Clair Blank

“ Gale had been thinking over what Phyllis told her last night. What a struggle had been going on in Phyllis’ mind these past weeks and none of them had guessed! Just those few words on the night before had brought home to Gale the knowledge of what Phyllis was up against. The girl was afraid—terribly afraid that the miracle Doctor Elton had performed would not hold. Something must be done! The girls must do something to bring back Phyl’s self-confidence. But what? Only Phyllis herself could really go through this trial. She must try her own strength. ”

“ Janet declared bluntly. “We are to mind our own business—or else.”
“Or else what?” Carol demanded.
“Mind our own business,” Madge repeated. “But what have we interfered in?”
“True,” Valerie admitted. “We haven’t done anything.”
Gale sat on the bed beside Phyllis. “I wonder if this was meant only for you and me—or for all of us,” she murmured.
“No one knows we are here tonight—at least I hope no one knows,” Janet said.
“It is obvious someone doesn’t want us to discover something,” Phyllis murmured.
“But what?” Carol insisted. “Mixed up, I call it.”
“You’re always mixed up,” Janet said loftily. ”

“ She was to be no more favored than any other girl. That didn’t please Marcia, and since she couldn’t very well spite the Dean she decided to torture Gale—supposedly a close friend of Dean Travis.
Gale bore the girls’ teasing silently, in amused indifference. She didn’t mind the stunts she and Phyllis had to perform to appease their sorority sisters, but from the minute Marcia Marlette appeared on the campus things were different. Gale could bear the other girls’ teasing, their songs, their sly pointed remarks, but she couldn’t and wouldn’t stand for it from Marcia. ”

“ There was no discrimination for the wealthy girls. The officers sought girls who were honorable, pleasant, and had a sense of humor. The standards they secretly set were sometimes hard to surpass and it was the reason the sorority had not a larger membership than it had.
On this night the officers of the Omega Chi were secreted in the dining room. Freshmen had been banished to their rooms. Other sorority members lounged about the living room or on the veranda outside. The tinkle of a guitar and the hum of girlish voices rose to Gale and Phyllis at the window of their room. ”

“ Yesterday Gale had received a telegram with the news that Miss Fields would be in Briarhurst this afternoon for merely an hour. As a result Doctor Norcot and Gale were going to the railroad station to meet her when Ricky had descended on them with the news that she was going along. Gale was glad of the other girl’s companionship for the Doctor was strangely silent.
The train was late and Gale found it hard to conceal her impatience. She was impatient for Phyllis’ Aunt to arrive and yet she dreaded meeting her. The Adventure Girls had always feared the silent woman in the house on the hill. ”

“ Gale said.
“Simple? Biology is anything but simple! I never heard of so many bugs back on the ranch,” Ricky mourned. “I sometimes wish I had stayed there.” She put her arm about Gale. “Tell Auntie what the trouble is.”
Haltingly Gale told Ricky everything the Doctor had said.
“We gotta do something,” Ricky said. She sniffed. “You’ll have me crying too in a minute. Does Phyllis know?”
Gale shook her head. “We don’t want her to—yet.”
“Then you had better not tell the other girls,” Ricky advised wisely. “One of them is sure to let it slip.” ”

“ Marcia Marlette and her roommate were having a party. Gale frowned at the night. Marcia, much to Gale’s and the other girls’ amazement, had been elected to the office of president of the sorority for the next term. How the feat had been accomplished Gale did not know, but she was not enthusiastic about it. Marcia could never be the friendly president that Adele Stevens had been this term. Gale rebuked herself. She mustn’t believe the worst until it happened. Marcia had been exceedingly nice to Phyllis this afternoon. ”

“ From the campus below floated up a chorus of friendly voices. The Seniors were singing their sorority song:
“Secure in love and laughter,
Our voices blend on high,
We link our hands in friendship,
The girls of Omega Chi.” “So far so good,” Phyllis said, putting her arm about Gale and leaning with her on the window sill.
“What? The song?”
“No, I mean us. We’ve been here three weeks now and like it more every day. At least I do,” she added.
“Let’s go and see Janet and Carol,” proposed Gale mischievously.
“It is study hour,” Phyllis returned. “Freshmen are supposed to slave away over their books. ”

