As Jean was on the flag committee she stood at the door and helped distribute flags to the freshmen. At last every one had been given out, and she hurried to her seat. Elizabeth and she were both fortunate enough to draw seats in the front row, not side by side, but only separated by two other freshmen, Mary Boyce and Ruth Witham. As she crowded her way down through the masses of girls she was stopped again and again to be congratulated by those who had just heard of what she had done.
"Why, Jean, who would have thought it of you?" said Peggy Allison as Jean pushed by her. "It's lots better than making the team. Come down to the Inn with me after the game. I want you to meet my cousin, Miss Murray, from Radcliffe. I'm giving just a little supper for her, and it will be grand to have such a heroine as you with us."
"Oh, nonsense, Peggy! I wish you wouldn't talk about it; it's nothing, but I shall be awfully glad to go down to the Inn with you. I'm starving already. You might introduce me to your cousin, though, instead of taking it for granted that we know each other."
"Oh, I beg your pardon, Jean, but I'm so excited over what you've done that I have forgotten everything else. Allow me to introduce you to my cousin, Miss Janet Murray, Radcliffe 1914. Miss Murray, allow me to introduce you to Miss Jean Cabot, Ashton 1915. There, is that perfectly proper, Jean? Don't forget to meet us after the game."
"All right," said Jean, "and I'm very glad to have met you, Miss Murray," and she finally reached her seat. No sooner had she sat down than the class cheer leader arose and said, "Ready, girls; three long cheers for Jean Cabot," and the gym resounded with the three long rahs with Cabot at the end. Jean blushed a little and then began to look about her, apparently unconscious of the sensation her appearance had created. She thought she had never before seen anything as exciting as the scene the gym presented now. There were rows upon rows of girls with their bright-colored flags and streamers, their faces aglow with excitement. Most of them were sitting down, but those not fortunate enough to secure seats stood in the back rows and leaned this way and that for a better view. It did not make much difference as long as they were there. Down among the faculty there seemed to be as much enthusiasm as in the balcony, only in a more subdued manner. Jean looked at Miss Hooper to see if she wore the white carnations she had sent to her that morning, and smiled to herself as she saw her holding them in her hands and waving them every little while as she recognized a freshman or upper-class girl in the balcony. Miss Emerson had many carnations and daffodils, too, the flower that the sophomores decided best matched their class color, and she noticed that almost all the faculty wore or carried some flowers or ribbons to show their preferences.
"Oh, Mary, isn't it wonderful?" said Jean, as she seized Mary Boyce's hand, "and to think I might perhaps have played with them if I had only studied harder. You better believe I'll study harder next—" but she stopped, for the door of the dressing-room opened and the girls ran out upon the floor.
"Why, Jean," said Ruth Witham, "what dandy suits the girls have. Are they new?"
"Yes," said Jean, "it's a surprise. The girls made them all themselves. Doesn't Anne Cockran look too sweet for anything? Isn't she little? But she surely can make baskets if she ever gets half a chance."
Just then the freshmen broke into a round of cheers for the team and every member on it, and in turn the sophomores gave their cheers. The two teams practised a few minutes at both goals and promptly at three o'clock Miss Matthews blew her whistle and the girls lined up ready for play.
"Ready, sophs?" and Sallie Lawrence replied, "All ready."