“Just a minute,” she said quickly. “Do you mean Jeannette Flambeau? Because if you do, I don’t think that’s fair.”
Virginia quickly agreed with Kit, but Peg patted her in a conciliatory manner.
“Now, don’t take it to heart so,” she said, “why should it matter to you? Forget it.”
But Kit could not be diverted, and the color rose belligerently in Amy’s cheeks, too.
“I don’t see why you feel you have to take Jeannette Flambeau’s part,” she said. “If you knew all about her the way we girls do, you’d let her alone.”
“I don’t see how she ever came up here anyway,” Georgia remarked. “It’s just exactly as if one of her brothers tried to come in. Do you think the boys would stand for that?”
“Jeepers, why shouldn’t they?” demanded Kit hotly. “And I’d like to know what they’ve got to say about it anyway. I don’t think that’s the college spirit. Anyone who wants an education and is willing to work for it should be admitted.”
“Yes, but if they had any sense at all,” responded Georgia placidly, “they wouldn’t put themselves into a position of being snubbed. You can talk all you want to about the college spirit from the standpoint of Deans and faculties, but when all’s said and done, it’s the student spirit that rules. I’ll bet that she doesn’t stay here a month. She hasn’t anyone to help her at home and can’t afford tutoring, so she’ll just peter out.”
The gong sounded in the hall below for afternoon classes, so the discussion came to an abrupt end. Kit found herself watching Jeannette. There was a peculiar aloofness about the girl which seemed to put almost a wall of defense around her. She was intensely interested in everything, one could see that plainly, except the other students, and it seemed as if she simply overlooked them. When Kit came down the stairs, she glanced into the library and saw Jeannette in there alone, bending down before the long wall book shelves. Across the wide hall there were groups of boys and girls in the two long lounges, laughing and talking together, and every couch and chair in both rooms were filled, but Jeannette was alone.
Jeannette was holding a volume of Treasure Island, illustrated in color. She turned in surprise at the touch of Kit’s hand on her shoulder.