Miss Dean

“ Shoving Mary’s letter into the pocket of her pretty tan coat, she hastily opened the other envelope. Her evil genius had again come to life. A wave of hot resentment swept her as she unfolded the one sheet of heavy white paper and read:
“Miss Dean:
“No doubt you think yourself very clever to have made the junior team. You could never have done so had partiality not been shown. 130 Others at the try-out were much more worthy of the choice. You believe because you can dress like a doll and are popular with a few rattle-brained girls that everyone likes you. ”

“ It would take a person of very high principle to expose Miss Cairns openly on the floor of the gym, as she should have been exposed. I hope, for your sake, Miss Dean won’t tell her pals about it. If she does, it will soon be campus gossip.”
129“Why for my sake?” Doris still refused to be included in Julia’s implications.
“It’s sweet in you to try to protect Miss Cairns, Doris, I honor you for it.” Julia said, her reply reeking acidity. “But you can’t deceive me. I know the farmer with the striped umbrella was Miss Cairns. I saw you go through the grand march and dance the first dance with her. ”

“ Fifteen minutes later Marjorie Dean had been chosen to play left guard on a team of which Mignon was center, Muriel, right guard, Susan Atwell, right forward, and a freshman named Harriet Delaney, left forward. Muriel had also been made captain, and several girls were chosen as substitutes.
"Hurrah for the new team!" cried Muriel Harding. "Let's call ourselves the Invincibles. You certainly can play basketball, Miss Dean. How lucky in you to come to Sanford just when we need you. ”

“ You know, Doris, that Miss Dean had no business to ask Jane Everest to disobey the order of the senior dance committee. They had set the time for unmasking. It was very dishonorable for her to try to shield an expelled student who had taken advantage of the masquerade to trick her way into the gym. Miss Cairns couldn’t possibly ever again have hoped to take part in a college frolic after the way she left Hamilton. She was considered utterly lawless by the Board, Prexy and the faculty. I’ve heard volumes against her since I came to Hamilton. ”

“ Still one cannot play with fire without burning one’s fingers, and there are always embers among the ashes of an old flame.
For her life Paula could but look conscious with the eyes of both men on her face.
“He doesn’t seem an exponent of a sore heart.” She stumbled inexcusably in her clumsy embarrassment. There was an awkward silence. The implication that Adrian might be representative passed as untenable, and the subject of hearts was eschewed thereafter.
“Miss Dean has been quite famous as a beauty and belle in her brief career,” Mr. Floyd-Rosney deigned to contribute to the conversation. ”

“ My father would not object if I were to play in a high class London company.”
“The same old Goldie who cares for nobody but herself.” Leslie gave vent to a sarcastic little snicker. “Why not take up with Bean, too?”
“Oh, Leslie, don’t be hateful,” Doris said with an air of resigned patience. “You know I detest Miss Dean. Nothing could induce me to take up with her. It’s different with Miss Harper. She’s not American, you know. She is so cosmopolitan in manner. She is really more my own style. But, of course, she’s hopelessly devoted to that Sanford crowd of girls.” ”

“ For the rest of the year we'll just amuse ourselves in our own way."
"It's almost a year since we started to rag Miss Dean and had so much trouble over that affair," half-sobbed Dulcie Vale. "You are always making plans to get even with someone you don't like, Leslie Cairns, and dragging us into them. You never win. You always get the worst of it. I don't intend to go into any more such schemes with you. My father said if ever I was expelled from college he would make me take a position in his office. ”

“ I heard when I was at Hamilton that she was sore at the college; that she had all the dope for Brooke Hamilton’s biography but wouldn’t come across with it. I presume Bean slathered her with deceitful sweetness until she grew dizzy with her own importance and renigged.”
“I don’t like Miss Dean.” Doris’s fair face 78clouded. “I’m glad she’s not at the Hall any longer. Miss Harper and her other friends don’t appear to miss her much, or Miss Macy either. They have parties in one another’s rooms almost every night.”
“They have found they can live without her,” was Leslie’s satiric opinion. ”

