Not Included in a Sheepskin Stanford Stories THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES in a Sheepskin Stanford Stories Mot "3ttclu6e6 in a Stanforfc Stories Published by Stanford University California COPYRIGHT 1907 By LAURA WELLS Printed by Co. San Francisco This book does not aspire to portray Stanford life in its entirety, nor does it seek to justify many phases of under graduate activity. It defends itself only in the light of a personal interpretation of several years connection with things NOT INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN. Contents PAGE The Three R s l A Girl and a Nudibranc 25 Prepdom on Parade 47 The Arrogance of the Second Year . . . 81 Miss Johnston and the Seminar System . .109 Dedicate to Plato 131 The Rulers of the Realm 163 Earthquake Emergency 201 Senior Finalities 225 THE THREE R S "My Freshman maid, you want your hours? Then don t forget the triple R s." "Honored sir," she answered, blushing, "Mean you Roble, Row, and Rushing?" It was near the end of that period of frantic enter tainment, known as "rushing season," when Fresh men are recruited for the ranks of the sororities. It is a time that wears thin the nerves and tempers of those involved, and draws down upon their heads the professorial wrath for slipshod work. Three girls turned from the driveway of the Lambda Eta house, walking briskly in the cool air of the autumn evening, which struck them in pleas ant contrast to the hot-house closeness of the formal dinner they had just attended. The door which closed behind them shut off from their path a glow of yellow light, and with it cut short the laughing farewells of the Lambda Etas. It was a cordial chorus, and should have warmed the hearts of the Freshmen who were in the process of becoming ac climated to the rare atmosphere of undergraduatism, and who still thought of home with regret. Such an effect did not appear, however, in the wearied tone of resignation with which Elizabeth r NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN addressed Margaret Sears. "Peter, did you ever hear of sororities, did you ever hear of rushing before you came to college ? " The other stopped short and heaved an exagger ated sigh, but did not volunteer the obvious answer. They walked on indifferent to the life of the Row. At an upper window of one of the houses a student, with hand above eyes, bent over his books, and below, presenting a picture to the passer-by, the more self-indulgent stooped intent over billiards, or stamped back and forth, cue in hand. From another house came the noise of a rushing party, and there was a cheerful tinkling of mandolins and the sound of singing in the distance. Elizabeth called a halt on the rapid progress of the three as they neared the post-office. "We needn t hurry so, now that we are really out of their clutches. Dick and the rest aren t going to meet us until half-past eight, you know." Marion, whose tall, athletic figure loomed up the largest of the trio, asserted her relief joyfully. "Isn t it glorious to get away for a whole evening 1 ? I know I m going to enjoy it, even though I don t know one of the men, thanks to the Pan-Hellenic regulations. How did you ever break the date with the Beta Sigmas, Elizabeth?" [2] THE THREE R S "Oh, the Beta Sigmas were fine about it. I really believe they were glad to let us have a good time, so long as they knew we weren t going to any other house. Dick was a peach to ask us." Elizabeth shook the shoulders of the small girl beside her. "Say something, Peter. Aren t you glad to escape from the electric glare for a while 1 ? And just think, you re going to see Shorty Oliver at last." Margaret s voice was not enthusiastic. "I sup pose I might as well meet him and have it over with, since you re so determined I shall, but I wish I could go home. I m tired of dinners and dances and luncheons, and I hate to be under such obligation to people. Everybody s too horribly good to us we couldn t ever begin to return it." "Might give them a tea in our one room at Roble, minus the curtains and pictures we haven t had time to put up," suggested Marion, sarcastically. She took Margaret s elbow, almost lifting her off her feet through sheer discrepancy in height. "Ordinary ideas of social obligation don t hold here," Elizabeth explained, airily. "Dick told me so. It s a purely business proposition. Most of their friendliness is mere policy." Marion objected. "I m sure that some of the girls are genuinely fond of us, now " [3] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN "I know it," said Peter. "There s one girl whom I m going to love as long as I live, and we ve planned all sorts of things to do together." "Can t you see," Elizabeth took pride in her superior knowledge, "the Lambda Etas have sized us all up. Peter gets the motherly Seniors in the house, who pet her and appreciate her originality. Marion has a dose of the serious-minded and the erudite, much they know of her, while I am showered with flippancy and gossip." Peter ignored the argument, and said with de cision: "Well, anyway, it s a beastly shame to go so much to the Lambda Eta house when we ve all decided " "Hush," Marion looked around suspiciously, as if she half expected to see tale-bearers in the shadow of the arcades, for they had reached the deserted, echoing pavement of the Quad. Presently they turned the corner of the History building, and noted three figures that loomed up in the light from the library windows. "There s Dick," exclaimed Elizabeth. "Dick, that s been mine for a whole year." "Wonderful! fickle one," teased Marion, "the other two I surmise are prospective. Now, I lay claim right here on oath Peter, how s this, beneath [4] <THE THREE R S the wings of the flitting bats and the shadows of these arches to Mr. Warrington. He at least cor responds to my ideal in height besides I like him." "Any one but Dick," Elizabeth murmured, hap pily. Introductions at college are formalities that open up at once possibilities of a delightful camaraderie one of the charms of university life. Dick repre sented football and society. Shorty Oliver was good-naturedness personified, and Max Warrington, whom many liked and some feared, was a newspaper man through and through. He talked to Marion during the moonlight walk down the palm-lined avenue, and by the time they had reached the griffin- guarded entrance gates in sight of the lights of Palo Alto, had gained her distinct approval. They were headed for Wilson s, the rendezvous of all moon light strollers, holding forth as it does the allurement of ice-cream and confectionery. They were no sooner laughingly seated around one of the small tables than they discovered a group of Beta Sigmas ensconced in an alcove opposite them. They bowed to the Freshmen with exagger ated friendliness and became almost hilarious over some joke of their own. [5] INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN Peter took the opportunity to whisper to Eliza beth, "No wonder they didn t care about the date queening, too ! " Dick was making high signs to the group across the way, and Elizabeth had the uncomfortable feel ing of being in the dark about something. "Seems sort of lively over there," Shorty Oliver bridged an awkward silence and indicated the Beta Sigmas with a lift of his chin. Then the voice of the waitress rasped out, "One En Spesh, one Thet Phi, one chock " The talk drifted to the summer vacation which was still near enough in their recollections to possess the attraction of vanished pleasures. Dick narrated the experiences of himself and three others who had worked for the months of June and July in a North ern California lumber camp, not that he was hard up for cash, but just to show the old man that he could do something. Shorty s summer had centered around a gold mine. "My Lord! the blisters on my hands from hack ing brush," he said. This was a novelty for the Freshmen. There was a halo of romanticism about college men in dis guise one might find them turning up in such queer places. Then, too, they were interested to discover [6] THREE R>S that Warrington was partially supporting himself through college as correspondent for one of the city papers. There was something so democratic about this abolition of caste and the placing of genius and personality in the front rank. Peter s wild heart yearned to "notch a tree" as described by Dick, and, her interest aroused, she so forgot her shyness that Marion and Elizabeth looked at her incredulously Peter, the avowed scorner of men! Half up the avenue, on their way back to the Campus, the smaller girl, watching the effect of the eucalyptus trees against the sky, was startled by Shorty Oliver s remark. "Honestly, Miss Sears, but you re a wise one! " "How do you make that out*? " "Just so ! " he said with a gesture. "For twenty minutes I have been talking of, around, about, sorori ties. I have rung the door bell, turned the knob, and tried the windows. I have almost worked myself into a fever it s a pretty heavy strain on a Sopho more mind." "And you have found? " Peter s tone was almost sarcastic. "A good deal," said Oliver with his inevitable chuckle. "Yes, the sorority girls are charming, the [7] INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN Beta Sigmas have a pretty house and so have the Lambda Etas and the Theta Gamma Alphas. Alice Hibbard is a most interesting girl, likewise Edith Homer. Honestly, Miss Sears, you re as tight as a cracker box." "I suppose it was very impertinent of me not to out with the whole thing." "It was for a Freshman you are much too wise, Miss Sears." "And what would your Sophomoreship like to know? " queried Peter. Shorty came to the point: "I want to know if you are giving the keenest crowd in college a fair show." "And which crowd can that be? " Peter asked seriously. "Beta Sigma, of course." Peter was relieved. She thought of the agreement and was glad their choice had been approved. "We re all rooting for them," Shorty continued. "Warrington and Dick, too." Peter was still more glad. "That will be a very weighty consideration in their favor," she laughed. Just then Oliver pulled her aside in time to escape a bicycle whose whistle they had not heard, and barely dodged a second one himself. "They think [8] ?HE cfHREE R S nothing of clipping off an ear," he remarked flip pantly. Not having heard the bicycle, they had likewise been unaware of footsteps coming behind them. Suddenly they were stopped with the words, "My, but you people walk slowly for us to have caught up ! " It was one of the Beta Sigmas trying her best to cover her breathlessness by animation. "Better call yourselves sprinters," observed the irrepressible Oliver. The girl turned her back on him. "Elizabeth, may I introduce Mr. Trent." The rest of the soror ity girls joined them and the crowd loitered along the homeward way, exuberant with fun and good spirits, for every one seemed bent on giving the Freshmen the time of their lives. Elizabeth alone did not join in with them, for she would not be separated from Dick, and the two walked on ahead into the darkness. "It s the best evening I ve had since college began," the girl was saying. "It s such a relief to see a man again. Bunches of fifteen or twenty girls thrown at your head day in and day out become mighty wearisome." Dick seemed seriously inclined. "I m glad you re enjoying it for two reasons," he said. "First, be cause I haven t caught a glimpse of you since you [9] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN came and, secondly, because I want you to like the Beta Sigmas." "Why, Dick, I thought you didn t care." The man hesitated. "Well, I didn t but when you come down to a choice there s only one crowd they re friends of mine and I promised I d say something to you." Elizabeth considered. "I thought you men weren t supposed to have anything to do with it." "We aren t," said Dick. "It s rather a breach of Pan-Hellenic to say anything." "Oh! " said Elizabeth, "and their walking home with us that s rushing with men, too, I suppose 4 ? " "Well," said Dick, "no one will know about it; all s fair in love and war, and there are only two days left " "So it was all arranged." "Of course," Dick laughed, "you re strangely una ware of the subtleties of rushing, Elizabeth. It was a clever stunt." Elizabeth was silent. When they came to the Quad she insisted that she must go straight to Roble, and Marion and Peter, yielding to her determination, reluctantly refused the urgent invitation of the Beta Sigmas to "come up for something in the chafing dish." [10] THE THREE R S In her room, the door locked against intrusion, Elizabeth faced the other two with indignation in her eyes. "What s the matter*? " they asked. Elizabeth became ironical. "You ve had a good time, haven t you the best time in these two weeks and a half, and you think the Beta Sigmas are per fectly lovely, don t you? " The two nodded. "Well, it was all a put-up job," tears were filling Elizabeth s eyes. "It was breaking Pan-Hellenic and and Dick thought it was all right." Marion gasped. "They did it on purpose 1 ? " "Yes, and you know how the girls here talk about a crowd that breaks Pan-Hellenic ! " "No," said Peter, "we couldn t stand for anything like that." All the brightness faded from her face at the shadow which had come over one of the pleas- antest evenings she could remember. In a voice of despair Marion commented, "Well, I suppose that does fix them and when everything was all decided, too." Elizabeth, choking with emotion and chagrin, enlightened them still further. "And the men are betting on us as if we were race-horses." "They aren t." Peter sat up. NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN "Yes, the Theta Phi Sigmas are keeping a book, and there are lots of outside bets Jim Tabor has thirty dollars up Dick told me so." Elizabeth almost wept with exasperation. "I m the favourite, he says, in the 22-13 d as s for Beta Sigma." The other two were speechless. Depression was well-nigh turned into panic on the following evening. The girls had been unable to break a date for a formal dinner at the Beta Sigma house. The long, elaborately decorated table, the softened lights, the carefully gowned girls, and the music that drifted in through the open doors, held no charm or sense of gaiety. Elizabeth was distant, Marion was bored, and Peter refused to talk. The Beta Sigmas caught the contagion, something akin to stage-fright; matters desperate and weighty for them were hanging in the balance. They had to maintain their standing in the bitter rivalry of crowds, and these three girls had been the center of their efforts that season. Course followed course, each out-classing the other in uniqueness of detail. Favors were pinned on amid forced enthusiasm, and the glances ex changed between Marion and Elizabeth became more anxious. They were troubled concerning a warning which had been volunteered at Roble in [12] THE THREE R S the early afternoon. Peter, down at one end of the long table, had thrown all tact to the winds and found herself in the direst complications. She had thoughtlessly remarked, over fetes in general, that the solitary repast of the Hindoo was ideal and that banquets were a relic of barbarism. However, the relief of the three as the end of the dinner approached, made them quite exuberant. They were talking gaily when the music stopped and a sudden hush came over the table, as Ethel Gage rose to speak. Elizabeth gave Marion a wild glance, that said as plainly as words, "We re in for it now," and felt tempted to drop her napkin and bolt igno- miniously for the door. Marion s face became stolid, and Peter s chair squeaked on the polished floor. Ethel proved merely the toastmistress of the occa sion and after a few words of sinister import, called upon Edith Horner to speak on "Advice to Fresh men." The three had no doubt but that they were facing a "bid" with the demand for an immediate reply. Every crowd had been so insistent upon the date. The notes in Edith s hand trembled ungovernably, and the Freshmen watched her in stupid dread. "What s the matter with those girls tonight 4 ? " Ethel asked under cover of the speech. [13] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN "They re so strained. Something must have hap pened. They were just the opposite the other evening." "I don t know. I guess they re going Lambda Eta and want to let us see it." "There s an understanding all right did you see the glances they exchanged? " "I m worried sick about them. I thought we had them sure." Late that night, when the Hall was sunk in slum ber, Peter and Elizabeth were still discussing the situation. "Weren t the Lambda Etas restful after that aw ful dinner. How could the Beta Sigmas think that such display would make an impression? " "Upon three tired Freshmen looking for a home," finished Peter wistfully. "But do you know, Eliza beth, the Lambda Etas weren t a bit cordial to me, and they fell all over you and Elizabeth. I m afraid I can t bear to think of it that they aren t going to ask me." In spite of the false warning concerning the night before, the girls still followed the information of fered by the sorority-wise Robleites of their close acquaintance, and sent Peter to the post-office at cer tain hours during the day to receive the mailed invi- [14] THREE R*S tations. They avoided meeting the sorority girls on the Quad as if they were plague-stricken. After the fifth trip for the mail, Peter balked. There had been nothing but a letter from Dick for Elizabeth. The latter took the envelope and tore it up calmly and emphatically. "I ve been very much disappointed in Dick," she murmured. Peter and Marion looked away. Then the smaller girl said slowly, "It s all in a lifetime and a rush ing season, Elizabeth." A few minutes after nine that evening, Peter walked slowly into her room. Her heart was pound ing until it almost suffocated her. She knew that the bids had been delivered in person an hour before. By the window Marion stood looking into the black ness of the night, morose and silent. Peter stared at the back of her head so stiff in bearing at her uncompromising shoulders, and words failed her. She turned toward Elizabeth, who sat on the trunk, half stooping over and jerking the strap with a trembling hand. "Is there anything for me 4 ? " Peter managed to ask. Elizabeth pointed to the table, and buried her face deep in a pillow that lay near. [15] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN Peter found one letter, which she opened roughly, and then she stood biting her lips, staring at the Beta Sigma monogram. Elizabeth could contain herself no longer and sobbed aloud. Marion came over from the window and put her arm around Peter comfortingly. The small figure stiffened and drew away. "Don t mind me," she said harshly. "I m glad you re going to be happy, but I ll never join the Beta Sigmas." Elizabeth raised her head and her eyes flashed angrily. "We won t go anything, Peter, if you can t go with us." "No. I won t stand for that." The other shook her head hopelessly and forced a weak smile. "I hate rushing I hate sororities I hate col lege," Marion burst out tempestuously. "Girls," said Peter resolutely, "you are going to be Lambda Etas. You are going to be happy, and I am glad. It s nonsense to think of not doing it just because they didn t ask me. You would always regret it. There are lots of advantages in fraternity life." There was a note of longing in Peter s voice. "But I shall console myself with the disadvantages," she added whimsically. "Peter," began Marion. "No, don t make it any harder, for I m going to [16] THE THREE R S , be as brave as I can. I ll miss you awfully. You ll never be the same again. There is a difference already. You are going up tomorrow to pledge yourselves to the Lambda Etas, and I am going now to begin my career as a Hall girl." Peter s hand was on the door. She smiled as she went out and closed it softly behind her. Marion and Elizabeth stared at each other in amazement. The latter started for the door, but turning back, "We ve lost Peter," she sobbed, resting her head upon the table, "and all for "What? " said Marion fiercely. Marion and Elizabeth were the last breakfasting in the big dining-room. They could not, for their lives, have told the gist of the editorial they were so assiduously reading, as they allowed their meal to grow cold, and it was with feigned surprise that they looked up at Margaret s unusually cheerful "Good morning," as she entered the room. They watched her in round-eyed silence as she seated her self, then glanced again at the editorial. "Anything exciting in the Daily ? " "I don t know here, look for yourself," said Elizabeth tossing her a paper. The girls now became engrossed in the meal, oc casionally glancing up at Margaret s face. It was [17] NOT INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN inscrutable, betraying none of the bitterness that they knew must lie beneath. "Going up the Row in a few minutes ? " Margaret asked evenly. "Yes," the others muttered, with downcast eyes. "I m mighty glad " she began, but they burst forth impulsively, "O Peter, Peter, " "Don t," said the other hastily, "there s absolutely no use." So occupied were Marion and Elizabeth with their own thoughts that they did not see Dick and Shorty Oliver as they crossed from the Quad to the Row, and consequently were unaware of their sur- prise in not seeing the third girl. "She isn t like the old Peter at all," Elizabeth said wonderingly. "I don t know why," Marion answered, "but I couldn t say a word to her. I believe that I was afraid to." "I felt like a whipped child that had to go and do what it was supposed to, and she was the one doing the supposing." "She s a brave girl." Marion s tone was almost envious. "And we re beastly little cowards," said Eliza beth feelingly. There was a threat in Marion s THE THREE R S voice as she next spoke. "I m tempted to flee to the hills; " but Elizabeth made no response. They had walked almost half the length of the Row, not conscious of its unusual aspect for a Sat urday morning, and just as oblivious to the running comment that took place on the fraternity steps and between the lawns and the windows. This was the one day in the semester when the sorority and the fraternity houses were easily distinguishable; the one, silent, curtained, desolate, as if the hand of death had been laid upon it, and the other gay with life, men sitting on the steps, men leaning from fhe windows, men standing on the lawns. Cushions were flung to attract attention, and gleeful high signs passed from house to house as the girls con tinued on their way. Small bets were made in an undertone, and looks of surprise began to spread as one after another queried about Margaret Sears. All questions and answers were carried on chiefly in pantomime, and so it was that the girls, engrossed in their thoughts of Margaret, and the ordeal that they were to face, did not become conscious of the gauntlet that they were running. The men began to group, and there was an in tense silence, as the two approached the Beta Sigma house. The girls seemed to hesitate an instant at [19] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN the turn of the walk. The breathlessness of the Row must have influenced Marion, for she looked up sud denly to catch the whole of the Theta Phi Sigma fraternity leaning far out of the windows of their house. "Come, hurry, Lizbeth, the whole campus is watching us," she said nervously. "I forgot about the betting look at that house." "No wonder they re hanging out of their windows. They ll lose about a hundred and sixty today, I guess. They were betting on us, 22-13, m favor of Beta Sigma," Elizabeth said breathlessly, attempt ing to keep up with Marion s stride. They were now well past the Beta Sigma house. Some of the men danced up and down, choking with glee. The Theta Phi Sigmas made the despairing gesture of drowning men and disappeared from their windows. Cheering was heard in the distance, and the girls hurried on. Their feet grew heavy as they turned off the Row under the silent scrutiny of three fraternity houses. Motionless, the men watched them climb the steps. The door swung half open and engulfed them amidst the gleeful shouts of welcome from the throats of twenty Lambda Etas. For an instant there was a gasp of astonishment, [20] THE THREE R S and then the campus turned pandemonium with lusty shout on shout and clanking of cow-bells. Men ran from lawn to lawn, voices buzzed, rumours spread at the rate of twenty or more a minute. "Say, you Theta Phis," cried out one jubilant youth, "your 22-13 s as good almost as the 16-1." "Hurrah for our Theta Phi Bryans," shouted another. "When are you going to pay out your checks ? " And the campus laughed. Then, insistent above the joshing and the questions, came talk of Margaret Sears. Where is she*? Didn t she get bids? Has she thrown them all down Impossible, betting ran highest on her. So rumor after rumor passed from house to house, like ripples on a lake. Miss Sears has been suddenly called to the city refuted. Jack Spaulding had seen her that morning. She is hold ing off perhaps. She did not get the bid she wanted. She had Beta Sigma and wanted Lambda Eta and vice versa. Even after initiations had been held, and fra ternity and sorority life had sunk back to the plane of study and queening, the ripples continued, al though fainter and farther apart. But those who could have in part told, and those who could have furnished the links to the chain of the 19 rushing season were silent. r -, <5irt an6 a 5lu6ibranc A GIRL AND A NUDIBRANC With a gesture that plainly said she had finished her work for that afternoon, Miss Wayne tossed aside her instruments, and, half turning in her chair, gazed around the laboratory. There was a disapproving frown between her daintily arched eyebrows as she regarded the other side of the small, rudely furnished room, where six pairs of broad, masculine shoulders bent over microscopes ranged along the oilcloth-cov ered tables. It was stuffy inside and contrastingly breezy and delightful out on the cliffs which the long windows of the laboratory overlooked. Besides, Miss Wayne was not a believer in excessive work, and having been unusually industrious for two hours she considered it her duty to enliven the time that remained. To her it was a huge joke that per fectly able-bodied men who expected to make their mark in the world as lawyers and engineers, should spend whole days trying to pick out the nervous system of a clam. And why, she reasoned, should they grow round-shouldered working over impossible bugs when she was there to entertain them ? On her own side of the room, Miss Wayne had little sympathy, seated as she was between Miss NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN Hall and Miss Miller. The one was a homely, good- hearted girl, excruciatingly neat, who worked for "A s" with Phi Beta Kappa in view. The other was a nervous school-teacher who fussed unneces sarily, but who entirely disapproved of wasting time. The men for the most part were quite willing to be entertained, and submitted gallantly to Miss Wayne s beneficent rule. Had she not, with fem inine artlessness, imbued the daily routine of the laboratory with the atmosphere of a pink tea, and lent to the whole session of the summer school a social glamor which those who came there yearly to do original investigation had never dreamed of? Not that Miss Wayne was the kind that worked without a theory. She had reasons and stated them frankly. She believed in cultivating the social side of life and did so wherever she went, even amidst the most discouraging material. Her experiences had led her to the conclusion that men in general were vastly more interesting than girls. The chief end of higher education for women was to fit them intellectually to be leaders of select coteries and salons. Thus Miss Wayne had not hesitated at burying herself for six weeks within the modest con fines of Pacific Grove in order that she might the [26] A GIRL AND A NUDIBRANC sooner add to her list of accomplishments the dis tinction of "college graduate." With an elaborate wardrobe she had descended upon the sleepy, pic turesque town, for though Miss Wayne was very democratic and mingled with the common herd, her dress was always in striking contrast. Rather aristo cratic features and quantities of light hair added to the attractiveness of her general frankness and good comradeship. As yet she was unattached, and aside from her approbation of masculinity in general, con sidered each new man in the light of the possible one. It was certain, however, that none of the six whose backs she regarded would ever attain to that eminence. Mr. Thorne, tall, grave, but with a keen sense of humor that played about the corners of his mouth, she had known always. Besides, he had his mother down with him. Mr. Holt, although he took her to Del Monte as often as she pleased, was too casual in his preferences and he could never be serious. Bob Morton, often brutal and ungracious in his remarks, although he endured her society, was a sworn enemy. He was engaged to a girl whom she hated. The rest were interesting but impossible. [27] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN Miss Wayne singled out Thome for her first remark. "What s the use of working so hard, Will? " she queried. Thome turned around with a droll smile. "De pends on what you call work," he said. "Now some people might call this pleasure." "Then," said Mr. Holt, "whenever I want to have a little pleasure, I ll ask the cook for a clam and my mother for a darning needle and have a perfectly lovely time ! " "There s no joke about this," growled Bob. His clumsiness with a microscope made one think of a great big bear. He lost his temper whenever he broke a slide and worked three times as hard over his smudgy drawings as the others did. "Wish I d taken Botany," he finished. "They go out picking flowers every day." Miss Wayne laughed. She had a picture of Bob out in a field picking flowers for five hours Uni versity credit. Morton resented her laugh. "And that s not funny either," he said. "You d better change," said Miss Wayne. There was friendly rivalry between the two laboratories [28] A GIRL AND A NUDIBRANC which occupied separate buildings, and Bob had changed twice already. "Well," Holt commented, "in spite of the odor iferous atmosphere over here I think a fellow gets more use out of this than pulling flowers to pieces." "I ve learned enough never to eat another clam as long as I live," said Miss Wayne, "and I hear we re going to have a mussel bake soon ! " "And study them the week after," Thorne smiled. Bob announced that they weren t half bad, and Miss Miller averred that everybody ate them every year. Much as she fought against it, Miss Miller could keep out of no conversation that was started, and the topics discussed in the laboratory ranged from clams to politics and religion. Mr. Brayton, the young assistant, was the first to break in upon the easy run of talk that passed from one desk to another. He paused in the doorway for a moment considering who seemed most in need of aid. It might have occurred to him that he was intruding on the languid atmosphere of idleness, for his presence suggested the idea "What will we have to do now 1 ? " Miss Wayne, looking up, caught his eye and in answer to her smile and gesture of dis tress, he approached her desk. Mr. Brayton was tall, dark, broad-shouldered, and remarkably good- [29] NOT INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN looking. It was evident to every one in the labor atory that Miss Wayne looked upon him with espe cial favor. He was the only real possibility down there. In this respect he stood out in contrast to the six who ornamented one side of the laboratory. And in addition to his handsomeness and a certain amount of reserve, there was the superiority of his position in the narrow life of the summer school. He was the final authority, even more so than Professor Waters, who did research work upstairs upon nudi- brancs. Miss Wayne had a great respect for learning of any kind, and she liked people who were quiet and reserved. She had written to her dearest friend that she intended to rush Mr. Brayton when she returned to college. Oblivious of this, Mr. Brayton showed no tendency toward anything save utter indifference. In fact, it was doubtful whether he entirely approved of Miss Wayne. He made suggestions relative to her work in his most professional manner and merely smiled superiorly when she marveled at his skill in dissecting. "How can you be so cruel, Mr. Bray ton 4 ?" she exclaimed over the intricacy of the drawing that he required. He relented so far as to bring her a book in which there was a very clear diagram, and [30] A GIRL AND A NUDIBRANC then blamed himself for having done so. He be lieved in showing no preferences and required the same work from everybody, but Miss Wayne some how always managed to escape the drudgery. She spent most of her time in inventing ways to evade the disagreeable things, and