Elizabeth Hobart at Exeter Hall Part 11

"No, I don't want to hear. I wish you to come to-night. I'd rather find matters out for myself. You'll come?"

"Does Miss Wilson know you intend asking me?"

"Yes, of course. I made out the list this morning." She did not add that Miss Wilson had expressed herself rather strongly on the subject.

"Well, then I shall come."

"I must go, or I shall be too late to get any dinner at all. This is roast beef night, too; and that's the night I always pay the cook a compliment by eating two portions--my own and Anna Cresswell's. She doesn't like roast beef, and I don't like rice pudding. So we trade. Good-bye. I'll see you then to-night."

"The mail has come," was Miss Wilson's greeting, as Elizabeth entered her room. "I have a letter from Mrs. Gleason. She writes to invite me to spend a Sabbath with her at my earliest convenience. I am to bring you along. I did not know you knew her. I've mentioned her so often and you never said that you were friends."

"I don't know her." Elizabeth was struggling into a white shirtwaist as she talked. "I never saw her. There must be some mistake about her asking me."

"No; there's the letter. Read it when you have leisure. I thought from the way she wrote that she knew you well. Odd, isn't it? But we'll go. It is the best place to visit."

"But we cannot go for several weeks. I'm to lead Sabbath evening."

"And I can't go until Anna Cresswell can be here. She has been going away on Sat.u.r.day. They need a soprano. And she and I appear to be the only availables." Mary shook back her hair, as she adjusted the last pin in her cuff. "There's the last bell, Elizabeth, and you're not half ready. Well, I'll hurry on, and if you are locked out, I'll get Maggie to bring your dinner up here. She'll do anything if you give her a small tip."

CHAPTER VI.

HOW "SMILES" WAS SCALPED.

Azzie Hogan was the last to appear at the spread. The first course had been diverted to its proper use, and the ice which marked the manner of both Mary Wilson and Landis Stoner because of the presence of Miss O'Day had thawed enough to permit a feeling of ease among the girls, when Azzie arrived.

There was a motley array of every color of kimono that the mind of girl could conceive. Their wearers were being comfortable on chairs and stools so far as they held out. The girls in excess of the number had curled themselves up, Turkish fashion, on cushions on the floor.

"Smiles must have allowed Azzie to practice," said Mary Wilson, with a leg of chicken held aloft.

"Mary looks like Liberty enlightening the world," said Elizabeth. "The drumstick answers very well for a torch."

"Liberty _frightening_ the world," said Mame Welch. "Whatever made her do it--get a red kimono with her hair that shade?"

"Nearest thing I could get to match," said Mary, laughing. "I got it at a bargain. I didn't need it. I have more lounging robes than I can possibly wear; but this piece was reduced from twenty-five cents to fifteen. I saved one-twenty by buying it. We--"

As she was speaking her voice ascended the scale until it might have been audible half-way down the hall. She was called to a halt by a most decided rap upon the door. An awesome silence fell upon the room. Instantly every girl except the rightful owners of the room disappeared. No word had been spoken. Only the moving of the couch draperies, the gentle swaying of the portieres, or the closing of the wardrobe door gave hint as to the places of disappearance. Again came the knock. Mary Wilson with suspicious haste opened the door. "He-he," giggled Azzie, entering. "You thought it was Mrs. Smiles. Come, girls. Come out. Mrs. Schuyler will not appear this night, or to-morrow either, if I am not mistaken."

At her invitation the girls came forth. Azzie was too tall, too long to seat herself with any grace of body. She had the effect of sprawling. That she did now. Her purple kimono, resplendent with green roses and bands, caused her to look like a great rag-doll with most of the sawdust missing.

The others of the party arranged themselves on cushions and chairs about her, ready to fall, tooth and nail, upon the remains of the roast chicken.

Azzie would not eat, but kept her hand hidden in the folds of her gown.

"You needn't be talking in stage whispers," she began, with a fine touch of Irish in her voice. "Smiles won't hear you--or at least she won't be coming here. Yell, if you choose, or dance a clog. You're as safe as though Smiles was in Halifax."

"Don't be too sure. I never like to run a risk," said Landis. "I should not like to be called into the office to-morrow."

"I have found it this way with Mrs. Schuyler," explained Mary Wilson. "The moment you are sure she isn't about, that is the moment you can be sure she is ready to pounce on you."

"But she won't be here now. I'll yell and see." She yelled--a yell that must have have reached to the end of the dormitory and pierced any number of closed doors. The girls suppressed their half-frightened giggles, and waited. Azzie was right. Mrs. Schuyler did not appear.

