Edith Bancroft

“ Dozia stood aside to admire the unconscious Judy, but striking a statuesque pose she caught the critical eye of Jane and was rewarded with a most complimentary smile.
"Where did you get that wonderful robe, Dozia?" Jane asked. "You simply look like—like some notable personage in those soft folds and with your hair down. What a pity we must make ourselves ugly to be conventional."
"Ain't it now," mocked Dozia, abusing language to make comedy. She swung the velveteen folds about her and spun around to wind them tighter. "Like this? Do I resemble a movie queen? That's what brought me, Janie. ”

“ But Marian Seaton--she whom Jane and Judith and their faction, had struggled so valiantly to subdue--she was back--like the proverbial bad penny.
Her hair was no longer any relation to yellow, but glowed a rich golden brown like early chestnuts. How do the heads stand the changes! And her white skin, pale to the edge of chemistry, was now pale in spots and tinted in detail. Her deep uncertain eyes, now blue and then yellow, movie eyes, as Meta Noon called them, were surely changing tone. Every experimenter knows hair dye afflicts the blood in color changes, affecting the eyes disastrously. ”

“ The room literally groaned with the stuff, and from the mass one object stood out boldly and significantly:
It was a suit of Japanese armor!
Jane yelled in delight at the discovery and pointed it out to Dozia.
"Don't touch it!" whispered Dozia. "It may be inhabited!"
"Bosh!" roared Jane, laying hold of a dangling armlet.
As she did so the chains rattled! The metallic clangings clanged and the whole array of ghostly noises sounded out in the unholy hour of three o'clock broad daylight!
"The ghost! The ghost!" boomed Jane. "Dozia, see, this thing is hung so it goes off at a touch. ”

“ Judith gave them that shade.
"Mercy me!" exclaimed Judith. "Pray, we do not stumble on any more mysteries or our athletics may as well be shelved. It seems to me this year is mostly squabbles and mysteries."
"Well, I did not intend to say anything about it," confided Dozia. "But I am sure, there is something more than queer about Dolorez. Naturally, one hates so to take exception to the girls who are foreigners. It always looks like prejudice."
"Yes, that is the way I feel," said Jane. "But I have noticed Dolorez runs out a lot after dark, and just when the rest of us are busy at books. ”

“ Unacquainted with the true state of affairs, Dorothy's genuinely expressed interest in the Bridge Street girls merely added fuel to the fire.
"Ah, but they are indeed delightful!" Adrienne wickedly assured, her black eyes dancing with mischief. "We shall be proud of our freshmen, when we escort them to the dance. Shall we not, Jeanne?"
"Yes, indeed. You must meet them, Dorothy. You'll like them all immensely. They're a splendid, high-principled lot of girls."
Signally amused by Adrienne's tactics, Jane could not resist this one little fling at her discomfited tablemate. ”

“ Jane, au contraire, was curled up like a kitten, with one red sweater balled under her ruffled head and the other blue one tangled about her slim ankles. Both girls were tired—justly so, for the opening day at Wellington was ever a time of joyous activity, and the day just closed had roared and yelled itself into an evening still vibrant with bristling energy, tack hammers and movie pictures smashing rules and regulations, until the night gong sounded its irrevocable warning. Then roommates paired off even as did Jane and Judith. ”

“ Why must some girls always be snobs?
"Who would have spread such a crazy yarn?" asked Gloria.
"Well, someone who shopped in New York late this summer, I guess. Said she saw Jane lots of times, and the little girl carrying her bundles."
Judith's face fell to zero. After all they had done for Helen, to think the tables had been turned, making Jane the beneficiary!
"We have to come right out and contradict that," exclaimed Gloria. "We could never win with Jane wearing the stigma of--snob."
"And Jane Allen above all girls! She who has always been so generous and so considerate. ”

“ Elsie had furiously retorted, and flung herself out of Marian's room.
Not at all alarmed by her cousin's anger, Marian had confidently remarked to Maizie: "Elsie doesn't dare go back on us. She'll do as I tell her. She always fusses a lot, then gives in. She has no more time for those three prigs than we have."
For once she was mistaken. Elsie had changed, though she alone knew it. Her secret admiration for Norma had paved the way to better things. She now rebelled at the thought of facing this sweet, truthful-eyed girl with a lie on her own lips. ”