“ She tapped a white envelope before her. “I have had a long letter from your former High School teacher, Miss Relso.”
“Everything is perfect, thank you,” Gale said politely.
“Your roommate is your friend from home?”
“Oh, yes.”
“I hope you are going to like Briarhurst, Miss Howard.”
“I am sure I shall.”
“The girls are all pleasant, that is for the most part. Of course there are some who are selfish and like their own way, but one finds them in every walk of life. Briarhurst tries to fit the girls to take a definite place in the world, to help them live the kind of life worth living. ”

“ First there had been the canoe, then the acid hurled from the Chemistry room window, the candy eaten by Dean Travis’ secretary—and other things that had come to her ears such as the fire in the Dean’s home and the stolen funds from the college treasury. But what was it the girls knew that someone feared? Try as she would, Gale could not think of a thing that pointed directly to any one person. There was no reason anyone should suspect the Adventure Girls of being interested in the Dean’s difficulties.
“It is glorious being able to be about again,” Phyllis sighed as she rested a moment. ”

“ The girls had discovered the old mill on one of their jaunts about the countryside. Now Janet and Carol decided it would be a good spot at which to bring to a close their race.
“They must be heading for the old mill,” Valerie cried to Gale as they followed their friends’ trail of dust.
Ricky reined in her horse. “Girls, I, was there yesterday,” she said excitedly. “There is a big oak tree down across the road. If they don’t see it and jump——”
“Come on.” ”

“ Phyllis advised. “But,” she added, “you mustn’t go around telling the other girls. We can’t prove anything—it is only what we think.”
“We’ll be as mum as mice,” Carol promised. “If we have been missing anything, tell us!”
Gale told them of the things she had discovered and of the things she suspected. The other girls were astounded.
“We will have to appoint ourselves solvers of the mystery,” Carol suggested.
“We are the best mystery-solvers at Briarhurst,” added Janet. “But where do we begin? There aren’t any clues or anyone to suspect.”
“Good detectives find those things,” Madge informed her. ”

“ Phyllis sighed. “Woe is me! Nothing is a secret any more.”
The girls did not linger with the others long after dinner. They went to their room, Phyllis to read and Gale to write letters. She owed one to her parents, one to Miss Relso, who was still taking an interest in their school life, and one to Brent Stockton. The one to Brent was the longest and well it should be. Gale did not often see the young aviator with whom she was so much in love, but their letters were long and frequent and filled with many pictures.
“Send Brent my love,” Phyllis told her as she struggled into her pajamas. ”

“ Gale spurred her horse on anew.
She and the others could picture what might happen. Janet and Carol coming around the bend suddenly, totally unprepared for the tree across the road, might have a bad fall. If their horses did not make the jump there would most certainly be an accident. Even if their horses did clear the tree that did not say the girls would. They needed plenty of time to prepare for a jump and time to think of what to do. Horsemanship was not as instinctive with them yet as with Ricky. She could have cleared the jump without hesitating, but not so the other two Freshmen. ”

“ Carol laughed. “Who put the star on the top of the tree?”
“Madge,” Janet giggled, “and she almost pulled the tree over a half dozen times.”
The girls paused in front of the sorority house.
“Perhaps we shouldn’t come in if Phyllis is tired,” Janet said.
“Come along,” Valerie said lightly. “She can bear it this once. No one should be tired around Christmas time.”
The girls trouped up the stairs singing as they went. They found Phyllis sitting at her desk, her cheeks flushed and eyes bright.
“Greetings, my little sugar plum,” Carol said lavishly. “You don’t know what you missed tonight.” ”

“ Phyllis and Gale laughed.
“Only an owl in the tree out there,” Phyllis said. “He is often there at night.”
“Why don’t owls sleep at night?” Janet wanted to know. “Are they afraid to sleep in the dark?”
“And do deers ever blow their horns?” Carol questioned. “We better go to our own domicile,” she added at the dark glances from her friends. “Au revoir, ma chérie,” she murmured in her very best French.
From the window Gale and Phyllis watched the girls disappear in the direction of the East Campus Dormitory.
“You were wonderful tonight, Phyl,” Gale declared earnestly. “And were we surprised! ”