she did it so ingeni ously that Brayton hardly blamed her for it. During the last ten minutes of the afternoon, Pro fessor Waters came down from upstairs. He stood in the doorway holding something on the palm of his outstretched hand, with the other beckoning the students of both the inner and outer rooms to gather around. They did so with much needless creaking and shuffling; and when they were packed into a semi-circle of questioning faces, the Professor cleared his throat and began, "Now I want everybody to see this. This is a nudibranc. Mr. Brayton will please write the name on the board nudibranc. It belongs to the family of mollusks. I want every body to see this because we are going collecting again in the morning and I want the class particu larly to look for nudibrancs. This one happens to be yellow, but we find them in all different colors. Out over the sink I have posted a description of a gray one which I am very anxious to find. There is a reward for any specimen in good condition. Five [31] NOT 1 INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN years ago one of that kind was found here, but none have been collected since." Professor Waters paused. "That s all," he said abruptly and vanished. Miss Wayne sought out Mr. Brayton. She wanted to see the nudibranc that had been collected five years ago, so that she could not possibly miss another if she came across it. The assistant considered, and then going upstairs returned bringing a small bottle containing a gray and white snail-like creature no larger than a thim ble. He left it with Miss Wayne who with extreme care removed it from the bottle and examined it on all sides. Then suddenly it was four o clock. Every one was emptying pans, shutting drawers and putting instruments away. In her hurry, Miss Wayne dumped the gray nudibranc into a general specimen jar and put the cover on. The last Mr. Brayton saw of her she was stand ing on the steps laughingly inviting Thome and Holt to have tea in the little Japanese tea-garden that overlooked the bay. Her glance really included the assistant, but she did not quite dare to ask him. Two days later the class was still amusing itself with killing the nudibrancs which had been collected, using the process of slow alcohol whereby they died [32] A GIRL AND A NUDIBRANC beautifully extended and not rolled up in a hard ball. There had been great rivalry between Thorne and Miss Wayne as to which one had found the most, while Bob Morton, who had notoriously helped him self from everybody else s pail, had put in his claim. It was a little matter to Miss Wayne, but for the sake of the jest, for she was nothing if not game, she had looked around for another to add to her seven so that they might compete with Thome s eight. She saw the five-year old gray nudibranc in the specimen jar, and without further thought de posited Professor Waters s prize exhibit in the dish of half dead ones. They were funny little creatures, red, purple, and yellow, some with graceful tentacle- like protuberances on their backs. When all of them were finally pronounced dead, they were transferred to a permanent bottle, where the little gray nudibranc would have rested in peace until it had become lost forever, had not Mr. Thorne discovered it as he casually stopped at Miss Wayne s desk in an effort to waste time and meanwhile assure himself that she had counted them straight. "Where did you get this? " he exclaimed. "Oh," said Miss Wayne, forgetting, "one of the nudibrancs? I don t remember just which pool I [33] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN fished him out of. What s the matter with him? Anything extraordinary 1 ? " "Why," Mr. Thorne was really excited. "It s a gray one, the one Professor Waters wanted. I won der why I didn t see it before? " Professor Waters was in the outer room, and with out waiting further, Thorne rushed in. "Did you see this, Professor? " he exploded. "Isn t this that gray nudibranc you were speaking about? Miss Wayne picked it up." Professor Waters took one look, then he beck oned frantically to both classes. "Everybody come here," he said. "Some one has found a gray nudi branc." The students gathered hurriedly, and he continued, his countenance beaming with satisfac tion. "Notice the gray edges fading into the narrow white margin! That s what I wanted! Where did you find it, Miss Wayne? In under the shadow of a rock? That s where they hide ! " The girl was bewildered. She knew that some thing was wrong, and yet it seemed as though she must have found it if it was with her collection. "I don t remember exactly," she stammered. "Can I see it a minute, please?" The bottle was passed over. Then Miss Wayne remembered, and collapsed into her chair helplessly. Professor Waters was leaning [34] A GIRL AND A NUDIBRANC over her desk congratulating her, telling her how well she had preserved the specimen, and even strain ing a point to say that Mr. Brayton had commented favorably on her work. He was all affability and pleasantness because he was pleased. That was his way. "But," Miss Wayne began, "but," and then her voice died away. She lacked the moral courage. In her devotion to the social side of life, she had often found it expedient and convenient to slide over small points of honor, and she was weak in that respect. She hesitated, and Professor Waters de parted upstairs with his treasure, not knowing. Pres ently Miss Wayne s sense of humor and her happy- go-lucky disposition came to help her out. "Well, if he doesn t know his own five-year-old specimen, I think it is a huge joke." Besides, she still felt the situation within her grasp, even if it came to a tact ful explanation. She was the heroine for the rest of the afternoon and carried off her triumph ad mirably. "Just pass some of your luck over this way," called the genial Holt. "I bet you bought it somewhere," growled Bob Morton. [35] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN Miss Wayne laughed, for she never let Bob know when he offended. Mr. Brayton had also joined in the congratula tions and wondered at her phenomenal good fortune. Just as the class was leaving he went upstairs in answer to the summons of Professor Waters. "Get me that other nudibranc, John," he said. "I want to compare it with this one belonging to Miss Wayne." Then Mr. Brayton remembered. He dashed downstairs and picked up the empty bottle from Miss Wayne s desk the bottle which had contained the gray nudibranc for the last five years. Mr. Brayton could not believe what he knew must be so. He looked in all the alcohol jars and collecting pails near by. Then he sat down on the edge of the table. There was no use looking for the thing. Professor Waters had it up in his office at that minute. He was astounded at the nerve of a certain girl. It couldn t have been a joke, and the object of it floored him. He thought. Professor Waters called down impatiently and he went up. The result was some lie about having overhauled the supply closet recently and misplaced it. Thome came into the laboratory for some article that he had forgotten [36] A GIRL AND A NUDIBRANC and heard Professor Waters s parting words as Mr. Brayton came downstairs again. "I wish you would look through everything im mediately, John. It s very annoying not to have it for comparison." "Lose something, Brayton?" asked Thome sym pathetically. "The original gray nudibranc," was the answer. "Did you leave it down here?" "Yes, right here," and he brought his fist down emphatically on Miss Wayne s desk. There was sarcasm in his voice and he knew it, but he could not help it. He set his teeth hard to prevent him self from saying anything further. Mr. Thome whistled softly, and Brayton bolted out where the stiff sea-breeze and the little path along the cliffs invited him to walk. His ears tingled with the re buke against his carelessness, and he was mad swearing mad. He railed against co-education and especially against a certain type of butterfly girl who came to college for no reason in particular, who butted in on the sacred precincts of Science, and who juggled valuable specimens without any apparent regard of consequences. She was the cause of his first break with Professor Waters, upon whose erratic [37] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN preferment he was relying to obtain a certain position for the following year. For the next few days Brayton stalked around the laboratory with the manner and the bearing of a martyr. He was extremely frigid and avoided Miss Wayne when possible. The latter was unusually subdued. The reward for the nudibranc had come to her through the postoffice without comment and ad dressed in Mr. Bray ton s hand. She perceived the disdain in which she was held by the young assistant. She thought that he seemed pale and worried and that Professor Waters was unusually sharp with him. Then, too, there was something the matter with Will. One day he had walked out on the point with her and talked of nothing but Brayton; of what a fine fellow he was and how he was all cut up be cause Professor Waters was down on him. Then, too, he told how the assistant was working himself to death going out at four every morning looking for some kind of nudibranc. Thome s conversation was evidently to a purpose, and though Miss Wayne had appeared entirely oblivious to it, she was deeply impressed. She saw that she had evidently "done something," and that Mr. Brayton was suffering on account of it; this was another of those bothersome situations into which she was always running, where [38] A GIRL AND A NUDIBRANC everybody else expected her to do something of which she was entirely ignorant. "Why," she wondered, "did people take things so seriously? " Miss Wayne pouted with annoyance. "These science people," she kept reiterating. Meanwhile Mr. Brayton ignored her as though she were an insignificant no body! Miss Wayne s pride rose. By all means, he should have back his valuable nudibranc ! It made no difference to her in the least. With her sweetest smile she interviewed Professor Waters and borrowed the gray nudibranc, "in order to make a drawing from it," as she said, "for her notebook." Ten minutes later it was in Mr. Bray- ton s hands without explanation. Mr. Brayton accepted it without comment and considered that only just restitution had been made. He renewed the story about the overhauling of the supply closet and as evidence of his successful search produced the gray nudibranc in its original bottle. Professor Waters reduced the charge against him from one of gross carelessness to one of negligence. Miss Wayne regained her gaiety of spirits and entertained the six unusually well until a demand was made for the specimen which she had borrowed to draw. It was Brayton who brought the request, and he was for a moment staggered when she paralleled his lie about [39] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN the supply closet with one of having taken the speci men home and lost it because of the carelessness of the landlady. However, in an interview with Pro fessor Waters later, Miss Wayne gained a much bet ter idea of the seriousness of juggling with a valuable specimen. Somehow she received the vague impres sion that her hours depended on her finding a certain gray nudibranc, the whereabouts of which she knew perfectly well. It was not so much what he said as what he looked and didn t say, and that awful hint about the hours. Miss Wayne was thunderstruck it would mean an extra semester at college, and all for a very small insignificant animal that she had never heard of a month before. Something had to be done, however, and Miss Wayne was never at a loss when action became imperative. She had found that she generally succeeded in her undertakings, and if a nudibranc was to be found, she did not doubt for a moment but that she was capable of getting it. Her methods were convenient if rather unscien tific, an, improvement on Bray ton s, she thought. The man himself wondered how she would handle the situation, though he was convinced that it did not concern him in the least and that she was entirely efficient. When the class was through that day, Miss Wayne went down to the bath-house and interviewed [40] A GIRL AND A NUDIBRANC a number of small boys who habitually hung around the mechanical pianos on the porch which overlooked the beach. The next morning her alarm clock went off at four. Brayton, who was also out early looking for laboratory material, caught a glimpse of her gray skirt and sweater scarcely distinguishable in the fog of the early morning. She was headed out the little path that ran along the cliffs to the light house, and behind her trailed six young urchins. Mr. Brayton almost dropped his pail in astonishment and wonderingly worked up the rocks in that direc tion. He came upon her seated on a commanding rock near the shore. Below her the six small boys scrambled over the slippery seaweed, dived into the pools left by the receding tide, or scampered over the rocks like young crabs. The fog still hung low, and offshore, through the white blanket could be heard the voices of the fishermen calling from boat to boat as they rowed out toward the entrance of the bay. Miss Wayne, however, was too busy to notice them. She was superintending peremptorily the actions of the small boys, pointing now to one pool and now to an other, as worth their attention. "Good morning, you re out early, Miss Wayne," called the man. [41] INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN "Oh, I often come out to see the sunrise," she answered. Then Miss Wayne stood up. "Here you," she cried, "work nearer inshore, you never find them out that far." Mr. Brayton was puzzled and could not restrain his curiosity. "May I ask what you re looking for? " he said. "A gray nudibranc," Miss Wayne replied calmly and with some hauteur. "You don t mean"- - began the man. "My hours depend upon it," she interrupted. "He wasn t that hard on you! Why, why didn t you keep the one you had once 1 ? " "I was given to understand that it was making trouble, and I wasn t going to let you have all the fun of finding another, you know." Brayton almost forgave her, but not quite. "Was it a joke? " he asked. "Not exactly," said Miss Wayne; "it began with an accident. I didn t remember where I put it, and then when I did " There was a scream from one of the urchins, fol lowed by a splash, out where the green swells washed the farthest rocks. The other boys shouted and ran in that direction, and Mr. Brayton shot down over [42] A GIRL AND A NUDIBRANC the rocks, leaping from point to point with unerring balance and firmness of foothold. The little fellow with true primitive instinct was dog-paddling in the deep pool below the rock, though too terror-stricken to be conscious of it. The man pulled him out by the back of his collar, and the next minute the sob bing youngster, wrapped in Miss Wayne s sweater and Mr. Brayton s coat, was being hurried home. "Another score against the nudibranc," com mented the girl as they walked back along the little path on the cliffs. She was holding the boy s hand and drying his tears at intervals. "It s my fault," she added, "for being so unpardon- ably lazy. I should have looked for it myself. I suppose it s all part of what I deserved." Mr. Brayton was not quite sure what he should say. "I m afraid, Mr. Brayton," the girl broke in, "that you don t approve of me in the least." "I confess" the other was rather startled "that I didn t understand " "And that I haven t explained it yet," Miss Wayne finished. "Well, there isn t any explanation, and still " Miss Wayne s inflection implied all that she left unsaid. Mr. Brayton felt that his resentment was losing [43] NOT INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN ground. He could not hold fast to it in the light of such frankness and generosity. They had almost for gotten the little fellow who was stumbling along between them. He had stopped sobbing, and be tween his chattering teeth queried, "Wot you scrap- pin about 4 ?" "Nothing," said the man, "only an unfortunate lack of a sense of humor." Miss Wayne looked at him in surprise, and then suddenly reverting to other topics, kept up a lively conversation the remainder of the walk. The next day Mr. Brayton made an early and hur ried trip to Carmel, where he explored numerous tide-caves thoroughly and successfully. He brought back something at the sight of which Miss Wayne almost became hysterical with joy and which they spent all day Sunday killing by the process of slow alcohol, in the quiet and deserted laboratory. That evening Thorne watched them sauntering out to enjoy the afterglow of the sunset on the waves off the Point. Miss Wayne s smart figure showed well on the skyline beside the silhouette of the tall, broad-shouldered assistant. Miss Wayne was gesticulating with animation. Thorne whistled and sat down on a rock suddenly. "That gets me," he said. [44] on PREPDOM ON PARADE "Daniel Gibbons, Youngstown last of the Mohicans! " The long sheet of Interscholastic en tries came off the machine with a vicious tear as Graham, sole survivor of the bunch of im pressed typists, tilted his chair back wearily against the big study table in Room 1 1 o, En- cina, and regarded the Board of Governors over his shoulder. He had slipped with versatile alacrity from a tedious, one-fingered execution on the rattling old Remington borrowed from the "Daily" office into his official capacity as President of the Board. Graham took his pipe out of his mouth and thoughtfully considered the battered alarm-clock be side him. "Everybody here 1 ? " he yawned down the table, counting off the eight or nine men in a glance. Room no had grown to be, in Graham s four years of Hall residence, the favourite meeting-place of the clans, from the chronic queeners who lounged about, retailing gossipy morsels or exchanging dances for the next Prom, to the track and baseball men who wagged their heads solemnly over their own prophecies on coming week-end events. Graham had come into living contact with all the intricacies of [47] INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN the problems discussed under his hospitable roof. And there was something in his perspective that went beyond an intimacy with the affairs of his Alma Mater, something that made even the men who knew him best strangely uncomfortable with him at times. They were conscious of that disconcerting laughter of the gods twinkling behind his gray eyes. It was as if Graham played his part with enthusiastic loyalty but from a view-point that gauged the sig nificance of it all, not by the exaggerated and colossal importance of immature, college interests, but by the fundamentals of an outside world forgotten in the four halcyon years of the undergraduate. Yet the proverbial red of the Stanford spirit pulsed warmly through his husky frame and the whole- heartedness of his devotion in doing the things his University asked him to do was more than con vincing to those who suspected him at odd moments of a preponderance of the philosopher. "Meeting ll come to order," he began. The Board of Governors settled themselves in their chairs and as a special mark of respect for the occasion, took their feet down from the table all except Shorty Oliver, whose irrepressibleness the community had long since agreed to ignore. "We ve fixed up the housing of the Preps, fellows, [48] PREPDOM ON PARADE and I ll give you the list as it stands now. We can make any minor changes you suggest. But before I begin I d like to say that this job hasn t been any pipe-dream. There isn t a house that hasn t had a kick coming on some score some one they wanted they didn t get, or some one they got they didn t want. Well, it was up to us to take them as the applications came in and do our best. I ve made out duplicate lists as the thing stands now. Here, Dean, hand em round. Give each fellow his own and I ll read for the absentees. You begin, old man," he commanded. Dean sorted out the official- looking cards handed to him and hurriedly read off the string of guests allotted to Theta Phi. "We made fifteen applications," the latter com mented in a disgruntled voice as he finished; "six of the Madison men, some of the Oakland kids and a bunch from St. John s. You ve only given us twelve here and two of the fellows we ve never even heard of." "Get out your data on pedigree, Mr. President," Shorty Oliver observed facetiously. "Nothin short o blue ribbons will get a Prep floor space in Room 27, Encina, I can tell you. I m particular, I am." Graham did not appear to have heard him. "Look here, Dean," he remonstrated with the Theta Phi. [49] "You ve got your Madison men all right, ten of them." "More n we want," Dean replied shortly, "and we get left on the others entirely Oakland and the South," he added complainingly a moment later. "Well, you know we can t split a big team like the Madison bunch just because your fraternity hasn t got a rec for them all. As for the others, you ought not to take any chances, old boy, when war manoeuvres are on ! The Alpha Zets were up too early for you, that s all. They asked for the St. John s men, too, and their application was in a month ago." "Dear me ! " came in a mocking aside from Shorty as he lifted his right foot from the table and prodded a fellow-committeeman s ribs to gain his attention. "I m afraid to death I am going to miss getting that charming little spinort from Milpitas. I meant to apply to Graham for him last season ! Ain t it a pity, huh? " The flippancy of the irrepressible member was coldly ignored. "Come on, Carson, give them your data," Graham directed, as a tall, quiet-spoken fellow at the other end of the table spread out his lists in front of him, adjusted himself in his chair and proceeded to launch [50] PREPDOM ON PARADE upon the interested Board of Governors a role of eli- gibles which represented Alpha Zeta s hopes pros pective for the next four years to come. The names of the coveted St. John s youths finished off Carson s list, but there was an impersonal note in the Alpha Zet s voice which disarmed the irritation of his scooped fellow-committeemen. "By the way, who are they? Howard Hoyt, St. John s; Stuart Logan, St. John s; Clarence Dean." Graham s voice held a note of amused curiosity. "Not one of the applications missed them. That s popularity, eh? Any relation, old man? " he queried, as he turned laughingly toward Dean. The perusal of lists became patently self-conscious the length of the table. Only half-repressed, a chuckle of amusement made itself audible in the room as Dean retorted with obvious bravado, "Yes, it s my kid brother and a couple of his friends. I m afraid that Carson s claims will have to be waived. I have a letter here," diving awkwardly into his inside pocket, "from Mrs. Logan, accepting our in vitation a week or more ago." Graham took the letter perfunctorily and read aloud. NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN THE ELMS, T^ GOWER STREET, Los ANGELES. Dear Harry, Your delightful invitation for Stuart and myself to spend Interscholastic week with you at Stanford is accepted, of course, with much pleasure. If I had needed anything to persuade me, your mother s de scription of your attractive club-house and the life the boys lead so happily together, would have been quite enough. I have promised your mother besides that I will look after Clarence and see that he takes care of his cold, so you may expect me with my little brood sometime Saturday morning. Howard Hoyt is to be with us, Stuart tells me. I wonder if I may dare impose further on your hospitality? There is a little Mr. Osberger from Santa Monero who is going up with us a school mate of Howard s in the East, I believe. I think he will do very nicely in the Meet, and as he knows no one at Stanford, it would be pleasant for him to be with our boys. May I take the liberty of bringing him with us? With best wishes from all, Sincerely yours, MARY A. LOGAN. The half-repressed titter had become frank amuse ment before Graham stopped. Shorty Oliver, with deep commiseration on his face turned tantalizingly toward Carson. "F-f- f- foiled ! " he muttered tragi cally. PREPDOM ON PARADE A frank-spoken Hall man next to Dean delivered himself of a few blunt words on "cute tactics" and the Theta Phi s cheeks coloured angrily. "Popular trio that," Graham growled, shoving Dean s letter back at him. "What does their ticket read? Money, family, athletics"? " "No ! brains, of course, brains ! Phi Tappa Keg candidates at least all that! " Shorty glanced ap preciatively at Dean. A suspicion of that disconcerting laughter twinkled in Graham s eyes. The modesty and almost shame-facedness of the Alpha Zet member in pushing his request for the three coveted Preps gave the more aggressive Rowites something to wonder at. The frank-spoken Hall man was assailing Dean angrily. "Look here, they re the only three men Carson asked for that he got, and hang it, look at your own bunch there." "Sort of a free-for-all rushing festivity, eh, Mike? " Shorty s undertone to his next-door neigh bour was an audible stage whisper. "Most as good as a Tan-Hell mix-up, ain t it? " "It s my opinion," Carson blurted out frankly, "that we had better put all these over-popular Preps [53] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN up in the Hall if we want to make an athletic event of the thing." "Sky-rocket! " roared Shorty, "then I ll get Mil- pitas ! " "Look here, fellows," Dean broke in desperately, "Carson wants some of that Madison bunch. We ll hand over four if you ll give us the three St. John s kids. Is it a go? " A condemning silence of a half minute greeted the proposal, a silence that to Dean was as discon certing as anything he had ever experienced in his life. He knew that in the eyes of every man on the Board he was detected as an apostle of self-interest, a rooter for Theta Phi first, a Stanford man only when his fraternity interests had been subserved. Graham s face showed his annoyance as he said de cisively, "I told you before, Dean, that a big team like that is not going to be split to serve your pur pose or anyone else s. We will find some one to take them if you won t. As to the Southern men, your brother, of course, you ve got a claim to. The others " "Oh, that s all right! I abdicate, your Honour," Carson broke in, heartily, "in deference to the lady." The laugh that followed only deepened the flush on Dean s face. [54] PREPDOM ON PARADE "I guess Carson s right," Graham commented, simply. "That letter does seem to cinch the matter. Rather hogging it though, isn t it 1 ?" "Well, we will give Mr. Osberger to any one who wants him," volunteered Dean, with an assumed magnanimity which elicited no reply from the rest of the Board. Oliver grunted aloud and muttered something about a "keen sense of humour." Those "minor changes" which Graham had un wittingly left to the discretion of his fellow-commit- teemen had assumed more formidable proportions than he had thought for. "Come on, fellows," he remonstrated at last, with a yawn that contagiously went the round of the table, "who gives a hang who gets who anyway, so long as the Meet is a success and we show them a good time." The report that Dean made to his interested brethren next morning in the Theta Phi smoking- room as to his "haul" with the Board of Governors, was greeted with noisy enthusiasm. Dean did not tell them of the humiliation which his success had cost him. There only remained the meeting of the Preps. "Be sure to attach anything worth while, old boy," one of the Seniors called after him encouragingly from the steps, as he started down the Row to the [55] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN rousing twang of "Ocean of Rum" from half a dozen mandolins. Dean s figure, as it swung along past the post- office, had all the alertness that a consciousness of a well-groomed appearance gives. The air of the fas tidious city man was unmistakably stamped upon him. His features and personality showed him to be well-born and cultivated, but an over-consciousness of this was so evident in his every word and move that he seemed out of place in the democratic atmo sphere of the University. He hailed a rig at the book-store corner with a feeling of sheepishness that he could not shake off, in spite of his still tingling shoulder-blades, which should have reminded him of Theta Phi s hearty appreciation. The thought of Carson s disinterested ness the night before bothered him more than any thing. Already the avenue was busy with crowded surries of excited, gesticulating Preps, declaiming on the beauties of the Palm-drive and the Arboretum, half falling out of the back seats in an effort to catch a passing glimpse of the Mausoleum, and offering fruitless but vociferous bewailings over the shattered Arch and "those grand mosaics." Interscholastic is one of the gala days in the his- [56] PREPDOM ON PARADE tory of the University, when its gates are opened in hearty hospitality to the hundreds of Preparatory and High School youths who struggle for field honours on its oval. To the college man, it is a time of "sizing up" prospective material for the future material that his University will be proud of. The station at Paly was a bedlam of excitement. Every bus and vehicle that the town afforded was drawn up in readiness for the constantly arriving Preps. Graham, the centre of all action, swung his legs imperiously from his seat on an empty baggage- truck and directed operations. A dozen or more upper-class officials flaunted themselves before the bewildered Preps pouring off each incoming train, grabbed them summarily and put the all-vital ques tion, "Are you an Interscholastic ?" It was a problem to deal with Eddie Jones from Greenville, who insisted that he go straight to the Delta Phi house regardless, and spurned with con tempt the mere suggestion of Theta Phi. It was disconcerting to a one-time track captain and the huskiest man in college to be ordered by a newly arrived kid from Cupertino to "take those dress-suit cases to No. 53 Lasuen and be quick about it." Particularly was this demoralizing to the official s [57] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN nerves when, after consultation with his reception list, he found that No. 53 Lasuen could never be the ultimate destination of the imperious guest. Over on the circle, the benches under the oaks were lined up with them as each new train pulled in, those re fractory ones, pending the decision of their cases by the imperturbable Graham, while his coadjutors tore their hair and swore alternately at their chief and the Preps. A soft but foreboding drizzle was in the air. The dull, gray sky overhead had been broken the day before by the first faint, but short-lived glimmers of sunlight that had filtered through in a week, during which California had experienced one of the most terrific storms in her history. Bridges were down all over the country, rails were washed away every place along the road, and the telegraph service was de moralized. The Reception Committee swore roundly and computed fruitless estimates as to just when such a bunch would get through. Harry Dean did his duty, shoulder to shoulder with his fellow-committeemen, but with an attitude toward each newly arriving contingent of Preps which said, as plainly as words, "Glad to see you. H m, merely Interscholastic material, I see!" When the Los Angeles special pulled in, just an [58] PREPDOM ON PARADE hour before the Meet and several hours behind scheduled time, it was evident that something more than simple athletic possibilities lay dormant in the sturdy frames of the trio under Mrs. Logan s chaperonage. Dean left the reception of the common herd to the good graces of Graham and Carson, as he stood on tiptoe, looking over the heads of the crowd that had already poured off the train. The St. John s contingent was no place to be seen, but down on a rear platform Dean caught sight of Mrs. Logan. He arrived just in time to find a great, angular-looking boy, his arms laden down with luggage, clumsily try ing to assist her from the train. Dean offered some patronizing commonplace of thanks as he brusquely relieved the boy of her bag. How such a specimen as that could intrude on the gallantries of life ! The washed-out, freckled face, the shock of thick, colour less hair, and the suit of shop-made clothes had all been taken in with an amused glance, as Dean turned to open a way through the crowd for Mrs. Logan. Oliver and Graham had rescued the three St. John s men as they emerged from the smoking-car a few moments before, and Dean came upon them all grouped in front of the ticket window. "Hello, Harry, old man," his brother called out [59] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN cheerily. "Here we are. Began to think we d never get through, though. Sorry we deserted you so, Mrs. Logan," the boy added, "but I guess Oz was equal to the occasion. Harry, I want you to meet Peter Osberger one of the bunch Oz, my brother." Dean turned, to find the crude-looking boy whose courtesy to Mrs. Logan he had almost resented, holding