“ Jane and Dozia were within the mysterious parlor!
Neither spoke. Both were listening. Someone was sobbing in the next room and Dol Vin's voice was remonstrating.
As if suddenly realizing the situation the colored maid hurried out. The sobbing ceased instantly and so did the talking. A step through the hall indicated the coming of Dolorez.
"What does this mean?" she demanded angrily, stepping up to Jane with blazing eyes. "How dare you force your way in here?"
"Is not this a public shop?" fired back Jane, equally angry. "Have you not openly solicited Wellington patronage?" ”

“ It may be funny to one's friends, to do absurd things through absent mindedness, but it simply terrifies me to think of what I may do with others' money and such trifles. Aren't you afraid, Janie dear, I will run off with some of your family plate?"
"Not the leastest bit," and Jane swung around to give her chum a punctuating hug. "Judy, haven't you promised to keep your failing for your enemies, and never to work it off on your friends?" she reminded the girl, who was fairly dancing around the spacious room, as if wanting to cover every inch of it before bidding good bye to El Capitan. ”

“ Jane's gray eyes rested scornfully upon Marian as she flashed out her question.
"I—I wasn't anywhere," snapped Marian. "I—someone else overheard it."
"Then 'someone else' should have taken pains to learn the truth before spreading malicious untruth," tensely condemned Jane.
Turning to the matron, she said bitterly:
"Mrs. Weatherbee, this whole story is simply spite-work; nothing else. When I have explained the true meaning of Judith's and my talk together in the dressing-room, you will understand everything. ”

“ But Jane headed straight as the foliage allowed, across the campus to the magnolia grove, where the eucalyptus trees shot up bare and leafless, ghostly, spectral in the searching moonlight.
A crisp snapping of some dry brambles sent out an alarm from the hedges close to Lenox Hall and the girls listened anxiously.
"Human," whispered Jane, "and rather dainty. Hardly a masculine foot to that light touch. Don't be alarmed, Dozia. We are two to one and evidently that other one is a female." She said this with assumed confidence, for she feared Dozia might turn and run at any moment. ”

“ Don't you think something has made your nerves--too tight, and they hurt the way you are stretching them?" Jane realized this was a weak simile, but it was not easy to give Helen a clear understanding always, and the intricacies of this conversation taxed even Jane's ready flow of speech.
"Nerves! nerves!" repeated Helen with something like a sneer. "We do not grow nerves in Poland, my dear friend. We must work hard for our art, and every hardship puts its foot on the squirming nerves. No artist can grow big, with those nerves biting her power." ”

“ Jane, however, had little to say. She was experiencing the dazed sensation of one who has received an unexpected slap in the face.
What had happened? Why had Judy insisted that they must have a talk before going on to the Hall? Surely some very unpleasant news lay in wait for her ears. But what? Jane had not the remotest idea.
"Now, Judy," she began with brusque directness the instant the quartette were seated in the taxicab, "don't keep me in the dark any longer. You must know how—what a queer feeling all this has given me." ”

“ Then Clarissa untwined her ankles and assumed the aggressive.
"Oh, Jane--Miss Allen!"
"Jane is better, Clara. What can I do for the prettiest little freshie of them all?"
"Now don't tease, please," and blue eyes vied with dimples as star attractions. "I am so excited----"
"I see you are!"
"Miss Allen!" quite severely. "Are you really laughing at me?"
"Why, Clara, my dear, cannot an old friend tease just a little bit to show her love for the Babes? You know, Clara, sometimes I am so sorry I have to grow up." ”

“ Sally's eyes were like two twinkling blue stars during all this. Jane and Judith, more than any of the others, guessed correctly what a relief this hour of fun had brought to her tortured mind. And to think there was no blame, not even criticism! What is there more delightfully elastic than the mind and the heart of the young college girl? ”

“ It seems as though the more he gives the more he has."
"If everyone who had money were like him we'd have an ideal world, I guess," declared Judith. "I have quite a lot of money coming to me when I'm twenty-one. I was named for my grandmother and she left it to me. When I get it I shall try to do as much good with it as I can. I don't want to be selfish. I'm afraid I think too much about my own pleasure, though."
Jane smiled at this rueful confession. Judith was generous to a fault. She was always far happier in giving than in receiving.
"You're not selfish, Judy," she assured. ”

