“Not when they merely notice us to poke fun at us,” persisted Gussie stubbornly.
“You are hopeless.” Calista threw up her hands in despair. “You will have to learn the truth of what I’ve said for yourself. I see that plainly.”
“I’ll never learn it, for I don’t see things as you do, at all,” Gussie retorted, determined to have the last word.
A few days afterward Augusta announced proudly at the dinner table that she had been invited to the freshman frolic. She was greatly elated to find that she had been the first of the group of five Bertram girls, who usually kept together, to be invited to the merry-making. More, she crowed over the fact that her escort-to-be was a junior. Announcing, however, that it was Elizabeth Walbert who had invited her, she met with the disapproval of Calista and Charlotte.
“How could you accept, Gus?” reproached Calista. “You know how that girl misrepresented Miss Dean to us. Of course, I know you have a grudge against Miss Dean. I am sure Miss Dean is truthful. I am positive Miss Walbert isn’t.”
“You don’t really know much about Miss Dean,” sputtered Gussie, growing angry. “You only think you do. I wish you wouldn’t mention that girl’s name to me. She makes me tired, and so do you. If Miss Walbert isn’t truthful, it won’t take me long to discover it. At least, she is thoughtful enough to invite me to the reception. Your wonderful Miss Dean hasn’t invited you.”
Calista merely laughed. “You large-sized infant, give her time. You happen to be the first person I’ve heard of thus far, with an invitation.”
The next evening Calista announced, a triumphant twinkle in her shrewd black eyes, that Miss Dean had invited her to the frolic.
“Miss Macy has invited Charlotte. We have all been asked to go to Miss Dean’s room this evening for a spread. She and her crowd want to meet the rest of you girls and invite you to the dance. Miss Dean says Miss Harper was going to invite you, Gus. Now you see what you’ve missed by accepting that horrid Miss Walbert’s invitation. Miss Harper is a power here at Hamilton. She’s considered the most original girl who ever attended this college.”
“Mercy!” was Gussie’s sarcastic reception of this piece of information. “Don’t worry about me. I’m satisfied. I sha’n’t go near Miss Dean’s room.”