all the roofs and minarets of the ancient city +gloomed in the moonlight of the thousand and second night. + +All about the spacious hall were groups of Arabians, of fair +Circassians, of dusky Nubians and turbaned Turks, while the rustle of +costly fabrics and the odor of heavy Eastern perfumes floated in the +air; the modern city outside in the wintry electric lights was well +forgot in the enchantment of the moment, and Patricia lost count of +time and sense of self in the pageant that swept across the lofty +chamber to make its obeisance at the imperial divan. + +"Look, Norn, look," she whispered, as Aladdin and his mother, in +rustling native embroidered silks, led another Princess of China in +bridal procession across the center of the scene, their rich dresses +making a bright spot in the shifting medley of color. "She's not half +so lovely as you, for all her things are so fine. I wonder who--why, +it's _Doris Leighton_! She never told us what she was going to be; and +she knew you were to be the Princess. Isn't it queer?" + +"We didn't many of us tell, you know," returned Elinor absently, with +her eyes on Morgiana meekly following her master with the basket of +fruit which was to be such a feature in her triumphant dance after the +robbers had been boiled alive in their own panniers. "There's Margaret +Howes. Isn't she lovely in that pomegranate and gold? What queer +slippers she has--just like the ballet dancers. And there's Ali Baba +with the forty thieves, all the portrait class men in a bunch." + +"And the young king of the Black Isles and his wife!" cried Patricia, +giggling. "That's Jeffries, the modeling-room pet, and Miss Green. +She'll exercise the black art in earnest. Did you ever see such +paralyzing expressions as she can call up! That pastry cook is +Peacock, the assistant in the antique. I know him by his red hair." + +As the procession wound to its finish the Sultan arose and with many +courteous speeches in the eastern phraseology welcomed the company to +the night's entertainment, explaining that the first half would be +employed in various acts by those who had appeared in the procession, +with an intermission when refreshments would be served by slaves, after +which there would be a general dance followed by supper in the +antechamber. + +A space was cleared in the center of the room, and there was a general +rush to secure good positions. Patricia found herself separated from +Elinor by a broad-shouldered Moslem whose slow speech revealed him as +the good-natured Naskowski. + +"I did work in the clay room till the hour for this ball," he said, +replying to her surprise. "And after I speak to you on the hall I +become a good Mohammedan very rapid--so rapid I see you and your most +beautiful sister come in by the great door. Many others see _also_. +We say she make a more fine Princess than the one----" + +"Oh, hush!" cautioned Patricia, grasping his arm in her agitation. +"She'll hear you! She's just back of us this minute." + +Doris Leighton, with a rather flushed face, leaned forward as Patricia +spoke and touched her on the shoulder. + +"I must congratulate you, Peri Banou," she said with sharp gayety. +"Everyone is saying that the Princess--your sister--is the _clou_ of +the ball.", + +Patricia had an uneasy sense of insincerity in the light tone, but a +swift glance into the wide eyes of the smiling Doris reassured her. + +"She _is_ lovely, isn't she?" she replied ardently. "But her dress +isn't half so gorgeous as yours," she added heartily. + +Doris Leighton's lashes drooped till her eyes were a narrow line of +inscrutable blue. + +"Thank you so much," she said in a tone of such even sweetness that +Patricia felt uncomfortable, though she did not know why. + +Doris sank back to her place and Patricia turned her attention to the +laughable parodies and excellent dances and necromancy that filled the +first half of the program. It was all hugely diverting, and she +laughed and applauded with the rest, but all the while at the back of +her mind there was a little uneasiness, a sense of insecurity and +disillusionment that flavored all the gayety with its fleeting +bitterness. She was uneasy till she had found Elinor and in the +telling of the insignificant incident had regained enough confidence to +laugh at her foolish disquiet. + +"I'm always making mountains out of mole-hills, and having you level +them for me, Norn," she said, taking a glass of sherbet from the +flower-wreathed tray of the charming slave. "I wish I wasn't such an +alarmist. I felt as frantic as though Doris Leighton had drawn a +dagger, and now I can see what a goose I am." + +"That's because you expect people to be perfect and then, when they +show the tiniest human weakness, you declare them demons at once," said +Elinor, gayly. "You couldn't expect her to _like_ overhearing them +praise me, could you? I think she tried to be very kind, and I admire +her tremendously for it." + +Patricia puckered her brows judicially. + +"I do, too, _now_," she declared. "But I've been paid up for my +evilmindedness by losing half my good time. I think I'll try to find +her and be awfully agreeable to her. I'll feel better for it, I'm +sure." + +The dancing was beginning as Patricia made her way slowly across the +great room to the laughing group where she had seen Doris Leighton but +a moment ago, and before she was halfway across Doris and a tall Turk +swung past her in the whirl of the newest dance, followed by Elinor and +Aladdin, and then by Griffin and the young king of the Black Isles. +Patricia stood still in sudden swift contrition. + +"If I haven't forgotten all about Miss Jinny!" she thought +remorsefully. "How fearfully self-absorbed I'm getting to be. I'm a +perfect _pig_!" + +She had a long search before she discovered the valiant Sinbad in a far +corner of the now deserted divan surrounded by a circle of kindred +spirits to whom Griffin had delivered her, holding her own with great +spirit and enjoyment among the dashing wit and pungent repartee. + +Miss Jinny, at the sight of Patricia fluttering in among them in her +white gauzy draperies like some dainty moth, held out a reproving +finger. + +"Why aren't you dancing?" she demanded sternly, her whiskers trembling +with the fervor of her interest. "What is Elinor up to that you're not +dancing?" + +Patricia, abashed by being thus publicly admonished, murmured something +about its being only the first dance, and not knowing many people, but +Miss Jinny cut her short. + +"Don't tell me," she said abruptly. "You ought to be dancing instead +of wasting your time on old ladies like me." Here there was a burst of +mirth at the incongruity of the words with Miss Jinny's ferocious +masculine aspect, but she silenced it with a wave of her hookah stem. +"Let me introduce the Second Calendar, who I hope knows enough +respectable young men here to see that you aren't a wall flower." + +A good-natured, whole-some looking young man in the clothes of a +calendar, with a patch on his right eye, laid aside his long-necked +lute and rose with a bow. + +"I'm usually known as Herbert Lester, Miss Kendall," he said, smiling +as he led her to the dancing floor. "Sinbad can tell you that my +mother was an old friend of your aunt. I've just learned that you and +your sister are students here. Have you seen the Haldens? They were +asking me about you a moment before the intermission, and I was +commissioned to hunt you up when I ran into the circle there in the +divan and was hypnotized by Sinbad's wonderful sea tales." + +He rattled on all through the dance, Patricia getting in only a few +words here and there, and when the music stopped he steered her to a +particularly gay group under a big palm in a corner, and introduced her +to the two Halden girls and their mother, and then went off in search +of Elinor and Miss Jinny. + +Patricia found the Haldens, mother and daughters, so much to her mind +that she was full of regret that she had not met them earlier. They +were kindly, whole-hearted people who lived without any quarrel with +life, and Patricia, as well as Elinor and Miss Jinny, rejoiced openly +in the prospect of a summer together in dear old Rockham. + +They parted, at the end of the sumptuous supper in the transformed +ante-chamber, with a thousand plans for the coming season and a strong +sense of enrichment in the friendship of these sincere and attractive +neighbors. + +"What do you think of the artists _now_?" asked Patricia, leaning back +in the carriage as they were being whirled homeward. "Are they such +serious people as you thought them, Norn?" + +"They're so mighty much in earnest that they'll break their necks to do +a thing right," retorted Miss Jinny with spirit. "It's their being so +serious that makes them play so well." + +Elinor smiled assent, and Miss Jinny went on. + +"When folks are sure a thing's worth while, they make it _go_. Think +of how that same party would have slumped if everybody hadn't felt it +was the most serious thing in the world to make it real." Then, with a +sudden pounce, she changed the subject. "I've seen your wonderful +Doris Leighton, Miss Pat, and I must say I don't take very much stock +in her." + +Patricia felt that same indefinite sense of loss and disillusionment +which had haunted her earlier in the evening, and she shrank back into +her corner without a word, fearing that Miss Jinny's clear vision might +after all substantiate her shadowy misgivings. + +It was Elinor who rushed to the defense. "We've always found her +sweet-tempered and kind, haven't we, Patricia? She's very popular and +perhaps you thought her spoiled, but I'm sure, dear Miss Jinny, if you +knew her better you'd like her as much as we do." + +Miss Jinny gave a snort that almost shook her whiskers off. + +"I'll be bound for you, Elinor Kendall, to find the sweetness in every +sour apple. Not that your Doris Leighton is sour on the outside. +She's much too sweet for my taste. I don't trust them when they're so +unearthly sweet." + +Patricia recalled Griffin's remarks on the same subject, but she +loyally suppressed the memory and called up instead the radiant vision +of Doris as she had first seen her in her green apron, smiling back at +her eager whisper of admiration, and her heart warmed to the memory. + +"First impressions are always best, I find," she said sagely. "I won't +believe I've been mistaken till I have to. What did she do that made +you dislike her?" + +Miss Jinny, cornered, had to admit that there was nothing she could put +her finger on. "But I don't trust her eyes," she ended obstinately. +"You have been deceived before, Miss Pat, and you may be again. +However, I won't say another word against her. If you like her, that's +enough. Now, let's talk about the nice people. How did you like that +Lester boy? His mother was your Aunt Louise's chum at school." + +"He was awfully nice," said Patricia enthusiastically. "Architects are +so much better scrubbed than art students. He has lovely hair, too. +He's tremendously fond of Miriam Halden, did you notice?" + +Miss Jinny gave her husky chuckle. "Trust your eyes for spying out +secrets," she said. "That boy has been devoted to Miriam all his life. +She refused him when she was ten, and has kept on ever since. It's got +to be a habit, he says. He's as jolly as a grig, but he doesn't give +up, and I suppose some day Miriam will give in." + +Patricia thrilled with interest. + +"Oh, I hope it happens next summer, when we're home!" she cried. "I've +always been perfectly crazy to know an engaged couple and I never +have--except Mr. Bingham and Miss Auborn, and they weren't so very +interesting anyway." + +"They won't be of much use to you if they do get engaged," returned +Miss Jinny sententiously. "'Two's company' after the ring appears." + +"David says they're _slushy_," pursued Patricia, meditating. "But he's +only a boy." + +She was silent for a while, and then she sat up alive with enthusiasm. + +"I've got it!" she exclaimed. "I'll make a study of a man and girl for +the prize design, and I'll call it 'Two's company.' I'll have them +looking at the ring on her hand, with a lovely rapt expression. Oh, +how I wish it weren't Sunday tomorrow. I'm crazy to begin it." + +"You'd better be thanking your stars for a day of rest, you +incorrigible kitten," said Miss Jinny as the carriage stopped at the +curb. "You'll need an extra nap after all these fandangos." + +Patricia, however, was unconvinced. + +"I'll show you when Monday comes!" she exulted, stepping lightly out +into the frosty night. "You'll see if it isn't worth while." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE PRIZE DESIGNS + +"It doesn't seem to come right," said Patricia, rumpling her hair with +the back of one soiled hand and staring ruefully at the lumpy, +meaningless group of two stiff figures in modeling-wax that stood +stolidly on a thick little board on top of the piano stool. + +"They do look a bit queer," admitted Elinor, reluctantly. "Perhaps +when you've worked on them more----" + +Patricia interrupted her hotly. "I won't waste another hour on them!" +she declared vehemently. "I've slaved and slaved all my spare time, I +missed the last of Miss Jinny's visit, and I didn't have time to hear a +word of Judy's tales about Greycroft and the village, and I haven't +taken a moment to myself this whole week! I've done with it now for +good and all. I was an idiot to think I could do anything, anyway." + +"I believe if you tried something that was more simple, you'd do +better," said Elinor sympathetically. "You've taken such a +tremendously elusive sort of thing in this. Why not try something that +either Judith or I could pose for? That would help a lot, you know." + +Patricia gave the stool a whirl, staring discontentedly at the +afflicting group. + +"It's a sorry mess," she commented dejectedly. "I don't believe I want +to make a goose of myself again. No, I won't try, Norn. You're +awfully good to offer to pose, but I'm done with prize designs till +I've had more experience," and with a swoop she crumpled the two little +stolid figures into an indistinguishable mass, pounding them fiat with +her pink palm. + +"There! That's the last of _you_!" she said vindictively. "Let's see +what you've been working on, Elinor. Ju said it was 'very +satisfactory.'" + +Elinor smiled. "I only started this afternoon while you were in +class," she replied, bringing out a fair-sized canvas with a rough +charcoal drawing on it. "I'm just blocking in the outlines, as you +see; but I've made a little color study that shows you how it will go." + +Patricia took the bit of canvas board, and held it at arm's length, +squinting at it with eyes that gradually brightened. + +"Why, it's dandy, Elinor Kendall!" she cried. "It'll be perfectly +lovely if you can put it through even as well as you've managed it +here. Judy was drawing it mild!" + +Judith, who was studying under the lamp at the center table with her +fingers screwed into her ears and her mouth twisted intently in pursuit +of knowledge, came abruptly back to life. + +"Well, I didn't want you to expect too much," she said, with a gentle +impatience. "If I'd praised it too much, you'd have been disappointed +with the thing itself." + +"Right-o, Miss Judith," laughed Patricia, flinging an arm about the +young sage. "My word, but you're a crafty young one! I'd have raved +about it till even Michael Angelo or Raphael couldn't have satisfied +the expectations of the beholder. How do you come by so much wisdom, +Miss Minerva?" + +Judith tossed her mane. "Don't call names," she responded, hiding the +gratified smile that lurked in the corners of her mouth. "You'd think +of things, too, if you didn't talk _quite_ so much, Miss Pat. It's +dreadfully hard to talk and think at the same time." + +"Is it?" cried Patricia, delighted as usual with Judith's maxims. +"Hear that now, will you, Norn? Ju's going to reform me. I hope I'll +be a satisfactory subject, Judy darling. 'Thinking Taught While You +Wait.' It's a great idea and it may lead to a new school of mental +science. Ju would look fine in cap and gown as president of the +college----" + +Patricia broke off laughing at Judith's absolutely unconscious face, +as, with fingers once again screwed into her ears and mouth twisted +intently, she immersed herself in the dignified oblivion of study. + +Patricia looked at her with laughing eyes that gradually grew sober. + +"I've got it!" she said, eagerly turning to Elinor. "I've got the idea +for the sort of thing you meant. I'll do Judy just as she is--you'll +pose, won't you, Ju? I won't be too hard on you." + +"Don't I always study like this?" replied Judith without looking up. +"Go ahead as long as you like--only don't talk. I want to study." + +"Good girl, Judith!" cried Patricia, pulling the stool with its burden +nearer to the light. "I'll plunge in right away and get it blocked in +tonight. Do you know where I put that other package of modeling-wax, +Elinor?" + +She set to work with a will, humming to herself as she worked, the +failure of her more ambitious undertaking forgotten in the joy of +renewed hope, and her intimate knowledge of Judith's face and figure +helping unconsciously to better work than she could have done in the +schools. + +When nine o'clock rang from the church tower across the park she laid +down her tools with an air of great content. + +"I believe it's going to go," she announced to the absorbed pair of +workers before her. "Wake up, Norn, and give me a criticism. Ju has +to go to bed and can't hold the pose much longer anyway." + +"Pooh, I'm not a bit tired," protested Judith. "I sit this way every +night for _hours_." + +Elinor laid down her brushes and turned in her chair. Her face lighted +as she saw the rough, vigorous outlines of Patricia's latest effort. + +"That's the real thing, Miss Pat!" she said enthusiastically. "If you +can keep it up like that, you won't have to be ashamed of it, I can +tell you!" + +She came and stood behind Patricia, her hands on her shoulders, eager +and interested. + +"That shoulder is a little too high, and the head needs more fullness +at the top--Ju has lots of hair--but it's going along splendidly, +_splendidly_! Don't touch it again till Judith poses tomorrow. You +want to keep close to life and not make up anything." + +Patricia, meek in experience of past failure, covered her work and put +it safely away. + +"I'll go on with it when I'm rested and Judy is fresh," she said +contentedly. "If it goes on as rapidly as it has tonight, it will be +ready to turn in at the end of the week. We have until Saturday night +to put in our stuff, you know. You have to get yours in by noon, don't +you?" + +Elinor nodded. "But I shan't have any trouble finishing in time, I'm +sure," she said with bright confidence. "I feel as though it were +almost going to do itself." + +The spare hours of the rest of that week were devoted to the prize +designs, and both progressed so happily that their authors were filled +with a greater measure of content as the days sped. + +"I'm going to take mine in to the Academy to work on this afternoon +while I wait for the night life," said Elinor on Thursday as they were +leaving the breakfast room. "I want to see how it looks among the big +casts and life studies. I'm afraid it won't show up very well among +the real things, but it may help me to see its faults and remedy them +while I still have time." + +Patricia gazed approvingly at the dim, shadowy study of graceful +figures grouped in attentive attitudes about a reader in a landscape of +suggested loveliness that spoke to any observer with delicate symbolism. + +"It's the best ever," she declared. "I'll 'wagger,' as Hannah Ann +says, that you lift the medal." + +Elinor gave a gently contemptuous sniff as she stowed it away in its +corner. "No doubt--with all those experienced students competing! +Some of them have been there ten years, Miss Pat. I simply haven't the +ghost of a show, and you know it." + +Patricia was silenced, though unconvinced. "Don't you let any of those +hyenas see it, all the same," she cautioned. "I know them better than +you do. They'd rush another version in before yours, and then where +would you be?" + +"I don't believe anyone would be so low minded!" cried Elinor, shocked +and reproachful. "How can you say such things, Miss Pat?" + +"Take my advice, my dear," grinned Patricia. "You're too good to see +through some of those fakes, and this is one instance when my eyes are +clearer than yours. It isn't often I can give you points, so do be +grateful. Don't let those long-haired boys get a glimpse of it, or +it's all up with you." + +Elinor promised, smiling at Patricia's vehemence, and went off with her +canvas, securely wrapped against curious eyes, held firmly in one +gray-gloved hand. + +Patricia looked after her with loving pride. "How pretty she is, and +how clever," she thought tenderly. "And the best part of it is that +she doesn't know what an adorable dear she is. I hope she gets an +honorable mention, even if she can't hit the prize. She deserves a lot +of good times, after all those lean years when she took such good care +of us." + +When Patricia came home from the library at half-past five, she was +surprised to find Elinor stretched on the couch, with a thick +comfortable drawn up to her chin, and her face gray and haggard. + +"What in the world--" she began in alarm, but Elinor silenced her +questioning with a weak wave of one tired hand. + +"I'm not really sick," she said, in a faint tone, as Patricia cuddled +down on the floor beside her and took the chilly hand in her warm one. +"I have one of my old headaches. I forgot to get any lunch. I had +just put the key in my locker, when everything grew black and I'd have +collapsed if Doris Leighton hadn't helped me to a chair. She gave me +some milk and got my things for me, and when I felt well enough, she +came over here with me. She's certainly the sweetest thing. She had +to miss getting her criticism, too. Mr. Benton had just gone in when I +crumpled up." + +"She's a perfect angel," cried Patricia, her heart warming at the +thought of Doris' genuine sweetness of nature. "If Miss Jinny really +had known her, she'd been the last to suspect her." + +"She's coming over after life class," Elinor went on, closing her eyes +wearily. "I found I'd forgotten my keys when I got home, and she's +going to bring them over for me on her way home." + +"You'd better go to sleep," said Patricia, smoothing the white brow +with deft fingers. "I'll keep everything quiet, so that you can sleep +it off as you used to be able to. I hope you'll be all right in the +morning." + +Elinor nodded mutely, and Patricia, pulling down the shades so that the +street light did not flicker on the pale wall, tiptoed out of the room, +to caution Judith and await the coming of Doris Leighton. + +Dinner was long over, Judith's lessons done and bed-time come, when at +last Patricia hurried down to the long parlor where Doris sat in the +dim light. + +She was very pale and tired looking, but as graceful and charming as +ever. She inquired after Elinor with a profuse sympathy that more than +satisfied the warm-hearted Patricia, whose compassion stirred at her +look of fatigue. + +"You ought to be taking more care of yourself," she said, with concern. +"You're tired to death, and yet you come out of your way to see about +Elinor. You look dreadfully fagged." + +Doris smiled wanly. She laid an impulsive hand on Patricia's arm and +opened her pretty lips, but before the words came she evidently obeyed +another differing impulse, for she underwent a subtle change, an +imperceptible hardening that was so delicately veiled by her still +gracious manner that Patricia had only a baffling sense of being gently +shut out from her real confidence. + +"I've been working on my panel study," she said, with an effort at +brightness. "I don't seem to get it finished to my liking, and the +time is getting perilously short, you know." + +Patricia looked her surprise. "Why, I thought you hadn't started it +yet. You said you'd rush it off at the last moment without a bit of +trouble." + +"That's the way I usually do," assented Doris evenly. "But I'm going +out of town on Saturday, and I have to turn it in before I leave +tomorrow night. I'll stay home and work on it in the morning, so I +shan't see you perhaps before I go." + +She said good-night absently, and Patricia, watching her hurry down +the frosty street, found herself wondering at the subtle barrier that +she could feel so keenly, while she yet tried to disbelieve. + +"I wonder what she was going to say?" she thought, as she went slowly +up to Judith's room, where she was to spend the night. "It can't be my +imagination this time, for she actually did start to speak, and then +stopped." She frowned and then her face cleared. "What a stupid I +am--always getting up in the air about trifles! Doris Leighton is +tired to death, and wanted to get home. She was just as pleasant as +ever, even though she didn't have time or strength to be as sociable as +she'd liked. If she hadn't felt an interest in Elinor, she'd not +troubled to bring her keys back tonight. I hope she makes good with +her prize study, now that she's gotten an idea for it. She's a +stunning worker when she goes at it." + +She tiptoed softly in to Elinor, who was sleeping quietly, and she +stood looking down at the sweep of eyelash and rounded cheek that the +low-turned light caught out from the jumbled masses of dark hair. + +"Dear old Norn," she thought fondly. "You'll be at the head of the +night life, too, some day, like Doris is now, and you'll be cleverer +than any of them, for you aren't ever a bit cocked up about yourself." +Her eyes grew wide with thought. "That's the reason," she whispered +triumphantly, "that you're going to be a howling success--you've got +time to care about all the other things in life first, to think about +them and to enjoy them. And that means O-RIG-INAL-ITY. You've got +more ideas now than any of those old stagers, you adorable duck!" she +ended, so overcome by her feelings that she dropped on her knees by the +couch and pressed her warm lips on the dark hair. + +Elinor merely stirred and mumbled something indistinct, much to the +contrite Patricia's relief. + +"I'll never learn to be composed and considerate," she sighed as she +crept in beside the slumbering Judith. "I'm crazy for Elinor to finish +that lovely study of hers, and yet I'd wake her up just for my silly +whims. She's got to get it done tomorrow if she can. Wish I could +help her. Thank goodness, mine's done at last," and she drifted off to +sleep with a jumble of prize designs and golden dreams for the future +mingling with that recurring memory of Doris Leighton's hardening face +as she spoke of her study for the library panel. + +The next afternoon when Elinor, completely restored after a day's rest, +took out her drawing-board and began to work, Patricia brought out her +own study for a final criticism before laboriously lugging it up to the +Academy. + +Elinor and Judith were very enthusiastic over the intent, studious +figure that bent over its book in such lifelike fashion. + +"It's that air of real hard study that makes it so good," said Elinor, +twirling the stool to catch every view of the figure. "I don't know +how you managed to get it so well." + +"Well, Ju was studying hard and not merely posing," returned Patricia +seriously. "Somehow it gets into the work. There isn't anything that +tells the truth so straight as our sort of work, Norn. You simply +can't fake. Judy deserves part of the credit. And then, I liked it +so, I couldn't help getting on with it. It's so fearfully jolly to a +_producer_." + +Judith gave her pale locks a toss. "Why, we're all doing it!" she +crowed. "You two in the Academy, and I at home here in my diary and my +stories! Aren't we a talented lot!" + +"_Stuff!_" said Patricia disgustedly. "You and I needn't brag yet a +while, Judy. Elinor's the only one that's got a ghost of a showing. +You've a long lane to run before you can even be considered, and I'm +just common, every-day stuff like everyone else. This is just a flyer +I'm taking in the company of my betters," and she gave a whimsical +glance at Elinor with the insight that was occasionally hers in brief +glimpses. "I can't fly far, I warn you, but it's simply ripping while +I'm on the wing!" + +"Judy likes to see herself go by in the mirror," smiled Elinor +leniently. "I suppose that's the literary mind." + +"Literary grandmother!" exclaimed Patricia scornfully. "She's a +conceited chicken that thinks she's a nightingale because she can peep +louder than some. Wait till you've had some of your stuff printed, +Judy, before you boast. Anyone can scribble----" + +"You'll hurt her feelings, Miss Pat," protested Elinor, as Judith's +dignified back disappeared into her own room and the door closed +firmly. "She doesn't mean to be boastful." + +"Nonsense! I'm her only hope," returned Patricia with spirit. "She +won't amount to a row of pins if she goes on this way. Don't you worry +about her feelings. She's got sense enough to know I'm right. Come +along over to the Academy with me now. The walk will do you good, and +I'll feel more respectable with a good-looking escort while I'm lugging +this huge thing." + +They met Doris Leighton coming out of the students' door, and after a +few inquiries found that she had just accomplished the same errand that +Patricia was bent on. Her study for the prize panel was safely stowed +away in the office of the curator. + +"What was it like?" eagerly demanded Patricia. "It doesn't matter now, +you know, if you tell. We won't tell, and it's too late, anyway, to +make any difference." + +Doris hesitated, undergoing again that subtle change that Patricia had +seen before. + +"I think I'll wait till they're all in," she replied softly. "It will +be better for us all to be able to say truthfully that we had no idea +of what the others were like till after ours were in. Don't you think +so?" + +"Of course it will," agreed Elinor heartily. "I'm glad you thought of +it. I'd much rather not know. Mine isn't finished yet, and I'm so new +at the work that I might be influenced." + +"I thought about that," said Doris with veiled eyes on Elinor's pale +face. "I know how the same thought wave will pass through peoples' +minds when they're working together, and I feel that one should be very +careful not to influence another, particularly in a case like this." + +"I'm not so sure that it makes a bit of difference," said Patricia +carelessly. "I've heard of people miles apart having the same idea at +the same time. Patents are always being duplicated, you know." + +"Indeed they are!" cried Doris with singular fervor. "But the one who +gets the idea first is always the real inventor. The jury wouldn't +hesitate to decide on that, I'm positive, if anyone was so unfortunate +as to turn in a duplicate of any of the studies." + +After she had said good-bye and they Were waiting at the curator's +desk, Elinor spoke musingly. + +"I wonder," she said, wrinkling her brows, "if Doris Leighton was +afraid I'd garnish my panel with any of her ideas; she was so +unnaturally stirred up about it." + +Patricia, with her mind wholly on her own absorbing business, gave +scant attention. + +"She's rattled for fear she won't take the prize as usual," she said, +gayly. "I bet she opens her eyes when she sees yours, Norn. Hers may +be lots better done, but it simply can't be as lovely and as +_different_." + +She pushed her bulky package carefully across the curator's counter, +with an eager request that it be tenderly treated, and that official +reassured her as to its entire safety by placing it at once in the +locked ante-room where the modeling competition studies were stored. + +"When will the prizes be announced?" she asked breathlessly, as the +door clicked in its lock. "Shall we have to wait long?" + +The curator smiled at her eagerness. "The library panel will be +announced at noon on Tuesday in the first antique room," he said. "And +the modeling class will be notified immediately before, while the class +is still in session." + +Patricia shivered with excited anticipation as they closed the heavy +outer door of the Academy after them. + +"_Jiminy_, I wish Tuesday were here and over!" she said fervently. +"I'm scared stiff when I think of my poor little study with all those +artists focusing their eagle eyes on it." + +"It does seem ages to wait," agreed Elinor. "After I turn mine in +tomorrow morning, I'll be consumed with curiosity to see the +others--particularly Doris Leighton's." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE LITTLE RIFT + +"What do you think?" cried Patricia radiantly, swooping down on Elinor +as she came slowly out of the portrait room at high noon on the +momentous Tuesday. "What _do_ you think, Elinor Kendall? I've gotten +'Honorable Mention' for my silly little old head! Isn't it wonderful? +I'm so stunned I can't talk. I never dreamed it could have the ghost +of a show," she rattled on ecstatically. "Miss Green was paralyzed, +and Naskowski kept nodding till I thought he'd loosen his brain, and +Griffin--she got first prize you know--cheered right out loud before +them all. I was simply too limp for words, and I rushed out to tell +you right away." + +Elinor's eyes filled with a glad light, and she took Patricia in her +arms. "It's perfectly glorious, Miss Pat, darling," she said with a +rapturous squeeze. "I'm so delighted I can't help kissing you on the +spot," and she did it with a heartiness that made Patricia wriggle. + +"Ouch, that's my loose wisdom-tooth you're pushing against!" she +protested plaintively. "You've wobbled it all out of place, you +reckless thing. There goes the crowd into the first antique. Come +along or we'll be too late!" + +The doors of the exhibition room were pushed quickly open as Mr. Benton +led the expectant band of students in for their first sight of the +prize designs, and Patricia's heart beat fast with the thrilling hope +that Elinor's might be among the first in rank. + +Her eyes swept one wall and then the other, searching for the familiar +canvas, but all in vain, until she lifted them to the screen which +stood in the center of the room, and where three canvases were hung, +Elinor's below the other two. + +"There it is!" she whispered eagerly, nudging Elinor to make her see. +"It's on the screen. Oh, Norn, it _must_ have----" + +"Hush!" said Elinor in an undertone. "Don't make a fuss. There's +Doris Leighton waving to us from the model stand. She looks awfully +well, doesn't she? Her little vacation----" + +But Patricia was impatiently deaf. "Why doesn't he get on?" she +whispered testily. "We know all about the conditions of the prize. +What we want to know is--oh, Elinor, I'm horribly disappointed. I was +afraid Doris Leighton would get it, but you ought to have had Honorable +Mention. Griffin's isn't half so good as yours; she said so herself. +Can you see what their canvases are like? I'm just so that the light +glares on them for me. What's that he's saying now? He's talking +about your study." + +The words cut the air with an incisive clearness that left no shadow of +a doubt, though Patricia could scarcely credit her own ears. + +"I regret to say that the third study on the screen," said Mr. Benton, +toying with his eyeglass ribbon, "is merely placed there as a warning +to students of all classes to stick to their own ideas and +imaginations, and not to attempt the hazardous task of copying stronger +and more experienced workers. This canvas shows so much delicacy of +appreciation of the subject that, had no other of absolutely the same +design been previously turned in earlier, the jury should have given it +the prize. Miss Leighton's cleverly executed study of precisely the +same subject, while more finished in treatment, is far below this one +in feeling, and it is a matter of regret to me that the student who +executed it should not have possessed more originality and +self-reliance. Miss Leighton will please come forward to receive the +Roberts prize." + +Of what followed--the bestowing and graceful acceptance of the pretty +purse with the hundred dollars, the congratulations and murmurs of +surprise that ran about the assembly--Patricia had little knowledge. +Those astonishing words of Mr. Benton had so stung and bewildered her +that the room swung about her dizzily and she clutched the back of a +chair for support. Elinor's stricken face faded in the blurred +background of all the other faces, as she flung out vain hands of +protest. + +"Oh, it isn't fair--" she broke out, but the words that boomed so +loudly in her ears were only a faint whisper, and she staggered blindly +for a moment. + +When she recovered herself in the dim corridor, Elinor, calm and +reassuring, was on one side of her, while her other arm was in the firm +grip of the cheery Griffin. + +"That's all right, old pal," Griffin encouraged her. "You're almost +into port now. Keep a stiff upper lip till we land you." + +Patricia saw that they were steering for the dressing-room couch, and +meekly allowed them their way. + +"Now you're safe and sound, with no bones broken," said Griffin, as +Patricia sank down on the roomy couch. "You're a nice one, you are, +scaring us into a blue fit just when we were about to blister our paws +with applause for the heroine of the day." + +Patricia looked inquiringly at Elinor, who smiled at her serenely in +return, much to Patricia's bewilderment. + +"But," she protested, raising herself on one elbow. "It wasn't true, +what Mr. Benton said about your design. Why don't you tell him so, +Elinor?" + +Elinor merely shook her head gently, while Griffin stood in embarrassed +silence. + +"Why don't you _do_ something?" cried Patricia again. "Why don't you +tell him? Griffin, it wasn't true--that she copied it! You know she'd +not do a thing like that!" + +"Any fool knows that," replied Griffin gruffly. "If Leighton had any +stuff in her, she'd have spoken up. I was just going to when I saw you +begin to crumple. It wasn't etiquette for me to speak, but I'd have +given them something to think of!" + +"It's too late now