“ I will not go away from the dear Wellington."
"There, that's the spirit, Helen. If you take that attitude you will conquer all comers," she said rather irreverently, considering Helen's meager store of paraphrased English.
"Yes, I will try! It is more noble to stand up than to--fall!" answered Helen, thus betraying her actual knowledge of Jane's argument. "I will not be a coward--I will fight as my--father--my brother. They did not lay down at Warsaw! They fought to death!" ”

“ Have you seen a ghost anywhere?" broke off Dozia.
"Oh no, but I am so tired," Jane edged away from the suspector.
"After all I do believe Judy is sensible, see her slumber."
"Jane Allen, you are a fraud," pronounced the girl in the velveteen robe. "You are smothering some mystery and I must have stepped on the spring," guessed the inquisitive caller. "Was it the tack hammer or the spindle chair or the fat girl? Not she, you have had no chance to do uplift work yet. Land knows that farmer will need your greatest skill, but dear, don't waste it on her. She's incurable." ”

“ We are ready. Let us advance!" proclaimed Adrienne with a smothered chuckle, when at ten minutes to six a determined trio left Adrienne's room on the fateful errand to the room next door.
"Don't you dare giggle when we get in there," warned Judith in a whisper, as Jane rapped sharply on the door. "We must make an imposing appearance if we can," she added with a grin. "Who knows? I may giggle myself."
True to her word, it was Alicia who admitted them with, "Hello, girls! Come in." ”

“ Over the same hill, but not by the same route, could now be seen the stretcher bearers. With four seniors were also Miss Rutledge, the dean, and Miss Fairlie, the matron of Madison. They were hurrying and silent, only the light tread of crackling leaves on the bridle path accompanying the grave little procession.
Jane and Dozia were chafing Shirley's hands. At the approach of the litter they stood waiting to lift with gentle hands the prostrate girl. It seemed so strangely pathetic: the big country girl in that gay riding habit, the glaring red coat such a contrast now to the helpless wearer. ”

“ Jane remarked when on the sidewalk, "somehow I will be rather glad when we all get safely to Wellington."
"I have felt the same way these last few days," admitted Judith. "Jane, I think you are a wonder not to come right out, and ask Helen what all the mystery is about. Don't you feel a bit squeamish having her turn pale at old men's faces, and seeing her dodge every foreign-looking man, woman and child who comes along? Surely she is not too proud to be Polish." ”

“ We'll be good. I hope the noble Miss Noble will hurry up and move out," wished Judith. "I can imagine how delighted she'll be."
"She may care but little," shrugged Adrienne. "Of a truth, she has not been here so long. But a few hours! It is not much!"
"I don't believe she'll relish it a bit," prophesied Judith. "She looks to me like one of those persons who get peeved over nothing. Isn't it funny, though? Mrs. Weatherbee made a mistake last year about your room, Jane. Do you remember how haughty you were when you found out you were to room with little Judy?" ”

“ Jane brushed the papers from the wicker chair, and Helen sank in it. The red eyes were pressed with a small wet ball, and the unsympathetic curls from her forehead dug into teary lashes with pure teasing persistency.
"Child, why do you cry?" asked Jane with a precision of manner suitable for an occasion such as this. Helen regarded abrupt speech as a mark of indifference, and Jane surmised this was no time for indifference.
"Oh, my dear friend!" sobbed the crestfallen Helen. "It--is too much, I cannot to--stand it!" ”

“ An eager light sprang into Jane's gray eyes.
"You'll make it, Jane," predicted Barbara. "You can outplay us all. Some of us are going to lose out, though. There are five of us here who are going to try for it. Judy, Adrienne, you, Christine and I. Of course we can't all make it. Quite a lot of sophs are going to try for it this year besides us. Marian Seaton will be one of them, I suppose."
"She'll make it, if any of her friends happen to be judges at the try-out," commented Judith sagely. "I hope Dorothy Martin will be chosen as one of the judges. ”

“ Judith was dumfounded! They expected she would be, naturally, but she now stood there speechless.
"Be a good sport Judy," urged Jane, "and help us stage a real happy ending. Don't you want to jump on Firefly and ride him over to the stable?"
"I don't. Why has Shirley become Bobbie?"
Jane wanted to laugh, but Bobbie's face was very serious, and Shirley's lip was quivering. Jane released her horse and watched him canter over to the stable.
"We'll all be late for tea, but never mind," she said. "Let us tell Judy all about it. She'll die of curiosity if we don't. Look at her poor face." ”

