Part 11 (1/2)

”We shall be delighted to begin cheris.h.i.+ng you immediately,” Marjorie gaily a.s.sured.

Jerry was quick to add to the a.s.surance. Given also to very positive likes and dislikes, she had already taken a great fancy to Robin's lively cousin. She had a shrewd opinion that it would not take Phillis Marie Moore long to make a prominent place for herself in the freshman cla.s.s.

Leila and Vera now joined them, in company with the two seniors, who were going to the campus in Vera's car. Leila claimed the privilege of conveying the freshman arrival at Silverton Hall, her destination. Once there, Miss Moore's three upper cla.s.s guardians were given a vociferous greeting by a bevy of jubilant girls.

”You bad old goose!” was Robin Page's affectionate censure as she hugged her tall, boyish cousin. ”Why didn't you wire me?”

”I did,” returned Phyllis. ”You'll probably receive it tomorrow. That will be so nice, won't it, to get a wire that I am on the way when I'm already here?”

”You fell into good hands, anyway,” Robin beamed on the trio of Wayland Hall girls. ”Do you notice anything different about me?” she asked anxiously of them all. Very carefully she turned her head so that the small knot of hair at the nape of her white neck could be seen. ”I am a real grown-up young person now!” she proudly exclaimed. ”I can do up my hair.”

”You are that,” Leila agreed in her most gallant Irish manner. ”It is now that we shall have to begin to treat you with proper respect.”

”See that you do,” retorted Robin. ”Right away quick I am going to treat you folks to luncheon. You must stay. It will be ready in a few minutes.

Come up to my room and we can hold an impromptu reception until the bell rings. The Silvertonites are all anxious to see you. As sophs we have a duty to perform. We must try hard to impress my freshman cousin. Do telephone Ronny, Lucy, Muriel and Vera to come over. You can run 'em over in your car, Leila, in a jiffy.”

”Many thanks for Vera's and my invitation. We can't accept, for we have a luncheon engagement at Baretti's with two seniors. I must be hurrying along or I'll be late. I'll send the girls back in my car. Any of them can drive it.”

Leila took hurried farewell of her friends and drove off at top speed.

True to her word, it was not long before her car swung into sight again driven by Ronny. The three new arrivals were received with the same heartiness which had been extended to Marjorie and Jerry. By the time they appeared, Robin's large square room was overflowing with girls.

Once more in the genial atmosphere which always pervaded Silverton Hall, the petty worries and annoyances of the past week fell away from Marjorie. She entertained a momentary regret that she had not chosen Silverton Hall as a residence in the beginning. She and her chums would have found life so much pleasanter there.

Then the face of kind little Miss Remson rose before her. She realized how very fond she had grown of the upright, sorely-tried manager. She reflected, too, that, if the Lookouts had not gone to Wayland Hall to live, it would have been much harder for Katherine Langly. Neither would she have known Leila, Vera, or Helen Trent intimately. Besides, she loved Wayland Hall and its beautiful premises best of all the campus houses. It had been Brooke Hamilton's favorite house. Miss Remson had once told her this. In spite of the difficulties the Lookouts had encountered at the Hall, Marjorie wondered if, perhaps, they had not gravitated to it for some beneficient, hidden purpose which only time might reveal.

CHAPTER X.

WINNING OVER THE FRESHMEN.

As Vera had predicted, Sat.u.r.day brought to Hamilton a goodly number of freshmen. Though the faithful reception committee was strictly on duty that day, the Sans relieved them of a large part of their conscientious task. They were even more in evidence than on Friday. Greatly to the surprise of Marjorie and her companions, they laid themselves out to be democratic. They rushed every young woman who bore freshman earmarks with a zeal which might have been highly commendable had it been sincere. Out of the considerable number of freshman arrivals that Sat.u.r.day, Marjorie and her committee captured not more than half a dozen.

”The end of a perfect day, I don't think,” grumbled Jerry. The five-fifty train had come and gone. Though the seven soph.o.m.ores had all been on duty, not one of them had a freshman to show for it.

”I'm glad it is over,” Marie Peyton said wearily, as the nine disgusted workers strolled to their waiting cars. ”I suppose the Sans thought we would contest the ground with them. I wouldn't be so ill-bred. Come on over to the Colonial for dinner. I hereby invite you. We need a little pleasant recreation to offset this fiasco. Next year, no committee duty for me. I have had enough of it.”

”How many fres.h.i.+es do you think they have captured altogether?” asked Blanche Scott.

”Oh, sixty or seventy, at least,” was Elaine Hunter's guess. ”They have been down to every train for the last two days. Between trains they have hung around the Ivy and that other tea shop just below it. I don't recall the name. It opened only last week.”

”The Lotus,” supplied Jerry. ”The funny part of it is the way Miss Cairns has marched that Miss Walbert around with her. They seem to be very chummy.

”Leslie Cairns is trying to popularize Miss Walbert with the freshmen.

That is why she has been keeping her on hand at all the trains. I am sure of it,” stated Vera positively. ”You just watch and see if I am not right. The Sans are going to try to run the freshman cla.s.s. Otherwise they would never have gone to the trouble they have.”

”They won't keep it up. Mark what I tell you, there will be a lot of snubbed and very wrathful fres.h.i.+es before the month is out,” prophesied Leila.

”I hope the grand awakening comes before their cla.s.s election. I doubt it. With Miss Walbert as president of 19--, the Sans would feel they had really put one over on us. I think Phyllis Moore, Robin's cousin, would make a fine freshman president.” Jerry glanced about her for corroboration.

”Why not do some quiet electioneering for her, then,” suggested Grace Dearborn. ”It is just as fair for us to boost a fres.h.i.+e for an office as for the Sans. It would be only a helpful elder sister stunt. We need not make ourselves prominent. A girl like Miss Moore would be a fine influence to her cla.s.s. This Miss Walbert would not be.”