“But it is so uncertain. That solo should be sung well, for it is the most unique thing that we have. Sometimes Miss Willing does it superbly, and sometimes she does it miserably. Once or twice she has actually forgotten the opening words, they are pure nonsense, you know, and not very easy to remember, if a person be nervous.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Professor Newton advised kindly. “I am sure you will come out all right this evening. You should rest the balance of the day.”
“I want to go out for a little while, Professor Newton; then I shall surely take your advice.”
Dolly and Beth had been almost the only ones who had heard this conversation. As the two walked down the corridor, Beth said thoughtfully: “I would be willing to wager a peanut that our president has gone out merely to walk up Murray’s lane. She goes there every single day at this hour.”
“I don’t believe it is for any wrong purpose, Beth. The lane is within the limits that we are allowed to go. Some way I have faith in Miss Hamilton.”
“I am not saying that I have not. But certainly she is secretive. Of course, that is no sin, as we decided long ago; at the same time one cannot help speculating about her, more or less.”
“I have watched her rather closely ever since Thanksgiving, and she really has never said a word in my hearing that was untrue or false. Last week, in Miss Dunbar’s room, the subject of wealth and aristocracy came up in some way. Miss Hamilton was appealed to. I do not think you were present, but Miss Dunbar asked if Miss Hamilton did not consider good breeding and refinement inseparable from wealth and family position.”
“What a snob she is.”
“We all know that. I was rather curious to hear what our president would say. She did not say much. She is like Grant. She knows the wisdom of silence. She told Miss Dunbar that she did not agree with her at all. Then she made the first personal remark that I ever heard her make. She said that as far as she was concerned, she had no wealth, and while she was proud of her family, herself, she had no idea that Ward McAllister would ever have admitted them to his sacred list of four hundred.”
“Good for her. She told the truth, and yet the girls did not realize just how true it was, I presume. She has an air about her that seems to betoken wealth and distinction. How misleading appearances are.”