“ Coming and going to the post office, an entirely unnecessary jaunt, as mail boxes were an important part of the Wellington equipment, the quartette met with, and passed out any number of students on this particular autumn afternoon, but their handicap in stride was, perhaps, well balanced by the merry laughter and good natured calls repeatedly hailed to Jane.
Election night embraced delicious possibilities, and all classes seemed fittingly keyed up, joyous and expectant. ”

“ The next instant a clanging of chains and rattling of metals broke out from Lenox Hall.
"Quick," exclaimed Jane, almost dragging her companion forward, "we must locate it, we must reach the dormitory!" But before they could even gain the pathway, the big fire bell pealed out its alarm and; suddenly every window in Lenox Hall blazed with light at a single flash—the answer of that electric button pressed by the matron, who now swung open the big oaken door and stood summoning her frightened charges to "come out" in the order of fire drill. ”

“ Fifteen minutes after the arrival of Marian and Maizie a disgruntled trio of girls sat closeted in the room belonging to Marian and Maizie.
"It's all your fault," stormed Elsie Noble, her sharp black eyes full of rancor. "If you'd come here as you promised instead of being a week late you could have used the wonderful influence you say you have with Mrs. Weatherbee to let me keep that room. It's forty times nicer than the one I have." ”

“ Girls are often jumpy, but not often quite so easily overcome, Jane thought.
"But what shall we do with so many hats?" asked Helen naïvely recovering herself. "We shall be at school always."
"Oh, not half of always," replied Jane. "You see, Helen, we must ride, I haven't told you about your horse (the violet eyes widened with pleasure) and then," continued Jane, "we are going on all sorts of hikes and hunts and outside jaunts. We are going to beg you in as a junior. Sometimes the juniors, that's Judith and me, are allowed to have what we call pupils. ”

“ Come along girls, and see you don't waylay all the millionaires. I hear every garage in the village is bursting with classy cars, and the livery stable can't take another single boarder. Ted, you take Velma and Maud, and be careful not to divulge any club secrets; Janet, you tag along with Winifred and just gush to death over that timid little blonde who seems to have a whole bag full of hand made handkerchiefs for weeps. Jane, may I have the honor of your company? ”

“ Good bye, Helen dear. Keep your door locked."
In spite of their years, with decorum annexed, the two girls were always strongly tempted to slide down those adorable banisters in Miss Jordan's big old-fashioned hall, and now, as they were going out for almost the last time, both girls eyed each other suspiciously.
"We don't dare, but it's a shame," spoke Jane. "That comes of getting old."
"Like a bald spot, it's the emptiness that hurts. Don't you feel a vagueness for a slide?" asked Judith, smoothing the glossy rail lovingly. ”

“ We have some lovely little babes this year. That ivory blonde, the timid one with a most atrocious name, Sarah Something, I just love her, don't you?"
"Sarah Howland, I saw Inez marking her card. Yes, she is sweet in spite of her name. Rather a pity sponsors cannot show discrimination. Here is your sweater. Better take it; the wind whistles. I'll pull my riding cap down as a disguise. It takes in most of this-wig," Jane was struggling to stuff her bright tresses into the pocket of her black velvet jockey cap. The effect towered like a real English derby and Judith danced in delight. ”

“ What shall we do about Helen?"
"I can't bear to see the little freshies' fun all spoiled after all their hard work in putting together their great London melodrama," Jane said, "and I do not believe they will have any audience unless I make some announcement about Helen. Yet--she would never consent, I feel sure."
"Then why not do it without her knowledge? It is surely the lesser evil. I will do it, if you feel she might particularly blame you. She never would suspect me of having sense enough to understand."
"Oh, thanks, Judy. But what is to be done I shall do. ”

“ Velma was just that way, a pretty girl who loved sugar in spite of restrictions, high prices and the written word.
A solitary figure was now outlined against the low cedars curled around Linger Lane. It was Jane at last.
"Here she comes! Here she comes!" announced Nettie Brocton. "And look, girls! she isn't even whistling. Something is wrong with our sunny Jane." ”

