Betty laughed. “They might easily be,” she said. “I don’t see that it was so wonderful.”
“Why, I’ve known Theresa all this year–she was the one that asked me to go off with her house for Mountain Day. She’s the best friend I have here, but she never told me that she was specially interested in basket-ball and I never thought–well, I guess I never imagined that a dear friend of mine could be the celebrated T. Reed,” laughed Helen happily. “But all sorts of nice things are happening to me lately.”
“That’s good,” said Betty. “It seems to be just the opposite with me,” and she plunged into her note to Jack, which must be ready for the next morning’s post.
All that week Helen went about fairly wreathed in smiles. Her shyness seemed to have vanished suddenly. She joined gaily in the basket-ball gossip at the table, came out into the hall to frolic with the rest of the house at ten o’clock, and in general acted as a happy, well-conducted freshman should.
The Chapin house brought its amazement over the “dig’s” frivolity to Betty, but she had very little to tell them. “All I know is that she’s awfully pleased about being a friend of T. Reed’s. And oh yes–she’s invited out to dinner next Sunday. But of course there must be something else.”
“Perhaps she’s going to have a man up for the concert,” suggested Katherine flippantly.
“Are you?” inquired Mary Rich, and with that the regeneration of Helen was forgotten in the far more absorbing topic of the Glee Club concert.
Sunday came at last. “I’m not going to church, Betty,” said Helen shyly. “I want to have plenty of time to get dressed for dinner.”
“Yes, indeed,” said Betty carelessly. She had just received an absurd letter from Jack. He was coming “certain-sure”; he wanted to see her about a very serious matter, he said. “Incidentally” he should be delighted to go to the concert. There was a mysterious postscript too:–“How long since you got so fond of Bob Winchester?”
“I never heard of any such person. What do you suppose he means?” Betty asked Mary Brooks as they walked home from church together. Mary had also invited a Harvard man to the concert and Dorothy King had found them both seats, so they were feeling unusually friendly and sympathetic.