out his hand. "Glad to know you, sir," the youngster said, simply. Dean assumed his most affable air, though the friendliness taken for granted amused him highly. He would not have liked to admit that anything could really disarm his nonchalance, but the frank enthusiasm of the three keenest prospectives who had "come up" for a long time, over this gawky, country product certainly left him rather non plussed. "Who s our little country cousin"?" he quizzed his brother laughingly, under cover of the conversation. "You surely don t expect me to introduce it up at the house a Reube like that! " Dean Junior looked up quickly. "You ve got another hunch coming, Harry. Wait till you know him," he said, with a quiet smile. Carson, who had been getting a bunch started off [60] PREPDOM ON PARADE for the Campus, sauntered over to say a few words to Mrs. Logan, whom he had known in the South. Hoyt was introducing him to Osberger with an un mistakable note of pride in his voice. The older man s hand-shake was its heartiest and put the boy at his ease at once. A sudden solution of Osberger and this impossible situation broke in upon Dean, and he whistled softly. "Say, Carson," he exclaimed a moment later, in a voice that was audible to every one in the group. "We had several extra guests blow in last night and we re crowded to the last inch. I wonder if I may turn Mr. Osberger here over to your hospitality?" Shorty Oliver, glancing up quickly, caught the cornered look in the Alpha Zet s face, and grinned as he whistled derisively in imitation of Dean. Graham had a puzzled expression. "Why, how s that, Dean?" he questioned. "I thought- Carson silenced him with a nudge of his foot. The suspicion of a contemptuous smile flitted across his face as he glanced at Dean. Then he said evenly, in his quiet, convincing way: "We ll be more than glad to have you, Osberger. We have plenty of room, as several of the men we were [61] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN expecting haven t turned up. I am only sorry to separate you from your friends." The faces of the St. John s men were crestfallen with disappointment. Howard Hoyt looked up at Dean with annoyance. But he brought his teeth together with a resentful little click and said noth ing. Only the heartiness of Carson s attitude saved Osberger from bolting then and there from a place where he seemed to find himself an awkward in truder. It was Shorty Oliver who relieved the strain of the situation. "Got to get up there and punch the keys on this morning s dope," he volunteered, irrelevantly. "Writing a sort of concise history of the Interscholastic idea, you see. Lord! Graham!" he laughed back from the rear seat of Uncle John s surrey, "I ll bet it will be enough to make the type writer stutter!" Up at training quarters outside the crisp, new cinder track, the newest arrivals were being made ready for the contest on the low rubbing-tables that range the length of the room. Red-"S" d football men and sombreroed Seniors knelt on the floor beside them, and rubbed and thumped and belaboured them as though they were the very brawn and bone [62] PREPDOM ON -PARADE of the Varsity itself, instead of the chesty, inconse quential Preps that they were. Groups of college men gathered about at the en trance to the showers and in front of the welcome fireplace. The early arrivals during the last two days had had time to make their own and other people s possibilities known. What warming-up practice on the track had not made evident, their effervescent volubility provided for. And it was remarkable how much speculative interest Stanford men had worked up over the Meet. There was a noisy bunch just beyond the tables where Carson and a couple of Alpha Zetas knelt, pommelling the life out of the train-weary Southern Preps. "It s a draw between St. John s and the Madison- ites," a confident Junior volunteered, decisively. "What do you say, Dean, you ve got a sample of each 4 ?" "Lying low, old man," Dean retorted, laughingly. "You know where I d bank, of course." "Say, fellows," another broke in, "you just watch that little kid Osberger from Santa Monero do things. He s a winner, all right." "Oh, come off " Dean snorted contemptuously. "What farm did he train on?" NOT: INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN "Never mind, you ll get an eye-opener, all right. The kid used to go to Prep with Hoyt in the East, and he says Osberger s got em all skinned in the 100 and the 220. He s mighty keen at a few other num bers on the programme, too. It s a shame he s the sole product of his school. With one other man to back him, he d show em!" "Gee he doesn t look it, I must say," was Dean s parting observation. He wheeled suddenly in the direction of the door and caught the eyes of Howard Hoyt fixed angrily on his. Carson and the man be side him looked up with a frown of annoyance, and Dean, glancing to the table beyond, was not deceived by the averted face of Osberger himself. He had heard, of course! Well, who what was he, any how 4 ? Merely one of Howard Hoyt s proteges. How the deuce that young king-pin kept his hold over the school down there so that every mother s son of them would swear by anything he introduced, was beyond him. Outside, the drizzle sifted down with a depressing steadiness of purpose. A generously large group of men and women had braved the nastiness of the day to do their part for the rising generation of Stan- fordites. Around the oval the tall eucalyptus of the Arboretum stood out gloomy and shivery against [64] PREPDOM ON PARADE the low outline of distant foothills, now barely dis tinguishable through the haze. Dripping umbrellas dotted the bleachers, alternately aggravating the patient souls who sat behind them, and pouring teasing little rivulets down the backs of those in front. The air was tense with an atmosphere of studied and enforced politeness, relieved now and then by genuine bursts of amusement as some belated rooting contingent or bevy of enthusiastic Prep girls stomped the length of the bleachers and seated them selves ostentatiously with a flutter of pennants and a lustily given yell. One event followed another in quick succession. Stuart Logan of St. John s had won the mile, a big, brawny youth from Madison had carried off the half, with Osberger a first in the 100 and the broad. Somewhere in the ranks of the thirty-three Prep teams there were bound to be developed sensational "dark horses." Scattered events, that the strong teams had counted as their own, had suddenly been snatched off to swell the score of some insignificant high school. Not even the steady sifting down of drizzle on the dark cinder track, or the shivering, rain- bedraggled procession of bath-robed figures, awaiting their great event in the middle oval, could dampen [65] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN the excitement that grew on the bleachers as an un heard of country youth proceeded to carry off place after place in the big events. The 100 and the broad jump that was enough to arouse the rooting enthu siasm of the unattached. A second now in the 220 ! Osberger, as an individual, had become a threaten ing rival to Howard Hoyt s team, while the Northern contingent, prime favourites of the training-room, looked to their laurels nervously and began to wilt. On the steps in front of Quarters, the captain of the St. John s team swung his legs over the side of the platform and shivered in the half -soaked bath robe he wore. Hoyt had finished his contribution to the now hopelessly lost score of the South. He was only waiting for the decision of the high jump to know whether Ozie still stood in the running. He wanted it more than anything, now that his own team s chances had gone under. He could picture the trio, his bunch, the keenest, classiest little bunch on earth, gathering around their protege, Ozie, carrying him about the rain-soaked oval, while those cheering Stanford men and surprised, open-mouthed prophets of Prepdom gazed on, astonished, from the bleachers. Some one behind him was talking to Duff, the Madison team captain. The drift of the conversation floated into his ears half unconsciously. [66] PREPDOM ON PARADE "You ve got to fix it, Duff. The cup hangs on it for you, old man. Get Evans to block him on the farther turn. You can spare Evans easy. That will leave it an open field to your man and the St. John s team. My brother s running, you know. It s got to be either Bronson or Clar!" "Sure," retorted Duff, "it s the only way, or the little Swede has got it cinched." Hoyt turned his head suddenly, and again his eyes met those of Harry Dean as they had in the training- room. He was conscious of a glare of defiance as he caught the helpless look of confusion on the older man s face. There was something about them at war. He had felt this first at the station that morn ing. It recurred to him now, stronger and with more meaning, as Dean sat down encouragingly between Duff and himself. "I say, Hoyt, I ve just been talking with the Madison men about the 440." "I overheard you," Hoyt observed, tartly. Dean s voice was pointedly conciliatory, as he pushed the conversation. "What do you think Clar s chances are 1 ?" he asked, suavely. "Of course, St. John s all up but I d like to see the kid come in, by Jove!" [6 7 ] INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN Hoyt looked levelly across at Dean. "I d forget it if I were you," he observed, laconically. "Oh, indeed, sonny!" was all that the stupefied Dean could find utterance for, as he got up and walked slowly away with that disconcerted feeling strong on him again a sort of moral ostracism levied against him by the frank disapproval of a young Prep kid. Hoyt sat silent for a moment with his swinging feet hung limp, as if in sheer amazement at the audacity of his retort. Over on the track, the lithe figures of Dean Junior and Stuart Logan swung around the turn leisurely as they warmed up for the great event. In the middle of the oval, Carson, the Alpha Zeta, stood with a group of newspaper men watching the jumping. Hoyt walked hurriedly over to the fence and beckoned to him. "Say, Carson," he stammered bluntly, "I m going to ask a favour of you. I am going to ask you to take Logan and Clar Dean and me in for tonight, if you can fix us up. We ll sleep any old place, only let us come. You said this morning that you had room, or I wouldn t ask." Carson regarded the boy in blank amazement. "Sure, I know what I m doing. I ll explain it all [68] PREPDOM ON PARADE tomorrow," the other reassured him laughingly, as he ran off down the fence to meet Logan and Dean on the home lap and put them wise. "There s nothing to do," Hoyt explained, as he repeated the gist of Harry Dean s proposal, "except to beat em at their own game. We can t let Oz lose, that s all." "We might put it up to Graham or Carson," Logan suggested as a solution, "they re square." But the look on Dean Junior s face suddenly re minded him. "That s so," he blurted, apologetically, "we can t show it up, can we 1 ? They have us cinched there!" "Look here," insisted Hoyt, eagerly, "we ll fix it so that the Madison man won t have an unfair handicap. You two can block just enough to give Oz a clean fight for the finish. It s hard on you, Clar, old boy," Hoyt slipped his arm affectionately over Dean Junior s shoulder. "You d a good fight ing chance, you know." "What s the odds now the Meet s gone," the other retorted. "I couldn t see Oz lose now. He s got an awful sourball on Stanford already, and besides, you see, it s up to me to make good to him," he finished, bitterly. The delight with which Hoyt heard the decision N0<? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN of the high jump was destined to ebb and grow faint as the men in the 440 came on their marks, disclosing Osberger, tense and restrained, but with "do or die" in his set jaw, in fourth position, with the Madison man at the pole. The bleachers were on their feet. Osberger, the lonely little star of a far-off rural high school, had stormed the -prejudices of every man and woman of them. It was a good fight. Osberger s three firsts and a second had netted him 18, with the Madison team just a point ahead of him, the St. John s men lost beyond retrieve, and a very sparse sprinkling of odd events among the thirty or more other schools repre sented. It had been the combined efforts of a team of ten against the single fight that could be put up by one determined, only half credulously received boy. Hoyt forgot St. John s, forgot personal defeat, everything, as the pistol shot sounded and the men were off. Logan had started forward with a mad sprint that carried him six feet in the lead of Bronson and let him fall into first. The Madison men were dazed and alarmed at such tactics from Stuart Logan tactics at variance with all sane judgment in the 440. [70] PREPDOM ON PARADE But they came up on him as fast as they could, while Osberger, biding his time but worried, kept up an even run behind them. Dean Junior was at it now, mad and furious, throwing all his strength into one sprint, which carried him around the two Madison men. He had signalled Osberger, as he passed him, to come up. The Madison men were plainly dis heartened, and Osberger, with the madness of "now or never," closed up the gap between. Hoyt held his breath. It was a losing game, with Osberger crowded to the outside that way. Suddenly, Logan, who had tenaciously held his own on the inside, slowed down almost impercepti bly, and Bronson, on whom Madison had banked its hopes, was forced to drop back to avoid fouling. So completely was he thrown out of his stride that he almost came to a standstill. As a factor in the 440 his usefulness was over. Another sprint carried Dean to the inside just ahead of Logan. They were running along now steadily, leading Bronson. Ozie and the other Madison-ites had an open field. Down the home stretch they swung. Hoyt closed his eyes fearfully. He could not have seen at that distance that Osberger broke the tape just a chest in front of the other man. [71] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN But the din of the bleachers told him what he wanted to know. He was down the steps in an instant. The identity of insignificant, rural Santa Monero had swallowed up for the moment all the prestige and Southerly pride with which St. John s was wont to carry itself. Foremost among the madly enthu siastic, Dean and Stuart Logan, with Hoyt s be draggled, bath-robed figure clinging like mad to the outskirts, yelling vociferously, without purpose or sanity, lifted Peter Osberger high on their shoulders and carried him to the training quarters. A crowd of officials and upper-classmen were there to help the Preps dress. There was little over an hour for dinner if the Encina high jinks and the presentation came off on time. Excitement and the volubility of the aftermath made the room buzz. Osberger was in a state of heavenly elation which recognized neither sound nor feeling. He tried to prove appreciative of the countless attentions levelled at him, but his powers were utterly inadequate. "Where s Carson? Let s find him and get out of this!" he urged, as Hoyt and he found their exit from the dressing-room blocked half way across the hall. "I want to understand just what happened, old man. Let s get where we can talk." Hoyt smiled with the condescension of absolute [72] PREPDOM ON PARADE satisfaction. "We are all booked for the Alpha Zet house tonight, Oz, Clar, Logan, and I, too," he commented simply. The rest of the bunch was herded together, at tached triumphantly by a couple of Carson s fra ternity brothers at hand, and headed off for the Row. Carson decently gave them the smoking-room after dinner, on Hoyt s intimation that there was some thing doing. The door closed on a torrent of in dignation, of declamation, and glorification let loose. Osberger found himself the dazed centre of it all, and tried to deduct something comprehensible from the half-intelligible exclamations around him. "I knew it this morning when they were so mean about putting Oz up the muckers!" Hoyt com mented, hotly. "Well, anyhow, they didn t have to butt in to help Bronson s dirty little game. We fooled em at it, though. Gol darn em ! " Logan puffed at his cigarette with vicious satisfaction. "Sorry for you, Clar, old man, but it s up to us!" "Don t mind me, fellows. Theta Phi isn t pre scribed wholesale, you know. I m not rooting their tactics." Bit by bit Osberger gathered that he, the despised of a great unknown Prepdom, had been nefariously, [73] INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN ignominiously dealt with, and that the vengeance of these, his champions, was now sworn to, wrathfully and deliberately, in his presence. Over in the Hall, the speech of his life was before him in front of that critical crowd of college men. "Hand it out to them, Oz, you know the dope! Just think of us and forget the mob," Hoyt admon ished hopefully a half hour later, as Osberger, a great pride in his heart, but consumed with a panicky fear, elbowed his way nervously across the long Encina reading-room to the big table from which Graham had made his presentation speech. Just in front of him, Osberger caught the friendly faces of a bunch of the Alpha Zeta men. The din of applause for this "kid o wonders," as Graham himself had christened him, echoed deafeningly through the Hall. Far back near the fireplace, underneath the big Stanford pennant and the historic cowbell, the eyes of Hoyt, of Dean, and of Logan smiled back at him confidently. A new sense of dignity and self-possession threw a dominating note into his voice, as words of appreciation came to him. He was conscious of having carried the occasion well. "Sky-rockets" and hoarse shouts of approval rang through the room. Again he was lifted high [74] PREPDOM ON PARADE on the shoulders of the bunch and carried forth in triumph. "Where the deuce are you fellows going*?" Harry Dean was demanding of the imperturbable Clar. "We want you all over at the House for the smoker, you know, as soon as the rest of the dope is dealt out here. And say, kid, bring young Osberger along, if you like." His brother did not stop long enough to reply. "We re going back now to say how to Mrs. Logan for a minute, but we won t be with you tonight, Harry," he called over his shoulder. Up in Carson s room at the Alpha Zeta house Osberger and the trio held jovial revelry among the relics of bygone Stanford men, and listened to Alpha Zet s oldest inhabitant tell of the grand, old pioneer days days when even Interscholastics had never been heard of. Graham and Oliver with a noisy bunch of Hall men had blown in after the high jinks, and lay sprawled about on the floor cushions or sat with their feet perched comfortably on Carson s study table, while Osberger, his washed-out face flushed with excitement, knew that he had at last come into his own. He was being drawn out to talk of himself, of Hoyt s and his own earlier Prep days in the East [75] N0<f INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN even of Santa Monero and the fellows down there. He found himself telling them with his old feeling of enthusiasm how eagerly he was waiting for next fall, when he and the Hoyts and Dean were to come up as Freshmen together. And Graham and Carson, yarning on anew, with Shorty s irrepressible comments enlivening all, re galed the fascinated Preps with all those incidents and struggles that make the Stanford spirit a thing to conjure with. Stowed away for the night, the occupants of two cots and a floor bunk in Carson s room held counsel together until long after the first contingents from dispersed "busts" began to make the Campus air resound with their homeward ballads. "Fellows, there s no place like it." Osberger s tone had caught the ring of the older men s voices. "And this morning I was almost a quitter," he added, slowly, "think of it just because " "Because of a few muckers," Dean Junior finished with set lips. Hoyt leaned over to Logan on the floor bunk be side him. "Gee, kid, but I m glad he didn t get on to the blocking game," he whispered, under his breath. Aloud he said: "And, Oz, I bet they re counting us Theta Phi cinches. But we ll hang [76] PREPDOM ON PARADE together tight, old man, next fall, and it won t be that!" "Graham and Carson won t be here then, will they*?" Dean spoke ruefully, and there was silence in the room for a moment. "No," repeated Osberger, slowly, "they won t be here, but the farm s full of more like them." There was a note of stout conviction in his voice, for he was recalling the Encina reception and the hearty hand-clasps of a hundred enthusiastic men. "You bet it is," came in unison from the other three. "There s no place like it," Hoyt reiterated, softly. Whereupon, having delivered himself summarily of the consensus of the combine, the strains of "One Day a Freshman" floated in unheeded upon a silent room, wherein the brawn of the rising generation had laid itself down at peace with a red-hued world. [ 77 1 .Arrogance of Secon6 THE ARROGANCE OF THE SECOND YEAR In a heated discussion on evolution, Peter had once made the remark that there was at least one example which she could cite of life beginning with equal possibilities, and that was in the way of furniture in a room at Roble. Kate Monroe, as she deposited her sketching kit be tween the couch and burlaped wardrobe, and took in anew the transformation effected by her room mate, went a step farther and reflected wearily that the results of the ingenuity of a hundred or more girls held a marked sameness and mediocrity. She turned to the window, and stared dreamily across the brown fields to the hazy blue silhouette of the ridge with its top line of redwoods notching the sun set sky. In a room across the angle of the building, Peter, perched on a study table, gossiping with Lucile Hunter, looked over at the girl in the window. "I can t understand that roommate of yours, Lucile. Just look at her I can t say that I approve of dreaming." As an afterthought, Peter added: "Do [81] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN you suppose she s in love*?" She turned inquiringly to the other girl. "Don t ask me." Lucile, half-sunk in the cushions on the couch, looked the picture of contentment. "You ve a new pennant on the wall 1 ?" Peter re marked, her eyes still on the room across the way. "Will sent it to me from Yale isn t it a dandy ^ I had to move Kate s Burne-Jones over a bit to make room for it. She won t like that very well but she ll never say anything." "Doesn t she appreciate the aesthetics of a pen nant? Lucile put another cushion back of her head before replying. "She doesn t approve of truck on the walls snaps, mementoes, and all that s college. Don t you think it makes you remember your good times? I know she abhors my prized basket-ball with the red ribbons I carried that to a slogan. You should have seen that rally. They ve never had another in Roble like it." Peter was studying Kate s face with interest. "Looks kind of depressed, doesn t she 1 ?" "I ve roomed with that girl ever since our Fresh man year, and don t know her any better than you do, Peter." [82] ARROGANCE OF 3HE SECOND TEAR "I call her Miss Monroe," Peter replied, with a laugh. "That s just it, everybody does," the other an swered, with some show of animation. It seemed to be a favourite topic with Lucile when once started, for she continued: "I don t know what there is about that girl, but I admire her like everything. She never mixes in with us, or does anything doesn t even tell how crazy she is over drawing. I ve talked to her about athletics " "Trust you for that," Peter interrupted. The other s voice was serious and half -complain ing. "We need new material, and she s tall and likes exercise. She s too dandy, anyway, to get her sheepskin unknown but what are you going to do when a person s so reserved that she doesn t even tell you the name of her kid brother 4 ?" "She startled the community the other night, though." "How s that?" Lucile looked at Peter s mis chievous face suspiciously. "Didn t you see her at the reception, and she helped decorate, too*?" "You don t mean to say! Kate Monroe! I don t believe it." "We ll change the subject, then, until Frances [83] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN comes home. Are the solemn six going to let us have the dance within a month ? I abominate dances, but that s no matter " Kate Monroe, in the room across the way, un conscious of being watched or discussed, made no attempt to cover her mood. She had received a mind-awakening jolt that afternoon, and it was hard to readjust herself. The art class, under Mr. Nor ton, had scattered over the oak-dotted field that lies toward the Campus below Lagunita. They were drawing the trees where a path slipped down the hill and lost itself among them. Kate had always loved that bit of landscape, even as much as the evening shadows on the lake. She had the childish feeling that if she were to walk down the path to the end she would be in a land of mystic unreality and strange dreaminess. So she had stooped over her board, crayon in hand, full of a craving for ex pression. She had been working two hours, when Mr. Norton startled her. His every word was dis tinct in her mind. "Miss Monroe, you are not get ting any feeling into that drawing. Your lines are too hard and detached. Go over and look at Miss Hunter s you will understand then what I mean." Tearing up the sheet, she had begun again with tears in her eyes. How was it that Lucile Hunter, so [84] <THE ARROGANCE OF ?HE SECOND TEAR commonplace in sentiment, so devoid of taste as to place a Gibson girl beside a Rossetti, and who toler ated the gaudiness of stamped cushions, could make one feel the allurement of that small path meander ing among the trees ? Kate Monroe had come to college as a concession to the traditions of her family. If she had followed her own inclinations, she would have gone to Hop kins Institute in the city, and later to Paris. In stead, she made a compromise between an A. B. and art, and came to Stanford. Like all Freshmen she had carefully read the residence section of the Register, with the result that she found herself, after due formalities, unpacking her belongings in Room 24, Roble, with her room mate performing a like operation near the opposite wall. Lucile was voluble and enthusiastic, and called her by her first name without apology. "Did you bring much stuff for the room ?" she asked, looking at the nervous, slender hand of the other girl as she rested a picture on the radiator. "Some curtains, a few cushions, and some favourite pictures," the other answered, slowly. "That s good. I ve enough for the room." Kate had glanced at the table piled high with nondescript articles, whose chief boast seemed [85] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN gaudiness of color, and felt consciously depressed. Later her Monna Lisa, carefully hung for the light, had, for the sake of community interest, been pushed aside for a souvenir poster. Although Lucile Hunter told her that she was an art major and hoped to continue the work beyond col lege, Kate had carefully avoided all mention of the subject in the three years of their acquaintance. She had deemed it sacrilege to do so, and as a result covered her devouring ambition with a hard shell of reserve, and only unburdened her mind by long tramps over the hills and along the creek beds. Kate had looked to college as a mecca of erudi tion, of grave faces, and hushed voices, with prob ably a few exceptions, who would be frowned into silence or off the Campus by public opinion. The truth came as a severe shock the irresponsibility of the undergraduate, the laughter, the small talk, the wasting of time, and the almost conspicuous avoidance of the serious. With her analytical mind, she drew apart and studied the girls in the Hall, resorting to scientific instead of human methods, and her deductions were pessimistic. They were confirmed as she watched the girls, listened to the laughter and jollying of the dinner hour, and en dured the slangy conversations that took place in the [86] THE ARROGANCE OF fHE SECOND TEAR Hall afterwards. It seemed as if years separated her from them; that she was the sole exception in this medley of the care-free, the childish, and the thoughtless. Yet she felt no self-pity because of her isolation. They were so pathetically oblivious of the burden of the future. While in this state of mind, Kate had been asked to a "feed" given by some of the Seniors on the fourth floor. She was considerably astonished to discover the intimacy which existed between Lucile and the girls. She herself barely knew them. Kate had always been with older people, and the famil iarity of the blunt, personal twits of the girls seemed unendurably rude to her, and their talk was bewildering, as it became now trivial and then again ludicrously serious when it turned to Hall or undergraduate affairs. After that, her pity turned to scorn. She as sumed a bearing of courteous and reserved aloofness, for had not the girls, from Seniors down, proved themselves utterly shallow and unworthy of a culti vated acquaintance ? From that time, Kate spent her entire days studying or sketching and her even ings delving in all manner of books in the Library. Her week-ends were given over to lonely walks. NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN There was not a nook in the hills for miles with which she was not familiar. The girl turned restlessly from the window and picked up the first book that came to her hand, a volume of Browning, hoping thus to thrust away the depressing thoughts that crowded her brain. She glanced down the pages casually, read a section of "Saul," hastily covered up "Andrea Del Sarto," and finally caught some lines that made her hesi tate, lay down the book, and gaze out of the window again. "Landscape and sea-piece, down to flowers and fruit And who shall question that she knows them all In better semblance than the things outside? Yet bring into the silent gallery Some live thing to contrast in breath and blood, Some lion, with the painted lion there You think she ll understand composedly?" Kate repeated the last words inquiringly, "You think she ll understand composedly?" Yes, she had been slowly understanding for three months. She could plainly interpret herself now. At first, when she found that her judgments of the life around her did not seem as solid as formerly, and that even her opinions were distinctly irresolute at times, she laid it to her wearying of her life of isolation, and to a [88] THE ARROGANCE OF THE SECOND TEAR weak desire for companionship. She wondered hazily if it might not have been the effect of two and a half years of college atmosphere. At one time she had considered herself above environment, but perhaps she was more like the people around her than she thought. Kate was astonished to find herself almost relishing the idea of being one among many. Browning had expressed it, "Some live thing to contrast some lion with the painted lion there." Kate felt almost grateful that her eyes had been opening to the contrast of late she was wearied of gazing only at the painting with all its crudities. Finally, she had heard the beat of the human heart. Now she was searching for the path again, having erred as well as the others. She had found the direction to it in the last few months. The expres sion in her eyes changed at the thought. Kate loved to trace cause and effect. One incident was the most distinct in her mind, for it had marked the turning point in her attitude. It happened when Lucile Hunter received sad news. Kate had stood by helpless, while the same girls whom she looked upon as shallow, had shown a depth of sym pathy, friendship, and even of thought, that made her feel as gray and cold as a stone pinnacle. INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN Then there was Elsie Gunn, and a dozen others of whom she could think, who seemed so care-free, and yet whose burdens made her feel self-centered, egotistical. Elsie was going through college in three years. How taken aback she had been on first learning of the struggles which were glossed over with the reserve of happy-go-lucky fellowship! She smiled weakly, as she thought of her first at tempt at friendliness with the girls. She had felt so timid and ill-at-ease when she joined a group by the fireplace one evening, and caught Margaret Sears s glance of scrutiny. Margaret had saved the day for her, and she felt that she had made a begin ning. She wondered now why she had never before noticed Margaret, especially her terseness and originality. She would like to call her "Peter," as the others did. And the Roble reception she drew a deep breath. The fun of driving after greens, perched with Peter on the end of a delivery wagon! She and Edna Blythe had almost toppled off the seat in reaching for pepper-branches by the creek in Palo Alto. She had really felt exuberantly youthful. She smiled again as she remembered her first col lege reception that same day she