She met Miss Phillips in the hall, and after greeting her somewhat coolly, asked her to come into the parlor with her.
“I am afraid I can’t go out for the swimming team, Miss Phillips,” she said abruptly, after they had seated themselves side by side on the sofa. “I’m down in Latin, and if I don’t study hard, I won’t pass.”
“I’m awfully sorry. Can’t you possibly manage it? We need girls so much—and you’re a good swimmer already. I wouldn’t want you to neglect your lessons; but Latin won’t take all your time, will it?”
“No, but you know the sorority takes an awful lot of it. I’ve just got to give up something—so I guess it will have to be athletics.”
“Very well,” replied Miss Phillips, rising; “you know best.”
But as the days passed Marjorie often wondered whether she really did know best. She realized, in a vague sort of way, that she was not so happy as she had been when she first came to Miss Allen’s; and she was not so healthy either. Her cheeks had lost their rosy color, and she was visibly thinner.
She seldom saw Miss Phillips now—and she missed her.
When it came time to pick the class swimming teams, it was a difficult matter to find enough freshmen to make the required number. In fact, most of the girls chosen were beginners. Lily Andrews, who had gone religiously to practice every day, made it; and, strange to say, Ruth Henry developed a new interest in athletics, and proved to be so clever in the water that she was immediately chosen captain. But the team could not in any way compete with those of the upper classes; in the inter-class tournament, it was the first to be defeated.
Marjorie tried not to take the defeat to heart; but she had to tell herself over and over that it was not her fault, that it would hardly have done better if she had taken part. She tried to dismiss athletics and Miss Phillips from her mind, and turn her attention to other interests.
She planned a sorority house-party for the Christmas holidays, and wrote home for her mother’s consent. When she received her reply, approving the idea, she ran over to Doris’s room to announce the good news.