Not at all rebuffed by what had happened, however, Shambler asked some of the other girls in Miss Tyler’s set to dance with him, but they refused. However he managed to find some partners, including the girl who had invited him. He greeted our heroes with breezy familiarity, and they could do no less than bow coldly. But Shambler did not seem to mind.
The dance went on, and the inseparables had a fine time. Doubtless their girl friends did also, and it was not until an early hour that the affair ended.
“And to think that we won’t have another for at least a month!” groaned Tom, as he and his chums wended their way Randallward.
“And you’re the chap that was making such a fuss about a tan tie,” murmured Sid. “Look at yours now. There’s nothing left of it.”
“No, nor my collar either,” replied Tom, feeling of his wilted linen, for he had danced much.
A week, in the early Spring, can work wonders. One day there may be snow covering everything. Then a few hours of warm sun, a warm South wind, and it seems as if the buds were just ready to burst forth.
So it was at Randall. The brown grass on the campus began taking on a little hue of green. There was a spirit of unrest in the air. Lectures were cut in the most unaccountable way. Several lads were seen out on the diamond wherefrom the frost was hardly yet drawn. Balls began to be tossed back and forth.
Down by the river, where, because of the sloping land, it was dryer than elsewhere a little group of lads were gathered about one of their number.
“Now for a good one, Grasshopper!” someone cried.
“I’m going to do seventeen or bust a leg!” came the answer.