had made so [90] <?HE ARROGANCE OF ^HE SECOND TEAR many stupid blunders; and how assiduously she had read the "Daily" since! "This is your first year here?" asked a man who faithfully attended all receptions. "I am a Senior." "Oh!" An embarrassing silence followed. "I see that your basket-ball team is going to play Berkeley next week. Do you expect to win?" asked another. She made some feeble reply, and he continued: "A husky squad has turned out for football practice this year. Did you ever see any one punt like Jack Woods?" She evaded the question with, "You seem much interested in football." The man looked at her questioningly, and Peter informed her a moment later that he had saved the intercollegiate score of the previous year. Kate s face saddened again, as she came back to the present. After all, she had made a very small beginning. In four months she would graduate, and what could she look back to? Buildings, hills, some good work, failure in her ambition, and not one friend who would regret her, not one cordial hand- grasp in the years to come. She gazed solemnly at [91] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN the dusk that was creeping over the country, and was only startled to reality by Peter s entrance. "I have just a minute, Miss Monroe, as I am due at the nominating committee for Roble officers." "Won t you sit down*?" Kate interposed. "No, thank you." Peter always found it easier to speak when standing. "I have to be abrupt. A number of us have realized what a dandy girl you are, and we want you to consent to run for the Presidency of the Roble Club. I can nominate you, and we are pretty sure of having you win there are so many in favour of you." Kate gasped. The proposition had come like the surprise of a dash of cold water. "Why, no one knows me in the Hall. I wouldn t know what to do and and, Miss Sears, there are so many popular and prominent girls. There s there s Lucile Hunter, for one, and Miss Jones, and Miss Calkins." Peter shook her head emphatically. "We want you, Kate Monroe. You think we don t know you, but we ve wanted to for a long time, and you wouldn t let us. I tell you, we were delighted with your interest in the reception the other night." Kate flushed, both embarrassed and pleased. She knew that this was one of the big honours conferred [92] THE ARROGANCE OF THE SECOND TEAR by the Hall, and was a chance not to be scoffed at. It would give her the opportunity, in all probability, of "making good" for her three wasted years. She was surprised at her boldness in thinking of accept ing it. "It isn t forward, is it 4 ?" she asked herself, "when they consider me worthy of the place and want me to run." She added, aloud, "And I never imagined that the girls cared for me ! " "Then you ll run?" expectantly. "Yes," hesitatingly. Peter made a gleeful bound for the door. "I m so glad, Kate." Kate felt distinctly pleased that Peter should have used her first name. Twenty minutes later, Peter chuckled to herself as she dashed downstairs and put up the list of nominations on the bulletin-board outside the dining- room. Then she stood back, her head on one side, and looked at it approvingly. "For President: Kate Monroe, Helen Calkins." Peter chuckled again. "See here, Peter," a remonstrating hand was laid on her shoulder. Peter was sure that there was an inclination to shake her, and she turned around with an inquiring look. [93] NOT: INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN Well?" Frances Jones was the only one of the "solemn six" who did not usually live up to the adjective assigned by Peter to the ruling clique. But she was now the impersonation of the "six" as she looked at Peter with firmly drawn lips. "Well?" Peter asked again. "Now don t play Miss Innocence with me, Mar garet Sears. It s not the first time that we have come up against your practical jokes or those of your classmates of the fourth floor." Frances s voice was distinctly irritated. "Well?" Peter repeated, calmly. "Don t you know that two Presidents haven t been nominated for years it s against all tradition. The Hall always has and I think it can still abide by the choice that we make without the inter ference of underclassmen." "Do you mean the choice of the ruling six?" Peter s expression was all innocence. The other continued hurriedly. "We don t want politics dividing the Hall it causes too much feel ing. Just look at Encina. And what we want to stand for here is good spirit and peace." "We prefer to rusticate, I understand." [94] THE ARROGANCE OF ?HE SECOND TEAR "Roble should be a haven from the turmoil of the Quad." Frances became pedantic. "And we re the ships that pass to the haven under the hill? Don t worry on that score, Frances. Our care-free atmosphere is proverbial on the Row. Elizabeth Warner says it drives her wild to come here and find the girls playing around or reading magazines. On the Row it s either studying or queening or company to dinner. If we got a jolt once in a while we would appreciate the simple life a little better, perhaps." Frances changed her tack. "Peter, it was mighty unkind of you to nominate that inconspicuous girl. Why, Helen Calkins will defeat her terribly and it will only hurt the girl s feelings. It s really cruel, Peter, for I imagine that Kate Monroe is very sen sitive." Peter did not flinch under this unexpected turn, as Frances had hoped, and her voice was grave when she replied: "I m not a believer in precedent, and I m an out and out socialist. I believe in equal division of power not in a Senior aristocracy, with the rest of us under its thumbs. Now you have it, Frances, that s my creed. I was relieving the popu lace of a slate and giving them a choice." She pointed at the list of nominations. [95] INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN There was a puzzled expression on Frances s face. "You re one big bluff, Peter." In spite of herself, she could not help smiling at the assumed, injured droop of Peter s mouth. "Peter, I m waiting," an exasperated voice rang down three flights of stairs. Peter moved over to the bannister and looked up. "Coming, Edna." "Another one of the same stamp, Peter," Frances remarked ironically. "Oh, we re getting ready for our Senior year," Peter retorted over her shoulder, as she ran up the stairs. "We ve decided to be called the giddy six. " That night, had the Seniors been observant, they would have discovered that not one Sophomore was to be seen in the corridors or rooms. And had Frances Jones, or any one of the six, chanced to go up on the fourth floor at about half-past eight, and condescended to listen at the door of Room 45, amicably shared by Peter and Edna Blythe, she would have heard much that was edifying. Sophomores were packed into the room like sar dines. There were forty of them, and they hung on the edges of the couches and took up a good portion of the floor space. Peter had them well trained [96] <?HE ARROGANCE OF $HE SECOND TEAR from previous meetings, as nothing beyond a droning murmur came from the closed door into the corridor. "We be socialists, we be," a high-pitched voice rasped out from the corner. "Down with the aristocracy down with the Seniors down with the solemn six," promptly responded a dozen or so, in a hoarse whisper. All talked under their breath, until the same harsh voice cried, "Give the yell." "Rah, Rah, Rah! We re Peterites, Peterites, Peter-ites, Rah-h ! " came in subdued tones from the room. "Speech !" cried a lone voice. "Speech!" repeated the others. Peter slipped off the table, stretched her diminu tive height, and swelled her chest. "Comrades of Roble, miserere" (subdued cheers and, "Stand on the table! Can t see you!") "Honestly, girls," Peter suddenly assumed the conversational tone, "I can t get up on the table, my head will bump the chandelier." "Stand on the table," came the peremptory com mand. There was a scuffle before Peter continued from her position of vantage. "We are in the zenith of our power and the time has come to act. The [ 97] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN domineering six have gone to the limit of their power. They have tried to force a straight slate, headed by the assumptive Helen Calkins, prime member of their solemn clique, down the throat of the heel-crushed Hall. But the time will come when the serpent turns and bites." (Snake hisses on every side. Peter nodded her head approvingly, then struck a dramatic posture.) "Am I a dog, that this tyranny should be over me? Then beware my fangs. I ll have my bond, I ll have my pound of flesh. I ll not be made a soft and dull-eyed fool, to shake the head, relent and sigh, and yield to Senior intercessors. I will have my pound of flesh." (The room snickered gleefully, "Go on, Peter.") "Fate, through me, has placed the Seniors in our hands. We will crush the arrogance of the six into the dust we will flaunt the independence of the Hall." ("That s right," from the room.) "We will make their defeat ignominious. Said I to myself, I hold the little finger of fate, meaning the nominating committee, and here s my chance to put it on the six solemn heads that sagely wag, and methinks I ll put it good and heavy, me and my comrades." (A mur mur of approval.) "So I nominated Miss Kate Monroe, save the mark, she s the incognito of the Hall. She ll make an impression on the Freshmen. [98] <fHE ARROGANCE OF THE SECOND TEAR Avaunt with Helen Calkins s freckled face. The comrades are one. Does it please the assemblage ?" There was a subdued clapping of hands, the as sembled comrades rolled their eyes around at each other mischievously, and the harsh voice in the corner rasped out, "You re too clever to live, Peter." "Rah, Rah, we re Peterites!" responded the room. Peter made a low bow. "Comrades of Roble, I appreciate your confidence. I proceed to instructions demean yourselves as heretofore put not the Seniors wise canvass no upperclassmen." Peter dropped to the conversational. "If we get twenty of the thirty Freshmen, we have a good margin on a majority. The Seniors won t canvass it s against tradition. Pass this bunch of slips around, Edna. You are to put down your names (oh, shades of Professor Nicholson!) and two Freshmen with whom your are most intimate and don t get excited about it." Peter dropped down to her original seat on the edge of the table. There was a buzz of whispered comments and calls for pencils. Peter checked off the Freshmen as the slips came back, and handed back twenty-nine of them to the girls. "Doesn t any [99] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN one know Alice Wesley is she another Kate Monroe 1 ?" In the two days that followed, the Hall came to approve and even to applaud Peter s choice. There was one girl who was not wholly surprised at the sudden wave of popularity that swept Kate toward the election. Soon after the meeting on the fourth floor, she had gathered up two or three members of the Sophomore clique and had sailed into Kate Monroe s room in a spirit of dare-deviltry. They expected to remain for a few minutes and glean some choice bits to carry back to an appreciative few. Instead, they stayed until the lights dipped and discussed many subjects. They came away with a feeling of sheepish admiration for the girl who accepted the favour of the Hall with such naive sim plicity. "She s a new species in Roble, a discovery!" Edna circulated the report through the Hall. "And she s going to take the place by storm." "Margaret," Kate said, stopping Peter the day of the election, as the latter was hurrying past her on the way to lunch, "you re the best friend I have at college. I don t know how to thank you. Do you realize that you have readjusted my life here for me*? I wanted to know the girls and get into the spirit [ 100 1 ?HE ARROGANCE OF ?HE SECOND TEAR of the Hall, but I was too timid, somehow. You ve certainly proved my good fairy Peter s forehead puckered painfully. "I m awfully glad, Kate." She spoke weakly. "And I was wondering if you wouldn t like to go to the fern glen I told you of, tomorrow after noon? "I should love to." Peter surmised that it was probably the first invitation of the kind that Kate had ever given at college. Later, when Peter refused Edna Blythe s invita tion to "go down to Paly," Edna turned on her in surprise. "What s the matter with you, Peter 1 ? You ve got an awful mood on, and everything is going Kate s way, too. Talk about putting it on the Seniors!" She laughed, gleefully. "Helen Calkins is so sore that she wants to withdraw, and the six won t let her. They are scurrying around canvassing this afternoon." But even that information did not bring a smile from Peter. "I m going to the Library," she said. The Library and unheard-of volumes were Peter s recourse from a depressed state of mind. In the evening Kate Monroe was the center of a congratulatory crowd that blocked the corridor in front of the Roble parlors, and scattered down the [101] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN stairway in groups of two and three. She had been elected by a large majority, and the applause on the reading of the returns had been deafening. Peter stood near her, hesitatingly. One by one the Sophomores left for the top floor and Room 45. Kate Monroe, on seeing Peter, turned to her gratefully, but Frances Jones stepped in ahead of her. "Let me congratulate you Sophs on the way you have put it on us Seniors in the election." Her voice was distinct and scornful. Peter merely shrugged her shoulders and turned away. "What did you mean by that, Frances?" a curious voice asked. Kate hesitated, and listened to the response. With it all the brightness left her face. "Peter and the Sophs have a spite against Helen Calkins, so they chose an inconspicuous Frances stopped, embarrassed, as she caught sight of Kate s drawn face. It was the reserved, cold Kate Monroe, ignored for three years in the Hall, who slipped hurriedly out of the crowd and hastened toward her room. She was sobbing before she reached the door. Up in Room 45 the Sophomores were again packed in like sardines. A table, swept of books and papers, was covered with plates of "eats." Three channg- [ 102] THE ARROGANCE OF THE SECOND TEAR dishes of creamed chicken were steaming on another, borrowed for the occasion. Edna Blythe was sitting on the floor, with piles of Roble china and two boxes of crackers in front of her, ready to slip a cracker on a plate and pass it up to the cooks. A coffee-pot was humming away on the bureau. "Everything is ready," one of the cooks an nounced. "Pass up the dishes, Edna, we re tired of jubilating over the Seniors poor use of our time, with all the eats over there." "Wait a minute, Peter hasn t come yet," some one remonstrated. "She s had a half-hour to congratulate Kate Monroe in that ought to be enough." The cook had become irritable. The other two were enjoying scrapings from the edges of their chafing-dishes and made no remarks. "Put in some more milk and be cheerful," Edna admonished. "Somebody do a stunt to keep the party amused; we re saving the speeches and the hurrahs till Peter comes." A subdued shout of laughter greeted Kathleen Knight as she rose and made her bow. Kathleen had always been considered timid. "A take-off on the solemn six after the election," she announced. [ 103] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN The room was convulsed. "Give the yell," some one called out. It was given with enthusiasm. "Say, girls," Dorothy Howard drawled, "I heard Frances Jones call us darned impertinent Sophs. I asked her in the gentlest way possible whether she had at that moment an overwhelming desire to be a man with the privilege of profanity. She only grunted, and headed toward Peter in the crush." "Peter s tiny you ought to have protected her." There was a whispered conspiracy for a moment. Then a demand came in concert, "We want eats." The cook put down the milk pitcher which she had just raised, and looked inquiringly at Edna. The latter gazed around at the restless throng. "No use waiting for Peter. I guess she s got one of her moods on, so there s no telling when she ll turn up. Here you go," as she passed up the first plate. A murmur of approval went the rounds. Meanwhile, Peter had crept into Kate Monroe s room and put her hand gently on the huddled form on the couch. "Poor, poor Kate." The lump in Peter s throat kept her from saying anything more. Kate sat up and dashed the tell-tale tears from her cheeks. "It s pretty late to be pitying me, don t you think, Miss Sears? There s no use in my trying to understand college. My old life was the only [ 104] genuine one the hills and my books. I ve had my experience and and," she hesitated, "well, that s enough." There was a resigned bitterness in her voice. Peter took the inert hand dumbly. A slow tear rolled unheeded down her cheek. "And I thought," the other continued, slowly, with a slight quiver in her voice, "that I had found a genuine friend in you. And I was so surprised and happy over the friendliness of the girls. I have never been so content here as in the last two days. I told myself over and over again how precious sym pathy was. And after that " Then Peter unburdened her conscience-stricken mind; told her from the beginning to the end; wept out her story of mental anguish, and insisted again and again upon the admiration of all the girls for her. "I was the only girl that wasn t true at first, and I led the Sophomores into it but now, now it s all different. You don t know how I respect you I d rather have your friendship than any one else s here. O Kate, you are too dandy to draw back into your shell, and why, I have never seen the girls become so suddenly and genuinely fond of any one. They didn t realize it sooner, because you were so non-assertive. Can t you forget the beginning NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN only remember the end*? And oh, Kate, I never did such a thing in my life before, and I feel won t you forgive me?" Room 45 was suddenly hushed as the door knob turned. Dread of a possible authoritative in terference changed to astonishment as Peter slowly walked in, followed by Kate Monroe. There were traces of tears on both faces. Peter s unusual emo tion was ill-concealed. "Girls, we are not celebrating the defeat of the Seniors!" her voice vibrated as she spoke, and she put her arm around Kate Monroe, "but the election of one of the finest, dandiest girls the Hall has known." There was a moment of tense silence, and then the room, regardless of rules and week-night decorum, cheered long and enthusiastically. [106] Dofynston an6 tfyc Seminar MISS JOHNSTON AND THE SEMINAR SYSTEM Marion and Elizabeth were looking for Miss Johnston. They had searched the Library from the galleries to the basement, every secluded nook where the pelican variety loves to dig in secret all of Miss Johnston s haunts, as Elizabeth put it, with her fascinating drawl and Miss Johnston had not been forthcoming. Marion was anxious. She had prom ised the other occupants of the back row in Botany 16 that she would look her up, and in Elizabeth s case especially she felt there was urgent necessity. Besides being from the East and a Botany major, Miss Johnston had a "pull with the Prof." She was one of those students who have more friends among the faculty than among the undergraduates, and in view of the coming "ex," though, as Elizabeth ad mitted, it was cheeky to ask her, Miss Johnston had been picked as the sacrifice to atone for the shortcomings of the back row in Botany 16. Finally, with a gleam of Sherlockian intelligence, Marion suggested that they wander around to the Y. W. C. A. meeting. "She must be here some place," she added, "because that looks like her [ 109] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN bicycle out there by the balustrade, the one with the elaborate book-carrying appliance on front." "I m glad you said wander, " Elizabeth mur mured, appreciatively: "that s about my speed limit." The fact that they were incautious in approaching the open door of the chapel, and were compelled by decency to enter, was lost sight of as Miss Johnston was discovered on the other side of the room. Marion kept an eye on her during the prayer, after which a sweet old lady with the face of a saint ad dressed the meeting, telling in her quaint, old- fashioned way her religious experiences as a girl. With a soul for atmosphere, the dreamy Marion fell in love with her at once, and was soon lost in follow ing her back down the years into the far-distant golden youth, which always hangs as a halo about the aged. And in the lesser light of the late after noon, Elizabeth s wide eyes assumed an expression almost of piety. Their rare presence had created an impression, and after the meeting, as they carelessly approached Miss Johnston, with an art known only to experi enced rushers, their victim, in a shy way, was so glad to see them and wanted to know why they didn t come oftener. [HO] MISS JOHNSTON and the SEMINAR STSfEM "I ve always had lab before at this hour," Marion explained, mercilessly leaving Elizabeth in the lurch. "Isn t it frightful to have one s after noons taken up 4 ? You can t go anywhere." "Well, I never work in the evening, so I don t mind much," Miss Johnston put in, weakly. "Of course, there is that side of it, too," Marion laughed frankly; "sometimes I really wish I were a science major." Miss Johnston beamed with departmental pride. "You ought to change. There s nothing like it." Marion fell back a little. "I m afraid I m too lazy. I have a perversion for lecture courses." By this time they had reached the door, and when the end of the Quad was neared, the subject of Botany 16 had been carefully led up to. "It s very inclusive," Miss Johnston said, appre ciatively, "really a summary of all Botany, and Professor Jones handles it in such a masterful way." "That s the trouble," sadly murmured Elizabeth, who had kept in the background. "You see, we haven t had any Botany before," Marion explained, "the names alone simply stagger us." She glanced at Elizabeth. "I suppose we might as well own up that we heard it was an awful pipe last semester, and so we took it. We ve been NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN to every lecture, but we can t even take notes intel ligently and we re simply appalled before that examination." Miss Johnston seemed affected. "Have you the book 1 ?" she asked. "Well, we re going to get it on our way home. You see, we haven t done anything yet." There was a pause. Marion coughed. "We wondered if you would mind going over some of it with us. If it wouldn t be too much trouble for you, it would be an awful help." Elizabeth looked at her appealingly. "I know I m not going to pass it and I need the hour to graduate." Miss Johnston was reluctant. She dreaded any innovation on the even routine of her carefully scheduled existence. But they were such pleasant girls in the end, she said she would be glad to do it if she really could help them. Elizabeth almost fell into her arms, and her sigh of relief was beautiful to hear. "Tomorrow night at the house?" Marion ques tioned. "You had better stay all night, as it is so hard to get back to Palo Alto then." Miss Johnston hesitated. "To be out at night!" MISS JOHNSTON and the SEMINAR STSfEM A sort of frightened feeling stole over her. Yet what could she do but accept in the end"? Elizabeth in absolute joy raced homeward along the deserted Quad, Marion following after. At the post-office, in the midst of the crowd which lined up for the five-thirty mail, they saw Sam. "We ve got her," Elizabeth almost shouted, un mindful of appearances, "for tomorrow." The seminar had assembled and was waiting. The victims of the examination system there repre sented were all confirmed converts to the seminar habit, which substitutes one hard, quick cram for the process of daily absorption. They were gathered around the long, white oilcloth-covered table in the Lambda Eta kitchen, which the Lambda Eta cook boasted was the neatest kitchen on the campus, with its white-painted woodwork, its model French range, and its long, high sink under the windows. At any rate, it was the favorite seminar place of the house and was signed up for far ahead in examination week. The fire in the range warmed the room pleasantly, and kept at a simmering heat a huge coffee-pot. On the long sink were piles of shining plates and silver. Marion, with a head for the system of the thing, sat at the end of the table, her elbows firmly planted AW INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN upon it. Collecting the syllabus with a decisive shuffle, she began to read from the first page. Eliza beth, her head bent down at a most attractive angle, was industriously beginning to cover a huge sheet of paper with very fine notes. Marion had once indi cated to her in no veiled fashion the telegraphic re semblance in the uninterrupted connection between her sense of hearing and the point of her foun tain-pen. Margaret Sears was chewing the end of her pencil and gazing at the ceiling, her features puckered in an effort at concentration which dis regarded appearances. At the other end of the paper-littered table, Willy Saunders elaborately fashioned a pencil point. He was handsome almost to a degree of wickedness, and carried around with him a most exasperating air of careless indifference; at least, exasperating to Marion, who, though half fascinated herself, guessed his true value. But he was a member of the "back row," and so had been asked. Sam was posted on the front porch to steer Miss Johnston clear of the English Club, which was meeting in the front rooms, whence came a confused murmur of animated conversation. His task be came a doubly difficult one when Miss Johnston and the speaker of the evening arrived in the same bus. [114] MISS JOHNSTON and the SEMINAR STSfEM The senior s hair almost stood on end as he recog nized that it would be his duty to single out Miss Johnston, suit-case and all, without explanation to her companion. As he introduced himself and pulled her aside just in time to avoid the wide front door which was held open, the expression of amaze ment on Miss Johnston s face grew to one almost of terror; and, if the busman had not driven away im mediately, she would probably have returned, rather than have risked walking around to the back door in the dark with a strange student. However, when Sam had helped her up the back steps, where she stumbled blindly, she was greeted effusively by the girls and by Willy Saunders in his most polite manner. The suit case was pushed be hind the stove, an extra chair was brought from the dining-room, and the seminar settled down to earnest effort. The first lecture proved rather tractable, as it was almost entirely introductory. Saunders congratu lated himself proudly as he answered Marion s challenging question on the definition of Botany. "Hold on," called Sam, "the old man hasn t asked a question on the introduction for the last five years, and here are the : ex papers to prove it." Trium phantly he pulled a bundle of much-handled type- [115] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN written sheets from his pocket. They were snatched at with exaggerated eagerness and passed around the table. Miss Johnston stared. Such methods and such language were beyond her comprehension. Willy, in mock humility, almost crawled under the table, and Marion sternly brought things to order by beginning on lecture two. "Always asks about the constituents of proto plasm," interrupted Sam, and all listened respect fully while Miss Johnston gave the correct list for them to write down. A description of the simplest forms of life required explanation, Elizabeth insist ing in her positive manner that a slime-mole can breathe, while it exhausted all the resources of the rest to convince her that it cannot in the way she meant. A compromise was effected by Miss John ston, and the excitement had subsided, when a dele gate from the English Club ventured a head inside the door and requested less noise. In the hush that followed they could hear the steady, deep boom of the speaker s voice, mingled with the giggles of the Lambda Etas listening on the back stairs. "What s he talking about?" "Reading an original poem, and you re making an awful noise." The delegate closed the door. [116] MISS JOHNSTON and the SEMINAR STS^fEM In a whisper Miss Johnston was asked to explain how plants first progressed from water to land. The subject was then discussed at length all around the table, especially with reference to what one should write on an examination paper. "Higher forms of the green algse," repeated Saunders; "that sounds good. I ll remember that." His list of things to remember was growing gradu ally, and it was he who finally suggested that they go over the former examination questions, one by one, and draw up a passable answer to each. The table exchanged glances, and, deciding that it would hardly be a loss of time, the plan was followed. Miss Johnston led in the discussions, the rest added from their notes and the syllabus, and Saunders care fully jotted down the result. As the same questions occurred rather systematically, Marion figured that he stood a fair chance of getting at least two-thirds of them. It was toward the end of the last set that a muffled outburst of applause from the other part of the house warned them that the English Club was about to break up. "I guess an intermission is in order now," giggled Elizabeth. "After Dr. Robinson s vote of thanks, [117] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN the -howling mob will be out here. Don t any one skip for good, though," she added. Sam and Marion, swiftly gathering their papers, vanished into the dining-room, unwilling to be caught by their more dutiful fellow-members who had attended. Saunders retreated as far as the pantry, while Elizabeth and Margaret swept stray papers to a place of safety. Voices and footsteps were heard approaching, and in a moment the door burst open, letting in the mem bers of the refreshment committee, followed by a host of helpers, whose ranks were augmented by couples returning from the Library. Two huge freezers were hauled in from the back porch, and, before Willy could object, Elizabeth had singled him out from among the stragglers, presented him with a white apron, and set him at work over one of the cold, wet cans, mining spoonfuls of chocolate ice cream. He grinned sheepishly as the other men gathered around, waiting with huge trays of white plates, and urging him to "get a hustle on." As rapidly as he managed to fill them up, the trays were hurried off to the front rooms, amidst the rattle of dishes and noisy conversation. They were followed by supplies of cake. Sam, peering from the dining- room door, announced to Marion that Willy was [us] MISS JOHNSTON and the SEMINAR STSfEM doing his first good day s work. At any rate, when the latter finally straightened up from his labors, he heaved a sigh of relief and sank into a chair. The long table was then cluttered with innumer able coffee cups, which Margaret and Elizabeth filled from the big pot and sent close upon the trail of the ice-cream, the last of which Sam had enviously watched disappear. He and Marion did not venture out until the last of the noisy assistants had van ished. They remembered Miss Johnston with a guilty conscience. She was sitting in the same place, her hands folded in her lap and her bewildered eyes taking in everything. Marion was truly sorry and helped her bountifully when refreshments were or dered for the "kitchen," as a reward for their labors and in appreciation of the generous orders of the English Club. Free from the restraint of the gather ing in the other room, the occupants of the kitchen devoured ice-cream and cake in copious quantities. In the storm of returning plates the "Have-one-on- me" inner society of the English Club came out and took possession of the pantry for a meeting, whence came at intervals shouts of laughter and hilarious bits of conversation. It was eleven-thirty before the order of the sem inar was restored, and then Saunders, whose good NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN humor had returned, carefully pocketing the results of his evening s work, announced that he was much obliged but would have to go as he had another seminar to attend before retiring. The rest gathered more closely around the table, and though other seminars from up-stairs came down and pestered them for coffee, for the next half hour Sam held Miss Johnston s supreme attention, diving into the whys and wherefores of plant evolution. Perched on the edge of his chair, one hand ruffling his disordered hair and the other punctuating, with a jab of the pencil, the points which he made from time to time, he inquired into relations and causes with an intentness that flushed Miss Johnston s cheeks with excitement and kept her mind responding at its high est tension. Marion looked at her and wondered. In this intellectual encounter her eyes shone and she held her own. She forgot her usual shyness, and the pleasure in her face