"Janet Ferguson, you haven't done any stunt," said Juliet suddenly. "Come out here, you and your roommate. What is her name? Oh, thank you, Teddy Waite. We are not going to let you off too easy in spite of your crimsoned brow. Oh, yes, we did eat all their ginger, didn't we? Well, if they are good, and mind what we say, we won't be very hard on them. Let me see—What? Oh, thank you, Fay. Miss Ferguson, you will have to go out into the hall, and climb over your own door by way of the transom. This is what is called a reflective act, for it is to give you an appreciation of the difficulties we have had to endure, and will also give you some thing to reflect upon."
Now Janet was not very athletic. She had but just begun her work in the gymnasium, yet she could climb, thanks to her country training, and though she was awkward enough in crawling through the transom, she managed to scramble down without mishap. Edna was then requested to go through the same feat, and the sophomores then took their leave, expressing themselves as having been greatly entertained.
When they had gone, Janet threw herself into a chair and sighed with relief.
"It wasn't so bad as I was afraid it might be," she said. "Thank heaven, that's over; and I don't suppose there'll be any more of it." And there was not.
[CHAPTER III]
FRATERNITY GIRLS
SCARCELY had Janet become accustomed to her new surroundings, before she found herself the object of special attention from certain girls in the college, and she quite plumed herself upon being so popular with these students in the upper classes. She took pains, however, to hide her elation, for she had wit enough to discover that most of the freshmen were very well satisfied with themselves, and that it was the aim of the sophs to take them down, a wholesome discipline, to be sure, for the majority of them. Indeed, it was in talking to Rosalie Trent, a junior who had selected Janet for special attention, that she learned what was expected of the freshmen, and how far many of them failed in meeting the expectation.
"They know it all," exclaimed Rosalie. "I don't mean you, Janet dear, for even if you think yourself a star of the first magnitude you have sense enough to keep your opinions to yourself. But the consequential airs of some of the new girls actually put me in a temper. I met one of these important individuals waiting for the elevator awhile ago; Nell Deford was there, too; you know how we all regard Nell, and even if she were not a senior, we'd show her deference. Well, what does this little whipper-snapper do, but push herself into the elevator ahead of Nell."
"What did you do?" asked Janet, appalled at such an impertinence on the part of a freshman.
"I swept her back and said, 'Miss Deford first, if you please.' Then I stepped in after Nell, and let Miss Fresh enter last. I must say that she had the grace to look abashed. You see why we have to sit on such creatures once in awhile, or they would simply run the whole place. You are going to the tea with me, aren't you, Janet? Becky Burdett is a girl worth knowing."