“I wanted to ask you more about that cut rope.”
“Cut rope?” Gale repeated, puzzled. “Oh, you mean on the canoe.”
“Yes. Are you positive it was cut?”
Gale nodded. “There couldn’t be any doubt about it. You see it was just a new rope. That is, the end that was left was new. It couldn’t have worn through. The edge was straight and not at all frayed. It had been cut,” she said firmly. “Did Dean Travis tell you about it?”
“Yes. You haven’t told anyone, have you?”
“No,” Gale said in mystification. “But why shouldn’t I? Anyone who looks at the canoe will be sure to see it.”
“Freshmen have enough on their minds without adding other people’s troubles,” the Doctor teased. “Good afternoon, Miss Howard.”
Eyes grown stormy with indignation and then calmer with humor, Gale watched her stride across the campus and into the red brick building which housed the infirmary and the Doctor’s quarters.
“What a nice, polite way of telling me to mind my own business,” she laughed to herself. “But just the same,” she added mischievously, “I won’t mind it. I, too, would like to know why that rope was cut so Dean Travis’ canoe would drift out and be caught in the rapids.”
She walked across the campus toward the sorority house. The building was gray and ivy covered. The sun’s last rays made the vine leaves gleam silver and gold in turn. “Happiness House!” She smiled. What a fitting name for the place. Whoever had substituted such a name for the intimate use of the girls had chosen it rightly enough. There seemed to be nothing but peace, contentment and utter harmony among the girls. At least so far she and Phyllis had discovered nothing else. Of course when the rest of the girls arrived for the semester things might be different.