gave it a look almost of pretti- ness. The heights of thinking which she revealed made the other girl wince, and her wonderful ap preciation of the immense grandeur of the slow evo lutionary process which the lectures set forth was almost reverent. In the end Sam was talking for the pure love of the argument. Elizabeth gazed in a dazed manner, watching Sam in a sort of bewilder- [120] MISS JOHNSTON and the SEMINAR STSfEM ment at Miss Johnston s momentary triumph. Mar garet was following closely, taking notes. At twelve, Elizabeth tiptoed through the hall and cautiously let Sam out the front door. When she returned, Margaret had gathered together her notes, and commenting on Marion s thoughtfulness in ask ing her to stay all night, said she would retire to dream of algee and pteridophytes and take her chances in the morning. In the kitchen there was no sound save the ticking of the alarm clock on the wall and the drip of water in the sink, while Marion was engaged in pouring another round of coffee. It seemed to revive at least two of the company wonderfully. Elizabeth de clared she wasn t sleepy at all, and Miss Johnston, both excited and stimulated, refused to go to bed until they did. A sense of profound quiet and secur ity reigned, and Elizabeth vowed that if she ever was going to learn anything, now was the time. "I have such a jumble of things in my head though." She looked at her voluminous notes help lessly. "I can t seem to make head or tail of any thing. Oh, why didn t I stick to the French depart ment," she wailed, and her grief was distressing. Marion regarded her meditatively. "I wish you had," almost rose to her lips, but she shut them [121] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN firmly. Marion was tired and her temper had almost got the better of her. Why, she wondered, was Eliza beth so adorably stupid. Anyone should have been able to grasp the important points long ago. As it was, she merely said patiently, "We ll begin at the beginning and Miss Johnston will explain as we go along." The latter smiled encouragingly and Marion took heart. Gradually they re-covered the ground, Marion carefully pointing out the important things, and Elizabeth slowly and with difficulty clearing her mind of erroneous impressions. When a great light did dawn on the subject, and she per ceived the difference between an archegonium and an antheridium, she rejoiced triumphantly and they stopped for another round of coffee. At two, however, Elizabeth had become entangled again. The undemonstrative Marion laid her head on the table and wept tears of vexation. She was mentally exhausted by the effort of persuading Eliza beth to concentrated thinking. In a moment Eliza beth s head was down beside hers, her tears were dried, and Elizabeth was begging her to give it up and not mind about her flunking. Marion refused stoutly. "Not when we re going to graduate to gether," she sobbed. Miss Johnston came to the relief. Tactfully [ 122] MISS JOHNSTON and the SEMINAR STSfEM she suggested that she read from "Jones s Manual," in order to impart a final clear impression. For an hour Miss Johnston s voice droned on evenly, the monotony broken only by the recurrence of the long botanical names, or when Elizabeth looked up to ask a question. Then they discussed again and Marion herself became involved over the identification of the macrospore in the gymnosperms. Miss Johnston drew diagrams, and Marion called nondescript dots and circles by most unscientific names. Books, pencils, and papers were piled to gether to form rough models, and when it was set tled there were dark circles under Miss Johnston s eyes. Still she would not admit being tired. In fact, she was very happy, and just then an endless seminar with Marion and Elizabeth would have seemed very pleasant. The intimacy at which they had arrived by three-thirty was as charming as it was novel to Miss Johnston. They had all laughed at Elizabeth s sigh of relief as she grasped a point, and then the latter had held her hand and called her "a perfect peach," while Marion blessed her inwardly. It was after four when the older girl finally re lented and creeping stealthily up-stairs returned with an armful of comforters. In a matter-of-fact manner [ 123] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN at which Miss Johnston was appalled, she remarked that they might as well bunk in on the couches in the other room and save the trouble of going to bed. Huddled up among the pillows on one of the Lambda Eta divans, Miss Johnston closed her eyes in a vain endeavor to sleep. A vague feeling of ela tion at having been most extraordinarily reckless made her heart beat faster than it ought to. It was all right except that there was a tightening between her brows that forbode a splitting headache, and her mind kept reiterating the words, "coffee," "seminar," "Marion," "Elizabeth," "Jones," "old man." Turn as she might, she could think of nothing else, and there was somehow a strange uncomfortableness about sleeping in one s clothes. Again she won dered what her friends would say if they knew, and a shiver of horror stole over her. Slowly the time passed until a gray light filtered in through the east windov/s, and there was the rattle of a key in the back door, followed by heavy steps in the kitchen. Miss Johnston sat up in terror, but Marion called over that it was only the cook coming in to get breakfast. As she lay down again Miss Johnston felt her head throb excruciatingly, and so decided to occupy one of the large armchairs until breakfast should be ready. The other two joined MISS JOHNSTON and the SEMINAR STSfEM her soon, and when the early risers came down from above they found the trio crouched about a fire in the grate. Marion and Elizabeth were memorizing lists of genera and species and Miss Johnston was holding her head thoughtfully. The looks of her surprised sisters were evaded by the older girl until she could no longer stand it, and then Elizabeth caught the drift of a severe lecture from the adjoining room, and Marion s remon strance, "Well, I only did it for Elizabeth." She looked at Miss Johnston, who smiled heroically. The propensities of the Lambda Etas toward late rising and the disposition of the cook, had reduced breakfast there to a very simple affair. The sight of more coffee filled Miss Johnston with qualms of apprehension, but she tried to eat a few mouthfuls of toast. At eight o clock Miss Johnston s suitcase was rescued from behind the kitchen stove, where it had been put the night before; the girls refilled their fountain pens and searched the house for "ex" blanks. The walk down the row was made in silence, but to Miss Johnston it seemed as though she were in the midst of a triumphant procession she had attended an all-night seminar. During the examination, the back row wrote furi ously and with satisfied certainty all except NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN Marion. She was seeing blank spaces where she had no reason to expect them, and her mind worked with disconcerting slowness. At first, she had been concerned only for Elizabeth, but a glance at the questions showed her that Professor Jones, with his usual conservatism, had limited himself to the ques tions issued in former years. Not one of them but had seen at least two "ex" seasons. "Even Eliza beth," Marion sighed, "ought to pass easily." Relieved of this anxiety, she began to write, but the answers which she knew so well somehow be came horribly entangled. Things danced before her eyes, and when she wrote, it was the wrong word and not the one she had intended. Was it red or green algse that grew so large 4 ? She tried to remem ber some that she had seen at the seashore last sum mer. She found herself imagining that they were pink and purple. "Pink or purple? " she wondered, and then she didn t care which. It was all right as long as Elizabeth knew. She looked up dizzily and wondered what Miss Johnston was doing. There in tb front row, her hat was a hazy blur of red before Marion s eyes. She imagined that Miss Johnston was not writing but sat leaning her head on her hand. "I wonder how she feels ? " thought Marion, and gripped the MISS JOHNSTON and the SEMINAR STS^EM arm of her own chair in order to maintain her sense of equilibrium. Presently Miss Johnston rose un steadily. She walked to the front of the room and laid her paper on the desk, evading the surprised look of Professor Jones. Marion gazed after her as she groped almost blindly for the door. Then with slow deliberation she rose, handed in her own paper, and followed Miss Johnston. She found the latter in the hall, pale and almost in tears. "What will Professor Jones think 4 ? " she said. "What will he think, and how can I ever explain 4 ? " Marion tried to comfort her. "Do you feel very badly 4 ? " she asked. "Everything is going around," was the bewildered reply. "I don t know what it is. I I think I ll go home. He ll never have the same opinion of me again," she added. "He ll give you another chance," Marion assured her. "I d be too ashamed to ask him," wailed Miss Johnston. "I never would." "He ll give you one anyway," said Marion. "He knows you do good work. I only hoped you d put in a word for me." [127] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN "Did you" Miss Johnston choked at the word "did you f flunk, too? " Marion nodded mournfully. Miss Johnston looked sympathetic, but she could not suppress her own mortification. "It s the first time," she moaned, "I ve always had A before. I never and I never stayed up all night before," she finished, pressing her hand against her forehead. Just then Elizabeth burst forth from the class room joyously, and caught Miss Johnston by the arm. Her eyes were dancing with laughter. "I m so happy," she cried. "I answered every one, and I know I drew a B at least. And it s all on account of you two you were perfectly dandy to do it." Miss Johnston tried to smile, but Marion re garded her friend wearily. "Elizabeth," she said, "I hope you will be very careful of that diploma of yours." [128] to~plato DEDICATE TO PLATO From the north window of Mrs. King s comfort able dining-room, the bright-sanded crescent of Half Moon Bay and the blue of the ocean were clearly discernible below the range upon range of thick- wooded foothills that slope gently down to the Coast. Away off, as far as the eye could see, the Farallones showed themselves in the clear November air two dark dots on the horizon. Miss Howard, gazing out dreamily past Jim McNear s head, knew that it was the last time she should see it all for a very long time. She had en joyed her many trips to this odd mountain house more than any other outings during her three years at the University the air was so fine and clear, the view of the ocean so satisfying, after being shut in for weeks down there in the valley, and the beauty of the many walks through the woods offered a com bination of sea and forest that was delightful. "I m so glad you brought me here," she exclaimed impulsively. Even the simple, homely room they were in had become suddenly attractive to her. A rousing fire crackled pleasantly in the little iron stove at one [131] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN side. Over in the corner a second table, only brought into service for the overflow of guests who drive up during the week-end, had been pushed back against the wall. It was in use now as a sewing- table, and gay bits of patchwork and a sewing-basket were its chief ornaments. A parrot in a huge cage just inside the kitchen door broke in every now and then with a torrent of volubility or launched forth upon the solemn chanting of the Litany in a way that was irresistibly droll. Miss Howard s mood was satis fied absolutely with the atmosphere of it all. "You re really glad 4 ? " McNear queried in a pleased voice. "Well, I shan t be if you don t eat something. You ought to be famished after this long drive and your week at the Guild," he fin ished laughingly. "It was rather prosaic. But see here, you aren t doing your share either." McNear looked down at his plate and made a wry face. In spite of the medley of tempting aromas from one of Mrs. King s inimitable dinners, he had conscientiously helped himself only to such things as the training table at the Inn would have offered him. "One of the sacrifices of a football man," he ex plained with a mock-heroic gesture at his plate. [ DEDICATE TO PLATO Miss Howard s face assumed an exaggerated pity. "In my present frame of mind and appetite," she assured him, "I could imagine a no more difficult one to live up to. You see what a poor hospital subject I am! " she added challengingly, though the peaked look of her face belied her. The first thing that impressed you about Frances Howard was the extreme fragileness of her physique. The girls at Madrona spoke of her as "the piece of Dresden," and nothing had ever described her more accurately. Her slight, oval face, with its deli cacy of contour and feature, was strangely in har mony with her slender figure. Something about the slightly accentuated cheek bones and the way her dark hair grew down softly about her temples gave her an indefinable charm and distinction. Her brown eyes had a kindly, misty sort of way of look ing at you, that would have added the last touch to the spiritual impression of her personality, had it not been for the merry lights that danced behind them when she was amused, and the charming piquancy of expression that never left her features a moment in repose. Miss Howard s home town was over on the At lantic seaboard, in the south of Maryland, and she had been dropped off at Stanford just three years [ 133] INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN before as her family went through from a summer in Santa Barbara. She had come to love the free, open-hearted life of the West as only an Eastern- bred girl can, and her family, watching the added vigour with which she came home to them each sum mer, were glad to let her return. There was a quizzical look on Miss Howard s face as she glanced up at McNear. "I don t see why they are shipping me off home," she protested rue fully. "To get down to Florida and come north with the spring, sounds very poetic, no doubt, but it is a wretched inconvenience just the same." "Let s not talk about that today, Frances," he said quietly. "Sunday will be here soon enough." "Procrastinating again"? " Miss Howard tossed her head with a bantering air, and McNear winced, in spite of the playfulness in her voice, as he was reminded of the proverbial characteristic with which the college world coupled his name. He went back over his three years in the University. He had "made" all the easy honours in the way of organiza tions, he had queened with an enthusiasm as effec tive as it was varied, and he had just missed the things he most wanted in those three years. McNear looked across at Miss Howard. She was the only one who had ever held him down to any- [134] thing, but then, her regime had only begun with the last spring semester. There had followed an inter mittent summer correspondence, to hold the loose ends of their chumminess together, and then he had come back to these fall days of drudgery on the foot ball squad, with Frances a faithful task-master on the bleachers. Three years McNear had fought it out on the second team, and three years his care free, procrastinating attitude had seen him beaten by a man who was better than he a deciding degree better. But he had his hand on it for a certainty this season. Frances s uncompromising severity had driven him to a faithfulness and interest in practice that Stuart, the coach, had never believed him capa ble of. Besides, with Billy Duncan the only other man playing him for the position, the odds were all in his favour. Duncan s handicap this season was threefold, a drain on his time through instructing in Chemistry, the expenditure of four good hours a day waiting upon table at Madrona, and perhaps, most taxing of all, his struggle to keep up with the requirements of the Scholarship Committee. There was a far-away look in McNear s eyes as he gazed musingly at Miss Howard. He wondered if she realized that he was hazarding all that those two months of unprecedented faithfulness promised him. NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN Four days from now and Frances would be gone! After all, it was only a very little risk he was taking he was almost ashamed to have thought of it. His absence at the training table was being ac counted for even now by one of the fellows, while he and Frances sat there fifteen miles away from the Campus. And he would be back for the last practice at 4:30! Miss Howard, who had been watching McNear intently for the last few minutes, pushed her chair from the table and walked to the door. "Come out on the porch when you have finished your brown study," she called to him banteringly over her shoulder, "and I ll try to be more enter taining." McNear collected himself with a start, thrust the last vestige of maudlin self-reproach in the back ground and followed her. She was sitting on the low bench that runs the length of the porch, and the overgrown Spaniel pup from the stable sprawled at her feet, pulling play fully at her shoe laces. Miss Howard laughed as she rolled him over with one foot. "First time I met him," she said, "he was a little bit of a fellow, and he had followed us half-way down the mountain before we discovered him. We were going home by DEDICATE ?() PLATO the ridge road," she explained, "and after we got down in the valley poor Mr. Duncan had to bring the little beast all the way back to Tripp s. Of course we were late for dinner, and in Mr. Duncan s case an explanation was embarrassing. Queening from a woman-hater would have been fatal, and the restoration of a lost dog that he would never have lived down." McNear, who did not like the man, showed it plainly in his face as he ventured disagreeably, "Rather marked attention, isn t it, when a chronic woman-hater gets to queening"? " Miss Howard smiled. "Not at all," she corrected him, "just the best vindication in the world of despised old Plato. He s a good disciple Billy." McNear shrugged his shoulders in a way that was meant to imply a lack of interest or skepticism, Miss Howard could not tell which. As a matter of fact he had a prejudice against Duncan as deep-rooted as it was unreasonable, which harked back to some trivial difference of their Sophomore days. His knowledge of Miss Howard s friendship for the man had fanned a dislike into something like real enmity. Not the least part of his satisfaction over his football prospects lay in the fact that it was Duncan whom he had outclassed for the place. [ 137] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN The shrug of the shoulders was lost on Miss How ard, who was looking out over the porch railing at the distant water. She had started a topic of con versation that interested her, and she evidently meant to continue it. "That was one of the best days I ever had in col lege," she murmured dreamily. "Did you ever go home that way"? Not many people know about it sort of a discovery of Billy s, I imagine. You start out the ridge toward the caves and then turn back and strike a private road that winds in and out down the mountain. I wish we could go home that way ! It s really shorter, and I think I could find the road." McNear reminded her abruptly that he was due back at practice at 4 130, and it would be taking too great a risk. "Oh! of course," Miss Howard agreed, "it would be a risk. And besides," she added whimsically, "I should like to leave that drive isolated just as it is marked, Dedicate to Plato, say, and stowed away among life s proud reminiscences. It s good to have them to haul out now and then, you know, when one s self-esteem needs a tonic." "You have had too much popularity to be im pressed by the conquest of a man merely because he [138] DEDICATE rO PLATO is a conquest, Frances." There was an impatient note in McNear s voice and some chagrin. "Now you know it isn t that," she protested. "You don t realize what he has done all alone, too." McNear looked up at her suspiciously, but her expression was disarming. "I didn t know about it myself," she went on, "until Sue and Miss Williams came out from Texas last fall. When they walked into the dining-room at luncheon and saw Billy there, they couldn t believe their eyes and he, poor fellow, was fussed to death. Then they told me the whole thing. Mr. Duncan, Sr., doesn t believe in the indispensability of a university career, and when Billy came home to Texas from Prep school, his father wanted to put him out on the range. Billy balked, picked up and came West to make his own way through college. It was a pretty gritty thing to be doing, and emotional Sue almost shed tears over him, then and there, in her admiration for his noble spirit. I think it was because I saved him a scene that he has favoured me ever since. Of course, his heroic conduct was reported with side-lights and embellishments when Sue and Miss Williams got back, and Mr. Duncan rose to the occasion finely. Billy was put on an allowance and urged to come home for the next holidays. He sent back the [ 139] INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN allowance and wrote that he could not afford a trip home. Then he stayed on and worked it out to his own satisfaction. By that time he had been made an assistant in the Lab, and he was saving enough, well, to take me driving now and then," she finished laughingly. McNear was interested in spite of himself. The fact that he had outplayed Duncan for his position did not give him as much satisfaction as before. And Duncan, fighting all that, had made the team twice already, while he but that was before Frances Howard got him down to business. "I don t see why he didn t choose something else besides waiting on table for a lot of girls. He s clever enough to hold down three or four jobs in the assistant line." McNear, inquiring curiously into the mental processes whereby a woman-hater chose a girls dormitory table as the scene of his daily strug gle for existence, was unconscious of the commen dation in his voice. "Oh, that s the zest of it all," she cried, "the human interest. Madrona dining-room s full of it; Billy declares it s his only diversion in life. He can look on from a distance, as it were, and make a general survey of the genus femmeum." "He doesn t seem satisfied with that," McNear [ HO] DEDICATE TO PLATO observed shortly, in a tone which carried the caustic inference that particularizing in Miss Howard s direction was stepping on some one s else preserves. Miss Howard ignored the inference and went on enthusiastically. "He quite thawed out the day we drove home by the caves." She was looking out in a reminiscent way along the narrow trail, just wide enough for a rig, which starts up the steep hill at the side of the barn. "Usually he is so utterly im personal and far off," she volunteered. "Even a very little confidence seems a great deal and well, it makes me proud that he approves of me." There was a frank note of pleasure in her voice as she finished. McNear, glancing critically at her face, pulled out his watch. "Two o clock," he said shortly, "and if we are going home by the ridge road, we d better be starting. I ll see to the horses now." Oh, I though you were afraid it might be ven turesome ! And besides, I m not sure that I care to go that way either." But there was an amused smile in her eyes as she watched him stomp over to the stable to help harness the pintos. And she had kept the conversation off herself! The pursuit of fire-trails and short cuts that were to lead to the beaten road had become devious and NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN bewildering. McNear, fortified with an unquestion ing faith, bred of the conviction that Miss Howard, having covered the ground before under such mem orable circumstances, was a competent guide, scraped the newly painted runabout through impossible places and drove deeper and deeper into the woods. "There ought to be little white bits of cloth tied to the trees here and there. There were when Mr. Duncan and " McNear, with exaggerated interest, broke in to assure her that the storms last winter had been un usually severe and any landmarks would have surely been swept away. Then the uneven trail they were threading dipped down precipitously onto a wide, well-made road, and Miss Howard, who had judiciously climbed out while the last alarming bit of the descent was made, running along eagerly to the nearest turn, proclaimed it the very road of delectation which she had traveled before. With a movement of restrained impatience, her companion pulled out his watch and looked at it. "It is three-thirty," he said simply. "I hope you are right." There was a grieved look on Miss Howard s face as she took her seat in the rig again, but she said nothing. DEDICATE TO PLATO In and out around endless mountain turns they wound. "Seems to me we re on the wrong side of the range," McNear ventured once nervously, as a clearing at a horse-shoe opened up an unfamiliar area of field and farmhouse in the valley below. "We ought to be getting down quicker than this, too. It s a pretty short descent on the east side." Miss Howard, looking about her, felt a vague uneasiness, but she said aloud, "I think the road does wind in and out on the ocean side quite a way and then goes through a gap or something to the other side." The man could not resist a smile of amusement at the indefiniteness of the remark as he muttered some thing about being "a duffer of a woodsman any how," and "no doubt she was quite right." With a side glance at McNear, Miss Howard settled her self back more comfortably in the seat. When he smiled like that she was content to have the road wind on indefinitely. He was a "ne er do weel" to a degree, to be sure; that is, he would have been if she had not taken him in hand. And yet all the things she liked best in him were inherent. She was not detracting from his glory she was simply hold ing him up to his best. [143] INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN Suddenly McNear brought the horses to a stop. "My Lord, Frances, look at that!" he cried excitedly standing up in the rig. Miss Howard gazed be wildered at the white sign-post, its letters blurring before her in the early dusk, "To the Coast. Pes- cadero, 8 miles." The expression on McNear s face restrained the commonplaces of self-blame that rose to the girl s lips. "Lord, girl ! I ve lost the team," he said brokenly, "lost it the last chance and it s gone." "What do you mean 1 ? You can explain. I ll tell Mr. Stuart myself that we got lost in the hills and couldn t get back." There was a touch of bitterness in McNear s laugh, until he caught the distressed flush in the girl s cheeks and the threatening tears. She had spoiled his Senior year for him and she knew it. The importance of a last Varsity practice going on thirty miles or more away, down in the football - mad, excited country of the cardinal, meant nothing to him for the moment. He was sitting beside Frances Howard with that formidable road-sign staring him mockingly in the face, and he was telling her plainly, more plainly perhaps than he had [ 144] DEDICATE fO PLA?0 thought he dared before she left, just why he had taken the risk. And Frances, weeping softly, protested that she was not certain of herself at all, and he must say nothing more. She had been warding off just such a scene as this for the last month, and now she had unwittingly brought it down on herself at a crucial moment, with all the influence of sympathy and self-reproach to make it harder. She would write him from home and no, there was no ofte else. This was all that McNear could get from her, and he had to be content. An eight-mile drive to Pescadero and they were started back safely along a well-travelled county road, with McNear urging the pintos to their limit. The air was getting chill, and Miss Howard s wraps were light. He took off his jersey and gave it to her, "I wanted to give you one with an S, " he said gloomily as he put it around her shoulders. He could have bitten his tongue off the next moment for the remark. "Frances, you know I wouldn t care about a thousand S s if only " but the girl stopped him, and a moody silence settled down on them. Mile after mile they drove along through the chill night air, over the summit of the last ridge between [45] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN the coast and the valley, down along the lake drive and on past Woodside. The road was as bright as day in the moonlight. "Do you know what s happening now at the Rally? " McNear pulled out his watch. "Eight- thirty," he commented. The band is playing Old Colonial. Encina s coming in! Gee! can t you imagine it all ? Here comes the team ! Everybody on their feet and the yell leaders are keeping them cheering like mad. Stuart and Powers and, yes, Duncan, of course." McNear had himself well in control. There was an absence of bitterness in his voice that made it almost pathetic. "And Duncan deserves it," he added slowly, as if to convince him self. Miss Howard s hand moved instinctively toward his, but she held it tight with her other one under the lap-robe. "Stuart s giving them a little spiel," he went on musingly. " Fighting chance nothing more. And there s Dad, telling the crowd that the team s in as good condition as any that s ever gone out. And. say, Frances, who s this? Once there was a little girl and a little boy. The little girl wore a red hair- ribbon and " Miss Howard, mustering a faint smile, protested that she never could guess. DEDICATE TO PLATO "Now we ll have Professor Roberts and his per ennial chaff to the galleries, and who " "Look ! Look ! " Miss Howard was pointing off excitedly to the south, where the lights of red fire made a glowing halo over a group of low, stone buildings. "It s the fire in the Inner Quad and the serpentine." McNear whistled bravely through a few bars of an air that every Stanford man links inseparably with football and the serpentine. "Oh, hurry, hurry," the girl urged; "we must see the end of it." Down the unlighted Row, past the deserted fra ternity houses on, past the post-office, and McNear pulled up under the oaks near the Inn. He tied the horses, and went in to telephone to the stable, while Miss Howard, walking over to the Quad, stamped up and down in an effort to get warm. She was stiff and lame from the long drive, and the sharp air had made her terribly cold. The red fire of the Inner Quad had burned itself out, and people were pouring over to the old base ball field. An endless procession of Stanford rooters swung madly through the long arcades, while the band played feverishly before. Staid Campus and Palo Alto-ites, who had elbowed each other impa- [147] NOf INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN tiently for a better place to see, came off the Quad linked arm in arm in the mad serpentine. Miss Howard was thinking with a sense of bitter ness how different it might all have been. There was a trying bit of irony in the fact that it was she who had kept Jim McNear up to his duty until the eleventh hour. And then, looking up, she saw Duncan with a bunch of football men, slipping quietly along behind the rooters in an effort to be inconspicuous. The girl stepped back into the shadow of a pillar. She felt strangely out of place there, standing off as she did from the enthusiasm of it all. But Duncan had seen her. He stopped as the other men went on. "Get separated from the rest? " he queried. "I saw a lot of them hurrying along after the band. Looked as if they d like to serpentine themselves," Duncan smiled with amusement. "No, I didn t come with the girls." Miss How ard got the words out jerkily. She was wondering what she should say next. "What did you think of the Rally?" Duncan was asking her. "Rousing, wasn t it?" "I didn t see it," Miss Howard confessed awk wardly. The blushing confusion on her face was DEDICATE TO PLA^O condemning as McNear came across the road a mo ment later and ran up the steps. "Sorry to have kept you," he started apologeti cally. Then he stopped. It was evident to Miss Howard in the uncomfortable pause that followed how thoroughly McNear s dislike was reciprocated. And Duncan was visibly embarrassed. "Where have you been keeping yourself, Mc Near ? " he asked quietly. "Had an accident 4 ? " There was understanding in his face as he glanced inquiringly from the man to the girl. "Yes, sort of," was McNear s non-committal reply. "It s beastly luck on you, McNear. Stuart s put me in, you know. But " "Of course! " McNear s tone as he broke in on the other man was intended to imply a conclusion of the conversation. Duncan, turning on his heel to go, looked over at Miss Howard. Then he said simply, "I m mighty sorry, McNear. Your work has put it over me all season. No one knows that better than I." McNear took it as the conventional commonplace which the occasion demanded. He even suspected a mocking note in