“Go on ahead,” Ruth directed. “I’ll stay and wait for Blanche. If she is not here by a quarter past eight, I’ll not wait longer. It’s just possible that you may find her at Miss Drexal’s when you arrive there. If she is, don’t bother to telephone, for I shan’t be long behind you at any rate.”
Accepting this decree, the sextette left the house to the tune of energetic sputterings on Jane’s part relative to the absent Blanche. Ruth’s vigil turned out to be short. From a window of the reception room she saw her friends start off across the campus just in time to miss encountering the dilatory object of her watch as she and Jeanette rapidly traversed the wide stretch of green from an opposite direction. Leaving her post at the window, she stepped into the hall and opened the front door.
“I saw you coming across the campus. The girls have gone on ahead. I stopped to wait for you, Blanche. Are you going to Miss Drexal’s?” Ruth’s even tones held no hint of reproach. They contained a businesslike quality, however, which admitted of no trifling.
“Of course I’m going. The girls needn’t have been in such a hurry. It’s only five minutes to eight.” Blanche coolly consulted her wrist watch. “So long, Jean, I’ll see you later. Sorry I kept you waiting.” This last again to Ruth.
“I haven’t waited long,” responded Ruth good-naturedly enough. She did not intend to show Blanche that she had been in the least annoyed. During the short walk to the dormitory which housed the registrar, she talked in her usual cheerful strain, purposely keeping well off the subject which actuated their call on Miss Drexal.
It was the first time that Blanche Shirly had been honored with an invitation to the registrar’s cozy apartment. If she felt any embarrassment over the fact, she did not show it, although she was well aware that something unusual must have occurred to call forth this miracle. Whereas she and Jeanette had done their utmost to lessen all possibility of friendship with the kindly woman, they laid the blame at her door, privately nicknaming her “Stoneface,” and accusing her of favoritism.
As it was, Blanche received the surprise of her life when Miss Drexal took the floor and acquainted her interested listeners with the hospitable proposal which Ruth had already heard. Needless to relate, six of them received it with the same heartiness in which it was offered. Youth has that lovely quality of flexibility which permits it to adjust itself easily to change of programme, provided that programme be equally pleasant to contemplate. As it stood, the Equitable Eight were merely adding two weeks to their holiday together. Ruth’s sturdy assertion that she didn’t mind postponing the honor of being hostess if her friends didn’t, set all doubts on that score at rest. All seven declared confidently that they were sure of the consent of their parents regarding this important change of plan.
Blanche Shirly alone did not join in the discussion. She was wildly speculating as to how she could successfully readjust her affairs to meet this new situation. It had woefully upset certain of her pet plans, known only to Jeanette. She was now wishing heartily that Miss Drexal had minded her own affairs and let the Equitable Eight alone. Realizing that for the present at least she must pretend pleasure, she forced herself to smile and remark that she knew “Mamma would love to have her visit Miss Drexal.”
Shortly afterward she made unstudied lessons an excuse for her departure, leaving her companions engrossed in jubilant discussion of the coming house party. It was an irate Blanche, however, who, fifteen minutes later, poured forth her woes to the sympathetic Jeanette. Long and earnest was their talk, during which Blanche wept copious tears of rage and disappointment. Following it, she bathed her reddened eyelids and settled herself to the writing of a lengthy letter. But that long letter was not addressed to her mother.