“In all the college, you mean, and I had not, either, until you walked in. I shall bless you forever for that deed of humanity. Even my room-mate was missing then; you stayed for the marriage of a sister, did you not, Mary?”
“Yes, and I am afraid that I was not much comfort to you after I did appear. I didn’t mean to be dictatorial and horrid, but I am afraid that–”
“You were nothing but what was all right, Mary,” Dolly interrupted. “We were not acquainted at first, that was all.”
“I was not nice, but I meant to be, and I’ll try to fit in better hereafter. You should have had Beth for a room-mate, though I’m too selfish to propose any change this year.”
“We can all three be good friends, Mary, so far as that goes, but I certainly wish that some other room-mate had been allotted to me than Margery Ainsworth.”
“You were going to tell us something about her, Beth; now is a good opportunity.”
“Very well, only you girls must understand that I am telling this in confidence, because I want your advice. I don’t know whether it is my duty to say anything or not. Of course, girls don’t like to be tell-tales any more than boys do, but it seems to me that the good name of the college is more or less concerned in this, and we cannot afford to have any girl do things which would bring us into disrepute.”
“Of course not,” Dolly said energetically. “Well, what is it?”
“In the first place, she systematically breaks all of the rules. I cannot room with her, of course, and not know that. She probably depends upon my good nature or sense of honor not to give her away. She never reports any broken rule, and she goes downtown whenever she feels inclined, and only once a month or so gets permission. I imagine that she goes for some reason instead of shopping, for she never has any bundles sent home. The worst thing, in my mind, was a couple of Sundays ago. She pretended to go to church with the rest of us, but she did not; she went off some place else and appeared again just as church was over. She went back to the college with the rest of us. I did ask her what she had been doing that time.”
“What did she say?”