“I’m not in the least sure that it could,” was Marjorie’s candid reply. “I had thought that as soon as Prexy came back to the campus I would go to him and put in a plea for Leslie. I have in mind certain arguments that might appeal to him. In thinking about her I have realized, that, if he gave her permission to enroll again she would have to go through a good deal of unpleasantness on the campus. I realized it more when Leila was telling us about what Miss Crawford had said.”
“It might not be so terribly hard for her, Marjorie. She wouldn’t try, of course, to live on the campus. Her father would undoubtedly open Carden Hedge.” Ronny took this cheerful view of the matter.
“No; Leslie says if she could try her senior year over she would not risk living at the Hedge for fear a lot of things about her old lawless days on the campus might come up and be talked over. Then her father would probably be criticized for her bad behavior. She says she couldn’t bear that.”
“She could live at the Hamilton House and get away with it,” Muriel said confidently. “She could arrange her program so as to go from one class to another without having to stay on the campus a moment longer than recitation hours.”
“She made satisfactory recitations in the old days,” Leila remarked musingly. “I used to wonder how she did it. She was always out in her car or entertaining at Baretti’s, or the Colonial.”
“She was within two months of being graduated from Hamilton when the sword fell,” Vera reminded.
“The trouble is,” Marjorie drew a regretful breath, “she has already been to Prexy about it.”
“She has?” rose a concerted cry.
Marjorie nodded soberly. “He wouldn’t listen to her,” she continued. “She was so hurt and confused at his brusqueness that she didn’t try to explain at all why she wanted to come back to the campus. That was the very thing that might have influenced President Matthews to give her another trial.”
“This is news,” Leila emphasized. “How can one help but admire Leslie Cairns for her courage in facing Prexy. I believe now she may turn out well.”