"Oh, to the Pudding at once," responded Fritz; "you are none too early. As for Amy—"
"I shall never dare look a strawberry in the face again. Early as it is, I have already eaten so many, and, oh, mamma, it is all so delightful. Fritz and I have already been at the Pudding, and now we'll go back with you."
At this point Mrs. Redmond interfered. She assured Fritz that she and Martine were quite able to take care of themselves.
"It is the Senior's day," she said; "and Martine and I are here only incidentally. One of us is too old, and the other too young—almost too young—to be exacting about Class Day. Martine's best time will come when Lucian graduates."
"Run, Amy," exclaimed Martine. "It's delightful to see you and Mr. Tomkins getting on so well. You usually try to send him away somewhere; but now you are ready to go where he goes, and so your mother and I won't detain you for even a minute."
"Let us hurry, then," said Amy, turning to Fritz. "If Martine is in one of her mischievous moods, we cannot tell when she will stop teasing."
"At my rooms at four," cried Fritz, as he and Amy left the others at the entrance to the Pudding spread.
From this moment for the rest of the day, Martine not only forgot that she was tired, but her recent troubles seemed altogether of the past. In spite of the great crowd, a number of her Chicago friends found Martine in the corner where Mrs. Redmond made her sit. It is true that she had not even a word with Hazen Andrews, her special host, who, like most Seniors, was thoroughly occupied looking after relatives and the girls of the older set, to which Martine did not belong.
She had not many friends among the Seniors, though two or three in their flowing gowns, mortar-boards in their hands, came up to speak to her or Mrs. Redmond.
"Isn't it fun?" cried Martine to the latter. "It's like taking a journey somewhere, and running upon all kinds of people that one hasn't seen for a long time—only one seldom sees so many persons one knows on a single journey."