Anne’s blue eyes were full of merriment. “Oh, golly,” she exclaimed, “I do wish I could go back with you, so I could see their faces when they find out. Mother and I have been here in Chicago this summer and Rex has been living at home alone. We’ll be back in a week, so I’ll see you then, and anyway, we’re sure to visit back and forth. I’m awfully glad you’re a girl.”
“But I won’t be here all winter,” Kit answered. “I’ve only come for a couple of months. On trial, you see. Maybe it’ll be only a couple of days, if they’re terribly disappointed.” Anne exchanged quick glances with her brother and he smiled as he led the way to the car.
“You don’t know the elaborate plans the Dean has laid out for your education,” he said. “It will take you all winter long to live up to them, but I’m sure he won’t be disappointed.”
Kit had her own opinion about this, still it was impossible for her to feel apprehensive or unhappy, as the car sped over toward the Lake Shore Drive. The newness of everything after two years up in the Elmhurst hills was wonderfully stimulating. But it was not until they had left the city and river behind and had reached Lincoln Park that she really gave vent to her feelings. It was a wonderful day and the lake lay in sparkling ripples beyond the long stretch of shore.
“Are we going all the way in the car?” she asked.
Rex shook his head. “No, only as far as Evanston. We’ll drop Anne off, and have lunch with Mother and then catch the train to Delphi. I have an errand for the Dean out at the University.”
“Gee,” said Kit, “we lived right on the edge of Long Island Sound before we moved up to Connecticut, and ever since I was small I can remember going away somewhere to the seashore every summer, but I think your lake is ever so much more interesting than the ocean. Somehow it seems to belong to you more. I always felt with the ocean as if it just condescended to come over to my special beach, after it had rambled all over the world, and belonged to everybody.”
“But you have all the shells and the seaweed, and we haven’t,” argued Anne. “Before I ever went East, we had a couple of clam shells, just plain everyday round clam shells that had come from Cape May, and I used to think they were perfectly wonderful because they had belonged in the real ocean.”
After the rugged landscape of New England, Kit found this level land very attractive. They passed through one suburb after another, with the beautiful Drive following the curving shoreline out to Evanston. Here she caught her first glimpse of Northwestern University, its buildings showing picturesquely through the beautiful trees around the campus.
They left Rex at the main entrance and drove on to where Mrs. Bellamy was stopping. Mrs. Bellamy was filled with amusement when she heard the story of Kit’s substitution of herself for her brother that the Dean had asked for. She was a tall, slender woman with blonde hair and gray eyes, who seemed almost like an older sister of Anne’s. They were staying in a small apartment near the campus.