“ On the following afternoon Marjorie found a note, in the bulletin board at the Hall, which 140 brought a quick light of anger to her brown eyes. It read:
Miss Marjorie Dean,
Chairman, Sports Committee,
Wayland Hall, Campus.
Dear Miss Dean:
We appeal to you to take prompt action in the case of Miss Augusta Forbes who is a detriment to the freshman team. She is rough and unfair in her playing. Besides, she has accused us of being untruthful and used what we should call harsh language to us. We try to work peacefully and in harmony, but she is so unruly we simply cannot endure her. ”

“ What mother is not interested in her daughter's school fun and parties? Mrs. Dean entered at once into the planning of the costume and suggested that Snow White's cards be made in the shape of little apples, one half colored red, the other half green, and her name written diagonally across the surface of the apple.
Marjorie hailed the idea with delight. "May I buy the water-color paper for the apples to-morrow, Captain?"
"Yes," replied Mrs. Dean. "You ought to begin them at once. What is Constance going to wear? She hasn't been here for a long time. ”

“ Marjorie was struggling against an irresistible desire to laugh. To her mind Dulcie was the last person she would have classed as temperamental.
“The rest of that crowd were just as noisy as I, but Leslie Cairns blamed me for it all. She told Miss Remson it was I alone who made the disturbance. I’ll never forgive her; never. What I thought was this, Miss Dean. The Sans deserve to be punished for hazing you. ”

“ She was off like a flash, her swift feet making short work of the ascent to her house. “Oh!” she breathed as she caught sight of a long florist’s box on her center table. Three times she repeated the exclamation as she glimpsed its contents. Lifting a sheaf of long-stemmed, half-opened American Beauty roses from the box, she buried her face in their spicy fragrance. As she raised them a square white envelope dropped to the floor bearing the words: “To Miss Marjorie Dean.”
Not recognizing the heavy, masculine script, she eagerly explored the envelope to ascertain who the giver might be. ”

“ Dean’s parting comment as he set Marjorie down at the gate, kissed her and handed her the broom.
“Just watch me go,” she called back merrily, turning to flaunt the broom in fantastic salute as she flitted up the long walk to the dimly lighted house. “Things certainly have a ghostly look,” she decided as she rang the bell.
The next instant she uttered a sharp little cry as the door opened and a frisky imp in a tight-fitting suit of black seized her by the hand and hauled her inside. From the shadowy hall a tall sheeted form loomed up before her, giving vent to a deep groan. ”

“ During a recess after the election granted for the purpose of shaking hands with the officers, Marjorie found the golden brown eyes of the president fixed very kindly on her.
“You are at Wayland Hall, aren’t you? I know you are Miss Dean, for I saw you on the campus over two weeks ago and made inquiry about you. It is too bad we don’t have any of the same recitation periods. I would have met you before this. I thought you would be at our other class meeting, but neither you nor your four friends came. I haven’t time to talk any more now. ”

“ Mrs. Dean had arranged the girl's fair curling hair in precisely the same fashion that Mary Raymond wore hers, and when she had been hooked into the precious gown, with its exquisite little sprays of rosebuds, she thought she knew just how poor, lowly Cinderella felt when the fairy godmother touched her with her wand. While she was being dressed she said little, yet Marjorie and her mother knew by the happy light that crowded the wistful look quite out of her expressive eyes that their guest was too deeply appreciative for words. ”

“ To be 63sure, she smiled; but Muriel, who had been furtively watching her, knew that the French girl was not pleased with the idea of admitting another girl to their fellowship.
"The rest of the girls like her," thought Muriel. "Mignon will find she'll have to give in this time." Purposely, to make sure she was right, she said boldly: "Miss Dean, will you go to the basketball tryout with us on Friday afternoon?"
"Yes, do," urged Geraldine Macy, eagerly.
"We'd love to have you," came from Susan Atwell. "We understand that you are a star player."
"Of course you must," smiled Irma Linton. ”

“ That hour we were at liberty to spend in either the dining-hall or exercise-ground, as we chose. We gazed earnestly and curiously at each other as we shook hands; and I hope she was as pleased with me by daylight as I was with her.
Without being handsome or even pretty, Nancy Dean's was a face which pleased me much. If expressing a shade too much self-will and the firmness which, untrained, is so apt to degenerate into obstinacy, there was no trace of meanness, deceit, or dishonesty. ”

