“I say, you know, that’s jolly mean of them to leave you in the lurch like that, Miss Brown,” exclaimed one of the cavaliers. “Oxford Tower is way over on the other side of town. We could get in a little row before they finished looking at it. What do you say?”
Nancy hesitated; drooped her lashes; looked serious a moment, and then smiled.
“I believe I’ll risk it,” she said. “It would be fun and I don’t feel a bit like taking that long walk. I have already walked miles, I believe.”
We will admit that it was naughty of Nancy to do this reckless thing,—rowing off in a college barge with eight strange young men. But she did not intend to be naughty. She only wanted to enjoy herself under the drooping pink brim of her pretty hat. And after all, it isn’t every girl who has eight handsome cavaliers to row her on one of the loveliest rivers in all England. Once in the long boat with her small feet on somebody’s coat to keep them dry, one young man holding the white silk parasol and another the hand bag, and all of them entertaining her at once, Nancy quite forgot that she was engaged in an unconventional adventure. It did not seem to occur to the bashful students, either, so bewildered were they by this charming young American who was modest and demure and still not shy. They had not met a girl like her before.
“Why don’t you sing?” she suggested, as the boat cut through the little rippling waves with a gentle, soothing music.
“Would you care to hear us? We have a pretty good double quartette?”
“Oh, do,” she ordered, settling herself down to listen to the music and watch the green shores glide past.
They sang “Nancy Lee” out of compliment to the guest of honor, and when they came to the chorus the vibration of their combined voices rocked the boat and the guest of honor clutched the sides and looked fearfully toward shore.
Gradually an uneasiness began to creep into Nancy’s heart. It may have been caused by the rocking of the boat, and it may have been a very black cloud that now obscured the heavens, forming an angry background to the vivid green of the trees and shrubbery on the shores of the little river.
What would Miss Campbell say, and Billie, and the others, when they heard of her unladylike behavior? She was actually taking a boat ride with eight strangers! And all for what?