to bother about denying it, Miss Pat dear," said +Elinor soothingly. "It doesn't really matter much, you know, since we +three know I didn't copy. After all, it's a very little thing. I'd +rather be blamed unjustly than have done such a poor act. Don't feel +so badly about it, dear. We can tell our friends that it was a mistake +on Mr. Benton's part, and they'll believe us, I'm sure. It doesn't +matter for the rest." + +"Doesn't it, really?" blazed Patricia, sitting up very stiff and +straight. "Well, it may not to you, but to my mind it's as bad as +telling any other untruth. You're not guilty of it, and if you let the +accusation pass unnoticed, you are party to the falsehood." + +Griffin, who was winking at her behind Elinor's back in a particularly +portentous fashion, turned to the door. + +"Calm down, Miss Pat," she said, with her hand on the knob. "I'm going +to corral a few of the elect and put it to them. Brace up and look +pleasant by the time I get back." + +Patricia was about to break into angry tears on Elinor's neck, but the +brisk and significant air with which Griffin spoke roused her to +herself again. She put Elinor's arms away, and going to the mirror, +smoothed her tumbled hair, and whisked away the telltale traces of her +collapse, while Elinor sat quietly on the edge of the couch watching +her with fond anxiety. + +Not a word was spoken till the door opened again, and Griffin with +Doris Leighton and Miss Green came quickly in. + +Doris Leighton, who was flushed and animated, went directly up to +Elinor. + +"It's a shame," she said, with a marked effort to subdue her own +complacency. "Everybody knows you are much too conscientious to do +such a thing. I've told everybody how shocked I am that Mr. Benton +should make such a horrid mistake. It's simply a thought wave, and +I've told everyone that you're not at all to blame." + +Elinor looked at her very calmly, and said with a tinge of amusement in +her level voice, "You must be very thankful that you got your study in +first, for then you would have had to congratulate me instead of +commiserating me." + +Patricia felt rather ashamed of Elinor's lack of response to what she +considered Doris' loyal support, and she broke out gratefully, "You'll +tell them all, won't you? They'll soon understand if you tell them!" + +She had her reward in Doris' dazzling smile, and her assurances that +she would do all she could to make Elinor's vindication speedy and +thorough. + +Elinor was more cordial to Miss Green's solemn and indignant protest +against the powers that be. The stout monitor had so much genuine good +feeling that the sincerity of her wrath could not be doubted. + +"It is most unfair, unfair, Miss Kendall," she reiterated, with her two +dewlaps solemnly wagging to and fro. "It is most unprofessional of Mr. +Benton, and, even if you had copied (which of course no one dreams of +saying), it would still be most indelicate to expose a student directly +to the publicity of such a reprimand. I deplore it. I deplore it most +heartily. And your manner of receiving the unmerited rebuke has made +me admire you more than I can say." + +Elinor thanked her with pretty gratitude. + +"I shall make it a personal matter to report to the committee," said +Miss Green, as she prepared to follow the vanishing skirts of the prize +bearer. "I shall certainly bring the matter to their notice before the +next meeting," and with a cordial shake of Elinor's hand she sailed +out, with her black cloak billowing behind her and her plume quivering +with suppressed indignation. + +"Isn't she the good old sport?" cried Griffin, in lively admiration. +"She'll do the work of a half dozen niminy-piminy dolls like Leighton. +Margaret Howes and your humble servant will back her up, too, and that +committee will sit up and take notice before it's a week older, or my +name's not Virginia Althea Frigilla Griffin--just like that." + +It was hard work later on, when they had to face the inquiries of the +wrathful Judith, to convince her that the whole thing was not a plot +against Elinor by some envious rival. + +"Mark my words, Elinor Kendall," she said impressively. "Some one is +at the bottom of this, and I have my suspicions, too, who that someone +is. I'm not going to tell, for you girls always laugh at me, but I'm +going to prove it to you before that committee meets that you're the +victim of a conspiracy." + +The relish with which Judith pronounced these ominous words made Elinor +smile, but Patricia felt only aggravation at what she considered airs +on Judith's part. + +"Stuff and nonsense, Judy!" she said, impatiently. "You've been +soaking your brain in fiction till you can't see straight. Don't you +meddle with Elinor's affairs unless she gives you permission. You'll +only make her ridiculous." + +Judith, ignoring Patricia's pungent remarks, turned her calm eyes +inquiringly to Elinor. + +"You don't mind if I can help prove that someone else was the deceiver, +do you, Elinor?" she asked with such seriousness that Elinor rippled +with enjoyment: + +"Bless your heart, kitten, make yourself as happy as you please with my +affairs; only, I beseech of you, do it quietly and with as little +martial music as possible." + +Judith pulled herself free from Elinor's circling arms and made for the +door, pausing on the threshold. + +"As if I'd publish it on the housetops!" she cried in infinite disdain. +"It's plain you aren't much up in detective stories." + +After their laughter at her dramatic disappearance had died down, they +sat quietly in the twilight watching the lamps flicker into life across +the park, each one busy with her own thoughts. + +"Do you know, Miss Pat," said Elinor, breaking a long silence "that I +don't like Doris Leighton any more. It isn't because she got the +prize--you know me better than to think that--but I've been noticing +her more closely recently and I don't think she rings true." + +"Oh, I wish you wouldn't, Norn," protested Patricia, in a small voice. +"I do so want to have her for a friend. She's so lovely and talented +and attractive. What is the matter with her now that you say such +things? You didn't use to feel like that." + +Elinor hesitated. "I don't know," she replied slowly, measuring her +words. "I can't put my finger on it, but she doesn't seem the same to +me as she did at first. She isn't jealous of my poor work, of course, +but I can feel a something--a wall or barrier--that she raises up +between us whenever my work is spoken of. I felt it when we talked +about the subject of the prize designs, and I felt it today more +clearly than ever. We can't be friends any more as we were, I'm +afraid. Something has come between us. 'The little rift within the +lute,'" she quoted sorrowfully. + +"'That by and by will make the music mute,'" ended Patricia dismally. +"Oh, I hope not, Norn. I hope it'll all turn out well and we can go on +pleasantly and peaceably for the rest of the term. I hate rows and +suspicions. I'd like to live 'in charity and love to all men,' but I'm +always getting into scrapes. I no sooner learn to like a person than +they turn out to be fakes." + +"I haven't gone that far," Elinor gently reminded her. "I didn't mean +to say that Doris Leighton was a fake. I only meant that my feelings +toward her had changed. You don't have to give up your admiration for +her, Pat dear." + +Patricia shook her head slowly from side to side. "'Whither thou goest +I will go,'" she quoted. "I won't have her for a friend if she gives +you the creeps, Norn, and you know it. I've been mistaken in people +before, but you've always been the same old true blue. You and Miss +Jinny know better than I do, and I give in. I won't be an enemy--you +wouldn't want that--but I won't be a real friend like I have been, +doing errands and helping her stretch canvases and all that. You and I +will stand together always, old lady, and if the Roberts prize has done +nothing but show us how very nice we each think the other is, it will +have had its uses as far as we are concerned." + +They sat in comfortable silence till they heard the front door slam and +Judith's feet on the stair. + +"I wonder what that young monkey is up to?" laughed Patricia as they +heard Judith moving about in her room, preparing for dinner with the +alacrity of hungry virtue. "She won't let on for the world, but I know +she's feeling mighty important about something. I can tell by the way +she whisks about that she's enjoying herself immensely." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +JUDITH'S DISCOVERY + +"I'll never again say that the literary instinct is a burden and a +reproach, Ju," said Patricia, with her eyes dancing and her head high. +"Your thirst for 'plots' has proved too serviceable for me ever to +point the finger of scorn in its direction." + +It was a brisk, sunny day, and they were waiting for Elinor on the +steps of the Academy. Judith was looking very happy, and Patricia, +while she had a perturbed air, was no less triumphant in her manner. + +"I wonder what keeps Elinor? She's awfully late," complained Judith, +shifting on one foot. "Let's go in and have lunch without her." + +Patricia shook her head decisively. + +"Not much. You'll wait here in solitude till she comes. I'm not going +to have you spout it out before any old person, and get us into hot +water, perhaps. Here's Elinor now. Come on, Norn, we're about dead, +standing on these flinty-hearted steps. Got the sandwiches you +promised?" + +Elinor showed a neat parcel tucked under her muff-arm. "Chicken and +lettuce," she said delectably. "White grapes for dessert. Have you +seen Margaret Howes and Griffin?" + +Patricia nodded as she held the door wide for Elinor. "Griffin said +she'd be ready for us, and Margaret Howes is coming straight down from +composition class." + +Elinor glanced at them as she went in. "You two look remarkably +hilarious," she said casually. "Is it the spring in the air or the +prospect of a festive lunch that so illuminates you?" + +"Both and more too," laughed Patricia. "We've got a surprise for you, +Norn, but we won't tell till we've had lunch; will we, Ju?" + +"Not till the very last crumb is done for," declared Judith, +emphatically, putting down her parcels on the dressing-room couch. +"You may not like it very much, Elinor----" + +"Nonsense! Don't put such ideas in her head," cried Patricia stabbing +her hat-pins into her hat to secure it on the hanger. "Of course, +she'll be sorry for part of it, but right is right, and justice ought +to be done. But there, I'll blab it all myself if I don't look out. +Hurry up, Judy, let's get the cocoa stewing while Elinor prinks." + +They had the table arranged in gala array, and the cocoa steaming in +its receptacle, before Elinor and Margaret Howes joined them. + +"Griffin says not to wait--she's got to finish stretching a canvas," +Margaret Howes told them, but Patricia and Judith would not hear to +beginning the little feast without the staunch and genial Griffin. + +"There's no hurry, anyway," insisted Patricia. "The cocoa will keep +hot on the corner of the stove and the rest of the things don't matter. +You girls haven't any classes this afternoon, so we have an eternity to +feed in." + +They loitered about the room, chatting at various tables, and were +taken by surprise at last by the breathless arrival of their late +guest. She hailed them with an air of the bearer of important news, +and as soon as they were ensconced in their corner with the cocoa +safely bestowed on a stool at Patricia's right hand, she opened her +heart. + +"Awful row in the Committee room," she announced gleefully. "Good old +Greenie marched right in to the grave and reverend seniors while they +were in session just now, and she gave them ballyhoo. _She_ called it +a remonstrance in the cause of justice, but, my word, it was ripping!" + +"What was it all about?" asked Patricia, much diverted by the picture +of the mournful monitor facing the dreaded Board. "What did she say?" + +Griffin chuckled. "You see, I was in the ante-room, cataloguing the +prints--you know I got that job last week. Well, the Board was droning +on in the big room in their usual uninteresting fashion and I was deep +in admiration of a Rembrandt etching--that one with the hat and the +open window behind him--when Green sails past me, head up and majesty +writ large on her bulging brow. She always does put on lugs when she +reports to the Committee, so I didn't sit up and take notice right +away. But in a minute or two I came to life, I can tell you! She was +rolling off the sentences about 'injustice to a high-minded student' +and 'unnecessary humiliation' and 'reparation to one who was an +ornament to any school,' and a lot of other junk like that. I tell +you, I could have hugged the old girl! The Board just sat still, like +school-boys caught stealing jam, and she went on, getting more flowery +all the time." + +"But what--" began Patricia again. + +Griffin waved her to silence. "All of a sudden she seemed to realize +that she was giving them a drubbing instead of a gentle rebuke. She +hauled in her sails and stood winking at them behind her huge +spectacles, while they all sat staring at her. It was a picture, I can +tell you. Then dear old Farrer cleared his throat in that nervous way +he has, and he bowed to Bottle Green as though she were the finest +ever. 'We have heard with surprise and I am sure with regret,' he +says, 'Miss Green's account of this matter. I think we will all agree +that an investigation should be undertaken, and if there has been +injustice done, such reparation as is possible shall be made.' Then +they came and closed the door and I lit out for here. You've got a +fine champion, Kendall Major, and we'll all see you through if it comes +to a public demonstration, you can gamble on that!" + +Elinor's face was perplexed. "But I don't see what can be done," she +said gently. "I'd hate to have the thing dragged up before the school +again. Of course, if it had been denied right then and there, I'd have +been very glad, but now, after all these days----" + +"It's only a week," protested Margaret Howes, firmly. "We had to wait +till the Board met, you know." + +"They can make an announcement, just as the prize announcement was +made," explained Griffin, drumming impatiently on the table. "You may +be too modest to be there, but it can be put through without you, and +you will be cleared, don't you see?" + +"Is Miss Green still in the Committee room?" asked Patricia suddenly. + +"Of course," returned Griffin, shortly. "She had other reports to +make. She usually stays about half an hour, she'll be longer today. +Why?" + +"I thought I'd like to have her here," she said, with a sidelong glance +at Judith. "We've found out something about----" + +She stopped, trying to arrange her speech so as to present the intended +disclosure in the clearest form possible, but Judith, whose cheeks had +been burning at Griffin's account of the interview in the Committee +room, took the words out of her mouth. + +"We've found out all about it!" she cried triumphantly. "Doris +Leighton copied Elinor's design, and put it in ahead of Elinor! I know +all about it, and I'll tell Miss Green and the whole committee, too, if +I have to!" + +Griffin was the first of the three to recover. She leaned forward, a +thin, eager hand on Judith's arm. + +"Say that again, young one," she demanded imperatively. "Make it good +and plain this time." + +Judith repeated her startling statement, adding that she had proof for +everything she said. Her manner was so genuine and convincing that +Griffin started up with a quick gesture of command. + +"Don't say another word till I get back," she said, authoritatively, +and was gone before any questions could be formed. + +They sat in absolute silence, absently watching the occupants of the +now nearly deserted tables straggle out in twos and threes, until the +room was quite empty, and Patricia could bear it no longer. + +"We don't have to petrify, do we?" she said, with a nervous ripple. +"Griffin may keep us sitting here for hours----" + +Judith's dramatic sense asserted itself, and she frowned at Patricia's +frivolous interruption of the portentous silence. + +"Do be still, Miss Pat," she said sedately. "We've waited two whole +days already--five minutes more won't hurt us." + +Margaret Howes glanced at Elinor, as she sat quietly with chin in one +pink palm, her brows drawn level and her dark eyes steady and +thoughtful. + +"You're a wonder, Kendall Major," she broke out. "Here am I all +fluffed up and on positive pins and needles over this affair, while you +are as calm as a picture. Don't you feel excited? Aren't you wild to +hear what it is?" + +Elinor laid her hands on the table and Patricia could see that the +fingers were twisted together until the knuckles showed white. + +"Of course, I am anxious," she said evenly. "But I've had a different +sort of life from most girls, and it's taught me that there's always a +lot more to any surprise than we're looking for. I've been wondering +just how much pain there's going to be, back of the pleasure of being +set right in the eyes of the school." + +"There oughtn't to be any for _you_," said Margaret Howes, impulsively +laying her hand on Elinor's. "There isn't anything coming to you but +plain every-day satisfaction in getting your rights." + +"Ah, but how about Doris?" questioned Elinor sadly. "Isn't she to be +remembered?" + +"Why should she be?" returned the other warmly. "Did she have any +thought for anything but her own parade when she pretended to be sorry +for you? There's such a thing as carrying virtue too far, my dear +girl, and I think you're straining your charity with too fine a sieve." + +Elinor smiled a wistful little puckered smile. "Perhaps I am rather +lop-sided in my feelings," she confessed. "I always feel so dreadfully +sorry for the wrong-doers, and the less they care the sorrier I am." + +Patricia had opened her lips to sustain Margaret Howes' point of view, +when Griffin, followed by Miss Green, came breathlessly in to the room. + +"Now we're all ready," she said eagerly when they had made room for the +generous figure of the monitor. "Fire away with your tale, young one, +and don't spare the details. We're game for any length of story, so +long as you can prove it." + +Judith, with her cheeks flushing and paling and her composed tones +carrying conviction, laid the story of her discoveries before them, +telling them how she had thought of it first "for fun, like a plot for +a story," and then how she had remembered that Doris Leighton had +Elinor's keys with access to the locker where the two studies for the +prize designs were left that night that Elinor was taken ill; how she +had discovered through Doris' younger sister that Doris had made her +study for the Roberts prize from a little rough color sketch "just like +Elinor had." + +"I'd heard her say the Saturday that Miss Jinny came to see us that she +never made sketches beforehand," said Judith, earnestly. "And she told +Patricia the very day Elinor fainted that she hadn't begun her study. +So I pretended