“ Doctor Matthews would not mention it if he happened to meet Miss Remson. That's not his way."
"Glad to hear it. It lifts a weight from my mind. I've only one more year at Hamilton after this. My father expects me to be graduated with honor. He would never forgive me if I were to be expelled from Hamilton at this late date." Leslie was moved out of her usual indifferent pose. Fear of exposure gripped her hard at times.
"Better let this Miss Dean alone," was Laura's succinct advise. "I hear she is very popular on the campus. She looks independent enough to take up for herself. ”

“ Impulsively 7 she asked with a winning smile, “Isn’t Hulda here any more?”
“Hulda!” The young woman stared curiously at Marjorie, then replied quickly. “She will be here next week. I am trying to take her place until she comes.” A faint flickering smile touched the corners of her red lips as she said this.
“Kindly tell Miss Archer that Miss La Salle and Miss Dean are here” broke in Mignon haughtily. She had already decided that, for a servant, this girl appeared to feel herself above her position. It was partially Marjorie’s fault. It was always a mistake to treat a servant as an equal. ”

“ Mary Raymond followed her excited chum.
"Halt! Company, attention!" commanded Mrs. Dean, as she turned from her dressing table to pass an opinion upon the waiting brigade of two. Her brown eyes rested approvingly upon the trim figures drawn up in their most soldierly attitude before her. Marjorie's frock of pink linen, with its wide lace collar and cuffs, exactly suited her dark eyes and hair, while Mary's gown of pale blue of the same material served to accentuate the fairness of her skin and the gold of her curls.
"Shall we do, Captain? Are we absolutely spick and span?" ”

“ After Marjorie and Ronny had left them, the two freshmen regarded each other in silence for a moment.
“Now we have gone and done it!” exclaimed Charlotte with a short laugh. “What else could we have done?”
“Nothing,” replied Calista with conviction. “Gus is going to be as cross as two sticks. She is so stubborn, once she makes up her mind to be.”
“She has made a mistake about Miss Dean and Miss Lynne, at least. They are sweet.”
“I don’t want to quarrel with Gussie over this business.” Calista knitted reflective brows. ”

“ She merely thanked Miss Archer in the sweet, gracious fashion that set her apart from all other girls with whom the principal had come in contact during her long service on the field of education.
Almost immediately afterward the Deans said farewell and departed happily to convey the good news to their somewhat impatient chauffeur, who sat in the automobile pondering whimsically on the length and breadth of women’s chats. Long after they had gone, Marjorie’s winsome, selfless personality haunted the busy principal. To be truly great one must be truly good was her inner reflection. ”

“ It’s horrid to have to say these things, but I would like to have you know about them.”
“Frankly, we haven’t wished to believe them,” interposed Calista. “We hope to be friends with you, Miss Dean, and with Miss Lynne and Miss Macy. We have heard quite a little of your popularity on the campus. It isn’t because of that we 89 wish to know you. It’s because we like you. There!”
“Much obliged.” Marjorie put out her hand. “We felt the same about you two girls. I am so sorry Miss Forbes is down on us. Please tell her for me that we wish to be her friends.” ”

“ The Dean shook his head.
"A touch of soeva indignatio now and then would complete him."
"Has he got it in him?"
"Perhaps not," said the little Dean, with a flash of expression that dignified all his frail person. "But without it he will hardly make a great man."
Meanwhile Geoffrey Cliffe, his strange, twisted face still vindictively aglow, made his way to Kitty Bristol's corner in the drawing-room. ”

“ It would not reflect to Doris’s credit to be named as the student who had smuggled into the gym a girl who had been expelled from Hamilton.
The sophomore who was to blow the whistle was Jane Everest. Dressed in a befrilled frock of apricot dotted swiss, Jane formed a bright spot of color among the pale blues and pinks which was easily picked out. Julia had little trouble locating her. Marjorie, now not more than three yards behind Julia, reached the pair almost as soon as Julia hailed Jane. The two had met before that evening. Each knew the other’s costume. ”