“ She was flushed and excited.
"We haven't the moment," insisted Judith. "They are waiting for us with the votes held up. Come on, Jane. Be a sport!" and like two young giants the hitherto ordinary girls assumed the role of baggage men and picked up Jane bodily, carrying her off to the expectant election room.
"Clear the way! She comes! Lo! The conquering hero comes!" shouted the crowd at the first glimpse of the triumphant entry.
"Are you ready for the question?" called the election clerk, taking up her delayed cue with alacrity. ”

“ Laying a ghost is all right, but if I rode a horse as you do, I'd assign the ghosts to others. 'Lo, girls! Break your necks or anything?" chirped Dozia.
Judith hurried to gain Jane's arm and squeezed it affectionately as she fell in step.
"Such a glorious ride, Jane!" enthused Judith, "and we all missed you so much. Firefly was good, but he knew you were not on his back." Judith looked "nobby" in her riding togs.
"And whom do you think we saw out with a stable horse and instructor?" asked Janet Clarke. "The Rebel Shirley Duncan! And you know, Jane, what a price Clayton asks for his horses." ”

“ Nalasky was being held back.
"Oh, Helen, I am all excited," admitted Jane. "We have such wonderful news. We have found--guess whom?"
"Oh, not my Matka! Do not tell me my dreams are all come true. It cannot be my mother!" and Helen, too overcome to say more grasped Jane and clung to her, trembling visibly.
"There is a lady here who cannot wait another moment to see you, may I----"
But the tide could no longer be stemmed and in rushed Mme. Nalasky.
"My baby! My own darling!" exclaimed the singer, brushing into the room and embracing the astonished Helen. ”

“ Then she laughed.
"Oh, nonsense, Judy! You know perfectly well there are plenty of girls here richer than I am."
"Oh, yes, that is quite true, little one. But no girl is more generous, and this affair is to be one grand clean up of every old debt ever wished on our Alma Mater. Even the protested butcher bill I hear is to be paid up after the concert, and we are to go on chops again. Cheers!"
"Joking aside, it will be nice to have a real affair," assented Jane, "and I am sure we can get a wonderful array of talent. But why should you think I may be asked to interview the talent?" ”

“ Judith waved for silence in vain. Not in years had there been such a remarkable manifestation at an election. Just once Judith caught the glittering eye of Helen, who was down front with her contingent. It had been carefully arranged that she should keep away from Judith and Jane, to dispel suspicion regarding their actual relationship, but that the little artist had worked for the result now being proclaimed to honor Jane, none knew better than the new class president herself.
"Speech! Speech!" shouted the cheering squad. Then Jane stepped forward. ”

“ We have given Helen a chance here she could never have otherwise obtained. And she has been so worth while."
"We have given it to her! You mean you have done so! Ages ago I should have scared the poor child off with my foolish questioning, and somehow, that remarkable redhead of yours knew better. I believe red hair only grows in gray matter."
"All the same, Judy dear, I should have been helpless without you. I believe Heaven makes girls in pairs." ”

“ She had been reared on a ranch, without girl companions, and had never realized that tolerance which is necessary in the big world of boys and girls. But once at the Eastern college we like her best in her brave battles against the limits of conventions she finds there, and we cannot but admire the spirit with which she holds out, just long enough, and gives in just in time, to save situations. Perhaps the true deep affection, so soon shown for Jane by her classmates of the freshmen, is the best testimonial to her glory as Jane Allen Sub. ”

“ I could not stay at Wellington if you ask for any action by the faculty."
Jane was baffled. Why did Helen always insist upon secrecy? Why could she not go to Mrs. Weatherbee and demand that Marian and her followers be compelled to desist? For a moment or two she pondered: then decided to ask Helen outright.
"Helen dear, can you not tell Jane, why you do not want any assistance from the faculty? Why do you always--seem to fear--something?" ”

“ Helen Powderly was not at the moment Helka Podonsky. It was a new Helka, all Polish, all artist, all self confident, that confronted Jane.
"Oh, you mean Marian Seaton?" Jane was glad to insert. "I have had so much trouble from that girl, Helen dear, that I am now immune, that is, it no longer gives sorrow or worry. I just expect it like bad storms and other calamities."
"But when a girl is a sneak, when she makes trouble, so one cannot go to sleep, when she hisses into other girls' ears such things as are--lies--then, what would you do?" ”