“Oh, but I——” Gale began confusedly.
“Forget I am the Dean for this one night,” Dean Travis invited humorously. She smiled and Gale could not resist. “I’ve wanted to talk with you often, Gale. You aren’t merely one of the Freshmen to me, you know. You are a friend.”
Gale found the living room of the Dean’s home cozy and warm. A wood fire burned in the fireplace. She sat on the divan before it and let the warmth of the flames ease away some of the nervousness she still felt from her worry over Phyllis. The dinner was the best she had had at Briarhurst, at least she enjoyed it the most. She talked to the Dean as she might have to one of the girls. There was no stiffness or formality between them. She found herself telling the Dean about Phyllis and about the letter she, Gale, must write when she returned to the sorority house. It was a letter to Phyllis’ aunt, the cold, austere woman who was paying Phyllis’ tuition at Briarhurst. Gale did not like Miss Fields. She resented the way the woman so completely dominated Phyllis’ life and the blind obedience she exacted from the girl.
It was late when Gale got back to the sorority house. Adele Stevens met her at the door.
“How is Phyllis?”
Gale told her all the details she could and together they walked up to Gale’s room. There the sorority president stopped to chat a while. When she left Gale found it lonesome. It would be hard to get used to living alone for a few weeks. Phyllis was always so gay, so friendly and understanding, Gale would certainly miss her.
She sat down at her desk to write to Miss Fields. It was the most difficult task she had ever had to do. She didn’t like Phyllis’ aunt and her letter was not the friendly, sympathetic epistle it might have been had she been writing to one of the other girls’ mothers. When she finished she read the note through. It was decidedly stiff and unfriendly. She tore it up and began another. She finally enclosed her fifth attempt in an envelope and stamped it. She was sure Phyllis would receive scant sympathy from Miss Fields. The woman, in all the years since Phyllis was small, had given the girl no obvious affection, no love. Phyllis always had been afraid of her, always had to obey her blindly and implicitly. Gale remembered how difficult it had been for Phyllis to come to Briarhurst with the rest of the Adventure Girls. And now this had to happen! How would Miss Fields accept the news? That worried Gale quite as much as it did Phyllis.
Standing at the window, watching shadows moving slowly on the campus as clouds drifted past the moon, Gale thought of what Janet had said that afternoon. Had Marcia deliberately hit Phyllis with her hockey stick? Gale’s more charitable nature rebelled at the thought. Marcia might be selfish, stubborn, not at all likeable, but surely she wouldn’t do anything like that!
The Freshmen had won the game but at what a cost. Her zeal for the game would cost Phyllis days of suffering and weeks of inactivity that would be even harder to bear. Mentally Gale made a promise to help Phyllis all she could.