to myself that we were all in a story, and I thought and +thought what I should make of it if I were reading about it all instead +of living in it. Then I saw that the thing to do was to find out if +Doris Leighton had the little color sketch that she used for her study, +and compare it with Elinor's." + +Here Elinor gave a start, and then composed herself as Judith went on. + +"I hunted and hunted for Elinor's, which I knew very well, for it was +made on the back of one of my old tablets, but I couldn't find it. +Geraldine couldn't find the one Doris used either, and then I got +awfully interested. I told Geraldine that I was making up a story and +I wanted to act it all out in life, and she was glad to help. She was +mad at Doris anyway, and so she hunted everywhere for her sketch, but +she couldn't find it. I was pretty near giving up then, for I thought +I was mistaken; but the men were just making ready to take out +Leighton's ashes when I thought, like a flash, 'There's where it would +be, if anywhere,' and I told Geraldine. So we got sticks and we +rummaged. My gracious, but it was dusty!" + +Patricia gave a gasp of comprehension. "That's what made you so grimy +that day Mrs. Halden came in for tea!" she exclaimed. + +Judith nodded. "We found it!" she went on, growing more excited as the +end approached. "We found it, all in little bits, along with other +stuff from Doris' waste basket!" + +The girls looked at one another in shamed silence. The actual +discovery of the deception was so much more disconcerting than they had +foreseen. They seemed to visualize Doris Leighton as she tore those +guilty fragments and hid them in the rubbish, and the sight sickened +them. + +Griffin held out a hand for Judith's envelope. "You'll verify these, +Kendall?" she said brusquely, pushing the bulky oblong across the table +to Elinor. + +Spread out on the cloth, the scraps pieced perfectly into the study +that Elinor had made for the Roberts prize. The back showed the stamp +of the Keystone tablet, with Judith's name partly erased and Doris' +scribbled over it. + +"It's my sketch," admitted Elinor in a low tone. "I missed it the next +day, but I thought Miss Pat had dropped it when she brought my things +home to me. My study was almost done, and I forgot all about it after +that." + +There was a disconcerting silence, while Judith breathed hard and kept +her eyes glued on Miss Green. + +Suddenly Patricia spoke. "It's a horrid mess, and I'm sorry that it +had to come out, but there's no use shirking, is there? If someone, no +matter who, stole your hat, you'd feel they should be brought to +justice. Isn't stealing an idea a lot worse? I don't really think you +ought to feel so badly, Elinor. If Doris Leighton could do such a +thing, and then be friends with you afterward, she isn't worth breaking +your heart over. I felt badly enough when Ju told me, but I've kept +getting madder and madder, as I've seen how she goes on acting her part +of kind friend to you." + +Miss Green rose majestically and Griffin sprang up at the same time. + +"I shall ask to be allowed to have the evidence," said the impressive +representative of justice. "There is no time to be lost. Come, Miss +Griffin, I shall need you and Miss Howes too." + +At the door she turned, with expansive kindliness. + +"Do not distress yourself, my dear Miss Kendall," she said, +benignantly. "There is no cause for apprehension. Absolute secrecy +and perfect amenity will prevail. You will be sent for later perhaps, +but nothing unpleasant will occur. Depend upon it, the Board will +welcome this revelation of the true state of affairs, and will do its +duty gently." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +RESTITUTION + +"Did you see Elinor?" whispered Judith to Patricia, as she edged her +way to her in the packed assembly room. + +Patricia shook her head. "She's with Griffin and Bottle Green," she +answered under her breath. "What do you want her for?" + +Judith's bow was on one eye and her hat under her arm, showing that she +had made great haste to join the growing crowd in the first antique +room. She looked even more agitated than Patricia had expected her to +be. + +"What's the matter?" insisted Patricia, nudging her to compel her +attention, but Judith's gaze was wandering all about in search of +Elinor, and she answered absently. "There she is, up on the stand with +Griffin," she murmured in dismay. "I can never let her know. I wish I +could catch her eye; can't you signal her, Miss Pat? You're taller +than I am." + +"What'll I tell her, if I do?" demanded Patricia indignantly. "I +haven't any idea what you want to telegraph?" + +"Tell her Bruce Haydon is here," said Judith. "Oh, there she goes! I +was afraid you couldn't get her. She's sitting down beside Miss Green +now, and we'll never be able to let her know." + +"Bruce Haydon!" exclaimed Patricia, astonished. "Why, he's in Italy, +isn't he? Elinor had a letter yesterday----" + +"He's here all the same," said Judith, interrupting her surprise. "And +he sent a message to Elinor, so she'd be prepared, I guess. But I +simply can't get to her now. She'll have to find it out for herself." + +"What's Bruce doing here?" asked Patricia, as they resigned themselves +to the inevitable and prepared to await the event. + +"He says he finished his studies, and has come back because he wanted +to keep an eye on you two art students," replied Judith. "He looks +awfully well. You ought to have seen them stare when he grabbed me up +and kissed me in the corridor just now." + +Patricia gave a happy sigh. "It'll be good to have him around again," +she said appreciatively. "I never knew how weak in the knees I was +until this very moment. Things are bound to go right with Bruce +hovering around. I hope Elinor sees him. She's feeling mighty shaky +right now, I fancy." + +"Isn't it queer how wobbly one feels?" commented Judith uneasily. +"We've been crazy for the time to come, and now we feel like running +away. I know I'll simply _drop_ when Mr. Benton makes his speech." + +"Nonsense," said Patricia stoutly, although her own knees were not too +steady. "Keep your eyes on Elinor, and remember how glad you are that +she's getting an official apology, after all the cheating and +nastiness--then you won't want to collapse." + +"Sounds like you were prescribing for yourself," retorted Judith with a +flash of intuition. "You look just as----" + +"Hush, he's coming," warned Patricia, turning pale in spite of her +brave words. "Listen, he has begun." + +Her eyes sought the pale pure outline of Elinor's profile, caught +between the intervening faces, and held it during the brief explanatory +speech, wherein Mr. Benton paid his tribute to Elinor's generous +silence, and apologized in the name of the Board for the unjust +accusation. She saw the wave of color sweep over it at the +commendatory words, and the dark eyes fall under the shame of the +hinted treachery of the unnamed student whose face was in every one's +mind. Then at the next words she saw the light flash into full +radiance, as Mr. Benton, with something in his extended hand, turned +full toward Elinor where she sat. + +"And now, Miss Kendall," he finished with grave satisfaction in every +word. "It is my privilege to award to you the Roberts prize of one +hundred dollars, in recognition of the meritorious work done by you in +the late competition. Will you kindly come forward to receive it?" + +There was a general murmur of surprise and a following rustle of +gratification. + +Patricia's eyes were too blurred with happy tears to see very clearly, +but she made out Elinor's figure bowing over the same purse that Doris +Leighton had received ten short days ago, and she whispered to herself +joyously, "Dear old Norn, they've more than paid up for all the +horridness now, haven't they? And you deserve it all, too." + +Judith, whose eyes were still wide with astonishment, touched her arm. + +"Did you know?" she asked breathlessly. "Did anyone know she was going +to get it?" + +"Can't you tell by looking at them?" demanded Patricia. "Do they look +as though they'd expected anything like this? Of course we didn't +know. The Board didn't even peep to Bottle Green, for she's gaping +like the rest." + +"I see," acknowledged Judith, sweeping the ringleaders with her sharp +scrutiny. "They're all simply stunned, but they're mighty glad, too. +They're going to give the Academy Howl. Oh, Patricia, I wish I could +howl, too!" + +"Go ahead, if you can do it," said a masculine voice at her elbow. +"The Academy won't object, I'm sure." + +Patricia turned with a gasp of delight. "Bruce!" she cried +delightedly. "You dear thing! You've come in the nick of time. Isn't +it splendid that Elinor's won the prize? Did you hear about it? +Aren't you perfectly crazy over it?" + +Bruce laughed good-naturedly as he shook hands. + +"I can't undertake to answer all that at once, Miss Pat," he said. +"Let's go find what Elinor thinks about it." + +He pushed a way for them to the group which surrounded the flushed and +gracious recipient of the Roberts prize, and before Patricia quite +realized how he did it, he had them ensconced with Elinor in a cozy +corner of the print room, and had heard the whole story of the stolen +design. + +"It's a good thing you two innocents have a responsible person like +Judith to look after you," he said seriously. "I don't know what you'd +do without a protector to play providence for you." + +Judith flushed and tossed her mane with a gratified air. "Oh, they +don't think much of _me_," she rejoined. "They make fun of me lots of +times." + +"Is that so?" said Bruce, with great concern. "I'm sorry to hear that. +I tell you what, Judy, we'll form a partnership, you and I, and we'll +see to it that they behave themselves better in the future. They've +proved that they can't take proper care of themselves, so we'll have to +play guardian angels." + +Elinor merely smiled her gentle, affectionate smile, but Patricia +rippled out in mocking laughter. + +"I like that!" she cried. "Who took care of us all those years when we +were poor and alone in the world? It's late in the day for Elinor to +need protectors." + +"Nevertheless, she's going to have 'em," declared Bruce with +undisturbed geniality. "You may mock us and you may shock us and you +may say you don't care, but we're on the job for keeps, aren't we, +Judith, _ma chere_? And the first step we're going to take in our new +position is to drag you both off to luncheon this very minute. You'd +best give in gracefully, for both Judy and I are fearfully strong and +ferocious." + +Judith giggled, but Patricia rose briskly. + +"I guess you won't have to chloroform us to drag us there this time," +she retorted. "I'm glad we're presentable, anyway. Aren't you +thankful I made you put on your best duds, Norn? There's nothing like +being contented when one feeds, and I couldn't partake of the stalled +ox with any satisfaction in my old school rags." + +Judith cuddled close to Bruce on the settee while Elinor went for her +wraps. + +"Patricia's awfully superficial, I think," she confided to him +cheerfully, as she watched her readjusting her bright hair beneath the +pretty hat rim at the quaint old mirror of the bookcase. "She's so set +on pretty things. She just worships anyone who is pretty--no matter +whether she understands their character or not. I wish we could make +her more serious-minded and careful." + +"Pooh," said Patricia, turning from her own reflection with a gay +laugh. "You don't need to try. I do worship beauty, and I always +shall. I like to laugh and sing and be happy. I like blue skies +because God made them that way. And I don't think a pink rose is +wickeder for being pink than if it were grubby gray. _I_ think being +happy is the serious business of life--when you take other people in +with you--and I reckon God thinks so too." + +"Pa-tri-cia!" ejaculated Judith in prim rebuke, but Bruce gave her hand +a restraining squeeze, and Patricia went on, glowing with earnestness. + +"There isn't any more goodness in dismal looks, no, nor half so much, +as in happy faces. Don't the cherubim sing eternally? Is there +anything said about dark days in the New Jerusalem? I'm ashamed of +you, Judith Kendall, for not knowing that it's twice as brave and good +to be cheerful and pretty as it is to be moping and dull. Look at +Elinor--would we love her if she'd been fussing about the hard times we +had? Not much! Every bright smile she had for those horrid times has +made her more adorable to me and I look on every bit of happiness we +had in those poor days as just so much wrested from the powers of +darkness." She stopped suddenly, with a little gasp of embarrassment, +as Elinor entered. + +"Patricia's spouting again," remarked Judith with the serene cruelty of +extreme youth. "I didn't mind, because I'm used to it, but I guess +Bruce is thankful you didn't keep us any longer, Elinor." + +Bruce rose and held out his hand to Patricia, who was flushing +painfully. + +"Don't mind the kid, Miss Pat dear," he said, with his most winning +smile. "She doesn't know any better yet. Your religion is the sort +we've got to _grow_ into, and, even then, some of us aren't ever quite +big enough to realize it." + +Judith's face had been undergoing swift changes during this short +speech, but now it cleared and a beatific expression shone upon it. + +"I know what you mean, now, Miss Pat," she declared loftily. "I've +read it in Stevenson's verses, about 'those who . . . sow gladness in +the peopled lands,' Isn't that it, Bruce? I didn't _quite_ understand +the way Patricia put it, but I think it's perfectly lovely, really I +do." + +Bruce pinched her cheek, with a tolerant laugh. + +"It's all right, so long as it's in a book, eh?" he asked. "What a +perfect little chameleon you are, Judy Kendall. I don't know whether +to take you into the grand surprise that I'm going to spring on these +two young ladies, or leave you at the nearest library while I disclose +my dark projects. What do you say, Elinor?" + +Elinor slipped Judith's nervous hand into her muff within her own. + +"I think we might let her share with us this time," she said gently, +and Judith's relief was beautiful to behold. + +"Bruce says we're going to a French restaurant," she announced proudly. +"I hope I can remember enough French to talk politely. Mademoiselle +makes us say so many fine sentences when we have our 'calling days' in +the French class that I get awfully twisted and never know whether I'm +masculine or feminine." + +"You won't need to think about it here," said Bruce. "The waiters are +both Belgians and they speak English pretty well. You know that +English is taught in the public schools in Belgium, and even the little +children can say a few words to you. It's the old folks that don't +understand." + +Judith flew back to his side, pushing Patricia ahead to Elinor. + +"Oh, do tell me all about it," she pleaded, and Bruce, with his +customary good nature, launched into a very diverting account of the +habits and customs of the Flemings and the year spent among them in his +student days. + +The first breath of spring was in the air, softening the chill of the +crowded streets with warming sunshine and a hint of the coming miracle +of the yearly resurrection. The shops were filled with the crisp, +fresh-tinted goods of the nearing season, and here and there among the +smartly dressed women was a modish straw hat brightening the winter +furs and velvets. Patricia's cup was full and running over. She had +no need for speech with Elinor, but she kept giving her hands quick +little squeezes in her muff, while now and again they exchanged swift +telegraphic glances of appreciation. + +Bruce swung the door for them, and they passed into a little narrow +shop-like place. + +Judith's eyes were wide and dismayed. + +"I don't think this is very nice," she whispered as Bruce was +exchanging a few words with the smiling proprietor in the little cage +behind the tiny counter. + +"Hush," cautioned Patricia, using her eyes industriously. "It must be +all right, or Bruce wouldn't have brought us. I like it. The floor is +_sanded_, Judy! And those people at the snippy little tables under the +stairs are French--just hear them gabble to the waiter." + +Judith recovered sufficiently to take notice. + +"There isn't any table--" she had begun, still with slight protest in +her voice, when Bruce ushered them up the narrow vertical stair to the +larger room above where more tables and windows made a cozy dining +place for about a dozen people. + +The waiter, a broad-faced Belgian, rushed forward with a smile of +genuine welcome and a flourish of the spotless towel which he wore upon +his left shoulder, and, with a few murmured words in French, motioned +them to a table by the front window. + +When they were being settled in their places, Judith found opportunity +to whisper to Bruce, who immediately turned to the Belgian, who was +helping Patricia remove her coat. + +"You have good custom today, Francois," he said with a gesture toward +the chattering groups at the other tables. + +The waiter bowed as he folded the coat carefully. + +"Yes, Mr. Haydon, sir," he said clearly. "We do not complain. Our +trade keeps up, sir. We are the same as when you left, sir. We do not +complain." + +Patricia laughed at Judith's expression, as she watched Francois whisk +away to the dumb-waiter in the far corner of the little apartment, and +roar stentorian commands in indistinguishable French to an unseen +source of supply below. + +"He just uses his French to plot his dark plots with, Judy darlin'," +she said, merrily. "You needn't try to make them out, for he doesn't +intend you to." + +"I heard 'Chateaubriand,' anyway," retorted Judith triumphantly. "And +that means beefsteak. So I did understand something, you see." + +Bruce made a gesture of mock despair. "Heavens, I'm discovered!" he +cried, with a twinkle. "Judy knows just what she's going to have for +lunch, and there won't be any surprise, after all." + +Patricia looked inquiringly at him. + +"Is _that_ the grand surprise you meant, Bruce Haydon? Sure you aren't +fooling us? Oh, you are! You've got _something_ else--I know it by +your eyes. You look awfully guilty." + +"Do I?" asked Bruce innocently. "I wish there was a mirror here so I +could see how that looks. Here comes Francois with the bouillon and +omelets. Don't let him see me, please, till I've gotten up a better +expression." + +Francois served them deftly, while still attending to all the other +tables, and Patricia, in the intervals of merry chatter, wondered at +the innumerable bits of respectful conversation he managed to supply +his patrons in addition to his very satisfactory table service, and she +said so to Bruce, just as the dessert had been placed and Francois had +withdrawn to a party of newcomers. + +Bruce, however, was remarkably absent in his reply. + +"Yes, he's a wonder," he said, cracking nuts studiously. "I hope he's +as good on breakfasts as he used to be." + +"Breakfast!" cried Patricia, bubbling. "Are we going to keep on eating +till----" + +"No, no, I didn't mean that," returned Bruce hastily. "I was thinking +of something else." + +"The surprise, I am sure," announced Judith calmly. "Let's try to +guess what it is, like charades or Dumb Crambo. You can tell us if we +guess right, Bruce. I'll begin first." + +Bruce laid down his cracker with a grin. "No, you don't, young 'un," +he said decisively. "I'm not going to turn my choicest possession into +a puzzle department. I'm going to spring it myself, right now." + +All eyes were upon him as he crumpled his napkin into a hard ball and +crushed it between his flexible fingers, while his face assumed an +earnest and rather anxious expression. + +"I am going to ask you to think first and speak last," he began. "I +don't want you to go into it hastily or unless you're quite sure you +will like it." + +"We'll like it, all right enough, if you have a hand in it," Patricia +assured him heartily. + +"It's a scheme I've been thinking of for nearly a month now, and I've +made all the arrangements before I came home; but if it doesn't appeal +to you--well, there are no bones broken, and I can easily fix it up +with Miss J---- that is, I can make other arrangements." + +Judith gave an impatient wriggle, but it was Patricia again who spoke. + +"Please, please, _do_ tell us what it is! Suspense is so awful!" + +Bruce cocked his head on one side meditatively. "I'll make a stab at +it," he acceded, and then paused, while they waited in breathless +silence. + +"I've taken a studio apartment, and I've got someone to keep +house--just for a month--and I'm banking on you all coming to spend +that month with me. I want you to have this chance at some outside +work," he said to Elinor. "I'm not so keen on this academic work for a +steady job. I want you to keep up your life class, of course, but +there's a big lot of education lying around in the studios for this +short time anyway. I may not be able to offer it to you again, as I'll +have to be off as soon as this contract is finished. Will you come?" + +Elinor sat looking at him with her eyes shining, and then she drew a +quick breath. + +"I think it would be perfectly glorious," she said gratefully. "It's +wonderful that you should bother with us. I can't thank you----" + +"Don't want any thanks," returned Bruce gruffly. "Your aunt would +understand it. I'm only beginning to pay my debt to her, and it's +going to take a mighty long while, too." + +Patricia held out her hand across the cloth. "I can't kiss you, but +here's the substitute. You're a _duck_, Bruce Haydon. Where is the +studio?" + +Bruce laughed in a relieved way. "That's the way to talk, Miss Pat. +I'll show it to you as soon as you've all finished. Judy, haven't you +anything to say?" + +Judith finished dabbling her fingers in the finger-bowl, and wiped them +daintily. Then she raised her clear eyes to the expectant company. + +"The only thing I'm afraid of is that Mrs. Hudson won't let us go a +whole month sooner," she said with the calmness of despair. "I suppose +I'll have to stay there all by myself, just because I'm the youngest +and not an artist. But I tell you all this--I'm not going to stay +alone. I'll get Mrs. Shelly to come in----" + +"Good idea, Judy," said Bruce encouragingly. "We'll see what we can do +about it. Come along now, we're going to inspect the new premises. +You girls get your duds on while I settle up. It's only around the +corner, and we'll be there in a jiffy." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +NEW QUARTERS AND OLD FRIENDS + +They went up in the little box of an elevator, and as they got out, +Bruce jingled his keys invitingly. + +"I'll let you open the door--for luck, Judy," he said, holding out a +key. "See if you can guess which door it belongs to." + +Judith scanned the doors critically, her brows puckered and her head +aslant. + +"We-e-ll," she said, slowly revolving so as to see each hall in turn. +"I'll take the one just ahead there. It hasn't any card on the door +and all the others have." + +"Clever child!" commended Bruce. "That escaped my notice. You're +right, of course. Go ahead. Open up." + +Judith put the key in its lock, turned it easily and then swung the +door wide, but before the others could catch even a glimpse of the +interior, she gave a little squeaking cry and rushed in, leaving the +door to bang after her. + +"Well, of all things!" exclaimed Patricia indignantly. "We're locked +out!" + +"We can ring if Bruce has no other key," said Elinor hastily. "She'll +surely let us in." + +So, as there was no other key, Patricia put her finger to the bell on +the lintel and kept it there till the knob rattled and the door was +flung open wide. Judith was standing in the middle of the big, +comfortable studio and her face was flushed, but not one word did she +say in explanation of her singular behavior. + +Elinor and Patricia were so occupied with the room that she almost +escaped reproof, but Patricia, as she turned from admiring the stairway +that wound up one side of the studio to a nook in the peaked roof +above, caught a very knowing look on her little sister's face which was +meant for Bruce, and she pounced on her immediately. + +"What is the matter with you today, Ju?" she asked in an undertone, "I +do wish you'd behave yourself. Bruce will be sorry he asked us if +we're going to act like wild Indians." + +Judith's only reply was a giggle. + +Bruce and Elinor were inspecting the rooms on the other side of the +studio, and had passed out of sight behind the second doorway. +Patricia forgot her censorship as the spirit of the explorer rose in +her. + +"Let's look at these rooms, Ju," she proposed, with a hand on the heavy +curtain at her right. + +Judith caught her hand with a cry of dismay. + +"It's not fair, till Elinor comes, too!" she protested hotly. "Wait, +they'll be back. I'll call them." + +But Patricia, with a laugh, broke from her and lifted the curtain. + +"Elinor didn't wait for us," she began gayly, "and I'm not----" + +She broke off with her mouth and eyes opened to their widest, for there +in the chair by the cozy grate sat Mrs. Shelly, while Miss Jinny stood +chuckling her husky chuckle and rubbing her elbows nervously with both +hands. + +"They've come to stay!" shouted Judith in wild excitement. "They're +going to be here the whole month! Wasn't it lovely of Bruce to get +them, and won't it be _transcendant_, with all of us together!" + +Patricia had for once no words, but she fell on Miss Jinny's willing +neck, and to Judith's great wonder and Mrs. Shelly's delight, she +kissed Miss Jinny with great vigor and despatch. + +"You _duck_!" she cried, and, although Judith gasped and paled at the +audacious epithet, Miss Jinny merely chuckled and patted her tenderly +and then passed her on to the smiling, pink-cheeked little old lady in +the rocker. + +Such a time as they had all together when Elinor and Bruce joined them! +And such a happy circle as they made around the studio fire, as +twilight came on and the shadows crept out from the vast corners of the +big room, and they made plans for the future and compared notes as to +the past months of separation, with the cheerful flicker leaping and +flaring on their ruddy faces, quite as it had in the old house at +Rockham. + +"Do you remember how we planned for this year?" said Patricia, her chin +on her hand and her eyes on the leaping flame. "That was at Christmas +time, only three short months ago, and we've all broken our plans +already. David and Judy are the only ones who have stuck to theirs, +and that is mainly because they can't help themselves. Here am I, +studying at the Academy, after vowing I'd not waste money on myself at +all. Elinor is dropping half her studies there and starting on an +entirely new course--Interior Decoration and Stained Glass--under Mr. +Bruce Haydon's personal supervision; and as for Mrs. Shelly and Miss +Jinny--they are so far out of their plans I don't believe they'll ever +get back into them again." + +Miss Jinny gave a snort of defiance. "Just you wait till this month is +over, Patricia Louise Kendall," she said belligerently. "I'll be back +in that old rut so tight you won't be able to see where I ran in again. +Not go back to housekeeping with mama, indeed! I'll bet that I put up +as many extra pickles and jams this year as I ever did, and with the +exception of having the library and you people and the Haldens again, I +don't see much change ahead of me, I can tell you!" + +Patricia sighed and stretched herself luxuriantly. + +"Well, I haven't any complaint to make with the new arrangements," she +said expansively. "Things keep getting deliciouser and deliciouser all +the time. I only wish we didn't have to go back to the boarding house +tonight----" + +"Indeed, you're not going to budge a step!" said Miss Jinny +triumphantly. "We planned it all out. You're to stay here and begin +to be at home right off. You can go and pack tomorrow and have your +things sent over as soon as you please." + +"But," insisted Elinor, "we haven't anything----" + +Again Miss Jinny interrupted. "I got your negligees and all from Mrs. +Hudson this morning," she chuckled. "She knows you won't be back, and +she's just as well pleased, for she's a good chance to rent your rooms +right away, and I told her to go ahead. She'll keep your things till +tomorrow or the next day. Now, come along and choose bunks, though +there isn't much choice, for there is only one big room with three beds +in it. Mama and I are right next to you, you see." + +The rooms on the right of the studio, a small one with a double bed in +it for Miss Jinny and her mother, and the enormous room with the three +beds for the girls, were separated by a tiled bath and were quite +remote from the rooms on the other side, where was a corresponding +small room to be used for a sitting-room, and a slightly larger one for +Bruce. Altogether, the arrangement was as satisfactory as could be +wished and everyone was enthusiastic over the many comforts and +conveniences that the place boasted. + +"Fortunate that Symons had to hurry off to South America for that +commission, wasn't it?" said Bruce, rubbing his hands before the fire. +"We couldn't have got a snugger place, and just for the length of time +we want it. I told Miss Jinny it would be flying in the face of +Providence for her to refuse to come and occupy it." + +Judith had been studying the problem of the rooms, and now put her +question. "But where are we to have our meals?" she ventured. "I +don't see any dining-room." + +"They are coming in from Dufranne's and we're going to imbibe them in +that room to the left," replied Bruce with a wave toward the +sitting-room. "When we feel like it, we're going to Dufranne's for +them." He turned to Mrs. Shelly with an air of charming courtesy that +sat well on his strong face. "Are you still in the humor for dining +out, madam?" he asked, in a tone easily heard by her. + +Mrs. Shelly nodded, smiled her twinkly smile and rose with alacrity. + +"I'll put on my new bonnet," she promised, and trotted off to her room, +smoothing the tails of her basque with eager fingers. + +"She's just as happy as a lark," said Miss Jinny to the others. "I was +so scared for fear she'd hate town life, but, lands alive, she takes to +it like a duck to water. I shouldn't wonder if it did her a lot of +good. She's been uncommonly quiet recently, and I believe she's been +missing you girls." + +Mrs. Shelly in her new bonnet with a gay little pansy on it, Miss Jinny +in another bran new hat, made quite a festive appearance, and the great +humor of them both and their sincere pleasure in being so important a +part in the little home group gave an added zest to the evening's +merry-making. + +"Ju hasn't let go of Mrs. Shelly's hand since we left the restaurant," +said Patricia apart to Elinor, as they were taking off their wraps in +the studio again. "Poor little kid, she certainly does worship that +dear little old lady." + +"How she'd have adored mother, if she had only lived," said Elinor +softly. "Mother was so lovely. I always feel that you two have been +cheated out of so much--not even to have a dim memory of her." + +Patricia's face grew wistful. "She went away when I was so little," +she murmured absently. "Sometimes I do fancy that I can recall how she +looked as she kissed me good-bye in the big station, but it must be +only fancy--one doesn't remember much at two years old. I can see just +how Judy looked though, when they brought her home after mother died, +and I was only three and a half then." + +"What are you two conspirators hatching up over there in the corner?" +called Bruce from the fireside. "We're making out our schedule, and +you don't know what you're missing!" + +Settled in their places--they already had their own selected places in +the ingle nook--with Mrs. Shelly rocking contentedly in the center of +the half circle and Bruce smoking in the deep armchair, they grew +enthusiastic again over the delightful prospect of the month that Bruce +outlined for them. + +"Judy, of course, will go to school," he said, blowing a little smoke +ring at her. "Miss Pat will go to the sculpturing as usual, but may +have a hand in any game here that she is able to hold up. You'll learn +a heap, Paddy Malone, if you keep those ears of yours open, for +Grantly, the fellow who is doing the bas-reliefs for the State Capitol +building, will be about occasionally, and he's a cracker-jack in his +line." + +"See here," interrupted Miss Jinny, cocking her eyes severely at Bruce. +"I'm not going to have Patricia hobnobbing with those _Bohemians_!" + +Bruce roared with laughter. "My dear Dragon!" he cried, "don't you be +afraid of your precious charges. Grantly hasn't any time to waste on +young 'uns like Miss Pat. He's _working_, I tell you, and he doesn't +like young ladies, anyway. Her only chance would be to overhear him +spouting to me, which if she's discreet she may occasionally be able to +do." + +"Oh, indeed!" said Miss Jinny subsiding. "Well, that's another matter. +I don't object to that." + +"Hope not," retorted Bruce amiably. "Now as to Elinor." He stopped +for so many rings that Judith stirred and cleared her throat +impatiently, whereon he grinned cheerfully at her and went on. "As to +Elinor. She will keep on with the night life, but the rest of her time +will be spent in the studio here, working on studies and cartoons for a +big wall decoration for a church, and a stained glass window for the +same church--a purely mythical one, my dear Dragon, but intended to +develop our promising student more rapidly than the easygoing method of +the schools. What do you say to the program, young ladies?" + +Patricia smiled at Elinor's fervid response and Judith's calm approval, +but she uttered never a word, though Bruce looked at her inquiringly. + +"Well?" he said at last. "What's the verdict?" + +"I think it is simply great," replied Patricia with a ripple of mirth. +"I honestly do, Bruce. I'm going to have a gorgeous time, and I'm +awfully grateful to you for it." + +"Well?" he repeated. "That's not all you're thinking, Miss Pat. +You're simpering at some hidden invention of your own, and you know it. +Out with it or we'll put the X-rays on it." + +Patricia flung a look at Miss Jinny. "Really and truly I haven't any +secret to confess, Bruce. I was only thinking how very nice it was for +us, Judy and me, that we had such a genius for a sister." + +Miss Jinny's eyes twinkled, but Bruce flushed and flicked his cigar ash +into the fire with a dexterous finger. + +"What has that to do with your meek and lowly gratitude?" he asked with +the trace of a smile. + +"It has everything to do with all of us," responded Patricia promptly. +"We're just the tail of the comet, you know." + +Bruce opened his eyes and sat up, piercing Patricia with a keen gaze. +Evidently he found no reserve behind her words, for he broke into a +laugh and shook his head at her. + +"I'm in a regular nest of female detectives," he retaliated gayly. +"Between you and Judy I shan't have a single secret left at the end of +the month. I'll have to watch myself like thunder, Miss Jinny, or +they'll make a miserable hen-pecked man of me!" + +Miss Jinny grunted amiably at him, and then rose. "I guess you know +what you're about, Bruce Haydon. Don't look to me to protect you, +though, for I'm a mighty active _feminist_, and I can't waste any of my +valuable time taking care of such a common critter as a man." With a +nod to the girls, she beckoned her mother. + +"Time for bed, mama dear," she said clearly. "I've got your ginger tea +ready for you, and I guess it's the last you'll want this year." In a +lower tone she explained to the others: "Just brewed it to make her +feel more at home, you know. She doesn't need it in this fiery furnace +of a place." + +Mrs. Shelly, with a kindly good-night to Bruce, trotted after them, +fumbling with her watch pocket. + +"I declare, if it isn't half-past ten!" she exclaimed, as she snapped +the blue enameled lid of her little watch. "My little girl ought to +have been in bed an hour ago." + + + + +Judith twined her arms about her and kissed her fondly. + +"It doesn't matter just for tonight, does it, Mama Shelly?" she asked +with pretty deference. "There are going to be such a lot of nights to +go to bed early in." + +Mrs. Shelly nodded briskly. "And I'll come sit with you while you're +getting ready," she promised, patting Judith's hand. "We can have some +good talks together then, and I'll remember more stories for you, too." + +Much to Judith's delight she kissed them all around, and then she +hustled off after Miss Jinny, leaving them to themselves in the big, +comfortable room. + +Patricia flung herself on the fur rug that lay before the empty +fireplace. + +"I don't feel as if I'd ever want to go to sleep," she said +rapturously. "It seems like a glorious dream that we're going to live +in this romantic place a whole month. Bruce is a perfect duck to fix +it up so we can all be together. I shan't study much here, I feel that +in my bones, but I'll have a gorgeous time. How do you feel about it, +Judy?" + +Judith sat with one stocking in her hand, dreaming, and she awoke with +a start. + +"I'm going to _write_!" she declared, dramatically waving the stocking +about. "This is truly inspiring!" + +Patricia gave a short laugh. "Did it ever occur to you that our little +Judy might make a fair actress, Norn?" she asked, deftly catching the +bare foot that supported Judith and bringing her down on the rug beside +her. "Her passion for the limelight grows, I notice, and recent events +have not tended to make her unmindful of her merits." + +"Oh, stop teasing, Miss Pat," cried Judith, wriggling free. "I +wouldn't be an actress if you'd hire me. I'm going to be a writer, and +now I'm going to bed. Good-night," and she made a flying leap into her +pillows and covered herself to the eyes. "Don't say another word to me +tonight," she warned, "or I'll call Miss Jinny. I'm going to sleep." + +Patricia yawned and rose. "I guess I'll follow her virtuous example. +I'm really getting awfully drowsy, now it's so quiet," she confessed. + +Elinor was already half asleep when Patricia suddenly sat up with a +mirthful gurgle. + +"What fun it'll be to tell the gang at the Academy," she crowed. +"Won't Griffin rejoice and won't Doris Leighton wish she'd been good! +Margaret Howes will have a chance to meet Bruce, too. It'll be a +perfect lark all around!" + +Elinor sighed in deep content. + +"Maybe Bruce will let Margaret work with me sometimes," she murmured +joyfully. "I know he's going to like Griffin tremendously; she's just +the sort to fit in with us all. Miss Jinny's crazy over her. I don't +believe we'll see poor Doris Leighton again. Griffin told me she was +leaving." + +Patricia cuddled down in the pillows again, with a chuckle. + +"Miss Jinny told me that Mr. Spicer had asked us all to tea at the +Science and Arts Club," she said. "The Haldens are coming in for +Easter and all the other holidays, and we're going to simply revel in +delightful doings right here in the studio. It's a dream of goodly +revelry, Norn, isn't it?" "It means more than that to me," replied +Elinor. "It means work--glorious, big, beautiful work----" + +"Do you know," interrupted Patricia, suddenly alert again, "I don't +believe I'll ever amount to a row of pins as an artist? I always +forget the work and think only of the _people_ and the fun. I wonder +if I can't brace up and do something worth while. I'll start in +tomorrow--see if I don't." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +AFTERNOON TEA + +The days slipped by with wonderful swiftness after the trunks had been +unpacked and things had settled down to the regular routine. Patricia +wondered at the evenness of their minds and the serenity of their +hearts in those first three weeks of studio life. + +"Everything goes so smoothly," she confided to Miss Jinny one day at +the end of the fortnight. "It sounds monotonous, but I don't mean it +that way at all. We're all so _naturally_ polite and agreeable. We +don't seem to have to force ourselves a bit." + +"That's because we've each of us got something to do," declared Miss +Jinny emphatically. "If we were idling around, musing on ourselves +from morning till night like some poor creatures do, we'd get prickly +mighty soon. People were made to work, and it's flying in the face of +Providence to try to get away from it. We all got our share in the +curse of Adam, and the sooner we realize it, the better for us." + +Patricia played with the handle of the great glittering brass amphora +that stood by the low stool where she sat. Her face was puzzled though +not disquiet. + +"I wonder just what my work will turn out to be?" she said +thoughtfully. "I'm beginning to be afraid I haven't any real work of +my own. I've tried so hard to get on with the modeling--for I do love +it--but it just seems as though I couldn't. That first head that they +liked so much, and the study of Ju is about all the sculpture I've got +in my system, I reckon. I'm downright ashamed to let them know----" + +"You needn't be," declared Miss Jinny vigorously. "You never pretended +you were in it for anything but sport, did you? Bruce knows you're +about through with it; I heard him say so to Elinor yesterday." + +"Oh, did he though?" cried Patricia, kindling. "How clever of him to +see. I thought no one _dreamed_!" + +Miss Jinny chuckled. "We knew you were only marking time till you +stepped off into your music," she said encouragingly. "It was nice, of +course, that you got along so well, but no one expected you to take to +it for good and all." + +Patricia sighed contentedly. "How nice you all are!" she said +appreciatively. "I thought you'd all be disgusted with me if I quit. +After Mr. Grantly said that study of Ju showed promise, I nearly wore +myself to a bone trying to make good. I've been scared stiff about it." + +"Don't you worry, Miss Pat. You'll find your own work all in good +time. It mayn't be what you'd like it to, but it'll be something that +you can do better than any one else," said Miss Jinny with kind wisdom. +"Look at me. I'm sure that books and catalogues is my forte, but the +Lord knows better. He's given me the sense to see it, too, and so mama +is comfortable and happy and someone else who hasn't a dear mother +depending on her does the library work in my place." + +"You're a darling," said Patricia, "and the Lord must be terribly fond +of you." + +"Patricia Louise Kendall! That's sacrilege!" gasped the scandalized +Miss Jinny. + +"Is it?" exclaimed Patricia, equally startled. "I didn't know it was. +Mr. Spicer said it himself yesterday when he was talking to me in the +print room, and I was telling him about your poor basket and saving +bank, and all that. I'm awfully sorry, Miss Jinny." + +Miss Jinny had a queer look, Patricia thought, as she turned hurriedly +away with a murmured excuse about the tea table. + +"Why, it's all ready," cried Patricia wondering at her changed manner. +"We put the sliced lemon on the very last thing." + +But Miss Jinny was not to be diverted into talk again, and as she +started out of the studio the bell came to her aid, buzzing shrilly an +insistent summons to the door. + +"That's Griffin; I know her ring!" cried Patricia jumping up. "I'll +go." + +Griffin it was, in the highest good humor and bursting with news. She +did not wait to get out of her coat before she began to unbosom herself +to them both, alternately addressing each in turn. + +"Kendall Major's missed it, I tell you, going off to that poky +architectural show," she declared to Miss Jinny. "We had the time of +our lives today in life class. Benton's up in the air because Howes +showed him that Ascension study she did over here--you know he never +could bear Haydon or his work--and he was as mad as hops that he should +be butting in with any of his own special pets like Howes." + +"How mean!" cried Patricia spiritedly. "Bruce hasn't even seen that +study. What did he say about it?" + +"Oh, he couldn't _say_ anything right out," replied Griffin knowingly, +"but he made it hot for us, I tell you. Poor old Bottle Green caught +it first, for painting before he'd given her permission, and then he +jumped on me for not painting. Radford caught it and then he lit on +Slovinski for using the Whistler palette, and she just _blew up_! +These Poles aren't like us tame tabbies, you know, and she's full of +ginger, for all her sleepy ways. She's terribly high-born, you know, +and can't bear anyone to look cross-eyed at her." + +"What did she do?" asked Patricia eagerly. + +"Slammed him good and hard," returned Griffin succinctly. "Told him he +was fifteen different sorts of a lobster." + +"Oh, do talk English, Griffie dear," begged Patricia, laughing. "Miss +Jinny doesn't understand your Choctaw speech." + +"Well then, she rebuked him thoroughly for his variable though severe +criticisms, and stated, with some emotion, that the Board should be +enlightened as to his unfitness, through his captious temper, for the +delicate task of nourishing the tender sensibilities of the budding +artist." + +"My word, she wasn't shy, was she?" interpolated Patricia, much +diverted. + +"Not she," declared Griffin. "We were all in a blue fit. Not that we +old stagers are sorry for the man, but it shocked our sense of what's +due him as a teacher. I was fearfully ashamed of Slovinski, but it +_was_ fun to see how astounded he looked. He just stood looking at her +more quietly than I'd ever seen him look at any one, and then he bowed +and asked her if she'd quite finished. Jiminy, but he was polite! We +all got a chill. Slovinski sat down, and we took to work again. +Benton went on criticizing as if nothing had happened, but we felt +mighty queer. Then Bottle Green stooped over to get her paint-box, and +up she starts, most tragic-like, with her hand, on her shoulder, and +she solemnly announces she's broken her arm." + +"Poor thing, she's done it at last!" cried Patricia compassionately. +"Then what happened?" + +"She got safely off, and then the model began to look queer, and in a +minute she'd fainted. Howes brought her to with a glass of mineral +water, and the class broke up. But the model didn't go. After Benton +had made a small spicy speech of farewell--he's leaving, can't stand +being sassed--she got up on the stand and gave us a bunch of monologues +that were out of sight. She used to be on the variety stage until she +lost her voice. I tell you, Kendall missed it." + +"What did I miss?" called Elinor's voice from the other room, where she +had come in unnoticed. + +She came to the doorway with her hat and furs still on and repeated the +question. Griffin gave her a synopsis of the row and the casualties +following, which she received with a little protesting laugh. + +"I can't say it sounds better than the architectural show," she said, +pulling out her hat-pins. + +"That part wasn't," agreed Griffin, "though a bit more sporting +perhaps. But what came after was. Mary Miller, the model, told us the +most wonderful story--her own life, first in the bush in Australia and +then here in New York and Chicago; and who do you think she is?" + +"Melba in disguise?" mocked Elinor gayly. + +"Stuff!" snorted Griffin, impatiently. "Her family comes from Rockham, +and her grandmother used to live at Greycroft. She's going out to see +the place when it gets warmer. I didn't tell her you lived there now, +for I didn't know whether you'd want----" + +"Lands to goodness, I believe I've seen her!" exclaimed Miss Jinny. +"There was a Mary Miller, a little thing about five, used to play about +the place when old Miss Spence lived there. Her mother married again +and went to Australia. Must be the same one." + +"Come over to the shop tomorrow and see if it isn't--" Griffin began, +when there was a sound of laughter and talking in the outer hall and +the door opened to admit Bruce, Margaret Howes, the two Halden girls +and Judith. + +Mr. Spicer and Mrs. Shelly came in almost at the same time, and Miss +Jinny's delicious tea and nut-cakes were served with great gayety and +lively chatter. The Haldens, having come from a two-days vacation at +Rockham, were full of neighborhood gossip and gave very circumstantial +accounts of Greycroft, Hannah Ann and Henry. + +"We saw Hannah Ann and Henry on Saturday and got all the news about the +place from them. Major had the colic one night, but Hannah Ann saved +him with a quart of homeopathic pills," laughed Miriam. "Everything +looked just as natural as life when we drove by this morning. They'll +be mighty glad to see you all when you go back." + +"What are you putting up in the garden, Elinor?" asked Madalon, +stirring her tea. "I noticed that Henry had a lot of poles planted +along the south shrubbery----" + +Judith's dismayed exclamation cut short her account of the activities +at Greycroft. + +"Now you've done it!" cried Judith in distress. "She knows all about +it, and I meant it for a surprise! Oh dear!" + +"I'm awfully sorry--" began Madalon, contritely, but Judith was too +deeply disappointed to be very polite. + +"Hannah Ann and I have been writing about it for ever so long," she +lamented, "and we were having it put just where you wanted it, Elinor, +and Henry got the trees from the wood lot, and we were going to have it +for a surprise--" She broke off, choking. + +Elinor slipped an arm about her. "But what is it, Ju dear?" + +"A pup-pup-pergola," spluttered Judith, recovering a bit. "Just the +sort you wanted. And we planned for Miss Pat to make one of those +lovely stone seats out of concrete. But it isn't any use, now," she +ended forlornly. + +"Don't be a muff," said Patricia briskly. "It's twice as good, don't +you see, coming out this way? Here are eight people surprised all in a +bunch, instead of merely Elinor and poor me. You've sprung it in the +very nick of time, Infant." + +"Sure thing," supplemented Griffin genially. "I'm in it now, and if +you'd put it off, I'd been in Kalamazoo or Madagascar, and missed it +all." + +Judith with this encouragement began to take heart, and by the time Mr. +Spicer and Margaret Howes had joined their congratulations to the +others, she was fully recovered and enjoying herself immensely, arguing +with Margaret Howes and Bruce as to the shape of the projected seat +with a freedom that was usually denied her. + +The subject of Mary Miller was brought up and discussed with great +interest. Everyone advocated Miss Jinny's visit to the Academy, and +Judith added the hope that the descendant of the old housekeeper at +Greycroft might be able to throw some light on the disappearance of the +old miser's silver and bank books, a remark that caused some +consternation among the elder members of the party. + +"Don't you go making suggestions of that sort," warned Bruce, with +impressive authority. "The girl will feel as though her +great-grandmother were a thief." + +"Oh, I wouldn't put it that way," cried Judith, scandalized. "I'd just +sort of hint around gently. Maybe they dug it up long ago." + +"Ju's got the idea from her last thriller that the Dutchman who used to +live at Greycroft buried his treasure somewhere about the place," +explained Patricia to Griffin. "I suppose she'll spend her time +grubbing this summer." + +Griffin pushed up her blouse sleeve, showing a remarkably thin arm. +"I'm your man, if you ever want a pal," she said to Judith. "I'm +trained down to the right weight now and ready for business." + +Judith did not know whether she was being chaffed or not, so she +dexterously changed the subject. + +"Doris Leighton's sister has the scarlet fever," she announced, +enjoying the stir that the name caused, "and Doris is nursing her. She +takes turns with the nurse, and Geraldine cries when she goes out of +the room." + +"Phew, that doesn't sound like our fine lady of the stony heart!" +exclaimed Griffin. "Are you sure, kidlet?" + +Judith nodded emphatically. "Mrs. Leighton told Miss Hillis over the +phone, and she told the class, as 'an example of sisterly devotion,' +she called it. I felt like telling her _what I knew_." + +"Judith Kendall, you're a little monster!" cried Patricia, indignantly. +"Even if Doris did cheat, she's doing a noble thing now, and we ought +to be the last to blab, since Elinor got the prize. Doris had to pay +for her sins and she has human feelings, too." + +"Pooh, she didn't have to pay much," said Judith with the callousness +of childhood. "She only gave back the prize and left the Academy." + +"I'm glad to hear that she is making good now," said Margaret Howes +gravely. "I always felt there was a lot of good in Leighton under her +fluff." + +"Perhaps it took hard rubs to bring it out," said Miss Jinny, pouring +another cup for Mr. Spicer. "We poor human critters are like that +sometimes. Good times spoil us. Maybe she's had it too easy, poor +girl." + +"Souls have muscles, the same as bodies do, and they need exercise," +agreed Bruce thoughtfully. "I know lots of fellows who are failures +through having too much money. It's a dangerous thing to let your soul +get seedy." + +"Golly, that pretty nearly hits us all, doesn't it?" said Griffin +apprehensively. "I'm not so sure about myself, now you mention it. +Doris Leighton may be one ahead of me in this business. Fatty +degeneration of the soul is a new one to me." + +They were all rather serious for a silent moment, and then Patricia +spoke. Her clear voice was rather low and timid, but her eyes were +shining. + +"Let's phone to her and tell her that we all hope Geraldine will soon +be well," she said, looking at Elinor with loving confidence. + +There was a murmur of assent and Elinor rose quickly. + +"The very thing, Miss Pat," she agreed radiantly. "I'll look up the +number for you." + +But Patricia shrank from appearing too magnanimous. + +"It's your affair, Norn," she demurred. "You ought to do the talking." + +So Elinor went into the sitting-room where the telephone was, and in +the intervals of their rather forced conversation, they could hear +scraps of her kind questions and gentle answers. When she returned to +the studio, her face was glowing. + +"I'm so glad you thought of phoning, Miss Pat," she said, taking her +plate and cup from Bruce and seating herself by Miss Jinny. "Doris +was--well, I can't tell you what she said, but she certainly isn't as +bad as we thought her. She's just wrapped up in Geraldine and she +seems to think that this illness is a judgment on her for the prize +study." + +"Poor thing," exclaimed Griffin. "Did you tell her we all asked for +her?" + +Elinor nodded. "She said I might as well tell you all, for it would be +in the papers tomorrow. Her father has failed, and they're dreadfully +poor. It's been coming on for a long while, and that was why she +wanted the prize so much--not that she excused herself for it, she only +said I could see how she came to stoop so low. She was frantic for the +money and was so worried that she couldn't think of any subject for +herself. She thought I was rich and happy and wouldn't care. She even +thought I might not turn in my study at all, when I got sick that +night. She's had a terrible time about it, but she was so glad to have +the chance to explain." + +"Why in the world didn't she say so before?" cried Griffin indignantly. +"She had a chance to defend herself. We're not absolutely inhuman." + +"She couldn't, don't you see, without telling her father's private +affairs?" said Elinor gently. "She didn't feel that it was any excuse +for her conduct, anyway." + +Patricia heaved a deep sigh. "Well, I must say," she said with a +triumphant look at Miss Jinny, "I do believe in first impressions and +I'm glad I always liked Doris Leighton." + +Miriam Halden rose regretfully. "Sorry to break up the festivities, +Miss Jinny," she said, shaking hands, "but our train leaves in just ten +minutes, and Madalon has on bran-new pumps with heels that cut her down +to a mile an hour. We'll see you all again next week at the +house-breaking, as Judith calls it." + +"We'll be here," promised Madalon, following her sister's example. +"We'll have to miss lunch and the Senior dance, but what's a mere dance +compared to helping a neighbor say farewell to their happy little home. +Look for us at twelve-thirty sharp and prepare an extra mess of +pottage, for we'll both be fearfully hungry. Tell David and Tom Hughes +we'll come in on the same train they do. Good-bye, be good till +Saturday and then we'll all be happy." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +APRIL SHOWERS + +"That Miller girl needs a good rest," said Miss Jinny emphatically. + +She had come in from her visit to the Academy, where she had +interviewed the model with a thoroughness that left little of her past +unexplored, and her face was sad and thoughtful as she stood pulling +off her gloves, finger by finger, by the big side window in the studio. + +Mrs. Shelly went on with her knitting, but Patricia, who was mending a +long rent in her best blouse, looked up with eager interest. + +"Did you have a chance to talk to her much?" she asked, snapping off +her thread in her absorption. "What is she really like? Does she +remember Rockham? And does she know we have the old place?" + +Miss Jinny chuckled and then grew grave and thoughtful. + +"I guess she wouldn't last much longer at this business," she said, +smoothing the creases out of the glove fingers. "She's got a pinched +look and her cheeks are mighty pink. No, it ain't paint; I asked right +out, and she answered just as nice as could be. She seems tired, poor +girl, and mortally glad to have some one take an interest. She says +the class rooms are so hot, and the change from living in eighty +degrees to sixty-five, like it is in her room, has made her downright +sick part of the time." + +"It must be hard on her," acquiesced Patricia. "Why didn't she get +something else to do?" + +"Couldn't," said Miss Jinny, briefly. "A girl without friends or money +hasn't much show in a big town. I'm going to take charge of that girl, +Patricia." + +Patricia felt a thrill of alarm. + +"You aren't going to bring her _here_?" she queried, a faint flush of +shame at the selfishness of her speech creeping into her cheeks. + +"Certainly _not_," said Miss Jinny crisply. "I'm merely a guest here. +I'm going to do something more practical, and I want you to help me, if +you can stop being jealous of the poor girl, for----" + +Patricia flung the sewing aside and threw her arms about her friend in +a tempest of contrition. "I didn't mean to be horrid," she cried. +"You know I wouldn't really be so selfish--if I thought you wanted it. +But we have been so happy together here, and I wanted it to go onto the +end, just like a beautiful story that ends happily. I'm sorry I seemed +mean." + +Miss Jinny gave her a pat and a kiss. "I guess I feel quite as much +that way as you do, Miss Pat," she said with unusual softness. "I +hadn't the wildest notion of bringing Mary Miller here. I'm going to +take her to Rockham with me." + +Patricia's heart sank, but she concealed her feelings sufficiently to +reassure Miss Jinny, who went on briskly: + +"I'm going to take her out with us day after tomorrow--she's not going +back to the Academy--and I'm going to get work for her. There's where +you can help. She's a good sewer, she says, though she'd rather live +with someone and do housework." + +"Shouldn't think she'd be strong enough for housework," said Patricia, +puckering her brow. "Mrs. Hand wants a 'lady houseworker,' but I don't +believe she'd have an ex-model. She's so awfully particular, you know." + +Miss Jinny nodded. "She'd work her to death, anyway," she agreed. +"She's mighty inhuman under her soft outside. Her help don't hear much +of her purry ways, I can tell you. That's why they're always leaving. +No, Mrs. Hand won't do." She sighed in perplexity. "I wish we were +well enough off to keep her ourselves. I've taken a liking to her +quiet ways, and I'd enjoy having her about, I'm sure. Most country +girls are so loud and clumping that I've never wanted help before, but +she's mighty different." + +Patricia rubbed the end of her nose with the scissors. "There are the +Haldens and the Berkleys and Tattans," she mused. "They're all +supplied. Perhaps someone will leave and then she can get their place. +Maybe Hannah Ann will have her help sometimes,--we can't afford to have +anyone regularly, you know." + +Miss Jinny rose abruptly, and putting away her things, began +preparations for tea. + +"Well, it's settled that she's going with us," she said comfortably. +"I guess the future will take care of itself. If we do the best we can +and leave the rest to the Lord, we can't go far astray. I feel that +Mary Miller is going to be taken care of some way." + +It had been raining all the afternoon, a gentle persistent rain that +gave no sign of clearing, and they decided, after a cozy dinner at +home, that their projected trip to Rockham the next day would have to +be given up; but when Bruce pulled aside the curtain from the studio +window to compare his watch with the illuminated disc of the St. +Francis clock tower, he gave an exclamation of satisfaction. + +"It's cleared off, after all," he said. "It's going to be a ripping +fine day tomorrow." + +They crowded to the big window, and saw, through the wet flicker of +tiny sprouting leaves, a wind-swept sky with racing clouds and +brilliant stars blazing in the dark, serene spaces between the hurrying +masses of billowy vapor. + +Judith clapped her hands. "We'll go, won't we, Bruce, and Elinor, and +Miss Jinny?" she asked, whirling to each authority in turn. "We'll see +dear, delectable Greycroft and have our picnic in the barn?" + +"And the pup-pup-pergola, too," added Patricia mischievously. + +Miss Jinny meditated for a moment. "I don't believe I'll go," she +said. "I'm going back in another day or so, and mama and I will have +enough of Rockham anyway. I'll stay with her and finish that library +book that Mr. Spicer lent me. It's overdue now, anyway." + +So it was arranged that the four of them, Elinor, Patricia, Judith, and +Bruce, should take the early train to Rockham and spend the day in +adjusting matters at Greycroft for their return the following Saturday, +coming back to town in the late afternoon or early evening. + +Just as they had finished, to their great satisfaction the studio +knocker sounded the quick double knock that always heralded Griffin, +and Judith flew to welcome her. + +"I didn't ring," she explained, standing on the little blue rug by the +umbrella stand, and jabbing her dripping umbrella into the stand. "The +hall door was open and I came right in." She hesitated, and then +rushed on, directing most of her speech to Elinor. "Geraldine Leighton +is dying, they say, and I thought we might each send a little note to +Doris--she's awfully alone, now that Mrs. Leighton is ill, you know. +It mightn't help her much, but it would show her that we----" + +"Dying!" cried Patricia, aghast. "Why they said she was better this +morning." + +Judith crept near to Mrs. Shelly and caught her hand close in both of +hers. The others put eager questions. Griffin, who was deeply +stirred, answered breathlessly. Suddenly, in the midst of the quiet, +home-like, cozy evening, had come tragedy and the shadow of death. + +Patricia had known Geraldine Leighton in a very slight and casual way, +but with the word "dying," she became the heroic center of her hurrying +thoughts. She saw her in the dim room with Doris and the nurse and +doctor, each agonizingly intent on the slow, faltering heart-beats and +the fitful, irregular breathing. As her swift mind galloped on to the +end, and the subdued sounds of grief caught her inner ear, another face +began to print itself rapidly on that quick-moving scene--Doris, white +and haggard, looked into her eyes, and she felt her whole heart go out +to her. + +Griffin was just ending the sentence that had hurried the fleeting +pictures through her mind when Patricia slipped away unnoticed into the +hall, where she flung on a cape and soft hat of Judith's and softly let +herself out. + +The Leighton house was a big dark pile at the end of the street and the +only light visible was in the back room where Patricia knew the +struggle against death and disease was being fought out. She paused +for a long look and then she ran lightly up the steps and put a +shrinking finger on the bell. + +It seemed an eternity till the door was grudgingly opened and a +white-faced, gruff boy asked unrecognizingly what she wanted. + +Patricia put her questions tremblingly, for she feared the stern, +strange face of the boy in knickerbockers. She had seen him playing +and shouting in the square on other days, and the change was so great +that she felt death alone could have wrought it. But he answered +evenly that 'Geraldine was just the same,' and was closing the door +when Patricia stopped him. After a hasty parley, on his part, at first +stubborn and then yielding, the door closed and Patricia, with beating +heart, ran down the steps and hurried to the side of the house where +the long windows of the drawing room protruded their iron balconies +over the sidewalk. + +Here she waited in the shadow of the fluttering violet arc light, with +her eyes fastened to the silent, insensible windows. Ten minutes that +seemed ten eternities went lagging by. Tears of disappointment rose to +Patricia's eyes and she shivered as the gusts of west wind flung the +drops from the saturated trees in a silver shower across the darkened +panes. + +"I'll count ten, and then I'll go," she said to herself. + +The windows remained dark, and the only sounds on the quiet side street +were the wind in the wet trees and the sizzle of the arc light above +her head. + +"Five, six, sev----" + +She sprang forward as the second window slowly moved and a muffled +figure stood on the balcony. + +"Oh, Doris!" was all she found to say, as she stretched eager hands +toward her. + +Doris shrank back with a low, horrified cry. + +"Don't come near me!" she warned in a stifled voice. "Go back as far +as the tree. Don't you know it's scarlet fever? I'll go in at once if +you come nearer." + +Patricia retreated to the tree, and Doris stood with one hand clutching +the cloak and the light strong on her face. She looked more beautiful +than ever to Patricia's friendly eyes, and there was a calm strength in +her manner that awed while it comforted her. All consciousness of +herself was gone, and, Patricia felt, gone forever, and in its place a +quiet courage that spoke of conquered pride and vanity and selfishness. +Doris Leighton had found herself. + +In the hurried words that they exchanged there was a more solid welding +of their renewed friendship than the telephone could have accomplished +for them in many interviews, and they parted at the end of the allotted +five minutes, each with a growing faith in the mercies of that +Providence which had led them to a nobler comradeship. + +Patricia, promising to give Doris' messages to Elinor and the rest, +hurried off, leaving the drawing-room windows once more blank and +impassive. She ran into the studio as Griffin was rising to go, with +her umbrella, reclaimed from the stand, still dripping slow occasional +drops unheeded on the polished floor. + +They had not missed her, much to her surprise. She felt she had +undergone so much, and they were still in the very state she had left +them. She blurted out her triumphant account of the new Doris, almost +forgetting Geraldine, and to their excited questionings and comments +she flashed illuminating replies, making them see the very figure in +the muffled cloak with the courageous expression on its lovely face. + +There was generous and general rejoicing at her account of the brief +interview, and a strong feeling that under this happier augury +Geraldine must recover. Patricia went to bed feeling that the storm of +the afternoon had been a type of her own day, and that for her the +stars were serenely shining after the tempest of doubt and estrangement. + +"Geraldine won't die," she said fervently to Elinor as she put out the +light. "I _know_ she won't die." + +And the morning proved her prophecy, for at the first inquiry came the +joyful news that the crisis was past and Geraldine already improving. + +"Now we can go on our spree with clear minds," said Judith, as they sat +down to breakfast in the sunny sitting-room. "It's a perfect day and +Rockham will look too sweet for anything." + +"What a beautiful description of a spring day in the country by a +budding literary light," commented Patricia merrily. "I'm afraid your +style is rather going off, Ju! You haven't been consulting that +dictionary of yours recently." + +Judith merely shrugged and went on with her breakfast, while Bruce and +Elinor, who had been up unusually early and were already equipped, +discussed Elinor's finished wall-decoration which stood at the far end +of the studio, just visible from the breakfast table. Bruce was much +elated over the progress of his pupil, and prophesied great things for +Elinor in time. He even went so far as to promise that the stained +glass window for which she had made a cartoon should be executed and +put in the little Rockham church. + +Altogether they were in a happy frame of mind and life seemed very +satisfactory to them. As they left the town behind and the dimpling, +downy, spring-time country rolled out beyond their flying windows, they +became positively hilarious, intoxicated by sunshine and spring. They +found Greycroft, Hannah Ann and Henry all equally admirable. The +pergola was inspected and found well-composed and attractive, and the +site for Patricia's concrete seat was decided on hopefully. The picnic +luncheon in the big barn, which Hannah Ann served with great delight +while Henry hurried back and forth to the house with warm dishes and +reinforcements of delicious food, was a glorious frolic, and even the +big black clouds that swept suddenly over the luminous sky did not +distress them. + +"Let's stay here for a minute or two, and then run up to the house +before it comes," suggested Patricia, with her chin on the half door of +the barn, looking out over the tender landscape and down at the flowers +in the unused barnyard far below. + +Hannah Ann and Henry had disappeared with the remains of the feast and +the four were alone in the big solid structure, with hay mows on either +side of their banqueting floor and a smell of dry, sweet herbage in the +air. + +Bruce scanned the rushing yellow clouds. + +"Better shut the windows there, Miss Pat," he said. "I'll close the +doors and then we'll hustle. It's going to be a stunner when it comes." + +Patricia had barely clicked the bolts in the glass upper doors and +heard the heavy clash of the wooden contact as Bruce slid the great +leaves of the big door into place, when with a swish and sweep the +storm broke. + +"We can't go now," cried Patricia, throwing her voice above the sound +of the wind, but Bruce and Elinor at the other end of the barn were +apparently absorbed in the spectacle, and did not hear her. Judith +cuddled close and Patricia felt her hands go cold, but she could only +clasp them harder to reassure her--no words could reach her ear. + +The wind, driving furiously from the west, flung the clouds before +it--great sullen masses of flying gray vapor that now broke into +drenching torrents, shaking the barn and tearing at the casements. In +a moment the place was dark with its roar and the rumble of coming fury +undertoned the shrill screams of the greedy tempest wind. + +Patricia held Judith close, with her own heart beating tumultuously to +the rhythm of the storm. Hard rattling drops castinetted at the glass, +beating an accompaniment to the roar of the racing clouds. For a +moment all was black, then, as the whirling cloud masses swept apart, +the pelting drops lulled and a gray twilight full of ominous murmurs +filled the place. Before Patricia could frame the swift thought that +the storm was passing, darkness swept over them again, and the fierce +scream of the relentless wind tore at the corners of the barn. The +rain beat, deluged, engulfed the out-of-doors; it drummed gayly with +diminishing ferocity; then it roared sullenly, flooding the rain spouts +to bursting; it raged again, with the scream of the wind growing +higher, and snapping branches flung themselves past the gray squares of +the windows, flying leaves pasted wet green blurs on the streaming +glass. Judith shuddered. + +"Oh, Patricia!" she cried in Patricia's ear, but the words died into +the tempest. + +The sound of running water outside their shelter gradually forced its +way into the tumult. The road was a yellow waterway; the brook tore +above the limit of its deep banks into a widening saffron river among +the green meadows, which showed in the ghastly light in crude and ugly +colors. + +Then, suddenly as it had come, the storm passed, trailing dark, +yellow-gray, ragged clouds in its wake. The light came back and the +awed girls at the little window saw below them in the emerald meadows, +wide ugly yellow splotches that grew as they looked, meeting other +growing patches of swirling yellow water from the lanes and roads. +Trees showed fresh wounds and masses of broken branches clotted the +discolored waters of the brook. Birds called excitedly and flew +exultantly about in the limpid air. The sun flung gay greens and +golds. The storm was past. + +Patricia drew a deep breath. + +"Look, look!" cried Judith, her eyes alight and her whole slender +little figure relaxed. "Two trees are down!" + +Across the road a huge sycamore blocked the way and on the pike a giant +willow had crashed down. + +"Oh, Bruce, the sycamore you painted is gone!" called Patricia, not +turning. "Come and see!" + +Elinor came, with the painter following, and as soon as they saw the +work of the storm, Bruce awoke to immediate action. + +"You girls tell Henry to come down with the axe and grubbing-hoe," he +commanded briskly. "I'm off." And flinging his coat to Elinor, he +seized a hatchet that was lying in the stairway and started for the +wreckage, while Patricia and Judith flew to fulfill his orders. + +The sun shone and the birds sang while the work went on, and far down +the pike they could see other prone trees with busy choppers clearing +limbs and entangling foliage from the highway. A band of men begirt +with axes, cords and other implements passed on their way to the school +house where a big maple blocked the pike. + +Patricia was tremendously interested and it was with the greatest +regret that she heard the whistle of the up-train, while the tangle of +the sycamore was still undisturbed in the roadway. + +"Oh, do let's stay till it's all done," she urged, but Bruce and Elinor +were adamant. + +"What does it matter if we do miss the train?" she insisted. "We can +take the early one in the morning. We'll be home almost as soon." + +"I've got to pack tonight, young lady," Bruce reminded her. "I'm not +so fortunate as to be coming to Greycroft, you'll remember. It takes +longer to get to Chicago than to Rockham." + +"Oh, that's so," acquiesced Patricia. "I suppose you do have to be +there for that private view of the panels." + +"And a fresh suit is advisable, too," added Bruce. "I don't want my +duds to come a week later, as they did in Milwaukee. I'll make sure +this time." + +"All right," said Patricia, amiably. "We've had a glorious day anyway, +and we'll soon be back here for keeps. I guess I'm not pig enough to +grumble. Come on, Judy, we've got to go see Hannah Ann's new hat +before we go. I wish she'd left us get it for her. I'm sure it's a +fright." + +Judith followed sedately with her head in the air. + +"I'm going to ask Elinor if Hannah Ann and Henry can't come in town +Saturday for the 'housebreaking,'" she said to Patricia as they climbed +the stairs. "I think it would be very nice for them to see all our +friends. They're such _urbane dependents_." