Leslie assented. Her gaze was directed to Marjorie rather than the campus. She thought she had never seen anyone quite so lovely. Today Marjorie had blossomed out in the pale jade frock of softest silk and black fur trimmings which Jerry had advocated on the occasion of her first call upon President Matthews. From the crown of the small hat which matched her frock to the dainty narrowness of her black satin slippers Marjorie was a delight to the eyes.
Attired in a two-piece traveling frock of distinctive English weave and make, Leslie herself was looking far more attractive than in the old days when she had been a student at Hamilton. Happiness and a clear conscience had done much to change her former lowering, disagreeable facial expression to one of pleasant alertness and good humor. She had come to Hamilton the day following the receipt of Marjorie’s telegram on an early afternoon train, Marjorie had met her at the station and after a luncheon at the Ivy the two girls had gone direct to Hamilton Hall.
Now that Leslie was in possession of the glad knowledge that her dearest wish had been granted Marjorie had other plans for her of which she was totally unaware as she sat staring half absently at the campus, her mind busy with wondering what her father would say when he heard the blessed news she had to tell him.
“I’ll go back to New York tomorrow, Marjorie, and tell Peter the Great the good news. Then I’ll give Mrs. Gaylord three times a year’s salary and have my father book passage for her to Europe on the Monarch. She’s crazy to go to England and France. I shan’t need her. I’m going to engage board in one of the off-campus boarding houses.” Leslie broke the silence with this decided announcement. “I could live at the Hamilton House with Mrs. Gaylord as a chaperon, but I’d rather not. I’d be too conspicuous. Of course, I’d love to live in one of the campus houses. But that’s out of the question.”
“I wish you could live on the campus, Leslie. I think it would be best for you, if you could find a vacancy. It’s almost too late now to hope to find one. I’ll inquire tomorrow for you, and see what I can learn.” Marjorie spoke with the utmost friendly concern.
“No; don’t.” Leslie shook a vigorous head. “There’s not a manager of a campus house who doesn’t know my record when I was here before. Not one of them would consent to take me. Besides”—Leslie hesitated—“there’s only one house on the campus where I’d care to live—Wayland Hall. That’s out of the question. You can understand why.” A flush of shame mounted to Leslie’s cheeks.
“It wouldn’t be if there were a vacancy at the Hall,” Marjorie declared. “Miss Remson is glad you are to come back to Hamilton. She knows about it. I told her the other day after receiving Prexy’s letter. Our old room, Fifteen, was vacant when I first came back. If I had been sure of succeeding with Prexy and the Board for you, I would have asked Miss Remson to save Fifteen for you. But I wasn’t sure. Besides, I couldn’t know what your plans might be, in case I should succeed.”
“I’d never go back to the Hall after the way I made trouble for Miss Remson,” Leslie replied with gloomy positiveness. “No; I’ll find as good a boarding house as I can off the campus. Understand, Marjorie, I’d rather live on the campus for one big reason. I’d have to fight to live down my past record as a snob and a trouble-maker. That would be good for me, though. I’d be gossiped about; maybe ostracized by a large proportion of the students. But I’d work as hard for democracy as I’d once worked against it. And the Travelers would stand by me. Perhaps before next Commencement I’d have come into a better light in the eyes of the Hamilton crowd, students and faculty.”
She paused, then shrugged her shapely shoulders and continued with a short laugh: “Forget it. That’s only a day dream I’ve been indulging myself in. You see I keep thinking of trying to square myself on the campus because of Peter the Great. I want him to come and live at Carden Hedge, and be happy. I’d love to have the Leila Harper Playhouse presented to Leila by him. So I soar off into splendid schemes of how I can make good at Hamilton and bring everything out lovely like the end of a fairy tale. It can’t be done, Bean.” Leslie used the nickname with absent affection.
“There is one thing I can do,” she went on in a tone of purposeful energy. “I can complete my college course and win my sheepskin. You’ve made that opportunity possible for me. I hope I can some day do something for you to show my appreciation, Marjorie.”