Bea started to dash in; then after one glance stopped and fumbled uneasily with the knob. In her happy-go-lucky childhood with many brothers and sisters at home, tears had always an embarrassing effect.
“Let’s—let’s go to the orchard,” she stammered. “It’s lovely, and the fresh air will help your—your headache.” She had a boyish notion that anybody would prefer to excuse heavy eyes by calling it headache rather than tears.
Lila pointed to the bed which was half made up.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she demanded in agonized reproach. “I thought the maids attended to the beds here. I left the mattress turned over the foot all day long, and the door was wide open. Everybody in the neighborhood must have looked in and then decided that I was lazy and shiftless. They believe that I have been brought up to let things go undone like that. They do, they do! Miss Merriam just the same as said so. She poked in her head a minute ago and said, ‘Heigho, little one, time to make up your bed. It has aired long enough and the maid is not expected to do it.’ She said that to me! Oh, I hate her!” Lila caught her breath hard.
Bea opened her candid eyes wider in astonished curiosity. “But didn’t you want to know about the maid?”
“She mortified me. Do you know how it feels to be mortified? The—the awfulness—” Lila stopped and swallowed once or twice as if something stuck in her throat. “She might have told me in a different manner so as not to wound me so heartlessly. She isn’t a lady.”
“Please.” Bea twirled the door-knob in worried protest. “Don’t talk that way. She is my friend. We live in the same town. She’s nice, really. You’ve only seen the outside. Please!”
“Oh, well!” Lila raised her shoulders slightly. “She isn’t worth noticing, I dare say. Such people never are. I can’t help wishing that you were not acquainted with her. I want you all to myself. I’m glad she belongs to another class anyhow.”
Into Bea’s puzzled face crept a troubled expression. “You’re a funny girl, Lila,” she said; “let’s go to the orchard.”
On their way across the campus, they passed countless girls hurrying from building to building. Every doorway seemed to blossom with a chattering group, a loitering pair, or an energetic single lady on pressing business bent. Bea met every glance with a look of bright friendliness in her eager eyes and lips ready to smile, no matter whether she had ever been introduced or not. But Lila’s wild-flower face, in spite of its lovely tints and outlines, seemed almost icy in its expression of haughty criticism. No wonder, then, that this miniature world of college reflected a different countenance to each.