the other man s generosity. "It s my own doing," he said bluntly. There was [ H9] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN a dogged expression in the corners of his mouth, and he regarded Duncan caustically. Miss Howard looked uncomfortably from one to the other. "You know that it s my fault entirely," she said brokenly as she turned to McNear. "I ll never forgive myself, never " "Nonsense, Frances!" McNear s voice was al most harsh. He could not tolerate a scene there be fore Duncan. "Well, you d better agree on the culprit tomor row." Duncan laughed forcedly, as, taking his clue, he half turned to go. "Rather raw night for a hospi tal subject, isn t it? " Miss Howard retorted to the challenge with an attempted lightness. Down the long arcade she watched his tall, alert figure as he hurried after the other men. Duncan was one of those men who stand out any place. And he had held the mastery of every situation she had ever seen him in. She was annoyed with Jim for the childishness he had shown. What could Duncan think of him? She understood, of course she even, with the inconsist ency of woman, found him more attractive because of it. But the situation had certainly been humili ating. Over on the old baseball diamond the Berkeley DEDICATE TO PLATO effigy burned merrily over a rousing bonfire. Women and children scrambled for seats on the bleachers or pushed up expectantly to form a circle about the fire. If there were any Stanford men who had not joined in the serpentine, they had vanished discreetly and shamefacedly from sight. Only the men of the team were in evidence on the outskirts of the circle, where they stood about in little groups awkwardly self-conscious, their hearts swelling with something indefinable that was partly a responsibility to Stan ford and partly a sense of personal pride. McNear and the girl sauntered over and stood quietly in the background. They had a feeling that they had been away a very long time. Chagrin and bitter disappointment had mastered McNear s face in spite of himself, and Miss Howard s unhappi- ness so nearly bordered on tears that she longed to flee. Besides, she was shivering cold, and the glow from the crackling fire, which lit up the lines of students who swung round and round it, was tan talizing at that distance. She had better get home, she thought. She was weak and upset. "You may come over and have tea with me to morrow afternoon," she said kindly as they started across the field toward the Row. McNear was thinking of Stuart and the men he INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN had trained with all season. He pictured them driv ing off to Woodside in the morning for their day of rest in the hills without him. He did not realize that he had not answered the girl, and looked up with a start when she asked suddenly with a more insistent note in her voice, "You ll see Mr. Stuart tonight, won t you, Jim, to explain"? " McNear, although he dreaded the ordeal he was to face, assured her with disarming bravado that he would run over and find Stuart the moment he left her. "You may come some time tomorrow if you like." They had reached the Madrofia porch, and he stood on the step below her. She was smiling down at him sweetly as she offered her second invitation. Then, because he was very tired and disappointed, McNear had found himself again pleading a for bidden subject in the silence of the deserted porch, and Miss Howard, distrusting her sympathy, had gone in suddenly and shut the door. Down in the same little room off the diet-kitchen where she had made her first acquaintance with the Guild, Miss Howard amused herself by watching the nurses pass to and fro in the halls. She had been "shipped back" as a result of the exposure of her drive, and lay fretting over the luck that had DEDICATE TO PLATO kept her shut in during these last two days which she had meant to spend with McNear. The violets he had sent her that morning with his note were on the table beside her. She pulled the glass over to her and smelled them perfunctorily. Poor boy, he was very unhappy ! Even the fact that Stuart, relenting, had put him in as a sub, did not seem to console him. "There was no other man for the place," he had written her bitterly. Only on his return from Woodside in the evening had he learned that she was ill again. It was the last drop in his misery. If only he could have had her with him after the game tonight! Miss Howard closed her eyes wearily. The un- happiness of the last few days was exaggerated in her mind until it seemed to reflect a miserable dis content on even her brightest college memories. The restless buzz and excitement that characterize the day of the big game had penetrated even the quiet seclusion of the Guild. Every one who was con valescent enough to be up and about had already departed Campus-ward. The vibration of unrest in the air irritated Miss Howard. She did not want to think of the game. She was devoutly glad that she had been spared the misery of watching it from the NOf INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN bleachers, and the outcome did not hold for her the slightest interest. There was a commotion in the hall. An injured football man had been brought in. Miss Howard, with a curious lack of interest, watched him carried past her door. She found herself wondering bitterly why McNear could not have had his chance, even to be brought in like that on a stretcher. Then the decision of the game was being noised about a big Stanford victory, with Berkeley out played from the start. There had been games and games, but Stuart himself admitted never one like this. The "Daily" was out already with a full account. Miss Jennings, her nurse, had brought it in to her with her last medicine, and the girl had thanked her with feigned enthusiasm. So it was all over then, and Jim was having his fight out, alone. Miss Howard s eye ran automatically down the columns of the first page : "A novel feature of display offered by the Stan ford rooting section was the lavish shower of con fetti which cleverly covered the formation of the block "S." As the homing pigeons, flaunting the glory of the cardinal " A couple of noisy college men stomped by her DEDICATE TO PLATO door to the ward in the corner, where a bunch of husky bronchitis victims cursed their fate roundly. Miss Howard looked up with annoyance. Then there came the buzz of impatient voices asking a dozen questions at once. The spectacular points of the game were being described for them graphically in voices that were hoarse from yelling. Miss How ard heard it all as plainly as if she had been in the room. "Gee, the minute he got his hands on it, too ! " Some one with a deep, hoarse voice was speaking, "That punt wipes his slate clean with Stuart, all right!" "You bet!" the other man retorted. "And he was down after it like a shot passed old Powers as if he was hitched. And say, didn t the California fullback look sick when he punted in to touch? McNear knew we d get them on the throw-in every time." Miss Howard sat up in bed with a start and lis tened deliberately. She could not be mistaken. "Lucky devil, wasn t he to get in at that stage of the game, too! " "Duncan badly hurt 1 ? " some one asked. "What s the trouble bum knee again? " "No," the hoarse voice corrected, "internal [155] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN injuries, Williams says. Must be pretty bad when he couldn t stick it out five minutes longer." "Oh, well, with a score like that he could afford to get out, and besides, McNear has been the better man all season. There wasn t any risk." "Maybe givin McNear a chance for his S, another speculated. "Not much! " There was a loud guffaw at the mere suggestion, and the hoarse voice finished con vincingly, "No love lost there, I can tell you." Miss Howard reached for the bell on her table and rang it impatiently. Her anxiety over Mr. Duncan was the flaw in her happiness for Jim. "Tell me, Miss Jennings," she asked eagerly, as the nurse appeared in the doorway, "was it Mr. Dun can they brought in a little while ago 4 ? Is he badly hurt"? " She had followed up Miss Jennings s affirmative with anxious interest. "He seems very comfortable just at present." "Do you think he could read a note a very little one?" There was a smile of amusement on Miss Jen nings s face as she answered. "I think he might be able to. He was roaring over one of the old doctor s jokes when I came out." Miss Howard looked puzzled for a moment. DEDICATE TO PLATO Then she fixed her eyes on the good-natured face in the doorway and asked slowly, "Just what is the matter with Mr. Duncan, do you know? " "Internal injuries is as definite as they have made it yet, I think," Miss Jennings replied with an evasive unconcern, as she came over to the bed and put the thermometer in Miss Howard s mouth. With her brow puckered in perplexed thought, Miss Howard was gazing straight ahead of her at the bare white wall at the foot of her bed. A sus picion as to the seriousness of Duncan s injuries had crossed her mind. She wondered if she could justify it to her own satisfaction. "You will come back in a few minutes, won t you to take my note? " she called after Miss Jen nings as she left the room. She reviewed the situation from the beginning; she was confident that she had guessed the truth. It added twofold to her happiness over Jim. She won dered if Jim realized if it made him a little ashamed. There were tears in the girl s eyes as she watched the nurse go down the corridor with her note. The thought of Duncan s generosity moved her strangely. The act itself she was convinced of, but the why that was what interested her most ! It was consistent [ 57] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN with Miss Howard s femininity that the final analy sis she made of the motive in the situation was one that flattered as well as moved her. It was an analysis which she would not have confided to Mc- Near. And after all, in a matter of motive, one could only speculate. Miss Howard was biting meditatively at the end of the pencil she still held in her hand, when the nurse stopped to leave her Duncan s answer. She opened it quickly and read. Dear Miss Howard, Thanks for your kind inquiries. My "internal injuries" might be worse. I expect to be back at the Quad on Monday. You are perhaps pleased that McNear got to play, and he certainly made the most of his chance. It was very good of you to write. Sincerely, WILLIAM DUNCAN. In bewildered uncertainty Miss Howard read the note over again. She considered it speculatively for several moments. It was a challenge to her woman s intuition! The motive was not so patent as she had thought. Critically, word by word, she went over it again, and there was nothing that gave a DEDICATE rO PLATO clew. She folded the letter up impatiently as if it tantalized her beyond endurance. Besides, why should she bother when she had Jim and all the un expected happiness of today 4 ? With a sudden in spiration, she picked up her pencil from the table. The baffled look in her eyes melted into one of al most tenderness, and a satisfied little smile played about the corners of her mouth as she wrote with slow precision across the back of Duncan s note, "Dedicate to Plato." Rulers of THE RULERS OF THE REALM A small group of men stood on the side steps of the Quad, opposite the Inn. It was ten or fifteen minutes before the calling of Professor Reed s popu lar course, and the students whacked their heels, gazed down the arcades, and indulged in laconic talk, as they basked contentedly in the sun. "Where s your Junior Plug, Warrington?" The questioner tipped his own well-battered one rakishly on the side of his head, and ostentatiously displayed his lately acquired corduroys. He was looking up at a slender fellow, who stood with his flat hat well pulled down over his eyes. "Half Junior, half Soph, Dunne," the other re plied, with no show of interest, as he jotted down something on a slip of paper. "Flunked your class, eh*?" Dunne asked, with a yawn. "Writing another scandal?" No reply vouchsafed, he continued unperturbed. "A fierce drag, that newspaper work keeps a fellow chasing the mazuma don t see why you play city cor respondent, Warrington, when the Governor coughs up the carfare." NOT: INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN "Aw, cut it out, Dunne!" groaned another, "you ve just made the staff of the S quoia yourself." Dunne affected a wry face. "By golly, Jim, I didn t want it. The fellows in the house boosted " He dropped the subject, upon noticing that Jim s interest seemed centered on the toe of his modish shoe. The day, and the enchanting laziness of the weather, fitted in well with the temporary lull in undergraduate affairs. Intercollegiate events had not reached the point for desperate intensity of feel ing, the editorials of the various papers had been mild, the faculty had been quite unobtrusive, and no exes were hanging, like the sword of Damocles, over these men of affairs. Attention was indolent and sporadic until Dunne, with an indicative turn of his thumb, piped up: "Oh, wake up, fellers. Look what s coming." Every one craned, even McCallister, who was propped against the pillar. A girl, arm akimbo with books, was mincing along in military heels. "Gee, she ought to wear boots, she interferes," said Joe Bailey, twisting his head to take away the ache resulting from an attempt to see around an obstruction. "Begorra, fellers," Shorty Oliver fell naturally <THE RULERS OF 3HE REALM into the dialect, "but did ye notice the soize of the hat and the mess o chicken feathers !" "I reckon she s going to the city," another drawled. "Don t you forget it, she s trying to make a hit with me." McCallister swelled his chest and looked important. "You re devilish impertinent," Warrington spoke abruptly. "Never you mind, old fellow," the other retorted, tauntingly, "we all know about the girl you re trying to make a hit with. Gee! Here comes the scout now!" Max Warrington turned in his nervous way to catch the eye of Marion Hughes, and flushed slightly as he lifted his hat at her smile of recognition. The others bowed to the extent of tipping their various forms of headgear slightly more forward. Dunne watched her critically as she walked calmly around the corner. There was a certain poise in her bearing that always drew attention and admiration. "She s more than an ornament to the staff, I reckon." "You bet she is!" The roof of Encina Hall seemed to hold an attraction for McCallister s nar rowed eyes, as he continued. "She s mighty keen on writing. I went to High with her she ran things there without seeming to one of those people NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN that s a wiz and popular has everything come her way." Dunne, struck v/ith an inspiration, straightened his hat and sat up. "She can t follow that course here, the place is too big. I ll bet a dollar she s lay ing wire for the editorship of the S quoia. The way she s digging s proof enough for that." The group were all interested as McCal lister s hand came down resoundingly on Dunne s back. "Got more brains than I thought for, old fellow. I ll stand by you, Max, if you get the girl to run," he added, jokingly, with a sly wink at the other men. "I hadn t thought of it," Warrington answered, with a quick look at their unresponsive faces. "You fellows are witnesses to the statement of the said Mac," he added with a laugh, as he made a sweeping gesture toward the unperturbed McCallister. Perhaps McCallister would have been more chary of committing himself could he have seen Warring- ton and Marion Hughes at the Lambda Eta House that evening. After begging for two dances in suc cession, Warrington led her to a corner of the canvassed-in porch, well out of earshot of any others with a similar inclination. "It s unaccountable, Max, your wanting to sit out a dance," Marion said, smiling up at him, as he [166] RULERS OF ?HE REALM placed a cushion for her. The music was drifting enticingly through the door, accentuated by the rhythm of feet. Warrington only settled himself back and looked around contentedly at the attractive arrangement of rugs, seats, and gay cushions, under the dim glow of a dozen or more Japanese lanterns. "With thee beside me, wilderness were Paradise enow," he chanted. Marion laughed in the pleasing way that made her so attractive, although she did not neglect the chance of reminding him, as she tapped her foot on the floor in time to the music: "I can t sing, and where is the jug of wine and loaf of bread? You know, when I made that trite remark about pre ferring to dance rather than eat, you disagreed with me." Finally, Warrington drew himself together and turned the conversation toward journalism until he dared to ask, as he scanned her face carefully for any betraying change of expression : "Why do you work so hard with the magazine*? Do you think the game is worth the candle?" "I like it," she answered, with a frank look and smile, "and I am probably more willing or prompt with stories, so I have a good deal shoved on to me. Why? [167] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN "Well," he hesitated for an instant, "there is a rumour going around here that you re striking for the editorship next year." "The editorship !" she exclaimed. "I aim for the editorship ! It would be pure foolhardiness." "Why not? he asked, calmly. " Why is the sea not boiling hot, and why don t pigs have wings *? " she answered, in a lazy voice, her eyes following Elizabeth and Sam Trent, as they walked to the other end of the porch. "Now, see here, Marion, I m in earnest." "Oh, well," she replied, her mood changing from lightness to the serious, "my career has not been at all remarkable just a matter of hard work. There s no use in a girl trying, anyway there would be such a horrible sentiment against her among the men. Besides, look at the last two years. The election is what you d call a slate, wouldn t you, and who d ever stand for a girl? Max, it s foolish. There would be no hope, if I did consider it." "Suppose there were hope 1 ?" There was a vibra tion of assurance in his voice that made Marion look at him doubtfully. "What do you mean 1 ?" "Just this," striking his palm for emphasis, "you [168] THE RULERS OF THE REALM are the most capable person on the staff, and every body knows it, and the men that could run " "I m afraid they would call you an interested party," she interrupted, lightly. "It s true, though," he held out tenaciously. "Ask Bailey, Dunne, McCallister, and lots of the men." "I shall start out tomorrow," she said, laughing, "and test all I happen to know. There s Mr. Baker at the Chemistry Building he d be good for the dig element, also Mr. Edel, Zoology major; to say noth ing of representatives from the Row, Encina and Paly. Whom do you think I had better talk to from the Theta Phi Sigma House 1 ? Do you represent the sentiment of the Hall? "Really, Marion," he returned, gravely, "I was never more serious in my life. Suppose several of us felt so sure of your chances that we would offer to stand by you then what 4 ?" "I I can t believe it," she said, incredulously. "It would be too great to be true." "It s settled, then." Warrington s voice was de cisive. "Let s finish out the dance." Quiet reigned in the back room at Menlo, famed for its name-carved tables, the favourite roster of generations of the side-step philosophers of the Quad, and boasting the signatures of some who have reached [169] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN recognition and of many who have gone only to swell the nameless multitude. For years the place has been known in annal and current lore for the incubation of weighty plans toward the betterment of the affairs of the red-tiled principality, as well as for the up roarious jollifications that desire to take the Campus into confidence in the homeward, wee hours of the morning. It is rampant with politics, and is invari ably chosen by these rulers of the realm for the mak ing of propositions that involve prolonged argument and persuasion. Perhaps the countless reminiscences for the man who has brought down his hand with the accompanying jingle of glasses may have some thing to do with its popularity on such occasions. This sleepy autumn afternoon, however, some sur prise was manifest when four men, headed by War- rington, filed into the back room. An inquiry con cerning the unusual time for a meeting of the Press Club, was met by Bailey with a wink and a motion toward Warrington. "He s made a strike of two kopeks from the Governor today. Keep the fellows in the front room, especially the Swede. He s a human megaphone, ain t it so, South ack*? " "You bet." "Where s McCallister gone?" asked Chandler, looking around in some surprise. [ 170] RULERS OF THE REALM "Had to give us the drop going queening," War- rington answered, with a conscious sinking of his spirits as he caught the amused glance of Bailey and looked into the cynical face of Southack. He was beginning to feel that it was a rash impulse that had prompted his putting up Marion at the suggestion of the absent McCallister. Nevertheless, seasoned poli tician that he was, quailing at nothing other than the committee on scholarship, it was with a steady hand that he raised his glass to the pledge of "Here s to luck!" "Why in the devil," he added an instant later, glaring at Chandler, "don t you drink 4 ?" Chandler had whipped out his knife, and was cut ting away a name from the table, with his lips tightly compressed. "It s a beastly shame, fellows I d like to fix the man who isn t decent enough to leave a girl s name off this table." "To the moralist," Southack sneered, holding up his refilled glass. "He s right." Bailey pushed down Southack s arm. "Ever hear about her trying to make the Press Club member ex-loco, of course. Well, some dub at the Daily office suggested it all in a joke, and, will you believe it, she took the whole business as gospel truth. She did some tall wire-pulling with a [171] INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN few of us, and gave me thunder because she didn t make it." The others laughed. "You can bet Marion Hughes, even though she seems to have ambitions, wouldn t do a fool thing like that," said Southack, with a quick look at War- rington. The latter made no reply. Finally Warrington felt that he held the mood and the opportunity. "Fellows," he began, leaning forward in the con fidential manner of his, assumed on such occasions, "we ve done a lot of things together, and you know that I m not the man to beat around matters " Bailey was impatient. "Southack is the only fel low who s allowed the privilege of a preamble around here." The latter grinned and saluted Bailey, who headed him off. "You re not so al mighty dense, Max, as to think we don t know you ve got a deal on hand." "A dead man s hand or queens on the roof at least," suggested Southack. "They say two aces and two eights can never be beat." "I m well, I guess I m drawing to a royal flush, fellows," Warrington said, hesitatingly, and in blundering words and an uncertain voice proposed the candidacy of Marion Hughes. ?HE RULERS OF <?HE REALM There was a dead silence around the table, each man thoughtfully rubbing the water-vapour off the outside of his glass. Joe Bailey, with a twinkle in his eye, was the first to break it. "Why don t you put up a man?" "Not one of them has got a claim." Warrington spoke with emphasis. "What about yourself?" asked Chandler in his slow voice, his face brightening at the thought of a solution. "Too much work next year, eighteen hours, city correspondent, and expect to get the Associated Press." Warrington compressed his lips and Chand ler s face fell. "No, I guess you can t," he admitted, reluctantly. "The only other man on the staff who is eligible is Herbert Dunne." "Just made it," Bailey interrupted. "He does bum work. Besides, he s a hand-me-down that San Jose bunch in the Hall call him Shambly Dunne. "Don t worry about him," Warrington added, with assurance, "he s too indolent and doesn t care a hang about the business." "Shorty Oliver has been scouting around me lately," volunteered Southack. [ 173] INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN "Why, he hasn t done a blooming thing on the paper." "He s banking on fraternity pull and popularity," Bailey explained. "It s a cinch he has bigger chances than Dunne. Politician Southy can give you a tip on that." Southack indicated himself with a gesture. "You needn t bother about him." There was a meaning look in Warrington s face, and Southack. with a responsive grin, raised his hand and pressed his thumb down on the table. "He s cinched." "There is no getting around it," Warrington con tinued, earnestly, "Miss Hughes is the only one with a good claim and there is no denying she is a good deal more capable. I tell you, she d get out a live magazine none of this molly-coddle business even though she is a woman." "Say," Bailey drawled, as he leaned over to Chandler, "Dr. Robinson might take a few notes on eloquence around here." "Wouldn t need a syllabus sheet either." "Come, fellows, this is no josh." Warrington frowned. "We newspaper men have got to recognize a claim. We can t stand back and let any dub with an ambition think he can hit the high places without serving his apprenticeship on the papers." [174] THE RULERS OF <?HE REALM "Well, now you re talking." Bailey was appre ciative. "Suppose we don t come in with you on the proposition, what then 4 ?" Southack asked, with nar rowed eyes. Warrington straightened. "McCallister and I forced her into the thing, and, by George ! we ll stand by her, even if we have to fight the whole ki-yi-ing push of you, with the Bear Club clawing. We ll put up the biggest fight this college has ever seen." Bailey s eyes snapped with the fire of battle. "Put it there, Warrington," he said, as he extended his hand, "I m not keen on a girl, but by Sammie, it will be a great fight, and you can bet I m there with you! We ll show them that the S quoia can kick as well as the Daily. We ll go down in history, we will." "You caught in the meshes, too." Southack laughed, harshly. "We might expect Warrington to get tangled, but you " "Clap your wings and crow three times; you think you re too clever to live, don t you 1 ?" Bailey had difficulty in turning his anger to sarcasm, goaded as he was by Southack s taunt. "Well, in all seriousness," the other returned, mockingly, "a girl s no business to run for the editor- ship of anything in this college, trying to cut out the men. She d better stay by the Y. W. work, basket-ball, or write a few sweet, wishy-washy tales for the S quoia. I don t stand for any of their advanced notions." Chandler, who had listened for the last few mo ments without comment, turned in his calm way to Warrington. "I don t approve of a girl mixing in politics it s below her dignity I m not raising any question about rights, understand." "She s to have nothing to do with the political end of the business we ll manage all that," War rington replied, hastily. "All she s got to do is to be popular. Lord, I wouldn t dare to tell her the way politics are worked in this University, you d have her balk on the start." "Politics by proxy, eh*? That s your game, is it? " sneered Southack. "Well," said Chandler, musingly, "we re face to face with the alternative of claim or no claim. Miss Hughes seems exceptional, and as for Herbert Dunne or Shorty Oliver nothing doing. I ll come in with you two, Warrington." Southack seemed impressed, for Chandler had the reputation of a conservative as Bailey that of a radical. [176] RULERS OF THE REALM "Good Heavens, Southack," Warrington brought his fist down on the table, his patience at an end, "you re not going to stand for Dunne! Don t you see we re up against it? You re a man of influence, and straddling the fence will kill you. Besides, don t you forget that when we three back anything, it means business and a cinch that the odds will be on our side. You ve had experience before you know what it means to stand in with us. Consider it in this light you ll come to the rest later when the fight s on." The sneer still remained on Southack s face, and Warrington was turning over in his mind the ad visability, after what had just been said, of pledging him to neutrality, when Herbert Dunne sauntered into the room. "Hello, fellows," he said, in his assuming man ner, "been lookin for your phizzes everywhere Row, Quad, Library even went to Paly and spotted queeners. Hi, there, another round something good and cold." "Sit down, old man," said Southack, "what s on your mind?" "I m doing politics, fellows. I m going to run for the Squalor, " replied Dunne. "The field s an open cinch the only person with a claim s a girl. [ 177] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN I may have to fight Oliver he s got a pull. Gee, I m in luck to get hold of you four together. Jim Brown says you always hold together and you ve got the say-so around here." Warrington looked at him in well-feigned as tonishment. "Good Lord, Dunne, I thought you hated newspaper work you were frank enough about it the other day." "So I do," the other answered, carelessly, "but the assembled fratres have decreed otherwise they say it s a cinch this year no big man and they ll work their shoe leather off for me. Not so bad, this posing business. I ll make a hit with the girls." "What about the magazine*?" Chandler asked, abruptly. "A good staff can take care of that," he replied, screwing up his face, as he ran his tongue over a tightly rolled cigarette and reached for a match. The other men exchanged glances and Warrington knew, from the expression on his face, that Southack was with him. Thus it came about that the foundation of Marion Hughes s political campaign was laid by the four most influential men in newspaper and political circles. When Warrington reported the results of the [178] THE RULERS OF ?HE REALM Menlo meeting to Marion, and observed the shocked expression on her face, he was rather taken aback. "Do you mean to say that they talked about me in a place like that 4 ? Why, Max! You ought not to have let them!" Warrington muttered something about politics being an excuse for almost anything, and Marion continued even more aghast. "Why, it s awful! I m going to drop out now, before I get into any more of it. Why did you persuade me?" she asked, reproachfully. It was a strenuous half-hour that Warrington faced, when he undertook to explain the devious methods and ethics of politics to an unworldly-wise girl. He finally half-way gained her to the point of view that politics always had been and always would be a game of warfare, with small quarter shown, and must be accepted as a necessary evil with the gifts of a democracy. He glossed over the many disagreeable details of a campaign and the methods resorted to by both sides, and continued to emphasize to Marion that she must consider her candidacy as purely impersonal. So persuasive and logical was he, that the girl was finally able to regard even the meeting at Menlo with a calmness of mind that surprised her. It was from her confidence in [ 179] INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN Warrington, however, and not from any clear under standing of politics as explained by him, that Marion accepted the facts. As Warrington was leaving, he stopped and smiled broadly: "Chandler, with his cool, calculating head, believes me to be the extreme of rashness and hot-headedness calls me the campaign fire-eater." "Unfeeling wretch!" Marion laughed. "You re a sphinx in comparison with most of the men the one you call the Swede, for instance. I see him exploding on some street corner two or three times a day." "He s the josh in politics. Anyway, the noble Chandler insists on giving you instructions on your conduct during the campaign. I suppose he ll insist upon your being on hand all the time around here. There s one thing, though you ve got to give me two all-day drives next spring, election or no elec tion." Marion smiled evasively. A surprise was in store for the men of the realm with the opening of the spring semester. The editor of the "Sequoia" had flunked, and Max Warrington had been appointed temporarily until the special election to be held two weeks later. Special elec tions almost always contain dramatic possibilities, [180] <?HE RULERS OF THE REALM and excitement is as the nectar of the gods to the insatiable collegian. It was not until the philoso phers of the Quad had passed on their surmises to other circles that Herbert Dunne awoke to the fact that the college had accepted Marion Hughes s can didacy without ridicule. It was a case where a laugh would have killed, and the Campus had for gotten even to smile. He further discovered that Shorty Oliver had dropped out of the fight and to all questioning would only respond with a grin and a slow, knowing screw of his eye. Dunne was soon informed of the why and the wherefore. He had deluded himself into believing, as one of the fratres had expressed it, that he held the ball, well