“ Carol frowned upon her. “Don’t you think we have a good team?”
“Of course,” Janet said. “But look at Marcia. She is casting daggers from her greenish eyes at Phyl. One would think there was no one else on the field but Marcia and Phyllis. They have been watching and checkmating each other all afternoon.”
“She would dearly love to wrap her stick around Phyllis’ neck—or Gale’s,” giggled Carol. “There they go!”
Marcia and a class mate were dribbling the ball ever closer to the Freshman goal. Gale was on guard. Phyllis and Ricky swept in to rescue the ball and save the game. ”

“ She was in a rosy dream-world where magical wishes and lovely thoughts came true. She descended in the little college town and walked up to the college still in blissful joyland. She found Carol and Janet and Valerie standing before the sorority house arguing.
“We are not going to tell her now and spoil everything!” Carol said conclusively.
“Tell who what?” Gale wanted to know.
“You know we have been saving the news of our equestrienne ability as a secret for Ricky. Being western born and bred she thinks she is the only one here who knows anything about a horse,” explained Carol. ”

“ Carol said positively. “The horse is a hero.”
“And he speaks a language all his own,” added Janet. “Gale understood him but we didn’t.”
“It is lucky for me that Gale did understand him,” Phyllis said lazily.
It was the last day of classes, weeks after the fire at the stables. The girls were gathered on the campus after their last classroom session, discussing the high points of their college term. The miraculous way White Star had summoned help for Phyllis never ceased to be a thing of wonder to them. Neither Phyllis nor Gale had suffered other than a slight sickness from smoke. ”

“ At the wheel was the same old fellow who had met them in his dilapidated contraption when they arrived at Briarhurst and who had been so against the new Dean because she wanted to buy him a new bus.
“Say, did somebody leave you money?” Janet shouted.
He stopped the bus and opened the door. “Want a ride to the village? Ain’t she a beauty?” he asked next when the girls had accepted his invitation with alacrity and tumbled into the vehicle. “The new Dean’s responsible. Course,” he added condescendingly, “she ain’t as good as old Lizzie but she’s sure spiffy!”
Janet and Carol chortled with glee. ”

“ Readers of The Adventure Girls at K Bar O and The Adventure Girls in the Air are already familiar with the six girls from the little town of Marchton. Old friends already know of the desire of the girls to attend Briarhurst College and of the difficulties along that line experienced by Phyllis Elton. Now it seemed their dreams were in a fair way of being fulfilled. All of them, even Phyllis, were actually present at the college and starting out on an entirely new branch of life. They were prepared to study hard and also prepared to face the fun and trials of college life. ”

“ The edge was straight and not at all frayed. It had been cut,” she said firmly. “Did Dean Travis tell you about it?”
“Yes. You haven’t told anyone, have you?”
“No,” Gale said in mystification. “But why shouldn’t I? Anyone who looks at the canoe will be sure to see it.”
“Freshmen have enough on their minds without adding other people’s troubles,” the Doctor teased. “Good afternoon, Miss Howard.”
Eyes grown stormy with indignation and then calmer with humor, Gale watched her stride across the campus and into the red brick building which housed the infirmary and the Doctor’s quarters. ”

“ Gale pointed suggestively to a trellis from which only lately the dried vines had been cut to leave room for new growth in the spring.
“Acrobats, eh?” Phyllis giggled. “Well, why not? We used to climb ropes in gym at High School. I guess we can climb that to the second floor. It is a good thing they don’t live on the fourth,” she added in a stage whisper as she rested halfway to their goal.
Carol and Janet were bent over their books. Out of the corner of her eye Carol saw a head slowly appearing at the open window. ”

“ Wait!” Adele Stevens called and fell into step beside her. “Even Seniors go to classes sometimes,” she smiled. “Nice morning, isn’t it?”
“Very,” Gale agreed.
“Last night was a nice night, too,” the Senior said, with twinkling eyes.
Gale laughed. “Yes. The sound of a million bells always lends enchantment to an autumn night.”
Adele laughed, too. “You and Phyllis have been good sports, Gale. Don’t think we haven’t noticed it.”
“We’ve gotten fun out of it, too,” Gale said.
“You are the kind of girls we want in Happiness House,” the Senior declared. ”