Down the stairs he bounded, out into the court he rushed; and there, bareheaded and eager, he looked around for Elsie.
She was not to be seen. From the court he rushed out through the gate to the campus, where the light fall of snow had been trodden by hundreds of feet.
A little group of fellows lingered by the fence, some with the collars of their coats turned up, some with their hands thrust deep into their pockets, some with overcoats buttoned about them. Their heads were close together, and they were talking earnestly about some topic of deep interest. A few students were hurrying across the campus, their appearance seeming to indicate that they were making haste to reach their rooms and pack up that they might get away for the holidays. But nowhere could Merry see a thing of Elsie.
“Where the dickens could she have gone?” he muttered. “I wonder if she saw us from the stairs!”
He was seized by a feeling of guilt and a sensation of wrong-doing. Something told him the time had come when he must choose between Inza and Elsie, and that he could not longer entertain more than friendly relations with both of the girls. The thought that Elsie had seen him with Inza by the window, and had fled, her heart throbbing with pain, made him desperate and wretched.
“I must find her!” he muttered hoarsely. “Not even for the memory of old times should I have permitted what happened to-day! Elsie! Elsie!”
He seized by the arm a hurrying student and asked if he had seen anything of a young lady without escort. No such person had been seen by the one questioned. Then Merry went straight to the group by the fence. Yes, one of them had seen Badger and the two girls go over to Vanderbilt, and then, a few moments later, had seen one of the girls hurry away alone.
“Which way did she go?” asked Frank, repressing his eagerness so that he attracted no particular attention by his manner. Being told, he hurried over to the street. A few cabs and trucks were there. In a moment Merry had learned that such a girl as he described was seen taking a cab a few minutes before.
“She’s gone!” he huskily muttered, as he turned back. “I must find out where she is stopping, and I’ll call on her without delay. The time has come for me to choose and make my choice known. I’ll do it!”
When he again entered his rooms, he found Inza had taken Buck and Winnie into the study, where all were chatting with Frank’s friends who had gathered there.