backed by his fraternity, and with a clear opening down the field through the dis organized forces of Oliver. Instead, he found with astonishment that he was bucking the consolidated line-up of the four big men in college, with his only chance a sensational run around the end. He de termined on a dash for this, and, by every means at hand, he and his followers threw themselves into heaping up the bigotry of opposition to a woman editor. "Say, Dunne," Bailey called out from a group NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN on the road by the French building, "you look wor ried. What s the matter?" "Guess he s finding the fight no cinch," added another one to his neighbour, as he looked up. Dunne merely shrugged his shoulders, and laughed. Not two hours later Bailey, with an anxious face, sought out Warrington at Joe Larkin s. "We re up against it, Max," he exclaimed, disgustedly. "Dunne and his bunch have been quietly knocking out our talk about a claim say the real reason is because you ve got a case on the girl. Gee, he s covered his tracks cleverly. I d like to sliver his head for him." Warrington drew in a whistling breath, and frowned thoughtfully. Marion for her part found it no easy matter to assume an expression of unconcern as she walked the Quad, conscious of the glances of the curious and the scrutiny of the other side. She had bravely held to the part outlined by Chandler early in the previous semester, to be "nimble of sight and speech," to avoid conversation on politics, and to devote her energies to becoming known. She talked to people between classes, she attended scrupulously all meetings and receptions, and, above all, remem bered after introductions to bow the next day on the [182] THE RULERS OF THE REALM Quad. It had all been easy enough to do, and even exhilarating, when no one had suspected the motives that prompted her in seeking popularity. She had also quieted her conscience with the thought that every member of the University should strive for a broad acquaintance. But in this last week, when the college had come to talk of her candidacy, she found herself shrinking from the conspicuousness of her position, and she could not crush the feeling that she was stamped with insincerity in the eyes of many to whom she bowed and smiled. "The ship s under full rig, nor-norwest breeze," McCallister cried cheerily, as he came up with Marion two days before the election. He had offered, with ill-concealed pleasure, to take War- rington s place as ambassador from the four after Bailey had made his report at Joe Larkin s. "That s good," she replied. "We were looking over the lists last night," he explained. "It s going to be a pretty close run, but you ll have the winnings. Southack claims he can split the Hall. Chandler says that the Row will run high for Dunne, as a couple of sororities are against you." "Margaret Sears asked me to tell you that there will be a good majority in Roble." [183] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN "That reminds me, if I don t see her, tell her to look out for Miss Jackson and that bunch Dunne s fraternity s keen on the queening stunt. Then Bailey can handle San Jose. That makes things come out even and throws the whole fight on Paly. If War- rington can t carry a majority there, I ll eat my hat." Marion puckered her forehead thoughtfully. "I am really terribly worried." "Why, Heavens ! Marion, you ve got it practically cinched!" She turned her head and weighed some thought in her mind, while McCallister studied her profile with an expression that was far from disinterested. "I I hope I m wrong," she said, hesitatingly and without looking at him, "but I m afraid there is something the matter with Max Warrington he acts as if he were not at all interested in the cam paign. He hasn t been around for a week and a half and he avoids me on the Quad. I haven t once been able to get him by phone. Do you think I have offended him*?" McCallister looked uneasy. He had never men tioned to her the rumours or the details of the cam paign and did not have the courage now to tell the truth that Warrington was trying to sidetrack Dunne s invidious report of a "case." [184] <?HE RULERS OF THE REALM "Max is all right," he asserted, with emphasis. "He s working like a slave down in Paly, besides directing the whole campaign, and hasn t time for anybody or anything. He s got the whole load on his back. You needn t worry about him." "You don t know how relieved I feel." Marion s face brightened so perceptibly that McCallister could not help noting it, with almost a feeling of jealousy. "We ll elect you sure, Marion," was his admonish ing word at parting, "don t you worry." "I won t," she answered, and her expression did not belie her. That afternoon, when Marion had lost all her doubt of Warrington, she saw him slowly approach ing the house. There was something in the stoop of his shoulders that filled her with foreboding. She was not kept long in suspense, however, for he spoke with no preface, as his nervous fingers clutched the chair into which he had dropped. "Marion, I have just found out that some of our forces in the Hall and Paly have gone back on us. Dunne s got a powerful secret organization in both places." Marion looked at him helplessly. "It means," he hesitated, and continued with an effort, "it means that you will be defeated by Dunne. NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN We ve always carried things before this, but we can t down the opposition to a woman for editor of a college sheet. We ve worked day and night for you, we brought all sorts of screws to bear, and thought we had the thing cinched. Now it s all up." He made a despairing gesture. Marion was speechless. She felt bewildered and strangely forlorn. A lump was growing in her throat, along with an inclination to cry bitterly. Instead, she threw her head back in a determined way, and smiled tremulously at Warrington, who looked down, unable to bear the sight of the tears that filled her eyes, and to witness her manifest effort at control. "I know that you have done every thing in your power for me, Max. I can t help being terribly disappointed but that doesn t matter. You you were mighty brave to come and tell me the truth She became silent, afraid of her voice. Warrington was embarrassed and helpless. It was all that he could do to suppress his emotion, and he dared say nothing to her for fear of losing him self. Marion appeared to gain self-control in pro portion to his loss of it. "Really, it can t be helped, Max. Please don t feel so badly about it, for truly, I understand." [186] THE RULERS OF fHE REALM And she was the one doing the comforting ! War- rington drew himself together at the thought, looked at her irresolutely, and then beseechingly. "Marion, don t misjudge me for what I m going to do. You know I d have given anything in the world to have had you get it, but it s absolutely hopeless not a loophole of a chance. We ve only one recourse left, as we four can t let Dunne get it under any conditions. You ll have to believe me, Marion, for you won t understand it s all politics. So the fellows have made me promise to run. It s our only hope and I ve got to do it," he added, digging his boot miserably into the carpet. "Why, I m glad that you can, though you ll have to work frightfully hard with all your other responsi bilities. I m selfish," Marion spoke in a whimsical manner, "and if I can t have it, I d rather see you get it than anybody else. I feel a pride in that magazine. I I made a good many plans for it, when" she stopped, her disappointment getting the better of her. "You can do anything you want with it," he said, feelingly. "Some day you may be sorry for promising that." She made a miserable attempt at a laugh. Warrington picked up his hat with deliberation NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN but turned back hesitatingly at the door. "Marion, you re the bravest girl that I ever knew." The door closed, and Marion, leaning against it, sobbed miserably. Warrington walked grimly down the Row. "What s your grouch, old man 1 ?" exclaimed Mc- Callister a few minutes later, as he met him by the book store. "What s happened?" "The game s all up for Marion Hughes," the other replied, bitterly, as he explained in detail how things stood. "Gee, she took the news like a man. It makes me sick this running myself dog-gone it, I feel as if I had gone back on her like the other bunch. Looks like it." "Don t you mind, old fellow." McCallister s voice was sympathetic. "Of course you ve got to run, the rest of us can t. You re in a tough position, but you ll have to stay by it. She has no chance, and we ve got to knock out Dunne." Warrington was looking into space and seemed to be only half-hearing McCallister s words. "By George, Mac," he cried, excitedly, as he suddenly turned on the startled McCallister and grasped his shoulder, shaking it for emphasis, "I ve got the whole thing." [188] RULERS OF 3 HE REALM "Let go, and make yourself intelligible," said Mc- Callister. Whereupon Warrington, at first incoher ently, then eloquently, unfolded and enlarged upon the idea that had at that moment occurred to him. "For Heaven s sake," he ended, earnestly, "per suade her to stay in the fight, tell her everything." "Don t worry, old man, I ll fix it up," the other called back as he hurried on, fully as excited as Warrington. It was half an hour before McCallister finally found Marion. He had met Elizabeth and Sam Trent returning from a walk, and they had reported seeing her half-way up the pine-topped hill on the Mayfield road. He had wandered around French man s lake, and viewed the hill from every side, before discovering her under the fringe of pines looking toward the University. Though she smiled bravely as he climbed up to her, he could not quell a sudden, unreasoning resentment toward Warrington. "I m awfully sorry that this has happened, Marion," he said, as he gained the top of the hill, "but it will come out all right." "I certainly hope so. Max deserves it if any one does, and I m mighty glad that he can turn the cam paign to some effect after working so hard." [189] NOT: INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN "I mean you." There was a touch of constraint in his voice. "Why? 5 "Marion," McCallister interrupted, impatiently, "you re not going to drop out of the fight!" Marion looked at him incredulously. "Of course I am. It s a good thing that Max discovered the way things were going in time to save me from the humiliation of being beaten. I hand in my with drawal tonight to the Daily. McCallister had intended to explain matters fully. But instead, with a slight curl of his lips, he remarked: "You seem more exercised over War- rington s success than over your own disappoint ment." Marion flushed, and stammered, evasively, "Why shouldn t I be he s done so much." McCallister turned and looked away over the hills, and his voice was hesitating. "So you are going to withdraw*?" Marion glanced at his set face, and was puzzled. "Why, yes. I have said so twice." McCallister drew a deep breath as he turned to her. "Don t you think that is unfair to me, Marion?" he asked, rather wistfully. [ 190] THE RULERS OF ?HE REALM "What do you mean 1 ? I am sorry if I have offended." Marion was completely nonplussed. "Haven t I worked harder for you than any of the others pretended to except well, haven t I counted on your winning out as if I had been run ning myself? What consideration do I have?" There was bitterness in his tone. "Not one whit. It s all for the man who gets taken in on a tale of secret organizations, and won t believe a word to the contrary, even when driven in with sledge-hammers." Marion gasped. "I don t think I understand." "It s just this," he said, firmly, "just this, that I can make you win." "But Max said there was absolutely no hope," she remonstrated. "I don t believe that he could be deceived." "Ask Chandler or Bailey, you ll find they agree with me," he said, almost brusquely. McCallister always had difficulty in managing his temper. Marion felt the implication of his words and atti tude and was at a loss for an evasive answer. She looked down miserably on the red roofs of the Uni versity buildings, past the big chimney and the tower of the Memorial Church to the mass of trees banked against the horizon, hazy in the afternoon sun. She watched a streak of smoke drift and spread over the NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN Arboretum, as the Del Monte Express shrieked and pounded its way down the country. It reminded her of the time of day, and she answered quietly: "It s growing late, and I m due at the house." "You have not answered my question." Mc- Callister made no move toward rising from the ground. "I m more grateful than I can tell to you and the rest and I know you are disappointed, but I I couldn t run against Max it wouldn t be right after all he s done. You ought "There shouldn t be any sentiment in politics," he interrupted, with his narrowed eyes fixed on Marion s face. "You can win." He became more gentle. "Will you let me prove it to you 4 ?" Marion looked at the ground helplessly and her lips trembled. Her voice was unsteady and re luctant, as she answered: "If if you like." On the way home she could not drive away the thought of what Warrington s attitude toward her would be. Would be put her down as insincere, double-faced, and bitterly remember her last words to him on his success 1 ? Yet she could not have acted otherwise, cornered, as she had been, by McCallister. Worst of all, she could not explain. Perhaps he would suspect the truth. Perhaps he would never [ 192] THE RULERS OF THE REALM understand. An unbearable hatred of politics welled up in her. She hoped that she would meet defeat. McCallister was conscious of her mood, and in wardly cursed his weakness in allowing jealousy to get the better of him. Not slower than the proverbial wildfire, the word had spread of Warrington s running, and varied were the explanations offered. But nowhere was the new candidate to be seen. There was something mysti fying about the matter, and all day groups gathered on the corners of the Quad and even in the silent precincts of the Library. Dunne buttonholed people more frequently than was his wont and there was a worried furrow on his brow. His followers drooped for lack of enthusiasm, but the known affiliates of the big four were calm and silent. Marion went to Quad after classes had been called in order to avoid the risk of meeting Warrington. She did all her studying upstairs in a seminar room, and told no one of her whereabouts. The day following, that of the election, she re mained at home. Dunne was the only candidate who stood watching the two long, wavering lines that met at the ballot-box, placed on the portion of the Quad opposite the Inn. The political forecasters were out in full force, cumbering the steps and [ 193] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN blocking the road. Dunne s lieutenants and Marion s, with McCallister well in the lead, elec tioneered up and down the line, as it restlessly stamped and shuffled forward. In the confusion and general bantering, none noticed that only those opposing Marion were almost immediately ap proached by the well-posted aides of Warrington. "Let me give you a tip," said one of Dunne s fol lowers, hurrying up to a husky fellow in line. The man lifted his foot with deliberation and put it over the "no electioneering" line. "Warrington s the fellow," some one announced. "Aw, he didn t play fair," another retorted, and farther down the line, "Marion Hughes for me. She s a peach." "Not for me. Give us a man." "All right, take Herbert Dunne." "Sneeze, kid, your face is dusty! Warrington for me." Shortly after eleven-fifteen, Southack dropped into line back of one of the ardent followers of Dunne. "Where s Warrington? "Gone to the city," he answered, carelessly, "de cided he didn t care a hang whether he won or not." The man dropped out, and it was but a few [ 194] THE RULERS OF <?HE REALM minutes before the line was buzzing with the news that Warrington had withdrawn. The furrow on Dunne s brow became less distinct, his followers took a new lease on life, and they saw well to it that Warrington received no further votes. "Go to," one man exclaimed, "he can t withdraw without putting it in the Daily. "Have you read all the notices this morning 1 ?" Dunne s follower bluffed. The rumour was accepted for the greater part im plicitly. It was a conspicuous fact that no one on the other side attempted to deny the report, Southack merely grinned at the thought of the elec tric effect of his words on the line as they had been transmitted through Dunne s following, and winked at Chandler and Bailey each time that they met along the arcade. It was well on in the afternoon when McCallister, waving his hat excitedly, hurried up to the Lambda Eta house, and met Marion s anxious face at the door. "We ve won! We ve won!" His hand shook, as he thrust a crumpled piece of paper toward her. "See, you ve got 448, Dunne 401, and Warring- ton only 363; he was killed by the rumour boosted by Dunne s men, you know." [195] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN Marion s face paled, and her eyes looked pitifully large. Her voice became so low that McCallister was surprised. "Thank you for coming up so soon I was very anxious to hear the returns, and and I owe you a great deal for all you ve accomplished for me. I I believe I appreciate what you people have done, a good deal more than the election"- every word came out with a conscious effort. McCallister, with the first elation of the victory over, stood looking at her hesitatingly. Then he threw back his shoulders and glanced down the Row. "Marion, I want to explain, I ve " He stopped, disconcerted by the approach of War- rington, Bailey, and Chandler, glanced intently at his watch, and picked up his hat. "I ve got to run for the 5:10 to the city. I want to talk things over with you later. And remember, Marion, we re all human and I couldn t help it." She watched him with a bewildered expression as he hurried off. He saluted the men at the turn to the house, and Marion gasped when she recognized Warrington among them. "Hurrah for Miss Hughes," they cried exultantly, as they reached the steps. Bailey was the first to shake her hand. "Con gratulations, Miss Editor-in-chief of the Sequoia. " [196] RULERS OF ?HE REALM "Miss and not missed," she replied, with forced gaiety. When Warrington spoke to her he noticed that her hand trembled, and that the usual frankness of her manner was lacking. He was first astonished, and then frowningly puzzled. "By Jove! this is the man you ought to thank, Miss Hughes," said Bailey, seizing Warrington by the arm. "He has sacrificed more than all the rest of us put together." There was an awkward silence. Chandler, con scious that something was wrong, added, "If War rington hadn t disputed Dunne s territory with him, you wouldn t have had a ghost of a chance. It will be the talk of the college. Cleverest game ever played on this community running at the last minute canvassing at the polls to take Dunne s votes dropping out when you were safe, and to keep himself from being elected." Bailey laughed. "I wish you could see Dunne, Chandler." Marion had been looking from one to the other in a dazed way. Then she turned impulsively to War rington. "Why didn t you tell me the truth in the first place 1 ? What it would have saved! I felt so double-faced running, when you had told me [ 197] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN "Didn t McCallister explain to you? " demanded Warrington, his face flushing with anger. "I didn t think of the scheme till after I had left that day. He gave me his word that he would tell you; started off to, in fact." Marion glanced at the perplexed faces of the other two men. "Queer of Mac," Bailey muttered, "I can t see his motive." Marion saw a peculiar smile come about the corners of Chandler s mouth, and with a woman s quick intuition she divined the real cause of Mc- Callister s conduct. She was charitable enough to shield him. "Mr. McCallister probably surmised that I wouldn t consent knowingly to so great a sacrifice as Max has had to make for me. And he was right, too," she said, firmly, glancing at Warrington. Bailey seized the opportunity to sign to Chandler. "There are a few explanations yet due," he began elaborately, "about the misunderstandings and all that. But we ve an engagement, Miss Hughes " "So we depute Max to take it all another case of politics by proxy." There was the same under standing smile on Chandler s face. [198] EARTHQUAKE EMERGENCY The room was cheap and dingy and it had been mercilessly twisted out of all regard to angles. The battered sideboard standing in the corner at the top of the gentle slope of floor, its expansive shelf in the utmost disorder, looked stunned and staggered, as though it had not yet recovered from the shock. From its point of elevation, it rather overlooked the several tables that occupied the rest of the room. Peter, seated at the nearest of these, saw through a half -open door the end of a gaudily decorated bar, and heard men walking back and forth heavily and talking loudly. Between attempts to swallow some horrible coffee which was set before her in an im mense white cup, she took in with fascinated curi osity the details of the room. Yesterday she would have thought it hardly proper to have glanced at the disreputable roadhouse as she drove by. Eliza beth, opposite her, was obviously annoyed by the crumbs on the coarse white table-cloth, but her appreciation of the emergency led her to brush them aside and eat as well as she could huge slices of coarse white bread. She had even reminded Peter of the lateness of the breakfast and the necessity of [201] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN eating something. Sam, who was responsible for their having anything at all, had drawn a handful of penciled papers from his pocket and was bending over them making corrections and revisions. His collar was turned up and his hair unusually mussed. His lips puckered nervously as he worked and there was an excited tension about his fingers as he cov ered the papers with large heavy writing. A woman with a dirty apron and disordered hair shuffled in, bringing ham and eggs. She had a high voice and a manner pretending to great respecta bility. At the next table some one was feeding a screaming baby. Elizabeth murmured something about "the poor thing," but Sam did not look up. Peter suspected that he was rather disgusted at hav ing found them on the train at San Bruno. Clearly they should have stayed on the campus with the rest of the mulieres et impedimenta, Peter was not quite certain how it had happened, but once started she knew that she must keep on. To stop was misery. At this distance that horrible awakening at five-twenty, even before the alarm clock, which had been set to prepare for the Eco nomics quiz section, seemed long ago. The mad rush downstairs, the hurrying to the Quad, the excitement and the terrible ruin, had left an impression of chaos, [ 202 ] EARTHQUAKE EMERGENCT and for a background, beautiful green hills shining in the early morning light under a clear blue sky. They had piled into an overloaded bus for Palo Alto, laden with telegrams. They had discovered that the wires were down all communication was cut off ! Then had come a long whistle, and a north bound train had pulled in the only remaining bearer of news. People had rushed to it for infor mation, their minds grasping for comparisons, for in the proportion that others had suffered could they rate their own loss. In terse sentences the trainman had explained what he knew of the disaster in San Jose. "But nothing from the city," he had added, and then Peter had been overwhelmed with a desire to go up to the center of things. To be cut off and not to know what had happened was intolerable. So, unreasoning, she had climbed aboard and Eliza beth, overexcited, had followed her. They were go ing to the city. As they went on, smoothly enough at first, the sky had become clouded, the hills had looked less reassuring, and they had sat almost ter rified. At San Bruno, the engine had balked at the wavy undulations of track spread before it, and Elizabeth leaning from the window, had captured Sam Trent, cram full of copy for the city papers [203] NOT INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN and in a tremendous hurry. Peter vaguely wondered at his condescension in stopping for breakfast at all, for besides the distance which they had already tramped to Colma, there was at least a ten-mile walk before them. He had finished his scribbling and had begun to discuss the possibilities of a "scoop." The woman who had been occupied with the baby, moved by some mistaken feeling of sympathy in the disaster, turned toward them and in a voice of almost overwhelming sadness, began to complain of the ruin. "It s awful," she said, "simply awful ! " Peter felt uncomfortable and looked at her plate. Some people, she thought, would talk about it even if it were the end of the world. "I live up by the cemeteries," the woman went on, "and there s a volcano opened up there in the hills, and the graves is all broken open, and the corpses is all lying around ! " This statement being met by a cold, polite silence, the woman continued, "It s the truth I m telling ye, I seen it with my own eyes." Sam shrugged his shoulders with uneasy annoyance, and muttered something about "half- shot." The woman advanced with a show of injured feelings. "Ye think I m drunk, do ye? " But the room began to shake gently, windows rattled, dishes clattered on the old sideboard. With [204] EARTHQUAKE EMERGENCT a scream Elizabeth rushed for the small back door, Peter following, and Sam a close third. It was over as soon as they were through the dilapidated door way, and they came back laughing nervously, but they were trembling and there was a "gone" .feeling inside. The woman at the other table was sobbing. Outside a great yellow cloud was spreading down from the north. Ominous and threatening, it told a plain story of a city on fire. The two girls felt strangely out of place. A large man came up on a hard-ridden horse, a coil of rope around the pom mel of his saddle. Sam asked him about the city. "Don t go up there," he said sternly. "There s not a drop of water and there won t be anything to eat by night. The soldiers are surrounding the city; wouldn t let you in if you got there. No use trying it. Everybody s leaving. There ll be twenty thou sand people here by night," he added to the pro prietor of the roadhouse who had come out in his great white apron; and as the man disappeared toward the distant packing establishment for which he was bound, the far-sighted host put the advice to practice by getting fifty loaves of bread from a passing bakery wagon. As yet things were still go ing, wound up by the machinery of the day before, [205] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN but the order would soon be upset, for already sev eral crowded automobiles, piled high with baggage, had gone by, fleeing from the city. The group on the porch became a council of war. "I m sure we could make it," insisted Peter, and Elizabeth asserted that she was "game." Sam shifted his position and coughed. "I don t think you d better try it," he said. "There s no tell ing what you may get into. One of the trains will go back from San Bruno soon and you could easily get it. I ll have to try to get this dope in." Then Peter saw that he wanted to get rid of them, thought they were a nuisance, and was in a hurry to be off. "I wish I were a man ! " she cried angrily. "But you re not," said Sam teasingly, "you re only a girl." "And of no use in an emergency," finished Peter. Sam looked guilty and Elizabeth settled the mat ter. "We ll be good and go home where you think we belong. Good-bye," and they reluctantly turned in opposite directions. Stumbling down the railroad track, Peter wept softly. "Just because we re girls, just because we re girls, we can t go up and see it all." Elizabeth was comforting, but she seemed to have discovered the fact long ago and become reconciled to it. [206] EARTHQUAKE EMERGENCT Slowly they retraced their way. Once they stopped and bought peanuts at a little stand near the cemeteries. The cloud overhead had become denser, and more crowded automobiles were coming down the county-road from the city. Then, in the midst of a green field, they saw their engine slowly coming toward them over the twisted and hastily repaired tracks. They ran on to gain a crossing, and there the train stopped, and the con ductor was waiting to help them on. Thus it happened that Sam, who had not caught the train, found them waiting for him when he arrived at Valencia Street station. Pacing up and down in front of the desolate crowd of homeless, huddled amongst their baggage, Peter and Elizabeth were waiting for a chance to return. The ride up had been a nightmare an ever-redden ing cloud of smoke, a harrowing throng hurrying from the city in every possible kind of conveyance, confused cries of "Don t go in there! You can t help! You don t know what you re getting into! " But with stolid persistence the train had pushed on slowly, almost crawling, nearer and nearer to the burning center of the city. Elizabeth had seen Sam s sombrero crossing the [207] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN street through the outgoing stream of people, dodg ing between a wagon almost toppling over with household furniture and a useless street-car. Pull ing Peter hastily around the corner of the station, she pointed out the familiar figure, and then both drew back into the shadow, for they felt somewhat ashamed of having disobeyed orders. Sam laughed, for he could not help it, as he perceived their crestfallen countenances, though laughter sounded strangely out of place among this crowd of stunned people, dumbly waiting for a chance to get away. "Well, how did you do it? he asked. "Don t ask us," said Peter, "we want to go back now." "I don t think there s much chance," Sam shrugged his shoulders, "but we ll wait awhile." "Oh, don t you wait!" pleaded Elizabeth, "you must get to the paper." "Office has gone," said the college correspondent in a voice of despair. "Come down this street and have a look at the fire." Perhaps ten blocks down a near street they looked into the red center of the fire, where, over the heads of the crowd of people that surrounded it, they could see the flames steadily at work. [208] EARTHQUAKE EMERGENCT It was tiresome wandering between the crowded station and the point from which the fire could be seen. People were waiting, hardly speaking or com plaining, or were passing on in an endless procession, overloaded, ready to drop; anything to get away. The trio sat on the steps of an apparently deserted house and waited also. Their features assumed somewhat the stoical, resigned expression of the people in the streets. The afternoon was almost gone, and every one felt the dread of the approaching night. "We can t stay here any longer," Elizabeth said finally. "We must go out to my aunt s, near the Park. We can stay there all night." They decided that it was the only thing to do, and so started across the city, up hill and down, over miles of sidewalk crowded with people too fright ened to stay in their houses. Sometimes they found their way barred by danger ropes, where a whole flat was leaning over at a startling angle, and once, a block away, they saw where the first story of a small hotel had given way, landing the structure in the basement. And repeatedly came the ominous, dull explosions of dynamite in the hands of the fire fighters. They resounded from different parts of the city like distant guns in the battle against the fire. [209] INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN Once, Sam took his two weary followers near the fire line, and, to get a better view, went a block out of the way. Elizabeth, tall, slender, eyes shining with excitement, could see over the crowd and the soldiers blocking the street. Peter, tiptoeing on a stairway, peered over her shoulder clinging to her tightly. Through the vista of fire could be seen the glowing ruins of the buildings already consumed, and nearer came the visible crash of a falling roof or a side wall. Slowly and surely it burned, with a crackle and roar, insatiable, as if it were some evil genius, long confined and now let loose, ravaging and pillaging while the waterless city was helpless and at his mercy. Slowly the soldiers began to advance, and the crowd retreated before them, while an officer ran ahead, giving notice at each house in that street to vacate for the dynamiting. People cried out, and ran back for a last armful. There was a man inside the line of soldiers. He was helping carry dynamite from a big automobile into the middle of the rapidly deserted street. He was a young man, with broad shoulders and a strong face. As he stood up from depositing