“She’s a better friend of mine,” was the bored reply. Leslie was growing tired of being kept from what she burned to know. “Please don’t waste any more time, Bess. We can’t talk after Nat comes in. I don’t believe I’ll be able to see you again before Saturday. I’m awfully busy. I’ll lunch you at the Lotus then. We’ll use my roadster for the trip to town. What?”
Elated at having gleaned from Leslie a promise of benefit to herself and an invitation to luncheon, Elizabeth once more stipulated that her name should be left out of the revelation. Again reassured, she proceeded to regale Leslie with the confidences Dulcie had imparted to her at various times. She talked steadily for almost half an hour. Leslie gave her free rein, interrupting her but little.
“It’s even worse than I had thought,” Leslie declared grimly, when Elizabeth could recall nothing more to tell. “Bess, if you know when you are well off, you will never tell a soul what you have told me. Part of it isn’t true. Dulcie was romancing to you about that hazing affair. We talked about it for fun, but that was all. Why, we were all at the masquerade that night.”
“Dulcie wasn’t,” flatly contradicted the other. “She had a black eye. She said she was hurt at that house when——”
“Dulcie bumped into the door of her room that night with her mask on,” interrupted Leslie angrily. “So she told us. If she was where she claims she was, certainly we were not with her. This isn’t the first foolish rumor of the kind she has started. It’s a good thing the rest of the girls don’t know this. They’d never forgive Dulcie for starting such yarns. As for that trouble she claims we had with Miss Remson. There was nothing to that, either. We have never exchanged a word with Remson on the subject. I don’t mind what she told you about the summons. The rest of her lies! Well, there is this much to it, Dulcie is due to hear from me and in short order.”
CHAPTER XIV—SANS’ MERCY
Despite Leslie’s denials, Elizabeth left her room only half convinced. Being as lost to honor as Leslie, she was also as shrewd. She made a vow to keep her own counsel thereafter. She knew herself to be as guilty as Dulcie. She hoped Leslie would never discover that. Leslie had promised that her name should not be mentioned in the matter. If brought to book by Leslie, Dulcie could not accuse her of circulating the stories intrusted to her without incriminating herself. Elizabeth felt quite safe on that score.
For two or three days after her call upon Leslie, she kept out of Dulcie’s way for fear the latter had been taken to task for her treachery and might suspect her as being instrumental in having brought it about. On Friday, however, she met Dulcie in the library. Dulcie invited her to dinner at the Colonial and she went without a tremor of conscience. The former was not in a gossiping humor that day. She was doing badly in all her subjects and worried in consequence.
Elizabeth went calmly to luncheon at the Lotus with Leslie on Saturday, pluming herself in that she was on excellent terms with both factions. She reported to Leslie her meeting with Dulcie on Friday, saying lamely that Dulcie never gossiped a bit about the Sans. “She hadn’t better,” Leslie had returned vengefully. “She has done mischief enough already.” When Elizabeth had ventured to inquire when Dulcie was to be “called down,” Leslie had said, “When I get ready to do it. I’m not ready yet.”
Natalie and Joan Myers had been informed by Leslie of Dulcie’s treachery. The trio had then set to work to discover how much damage she had done; something not easy to determine. Natalie and Joan demanded that she should be dropped from the club. They were sure the others would be of the same mind. Even Eleanor Ray, her former chum, was on the outs with Dulcie. There would be no objection to the penalty from Eleanor. Leslie’s plan was to gather the evidence against Dulcie, place it before the Sans, minus the culprit, at a private meeting, and let them decide her fate. In spite of Leslie Cairns’ unscrupulous disposition, she had a queer sense of justice which occasionally stirred within her. Thus she was bent on being sure of her ground before accusing Dulcie to her face.