"Why doesn't she come?" asked Min Kean in a whisper. "She surely heard that."

"Because I've taken her scalp," said Azzie. So speaking, she drew forth her hand, dangling two sets of false fronts.

"Oh, you didn't dare!"

"How could you!"

"You'll be sent home, Azzie."

"How did you ever get them?" asked Elizabeth. To her, such an act was more than merely hazardous. It was recklessness itself.

"Oh, I got them," said Azzie coolly. "I had a bit of neuralgia. A wisdom tooth has been bothering me for a long time, and I stopped in after the retiring-bell rang to ask Mrs. Schuyler for a drop of medicine to put in it. She was ready for bed. Say, girls, did you ever see her when she wasn't rigged out? She looked like a fright. She hasn't much hair left, but what she has was done up in curling kids. And these," dangling the false fronts before their eyes, "these lay reposing on the top of the dresser. I brought them along to show you girls how fine they are--two grades, one for every day and one for dress-up days."

"Don't shake them so close over my cocoa, please," cried Landis, removing her cup beyond the reach of Azzie's scalps.

"I felt safe about coming so long as I had these," continued Azzie. "Don't be afraid, Landis. A few hairs more or less won't hurt your supper."

"How will you get them back?" asked Elizabeth, who was fearful for Azzie's welfare.

"I hadn't got that far in my thinking," was the droll response. "I knew nothing could induce her to visit us without these," with another Indian flourish of the scalps in the air. "We are safe to-night. To-morrow Smiles will have a headache, and will not be able to come down to breakfast, and perhaps not during the entire day. Drop in to-morrow to ask her something and see if you do not find her with her head tied up."

It was impossible not to laugh at Azzie. There was such a droll dryness to her humor, a peculiar touch to her way of saying things which made her most ordinary expressions masquerade as wit. At times she lacked tact which caused her companions no little embarra.s.sment. This trait was made evident by her turning to Miss O'Day with the remark:

"And, Nora, are you here? I'm as surprised to see you as I am to be here myself." Then turning to Elizabeth, she added as an explanation, "The 'Exclusives' had no time for Miss O'Day last spring, and I was always too much wrapped up in my music to be good company. So we were not invited to the spreads in the hall. I'm glad, Elizabeth, you broke over and invited us."

Miss O'Day's face grew crimson. Elizabeth, too embarra.s.sed to respond, remained silent. Miss Wilson arose to the occasion, changing the subject with the question, "When is Miss Kronenberg going back?"

"Not until Monday," replied Landis, who was rarely embarra.s.sed. These two, with the a.s.sistance of Mame Welch and Carrie Hirsch, diverted the attention from Miss O'Day.

"I do not German lessons take. Fraulein is not my instructor."

"Well, she is mine," responded Mary Wilson with a sigh. "As in a dream I hear her say, 'Fraulein Wilson, you have it unright.' I've taken lessons from her for three years, and that is the only remark she has ever made to me."

"She will be giving examinations soon," said Mame. "The Seniors and Middlers finish her work fully a week before the midwinter holiday. It gives us time to cram on something else. It won't be long now."

"Last year, indeed for several years, she has asked the cla.s.s to write in German a description of a walk in the woods, or our Christmas at home, or what our college life has done for us. It is always the same. She lets you choose one of the three, but you must write a certain amount before she will accept it."

"Landis and I are ready for it," began Min Kean placidly. "We have ours written ready for her. I took a 'Walk in the Woods,' for my subject. I did want to take 'What Exeter has Done for Me,' but Landis persuaded me out of it. Of course, she was right about it. No one expects me to write on subjects as deep as Landis. We have ours all finished and ready."

"Nonsense, Min," cried her roommate. "One would think to hear you talk that we were expecting to pony through. You know such an idea is the one furthest from our minds. You leave such false impressions." Then turning to the girls, she explained, "I knew Fraulein Kronenberg was in the habit of asking for such work in the examinations, so I told Min there would be no harm in our practicing at this work. It would be quite the same thing as though we were reviewing our lessons. Of course, we had no intention of handing them in." Landis always appeared several inches taller when she sought to justify herself.

"The day we are free of German, that day will Miss Brosius put us to extra work in elocution and oratory. If I read the stars right, I discovered a play in the corner of her eye when I saw her last. She has already begun to estimate each one of us, to see who will best serve her purpose. Anna Cresswell is already doomed. She is always dragged in for the beautiful, calm creature who doeth and thinketh no evil. I wonder why she is always selected when I----"

"I suppose they know you'd overdo it," suggested Azzie, lazily. "Thank goodness, there are some things I escape by not being quick to learn my part. They never tried me but once."