the blackened sticks, Sam saw him news editor for the paper his paper, and shouting "Weyland," rushed for the [210] EARTHQUAKE EMERGENCY line of soldiers. From where they stood the girls could see that he had some trouble in getting through. He almost lost his coat in a struggle with one of the soldiers. People were shouting to him to stop, but he finally broke away and was at Wey- land s side, when a shot rang out and he fell in a heap. The man bent over him and the crowd closed around, shutting out all view from the two on the steps. So quickly had it come, that Peter was stunned. Dazed and horrified, she trailed after the frantic Elizabeth, who pushed at the edge of the dense crowd with as much effort as at a wooden stockade. When a way was opened up, it was to let pass the big automobile from which the dynamite had been taken. Weyland was holding something on the broad seat of the tonneau. He did not hear Eliza beth shouting his name, and he did not see her almost clutching the big tires as they cleared the jam of people. When the car had gone, Peter found her pale and voluble. Over and over again she cried out, as though repeating the insistent questionings of some inner voice: "Peter, why did we come 1 ? Why did we come 1 ? Do you think he was killed*? Do you do you?" [211] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN Peter, shaken into a negative answer, insisted that he couldn t be. "Oh, those soldiers," raged the taller girl, "I could shoot every one of them to strike him down like that ! " People were beginning to edge nearer. "Did you know him?" asked a curious woman. With her head high, Elizabeth moved on. Again on their way, she could not remain silent. "Just because he was so crazy about getting the news in!" she wailed, "and so reckless! And it was all on account of us, Peter, that he came out here!" "Yes, it s awful we re girls and have to be taken care of like babies," said the other, disgustedly. "Oh, it s frightful, just think of it! Peter, you don t realize it, we saw him killed!" and the almost distracted Elizabeth shrieked hysterically. Peter rebelled. "He disobeyed orders just as much as we did. Besides, he s probably not danger ously hurt at all; they fix them up so easily now adays, you know." "Well, you are the most cold-hearted person I ever saw," Elizabeth sobbed. But without sym pathy, she could say no more. Peter, rather ashamed of her unfeelingness, but defiant, kept her thoughts to herself, and they con tinued the weary tramp of the hard sidewalks. [212] EARTHQUAKE EMERGENCY Block by block, they zigzagged along the outskirts of the city into the Western Addition, where the fire had not reached. Everywhere the porches and steps were filled with people, and on all the streets the processions of movers continued at intervals. At a great orphan asylum they were spreading blankets for the children on the terraced lawn, and here a homeless family had taken possession of a hack in front of a livery stable. There were curious sights as well as pathetic, but tired eyes saw all without interest. Finally, they crawled through a park that spread itself over the crest of a hill, and, turning down a street flanked closely with flats and houses of the same design, were greeted by a cry of welcome and hauled into one of the narrow front doors, which shut after them, closing out all but friends and kindness. "Lucky, lucky," whispered the wide-eyed woman who had sat on the low curbing in front of the house to rest her big bundle and two small children. Then, with a final glance at the closed door, she picked up her burden and continued the long walk to the park. %. j|c >(t ^; -Jf. % Perhaps Fate permits no rest to those who have [213] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN once disobeyed orders; perhaps it was decreed that, once started, they should see it to the end. At all events, to two terrified girls, who had crept down through the still hot ruins of Market and Folsom Streets the next morning, when their friends thought them on their way to Palo Alto, Berkeley was an earthly paradise. Peter was sure something would have happened to them, had not a man with a suit-case taken them under his protection during the long walk over heaved-up cobble-stones and fallen debris. It was the college-looking suit-case that had attracted Elizabeth, but it was Peter s keeping close to his heels like a well-trained puppy that had made him turn around. At first Elizabeth had worried and she had sobbed, "That man said no trains were going, and we couldn t go back there, could we, Peter, when they hardly had enough for themselves to eat"?" "No, and then they say we can get to Berkeley. Close your eyes if we see anything horrible," the smaller girl had added, in appreciation of Elizabeth s sensitiveness, "and I will lead you by." But they had seen no blackened corpses, only partially animated men and women camping in the debris, up against the ruins of the still hot walls, [214] EARTHQUAKE EMERGENCT scraps of sheet iron protecting them from the wind. Squatting on the littered sidewalks close to the em bers, they seemed some horrible offspring of the ashes of their tenements. The wretchedness and the heat had given Peter an impression of another place renowned for these two characteristics. It couldn t be much worse, she had thought. Compared with these denizens of the lower part of town, the people out by the park were happy inhabitants of another world. Like Dante, they could pass from one circle to another. And when the ferry-boat had left the wastes of ruined walls where famine threat ened and brought them to Berkeley, it was Heaven indeed. Around the station were bevies of white-starched maidens, representing committees and sub-commit tees for the relief of refugees. And did one for saken-looking being get off the train, his bundle was taken away, he was rushed to the temporary lunch counter, and a hundred homes were waiting to receive him. Peter and Elizabeth fell into the arms of some of the Berkeley Lambda Eta girls, who seemed rather disappointed that they had not "lost everything." To be again inside a well-appointed house was almost inconceivable, and a well-served dinner NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN seemed a wicked luxury with their eyes still seeing a destitute woman making coffee over a smoky fire in a desert of debris. Across the table the two girls looked at each other with wan faces, tired from lack of sleep, and out of sympathy with the laughter of the rest. The memory of what they had seen rested heavily upon them. Elizabeth s tightly drawn brows threatened a collapse and Peter was strung to the point of irritability. "We must do something," the older girl insisted. It was Peter who suggested the hospital, and at the emergency ward improvised in Odd Fellows Hall, the doctors, preparing for patients from the city, eagerly accepted Elizabeth, because she looked so capable, and Peter rather dubiously. The latter, however, made herself more than useful in helping to turn hastily donated mattresses and improvised tables into beds. In the afternoon, when the ferry-boats were thrown open to everybody, patients began to arrive. At first it seemed as if the whole Italian quarter of the city was pouring into Berkeley. Small chil dren came plentifully, and orders were given that they should be washed. When this fact became known outside, helpers were less insistent in offering [216] EARTHQUAKE EMERGENCT their services. Elizabeth managed to evade this, but Peter literally waded in and washed each dirty bit of humanity as microscopically as she did specimens in the laboratory. Once a regal lady floated in, with sweeping train and tragic manner; she was ill, so ill. "It s a shame to say it," whispered the doctor, after examination, "alcohol." Finally, soon after a train had clanged and shrieked in the street outside, the telephone rang, and the hospital was asked to send attendants to carry in a patient. Peter shivered as the stretcher came through the door and the blanketed form upon it did not move. The doctor read the paper pinned on the outside: "Berkeley student, shot in ankle, fracture of skull." An experienced nurse was given charge of the case, but when the doctor had made his examination and the patient rested on one of the high beds, Elizabeth was called, with the words, "He ll come round in a minute, and when he does, give him this." A reporter was waiting to find out his name and where he lived. Elizabeth, approaching the patient reluctantly, suddenly set down the glass and ran ran until she came to where Peter was engaged with the babies. NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN Here, unmindful of the water or soap, she grabbed Peter s shoulders, squeezing them joyously, and saying in a voice of suppressed relief, "Peter, it s Sam." "Where?" "The man they brought in from the train." "Is he badly hurt?" "I don t know." Elizabeth recovered herself. "I must go back. The doctor told me to give him something. But I m glad he s here," and she departed in rather more of a confused hurry than she had come. Sam opened his eyes with a strange feeling of helplessness and rebellion. He shut them again when he saw Elizabeth, and reddened in embarrass ment at his appearance. To be down and out is one thing, but to be watched in that condition by a girl is galling. Still, there is something comforting about large brown eyes full of sympathy. Sam tried to lift his head to look around. "Is it Palo Alto?" he asked. "No," said Elizabeth, "Berkeley. The doctoi told me to give you this when you opened your eyes." To do this, it was necessary to pass an arm under the broad shoulders and steady the hand that held the glass. Sam choked and laughed awkwardly, EARTHQUAKE EMERGENCT then choked again. His eyes regained some of their old keenness, but he sank back on the pillow painfully. "It s just my head," he scowled. "Must have hit those cobble-stones awfully hard." "Will you ever forgive us 1 ?" Elizabeth began. "Not your fault," said Sam. "I wanted to see Weyland." "Where did he take you*? I tried to stop him when he went away, but " "I don t remember. I guess it was the pavilion. I heard him say something about college correspond ent of the tfimes. Must have thought I was Berke ley; my head was so I couldn t tell them." "I m glad they did send you here," Elizabeth smiled. Sam frowned beneath the bandages. "Awful insult sending me to Berkeley, wait till I see Wey land! Wonder he couldn t have put a tag on me." "Some one else did. Booked you Berkeley." Sam groaned. "Oh, I didn t mean it," pleaded Elizabeth. "It s too awful to talk about. We thought surely you had been killed Peter "Where s Peter? "She s washing the babies." A weak smile [219] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN spread over the correspondent s features. The doctor and the reporters interfered, and when Eliza beth returned, the patient had been cheered by the news that when the ankle was in a plaster, there being no sign of fracture of the skull, he would be free to go. Elizabeth, straightening the pillow, smiled down at him. Outside on the steps of the building, tired Peter was resting in the cool of the late afternoon. Peo ple were passing up and down into the hospital, but she did not notice them. Men and women with badges and red crosses passed to and fro in the street, alternating with weary, bedraggled families laden with bundles. Trains were coming in and always returning empty. To the west there was a red re flection in the sky that was more than sunset, and the edge of a cloud, smoke yellow. Peter was tired. She bent her head down and rested it upon her arms. It came to her wearily that perhaps she should be tired for a long time. Vaguely the realization of the long period of readjustment to follow came over her. To go away until it was all over and settled again! Peter sighed, but then she felt and knew that to endure was the only courage, however black seemed the vague foreshadowings of the evils that by law must follow in the replanting of uprooted [ 220 ] EARTHQUAKE EMERGENCY conditions. Perhaps Peter heard the endless ham mering on the beloved Quad and the echo of the stone-cutters chisels through the long arcades. Upstairs, Elizabeth was saying to Sam: "There s just one thing Peter wants to know." "What is it 1 ?" came a little weakly. "She wants to know, and she is gloating to hear your answer, she wants to know if girls aren t of as much use in an emergency as some men 1 ?" [221 ] Senior JF SENIOR FINALITIES Characters. Elizabeth Warner, Margaret Sears, Sam tfrent and Philip Collier. Scene. A stairway at Enema overlooking the ballroom. Elizabeth Warner and Sam tfrent seated on a couch on the landing. Trent. So this is our Senior, Lizbeth! You d laugh if you knew how I d counted on it almost since we were Sophomores having you for Senior week, I mean. And yet, I m not so envious of Philip as I might be. Do you know, I wouldn t barter one of those glorious out-of-door days for all his week of festivities. You looked bored to death at the Prom! Elizabeth. Merely my ankle, Samuel. Trent. And, hang it all, you re all worn out to night ! Elizabeth. My ankle again, sir. Trent. Betty, what you want is God s out-of- doors. Come on, cut Chapel tomorrow and we ll make for "hill-church." I ll order the pintos from Parsons tonight, and we ll go any place you like. Let s make it La Honda and a campfire by the creek [225] NO*? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN Elizabeth (laughingly). Oh, you; that s the way you always begin, "Wherever you like, Eliza beth, only let s go What a man you are ! ^frent. Don t you like it best, the redwoods and the old Alpine grade? You used to. Elizabeth. Oh, then of course I must still. It is hard to tell, though, really. One metamorphoses constantly here. There s very little of real me left, anyway. Peter says my "elemental self" is quite evaporated. tfrent. Peter s a pessimist and we won t believe her. Do you know, she assured me tonight that the only reason she let me bring her was to vindicate me before my fellow-men as a "queener." She also flatteringly intimated that in the category of bore dom I rank rather higher than average. Elizabeth. That was not nice of Peter. I shall remonstrate. ^frent (laughingly). I wouldn t. She s swear ing vengeance on even you tonight. Miss Benson has scandalized her completely, and you are held sponsor for the importation. Elizabeth. Poor, dear Peter. The days of neck ruffs and cameos are her setting. What s the offense, I wonder 1 ? [226] SENIOR FINALITIES tfrent. Well, I don t want to butt in, but I don t think myself that swinging one s feet from a seat on the punch-table is a very attractive posture for a woman, do you*? And it is a bit conspicuous to entertain half a dozen men at once on the verandah, all of them puffing away at cigarettes. I agree with Peter, for one. Elizabeth. Oh, ye puritans. The farm is simply too rural for your broadest development, that s all, I don t mean that I approve of Kate Benson. I don t. But you know how city girls are most of them and you have to consider environment. tfrent (valiantly). Well, the men aren t strong for them, anway. It s only a few of these fool society-ites who stand for it. Elizabeth. I suppose Philip is to be included among the denunciated ? You are not fair, Sam. Mrs. Collier said something to Kate Benson about Senior Week when she first came out to visit them. Philip had already asked me, so he got Dick to bring her. When Mrs. Collier was taken ill at the last moment and Kate could not go to the Theta Phi house, there was nothing for me to do but to ask her to stay with us. Marion declares she s a perfect "cat," and Peter, on general routine principle, de nounces her as flippant. I think she is merely dif- [227] INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN ferent, and it s natural she should be a little bit spoiled. Dick s cousin, who went to finishing school with her, wrote out that she is ever so keen, old Southern family, popular, and all that sort of thing. Mrs. Collier wouldn t be entertaining her if she were not worth while. tfrent. By no means ! Elizabeth. And lots of money ! tfrent. Particularly ! Elizabeth (puzzled). What do you mean, Sam 4 ? tfrent. Merely ambition. Elizabeth. Oh! You think Mrs. Collier is throwing her at Philip. I see ! Perhaps she is, but Sam, somehow I don t think he would be carried away by that sort of thing. ^frent. Oh, I know, Lizbeth. I am not con demning him. I am trying not even to judge him. He does seem to be liking it, though. At least, he is giving Miss Benson the time of her life. Elizabeth (following Trent s glance to a corner near the fireplace, where Philip and Miss Benson are sitting). Of course, he is doing his best to en tertain her. Philip is too much of a gentleman to do otherwise with a guest, show preferences or prejudices, I mean. tfrent. That s just it! [228] SENIOR FINALITIES Elizabeth. What do you mean by that? Trent. Why such a grace in your eyes? You used to scorn diplomacy. Elizabeth (wearily). Part of the evaporation, presumably. Trent. Again I prescribe the hills. Will you go? Elizabeth. I can t. I ve made a half-way en gagement already. Trent. You re not giving me even my fighting chance. It is the last time I shall see you, if you start south Monday. Wasn t all of Senior Week enough to give him, and after the way I had banked on it, Elizabeth? Hang it all, he can t care about the place and its memories as you and I have cared. But I won t begrudge him a thing in the world if you will only give me one last, old-time day. We will go over into the woods where we went shooting "squichets" last spring. Do you remember, Liz- beth? We didn t shoot any, did we, dear? We hadn t the heart when the saucy little fellows sat there, way up in the tree tops, cracking their nuts and pelting the shells at us. And you told me com ing home how glad you were that the day had not been marred by the death of even a gray "squichet." Elizabeth, that was the red-letter day of my life. [229] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN You were closer in sympathy with me than I had ever dared hope you were I know you were ! Do you remember your delight in stomping through the creek-bed in your soaked shoes, even with my threat from the bank to "Shoot your heels off" hanging over you*? And then, the drive home! Elizabeth (closing her eyes protestingly). Don t, Sam, don t! ^rent (dreamily). The sunset on the ocean from the summit near the wood-pile, the greens and greens of the wooded hills, and then the fog. It came down like magic, didn t it, leaving only the highest hilltops lifted above it, like dark islands among great billows. It stood so still ! Lizbeth, it was all part of some wonderful stillness and understand ing that we both felt that day. You felt it, too, dear, didn t you? Tell me, didn t you, Lizbeth *? Elizabeth (getting to her feet). I want to go outside. I can t breathe here. Don t talk to me, please don t, Sam ! A deep window recess on the verandah. Elizabeth. I can t feel differently about you, Sam. I have tried to make you believe it ever since the beginning of the semester. tfrenf. Ever since Philip Collier came back, Elizabeth. I know. If I thought you really cared [230] SENIOR FINALITIES for him, Elizabeth, if I thought you would really be happy, but I can t believe it, I can t. Elizabeth. It could not change me about you, even if I did not care, Sam. Oh, don t make it any harder for me! I am so unhappy! Why did you ever grow out of the dear old comradery days why did you 4 ? I don t believe you ever thought of me this way until tfrent. Elizabeth, I have always, subconsciously perhaps until this spring, but I ve always cared, and you know I always will. And Elizabeth, I know now, I know you do love him you have as good as said so. Elizabeth. I haven t, surely I haven t. Why, I don t even know that he tfrent (savagely). He does, he s got to care if you do! Elizabeth, little girl, forgive all I have said. I m hard hit! I hadn t believed it could be as bad as this, but I know I am unworthy some thing is wrong or I d have had you. (Pulling him self together.) One thing, Elizabeth I ve had a part of you that he never will. Thank God, that s mine! The woods and the hills over there, you ll think of me sometimes when you remember them and Stanford, won t you, Lizbeth think of your old pal of the open road 4 ? That s all I ask! [231 ] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN Elizabeth (visibly moved and reaching out her hand for his) . Dear, dear pal ! tfrent (touching his lips to her hand). God bless you for that! There s a dreary open-road before me now. I am going out to Korea with Carson and the bunch. It will be new and exciting, though, and, Lizbeth, I ll say that over to myself many times by the way what you said just now. It will help a lot. Elizabeth. And you will forget all about the other, Sam ? Promise me 1 ? I can t bear to think of you unhappy. ^rent. I ll try to, I ll try my best at least I ll never bother you with it again. I m a selfish brute, little Betty, and You re not crying? Oh, please! please! Elizabeth (dabbing her eyes). I won t, I won t! See all gone! tfrenf. I am going in to get Peter for you. Good-bye, little pal. You deserve all the good things in the world. God bless you, Lizbeth! God bless you ! Elizabeth (brokenly). Good-bye, Sam, boy! Good-bye ! Enter Margaret Sears comes down the verandah [232] SENIOR FINALITIES with Trent, who wheels suddenly and leaves her alone with Elizabeth. Peter. Sam has singled me out as an angel of comfort. Poor Betty, I m not much use in that role, I fear. Besides, dear, I am not sure that you deserve it. How could you, Elizabeth, how could you*? I know what you have told him. I could see it in his face half-way across the room, and oh, Elizabeth, I feel as if the last prop in my little world had gone under, too. Somehow it seems as if you were cutting loose from all the old things. You know what I mean. Elizabeth (weeping softly). Peter, I can t make you understand, it is something beyond my power to change. I know, indeed I know, Peter, how fine he is. Part of me your old-time "elemental" part, I guess, won t let me be happy about losing him, but Peter (impatiently). Elizabeth, that is the best part of you, the part we all love you for. The other isn t you at all. Elizabeth. It is very real, Peterkins, you don t know how painfully real it is. You don t know how I have reasoned with myself how I have forti fied my mind with all the platitudes that ought to convince, but they don t, they don t, Peter! [233] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN Peter. No hardly with the glamour of Philip offsetting them. That s what is the matter, Betty. You are dazzled, just like a child. Don t be cross with me for thinking it, because you see it s a sort of impersonal diagnosis. You don t appeal as quite you just at present. Elizabeth. Poor Philip you are not exactly meting out mercy to him, are you? Why should he care about me, Peter, why should he like the kind of things we like if there wasn t the other side to him 6 ? He knows I am not like like Katherine Benson, for instance. Peter (tartly). I should hope not. Elizabeth (insistently). Well, why should he care, Peter, tell me that*? Peter. It is another side of him uppermost his best self for the moment. Elizabeth. I won t believe it. I couldn t care as I do, Peter, I couldn t, if there was nothing to care for. Do you think that I am superficial, too 1 ? Peter (caustically). You are in love, Elizabeth, and discrimination is not conspicuous in the process. Elizabeth. Your comfort is rather pedantic, Peter. You had better go back to your partner. Peter. I mean well enough, Betty, dear, but I can t help caring a great deal, and you asked me, [234] SENIOR FIN JURIES you know! I suppose you have the rest of your dances with him. They were beginning to go up to supper as we came out. Thank goodness, those wretches hanging over the balcony will have to scatter to their rooms for a little while. Some of the Freshmen have been letting down sprigs of mistletoe all evening on the heads of the unsuspect ing. And Carson s up there with his eagle eye on Sam. A lot of the 07 men are going out to Korea on the survey with Lawson and they want him to go. I guess they had a hunch that tonight would decide him. Elizabeth. They are very impertinent. Peter. No merely human. Elizabeth. You d better go up if you are going to get any supper. Peter. We won t save seats for you at our table as we planned, I suppose? It might be embarrass ing, mightn t it 1 ? The stakes on Sam s going would be rather summarily settled, I imagine. Elizabeth. Don t rub it in, Peter! Peter (softening perceptibly). Oh, Betty! don t do anything stupid. You re all upset and worked upon tonight. Come on home with me in the morn ing and you can think things over during the [235] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN summer. Won t you 1 ? I ll go up to the house and pack for you tonight, if you will. Elizabeth. You know I can t, Peter! It wouldn t be decent of me to cut that drive after Peter (dryly). I think it would be the decentest and the sanest thing you ever did. Elizabeth. Don t be hard on me, Peterkins, don t! I am terribly unhappy! Tell me, are my eyes red*? I only hope Philip won t discover me right away. I know I look a fright ! And Peter- kins, be as decent to old Sam as you can, won t you 4 ? Peter (sniffing as she walks away). H m! That comes well from you. tfwo dances later an automobile pulls up in front of the Hall. Miss Benson and another city girl, followed by several men, come up the steps. Collier (discovering Elizabeth down the veran dah). Ah! here you are! Dick suggested a spurt down to Paly in his machine and Katherine wanted to go. I am afraid it has made me cut one of my dances with you, worse luck ! We got into Wilson s and nothing short of three rounds would do them. Then Kitty insisted on a last "Encina Delight." Elizabeth (laughingly). Oh, you are forgiven. Any one who pleads such a patriotic cause ! Philip. It wasn t excuse enough to satisfy [236] SENIOR FINALITIES me. Even the minutes have grown precious now, Elizabeth. Elizabeth. That s good of you to say, when my ankle has spoiled things so, too! I know you will be generous and vow that men are bored with danc ing, anyway, but that s only when a cigarette is the alternative. Collier (smiling). Ah, playing skeptic again! But I know you know the one place under the sun I had rather be. Elizabeth, I wonder how it will seem not having you to go to 4 ? I ve grown hor ribly dependent on you, haven t I? If this kind of life down here could only go on always. That s it what are they waltzing to in there now "One, two, three, four! Take back your sheepskin A. B. I ll not be whirled into the world!" Gee! I wonder if a fellow ever comes to his commencement without wanting to shout it at em "Take back your sheepskin A. B." Elizabeth (quoting softly). And leave us "the Quad and the Row and the foothills low." That s the hold of the old place on us, but you see we have to grow up some time, don t we? Collier (moodily). Worse luck, we do! Elizabeth (banteringly) . Better luck perhaps than the proverbial jeans suggest. [237] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN Collier. Oh, that kind, plenty of that ! It s the other things, the things I ve got here with you, Elizabeth. The world outside is so unattractive by contrast, after these dream days. A fellow forgets how provincial it all is and hates the launching out into reality. And then when your life is all cut and dried for you. That s the kind of a life I m bound to drift into up there in the city. Elizabeth (feebly). It doesn t sound much like Kipling s road of intentions, does it? Collier. Well, hang it all ! Elizabeth, when your family has it all mapped out for you, stepping into the old man s business, inheriting the family friends and connections, accepting eventually, I suppose, even the marriage prescribed for you Elizabeth. Philip, don t be flippant! Who s the cynic now 1 ? Collier (smiling helplessly). You see the simple truth is there s no reasonable excuse under heaven why I shouldn t do just the things decreed. I ve no plans of my own! I m an aimless beggar, Eliza beth. You know it! I don t see why the deuce you ve had the patience with me that you have. I m not worth my salt! Elizabeth. You don t know what you re worth until you ve tried, Philip. [238] SENIOR FINALITIES Collier (musingly). It s no use. I can see it all. Nothing that I could decently balk at, nothing unless the girl, perhaps, but after all you know it s six of one and half a dozen of the other your chances of happiness anyway. It will probably be some one quite as purposeless and mediocre as my self some dainty, amiable little thing, who is suit able, eminently suitable, and of whom mother ap proves heartily. It isn t exactly an ideal way of looking at things, is it, but it s more like real life, the kind of life before me, Elizabeth. Elizabeth. Whatever has come over you, Philip 1 ? I have never heard you talk like this. You know you don t believe it! Collier. I have never been facing the threshold before and all that sort of thing. I don t know what I believe, Elizabeth. I am just cut to the pattern, that s the truth. I hate my limitations like every thing. I ve even almost got beyond them some times down here with you, but it won t last, it won t last! Elizabeth. That s a cheering thought with which to set sail from the land where the winds of freedom blow. Collier. Oh, here I am boring you with my life prospects and their assured degeneration when I [239] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN ought to be giving you a decent time. We have had some happy old days, haven t we, Elizabeth. I ll miss you like everything, and you ll probably be way down South there, teaching some wretched little beggars their alphabet in French. Whenever you come North you ll let me know, won t you 4 ? The mater wants to ask you to visit us. I ve told her a lot about you and she s anxious to know you. Elizabeth (feebly). That is very kind of her, I am sure. I doubt if I ll be up again before the big game in the Fall, though. Collier. We aren t going to be utter strangers by that time are we, Elizabeth 4 ? You must promise to write and to cheer me up now and then, and I ll do my part toward keeping you posted on things here how many new rigs Parsons has acquired, how much longer the menu at Wilson s has grown, and where the fellows are sending their orchids from. Elizabeth (unconsciously crushing the petals of one of the orchids she wears, until there is a great purple stain on her gown). You will be coming back then sometimes for for mere memory of the dream days ? Collier. I ll have to come ! To steal down now and then, you know, when things have been "wrink ling in my heart for ages," as Jimmy says just for [240] SENIOR FINALITIES the memories of the old place and the fellows, of course. (Glancing apprehensively at Elizabeth s non-committal face and straightening his shoulders as if to take a new hold on things.) Gee ! but we re getting gloomy. Let s wander into pastures new. Elizabeth (with an heroic attempt at banter). Aren t the decorations perfect and the floor is Collier (looking down at her ankle with a rather sick smile). Simply superb. Elizabeth. And the gowns are there! I defy you to finish that. Collier. Terribly smart. (With unconscious frankness.) It does make a lot of difference, doesn t it 1 ? There are a lot more society girls down tonight than usual. Kitty and I were just counting up ten altogether. That s a pretty good percentage out of eighty. They make things hum, don t they 4 ? Elizabeth. Rather too much, I thought you com plained, after the last "Friday night" you went up for. Is it the mere glamour of environment that makes the difference tonight or perhaps the bas- relief of comparison*? Collier (heroically). Well, when that s one s life, one might as well fall victim gracefully. There s nothing like the artistic susceptibility ! By the way, Elizabeth, I won t be able to take you driving in [241 ] NO? INCLUDED IN A SHEEPSKIN the morning. I am terribly sorry, but Mother tele phoned down after dinner to ask me to take Kitty to Redwood tomorrow. Her aunt, Mrs. Sawyer, has arranged to have us to luncheon or something. I hope I haven t kept you from anything else. Elizabeth (quietly). Oh no ! our plans were only tentative, of course in fact, I was going to tell you I shouldn t be able to go. Collier. It s beastly luck ! Elizabeth (her face colourless and drawn as she turns toward him). Do you know my ankle is throbbing horribly. I wonder if I may be a nuisance and ask you to take me home 1 ? Oh ! no, I don t care for any supper, thank you! That s our rig at the end of the curbing, isn t it? Will you call him please and I ll have my wraps in a moment. (Pass ing Peter in the lower Hall dancing.) Peter, I am going home. Come up with the girls tonight, will you to help me pack, dear? [242] TTBRAFY THE Li BRAKY PS 3511 F88?n A 000922944