He nodded. Then he asked solemnly, “Was it true, dear, that any of our sorosis did those dishonest things?”
“‘Our sorosis!’ Oh, grandpa, you darling!” Jacquette exclaimed, between laughing and tears. “Who cares if you do call it sorosis, as long as you say ‘our,’ that way! Yes, it was true, but it isn’t quite so bad as it looks in the paper. You see in the first place we made a mistake when we initiated Marion Crandall. We didn’t take time to know her well enough. We were too anxious to get more new members than the Kappa Delts—that was the trouble. But she’s expelled from Marston, so she’s out of Sigma Pi, and as for Bess Bartlett, she just didn’t realise that she was doing anything wrong, at all. I know how she is. She’s a nice girl, but thoughtless.”
Mr. Granville sighed, without answering.
“Here’s a letter from Bobs Drake,” Jacquette went on with determined cheerfulness. “I want you to hear something he says.” And she read aloud what Bobs had written about her inactive membership.
As she finished, her grandfather lifted his white head and looked her straight in the eyes. “Well?” he asked.
“Well,” she answered, steadily, “I was trying to keep it to tell Tia first, but you’re so blue, I think she’d want me to——”
“Here they are, girls,” a bright voice cried, just then, and Aunt Sula, still in her outdoor wraps, walked into the library followed by Mary Barnes and Marie Stanwood and Mary Elliott. “I found three forlorn girls outside, Jacquette, trying to make up their minds whether they should come in or not, so I brought them with me.”
“I was afraid you wouldn’t want to see us, because you didn’t wait for me to walk home with you,” Mary Elliott explained, crossing the room to Jacquette.
“Of course I want to see you,” Jacquette answered, slipping one arm around her. “Don’t I always want to see my Maries? Sit down, girls,” she added, as Aunt Sula, motioning them to chairs, took one herself.
But the girls glanced at Mr. Granville and his daughter. “It’s about Sigma Pi,” Marie Stanwood hinted mysteriously.