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +FAREWELL TO THE STUDIO + +"Did you see the Haldens on the train, Frad?" asked Patricia as she and +David were talking aside by the studio window while Elinor was +welcoming Tom Hughes and Griffin, Margaret Howes and Mr. Spicer, who +had all arrived in a bunch, Tom having lagged behind to get a big sheaf +of roses for Elinor, whom he admired immensely. + +"No, we looked for them high and low, but didn't see hide nor hair of +them," he answered, ruffing his hair in a way that distressed Patricia, +who was very proud of his straight, shining locks. + +"I wonder what keeps them?" she said anxiously. "They'd surely phone +if they were detained or weren't coming. All of Bruce's friends are +here, and Hannah Ann is on pins and needles for fear we'll be delayed +and not get through in time for the four-forty. She was awfully glad +to see you, wasn't she?" + +"Yep," replied David, grinning. "I was afraid she'd regard me as an +interloper in the family abode, but she gave me the glad hand in great +shape. I didn't think it was in her to be so hearty. She's taken me +in, all right." + +"She had your room all fixed with the best covers, but Elinor persuaded +her to reconsider it," smiled Patricia. "You're going to be as much at +home as any of us, Frad dear, and I'm glad the time will soon be here +for your school to shut up and let you come H-O-M-E, _home_." + +The clock on St. Francis' tower boomed the hour. + +"I think we'll have to begin with the feeding," said Bruce, as Miss +Jinny and Mrs. Shelly, gorgeous in their very best raiment, entered +from their bedroom. "Madam, may I have the privilege of escorting you +to the head of the table?" + +Mrs. Shelly made him a pretty little bow. + +"I shall be delighted, Mr. Haydon," she said primly, to the great +gratification of Judith, who had previously arranged this incident. + +Elinor followed with Mr. Grantly, and Miss Jinny came next with Mr. +Spicer, who was very ceremonial and splendid in new clothes of the +latest pattern. Patricia thought he looked particularly radiant, and +wondered how he could be so glad to say good-bye. She was about to +whisper to Tom Hughes, who was next in the merry jumble that followed +the first three precise couples, when there was a tremendous rapping at +the studio door, and Hannah Ann in her treasured new hat rushed from +Miss Jinny's room, where she had been in ambush, to the besieged portal. + +Patricia, Hannah Ann, and the Haldens met on the blue rug, and Patricia +was the first to find her voice. + +"Well, of all people in the world!" she cried delightedly to the +newcomers. "Where _did_ you come from? Why aren't you in Paris? And +where's Mr. Bingham?" + +A tall, good-looking man in tweeds was shaking hands heartily with +Hannah Ann, while an esthetically dressed, rather languid young lady in +pastel green was trying to introduce a pretty, smiling blond girl in +black furs whom Patricia easily recognized as the original of the +photograph that had stood on Mr. Lindley's desk at Greycroft, and the +Haldens were explaining how they heard that the Lindleys were in town +and so had come in on an earlier train specially to capture them for +the house-breaking. + +Patricia bubbled with enjoyment of the surprise. She kissed Mrs. +Bingham and Mrs. Lindley, too, though she had never laid eyes on her +before, and she came near kissing the tall Mr. Lindley, much to the +edification of the others who had rushed from the sitting-room at the +sound of the outcry. + +Griffin and other intimates were introduced to the late Miss Auborn and +the professor, both of whom had starred as boarders in the past summer +at Greycroft when, at Judith's suggestion, the three girls had tried to +retrieve their broken fortunes by means of "paying guests." + +"Mr. Bingham will be along presently," said the late Miss Auborn with +great composure, arranging her draperies with a careful hand. She was +looking remarkably smart and it was evident that the amiable Mr. +Bingham had totally eclipsed Art for her. "We only met the Lindleys by +chance and Ferdinand had some business to transact that could not wait." + +Patricia studied her with eager interest. The bride of half a year was +still a bride to her, and the transformation of the limp, bedraggled +art student into this languid, elegant young lady was an affair that +had its beginnings at Greycroft, for it was under that hospitable roof +that Mr. Bingham had first seen Miss Auborn. In the merry Babel of the +studio party Mrs. Bingham held her own with a calm assurance that Miss +Auborn had not possessed, and when Mr. Bingham, pink and smiling as +ever and just a bit more bald, joined them, the air of mild authority +with which she welcomed that gentleman impressed Patricia even more +strongly. + +As they went back to the flower-decked sitting-room, Judith edged close +to whisper in her ear. + +"I think Miss Jinny has hurt her hand, Miss Pat," she said with +exaggerated anxiety. "She's got her handkerchief wrapped about it. I +hope it isn't badly hurt--she doesn't look as if it were _inimical_, +does she?" + +Patricia made a gesture of amused impatience. "You monkey, you aren't +thinking of Miss Jinny's hand at all. Where did you get that stuffy +word?" + +"It isn't stuffy," defended Judith with a flash. "It's a nice, +crackling word, and I got it from Arnold Bennet, if you want to know. +He uses it all the time. And I've got another, too--'inept'--and +that's what you are now, Patricia Kendall. I'm ashamed of your extreme +indifference to the beauties of your own language." + +Patricia halted by the chair at a side table where her name card lay. +Her eyes were fastened on Judith with a peculiarly penetrating gaze, +and her firm grasp detained the arm that would have escaped. + +"Judith, my child, there's something up, and you'd better confess at +once," she said gravely. "No one will hear you now while we're getting +our places. What is it you're plotting?" + +Judith wriggled from her with an expression of injured innocence that +almost satisfied her. + +"I'm not going to do anything, Miss Pat," she declared with emphasis. +"You can ask Bruce if I'm 'up to' anything, as you call it." + +Patricia reluctantly released her and she slipped away to her own table +with Madalon Halden, Tom Hughes, and little Jack Grantly, a nephew of +the sculptor, who had been invited specially for Judith's sake, and who +was promptly set down by that discriminating young person as being much +too young for the high post of companion to her. + +Miriam Halden, Mr. Hilton, Griffin, Margaret Howes, Herbert Lester and +David--officially known as Francis Edward, but particularly recognized +by his twin as Frad--all sat at the same rose-decked table with +Patricia, and, as Griffin put it, they made the other tables look "like +thirty cents in pennies." The candle light sparkled on laughing eyes +and white teeth, and ripples of merriment enlivened every mouthful of +the savory dishes that Dufranne's dignified Francois, aided by the +radiant Henry, served continuously. + +Patricia felt sorry for Elinor and Bruce that they should be marooned +among the elder and more serious members of the party, but, as David +pointed out to her in an answering whisper, they seemed uncommonly +satisfied where they were and not at all in need of sympathy. + +"We're going to see the decoration--the one Elinor made for the church, +you know," said Patricia to Miriam as they left the festive, disheveled +sitting-room to the rejuvenating hands of Hannah Ann and Henry, and +went with the chatting crowd into the big studio again. "Bruce +wouldn't have the luncheon in here because we couldn't get a good view +of it if the place was cluttered up with tables and things. He's +fearfully proud of it. He says it's as good as lots of regular artists +could do." + +"She hasn't been studying long, has she?" asked Miriam, with her eyes +intent on the long blue curtain that screened the decoration from sight. + +"Just last summer with Miss Auborn and Bruce, and then three months at +the Academy and with Bruce again," replied Patricia proudly. "Bruce +wouldn't let her stay at the Academy all the time. He thinks it's best +to work like the old masters used to, in the studio of some artist, +doing things right away. He didn't want Elinor's originality to get +barnacles, he said." + +Bruce stepped to the space that had been with difficulty kept at the +west side of the studio, and stood before them with his hand raised. + +"We asked you today to help us break up housekeeping," he said with his +winning smile; "but I must confess that I for one have deceived you. I +planned to get you all here for a totally different purpose, and I +trust you will approve of my craftiness when you have seen what I have +to show you." + +"Sure we will," interposed Tom Hughes in an unexpectedly audible stage +whisper, which greatly confused him, but delighted Patricia and David. + +"You all know," Bruce went on, "that I have been trying an experiment +of my favorite theory of art education, but very few of you know how it +has progressed. And it is to show you the result that I have lured you +here today--to crow over some of you, in fact. The canvas I am going +to show you was designed, executed as far as it has gone, entirely by +Miss Elinor Kendall, a student of hardly more than nine months' study. +The subject is the 'Nativity' and it is designed for a chancel in a +small church." + +As the curtain was drawn from the long canvas Patricia's eyes were on +the faces of those in whose impressions she was most interested, and +they gave her great satisfaction. Mrs. Bingham's eyes were wide and +startled as those of the small hen who discovers that her ungainly +child is really a white swan. + +"She won't be patronizing Elinor after this," thought Patricia with a +chuckle. "And Mr. Grantly has to swallow himself, too. He'll hate to +have to eat humble pie to Bruce after all his din against Bruce's way +of thinking. But they all like it, Mr. Lindley and the Halls and Mr. +Spicer, too. Dear old Norn, how proud I am of you!" + +Judith nudged her sharply. "Miss Jinny's got her hand unwrapped and +it's _a ring_!" she hissed. + +But Patricia was too much absorbed to heed. + +"Hush!" she cautioned, slipping an absent hand into Judith's quivering +palm. "Bruce is talking. Oh, isn't he _dear_, to say nice things of +each of us. It's like commencement time, Ju, isn't it? All the good +little girls get prizes, but I wish he wouldn't go back to that +honorable mention of mine. I feel like an impostor." + +"Well, you needn't," expostulated Judith sagely. "You got it, didn't +you?" + +"Y--yes," responded Patricia dubiously. "But I'll never be an artist. +I sort of felt that long ago, but now I'm dead certain of it, and it +seems like a sham to haul out that effort in the face of Elinor's +splendid work." + +"I don't feel that way at all--" began Judith, but their murmured +comments halted at Bruce's next words. + +"And I am glad to tell you that the youngest of our promising students +has also made good in her own department," he said, with a smile at the +corner where Judith reared her head with sudden pride. + +"Miss Judith Kent Kendall has just had her first story accepted and +printed in _The Girl's Companion_." + +Patricia gasped, and in the moment's silence that fell she gave the +promising authoress a little shake. + +"So that was what you were up to?" she said. "I knew you had something +on your mind, Judy Kendall, you crafty, clever thing. How perfectly +glorious to think you're really in print!" + +Judith pulled out of her embrace. + +"Don't make a show of me, Miss Pat," she commanded reproachfully. "It +isn't correct to show that you are so delighted." + +She turned to receive the congratulations that crowded on her, and +Patricia, with a gay little ripple of amusement, watched the slender +childish figure straighten to its utmost height and assume an air of +grave affability as Judith responded to her ovation. + +"That kid is a born actress," said David in her ear. "Look at her, +Miss Pat. Isn't she the picture of an eminent authoress at a club +reception?" + +Patricia smiled and opened her lips, but the words died away, as Bruce, +now with a gayety that bespoke a different sort of announcement, +mounted the model stand in the middle of the room, and rapped loudly +for attention. Miss Jinny had vainly tried to grab his sleeve as he +slipped past her and now stood with an expression of grim martyrdom +glaring at Mr. Spicer, who was smiling at her openly and, Patricia +thought, heartlessly. + +"I have a postscript to add," smiled Bruce. "Sometimes, as you know, +the postscript is of great importance." + +He paused a moment till the silence was perfect and then he said, with +a pretense of reading a notice from a sheet of paper: + +"Mrs. Virginia P. Shelly announces the engagement of her daughter +Virginia E. to Mr. Nathaniel Spicer, late of the Geological Survey----" + +He got no further. Miss Jinny, who had won first place in the interest +of the art community as Sinbad and kept it by her own wholesome +goodness, was surrounded and overwhelmed. Patricia was the first to +seize her unwilling hand. + +"Now I _shall_ see how an engaged couple behaves!" she cried +triumphantly. "You shan't escape me, mind you, for I'm your very +nearest friend, and I'll be your bridesmaid if you'll let me." + +Miss Jinny came to herself with a chuckle. "My gracious, Patricia +Kendall, what are you thinking of!" she exclaimed in growing amazement. +"Are you mad enough to imagine I'm going to behave like a lunatic, just +because I'm taking a new name to myself? Do behave or I'll never speak +to you again!" + +"That's the way to squelch her," laughed Griffin, who was pumping the +beaming Mr. Spicer's hand like mad. "She'd be a regular nuisance if +you encouraged her. I'll warn Bottle Green----" + +"What, you don't mean to say--" interrupted Margaret Howes. "I heard +that Jeffries took her to the vaudeville show and I thought that was a +tremendous change of heart for nice old Greenie." + +"Yep, she's engaged to Jeffries," announced Griffin with great +enjoyment. "Has Elinor heard? Let's go break the news." + +Patricia preceded them to the corner where Elinor, rather pale and +agitated, was holding back as Bruce tried to lead her to the model +stand. Patricia thought that Bruce's insistence had something to do +with the decoration, which was half forgotten by most of the company, +and she laid a detaining hand on Elinor's other arm. + +"What do you want to make a show of her for, Bruce?" she remonstrated +feelingly. "You can say all you have to say right here, can't you?" + +Then her breath caught in her throat and her heart gave a sudden +_flop_, for, as Elinor raised her left hand there was a flash and +glitter of gems--a new splendid circle of diamonds scintillated on +Elinor's third finger. + +"Oh, Norn," she gasped, dropping her hand and searching Elinor's +flushing face with questioning eyes. "You too?" + +Elinor nodded mutely and clasped Patricia's two hands in her own. +Bruce took Patricia's other hand in his strong, warm grasp and the +three stood for a silent second as much apart from the gay, noisy scene +as though a curtain had dropped between them. + +"I'm awfully glad," said Patricia, recovering herself first and +beginning to realize the joyfulness of the astounding news. "Let me +tell them, will you?" + +It was not until all the guests had gone, and David and his friends had +taken their reluctant leave with fervid promises of speedy reunion at +Greycroft, and the packers had disappeared with the big canvas and the +cartoons [Transcriber's note: cartons?], and Hannah Ann and Henry had +reduced everything to a state of perfection that even the most critical +Symons in the world could not cavil at, and Bruce had said his last +farewells and was on the blue rug at the studio door with his hand on +the knob to usher them out, that Patricia found utterance for her +seething thoughts. + +"I may be a believer in votes for women," she said solemnly, clasping +her vanity case so hard that she unconsciously shattered its clasp. "I +may be a yellow suffragist, as Judy calls me, but I must say, men can +make things mighty comfortable for you." + +There was a shout of amazed laughter, but Patricia persisted: + +"Look at us last fall before we discovered David; look at us now; look +at Miss Jinny; look at Elinor's canvas--which she couldn't have dreamed +of doing if Miss Auborn had been chaperoning her! I tell you, men have +ways of doing things that hit _the spot_, and I think it's a shame they +don't get the credit for it." + +Bruce cocked his head mischievously at her. + +"Are you going to promulgate that doctrine at the Suffrage League?" he +asked, beginning to turn the knob. + +"Yes, I am--if I ever go there," returned Patricia with great spirit. +"But I shan't have time for a long while. I'm going to raise chickens +with Miriam Halden this summer, and I've got to start in right away +with the plans for the houses and yards." + +Bruce flung the door wide. + +"Well, we're turning another page of our lives," he said with a +backward glance at the rooms where they had been so busy and so happy. +"Who can say what will be written there?" + +Judith shrugged uneasily. + +"That gives me the creeps," she remonstrated. "I don't like it. It +sounds like funerals and ghosts----" + +Patricia broke in on her dismal forebodings with a rippling, silvery +laugh. + +"It sounds like wedding bells to me!" she cried, gayly. "You and I +don't hear alike, Ju. It sounds like wedding bells, and commencement +essays, and checks for stories, and--and--and----" + +"What, else?" demanded Judith, whose color had been rising at the +alluring forecast. Patricia made a despairing little gesture. "I +can't think of anything that will fit poor me," she confessed with mock +dejection. "I'm so everlastingly commonplace that I don't sound at +all." + +"Yes, you do, too!" cried Judith ardently, flinging out a masterpiece. +"You sound like a _syncopated opera_; doesn't she, Bruce?" + +Patricia started as the grotesque words sank deep. + +"You just wait till _I_ try my real wings," she said with a queer +little catch in her throat. "I've forgotten all about my dear music in +these three riotous months, but I'll soon be ready to begin again." + +"Is your laurel wreath on good and tight, Judy?" asked Bruce with a +twinkle. "I'm going to beg Elinor to have hers tied on with nice +little blue ribbons. Miss Pat is on the rampage for fame, and it isn't +safe to take chances." + +Patricia underwent a swift change as she lifted her shining eyes to +Bruce's laughing face. + +"Pooh, I'm not a bit dangerous and you know it, Bruce Haydon," she said +with returning gayety. "I'm the family grub, and Judy and Elinor are +the splendid butterflies." She paused with a merry gurgle. "I'm going +to raise chickens for these two glittering geniuses. Greycroft shall +be my field of conquest and the white plume that leads to victory will +be an Orpington. Lead on!" + +The door clicked behind them and they set their faces to the sunset, +and Greycroft, and home. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISS PAT AT SCHOOL*** + + +******* This file should be named 22995.txt or 22995.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/9/9/22995 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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