Blue Bonnet in Boston Part 46

"First visit here?" Mr. Williams asked, trying to successfully balance his ice-cream and cake on one knee.

"Yes--that is, it's the first time I've been inside one of the buildings. I came to a ball game last autumn."

"Then you must have a look round before you go."

Blue Bonnet a.s.sured him of her willingness if Mrs. White and the others were agreeable.

"You have pleasant quarters here," she said, turning to Mr. McVickar.

"If you were at Oxford you would call this room the 'sitter' and that the 'bedder,'" nodding toward the room where they had laid aside their coats.

"Yes--those are the Oxford terms. Know anybody there?"

"Just one man. I've only met him. He's a friend of a friend of mine. He told me about some of the customs. They interested me very much."

Over in her corner, between young Billings and the interloper, Stuart, Sue was having a beautiful time. She had felt free, since it was Billy's party--hence Billy's ice-cream--to permit herself a second helping. Sue was in her element. Billy and her favorite ice-cream--all in one day! It was almost too much.

Annabel, as usual, was the centre of attraction. She was surrounded by a number of "searchers for lost articles," and Blue Bonnet, as she glanced in her direction, could imagine how the men were enjoying her pretty Southern drawl, her always witty remarks. Billy, with great self-sacrifice, devoted himself to Mrs. White, but his glance strayed often to Annabel. Mrs. White must have noticed the anxious glances, for she got up after she had finished her tea and insisted upon talking to Mr. McVickar for a while.

The hour sped all too soon. Before the girls realized it, they had seen the interesting sights of the campus; the big dining-room in Memorial Hall, where twelve hundred students a.s.sembled daily; Sanders Theatre and the Fogg Art Museum.

"I'd love to come in here when the men were dining," Annabel remarked, gazing from the balcony down upon the dining-hall.

A quick glance pa.s.sed between the men. They smiled in unison.

"What's the joke?" Annabel insisted.

"You'd have to come here at mealtime to find out," Billy informed her.

"You see, we are a little averse to an audience, and the fellows act up considerably."

"What do they do?"

"Well," Hammie McVickar explained, "when any one enters this balcony every man down there begins pounding with his knife and fork, or anything that's handy, and raising such a din, that guests usually depart--quickly."

"I think that's very rude," Blue Bonnet said, and the men agreed with her politely.

"Wasn't it just like Billy to pick out the biggest bouquet for Mrs.

White?" Sue whispered to Annabel, as they were finally leaving the campus. "She adores American beauties, too. Don't you really think he's a dear?"

"He's a diplomat, to say the least," Annabel replied, laughing. "And a charming host," she added, to palliate Sue's evident disappointment.

"Perfectly charming."

"I'm so glad you think so, Annabel, and--do you know--I've a feeling that he likes you awfully, dear. Not from anything he says--but--well, just the way he looks at you sometimes!"

"How absurd, Sue!" Annabel replied, as she hurried to catch up with the rest of the party; but her eyes sparkled and a beautiful flush crimsoned her lovely face.

After the lights were out that night, Blue Bonnet, with utter disregard of rules, slipped into Annabel's room to talk things over. It was an excellent opportunity, as Ruth had left in the afternoon for a week-end at home.

Sue had already arrived and was comfortably ensconced on the couch in bath-robe and slippers.

"Good!" she cried, drawing Blue Bonnet down beside her while Annabel stirred the fire. "Now, we'll have a regular old-fashioned gossip." The fire, after some coaxing, broke into a ruddy glow, and Annabel, dropping before it on the rug, took down her hair and began brushing it systematically. Annabel never, under any circ.u.mstances, neglected her hair. It was one of her chief attractions, and its soft, glossy texture testified to this regular treatment.

"My, but you're enterprising," Blue Bonnet said, as Annabel brushed diligently, counting each stroke. "I couldn't brush my hair that way every night if my life depended upon it. Don't you ever feel too tired to do it?"

"Oh, yes--sometimes; but it doesn't pay to neglect it. Wasn't it glorious over at the college to-day? Didn't you just adore it?"

"Loved it!" Blue Bonnet said rapturously, while Sue clasped her arms about her knees and gazed into the fire dreamily. "I think it was perfectly dear of Sue's brother to have us; and weren't those nice men who drifted in? Do you think any of them had really lost anything?"

Annabel laughed.

"I told them that they ought to form a St. Anthony society. There's strength in union."

"Who's St. Anthony?"

"He's the saint that some people pray to when they've lost things. He helps find them."

"Annabel--that's sacrilegious!"

"I didn't mean it to be. The boys didn't take it that way, I'm sure."

"That Billings person was quite nice after all, wasn't he?" Sue wakened from her dream long enough to remark. "I rather liked him. He's awfully devoted to Billy. It was quite touching the way he talked about him."

Blue Bonnet and Annabel laughed outright.

Sue was indignant.

"I don't see anything to laugh at. What's the matter with him?"

"Nothing. I think he's fine," Annabel answered. "And so clever! Just think of any one being discerning enough to find the way into Sue's good graces by the Billy route!"

Sue got up and drawing her bath-robe closer about her started for the door.

"I think I'll say good night," she said. "I have a Latin exam to-morrow and I've set my alarm for five-thirty."

But Annabel, intercepting, drew her to the hearth-rug and began humble apologies.

"Don't be silly, there's an old dear. I was only teasing--you know that.

You're not going for an hour yet. Come to think of it, you'll not go at all; you'll sleep in Ruth's bed. We've loads to discuss, loads! We haven't mentioned Hammie McVickar or that Mr. what's his name--Stuart, wasn't it? or the refreshments. Come to think of it, Blue Bonnet's going to stay, too. We'll roll the couch over here by the fire and give her my down comfort--or my bed, if she prefers it."

An invitation that was accepted after some protest by both.

"But I've simply got to get up early, Annabel," Sue insisted. "I don't want to wake you and Blue Bonnet."

"I'm rising with the dawn myself, thank you, my dear," and in a whisper Annabel sang:

"'There's going to be There's going to be There's going to be A Physics test.

The girls will shiver round the hall, Waiting for the bell to call Them to the test.

And the greasy grinds will murmur:

"'Every little molecule has a magnet all its own, Every little North Pole by its action may be known, And every feeling That comes stealing 'Round its being, Must be revealing Magnetic force lines, In some appealing Little action All its own.'"