But Olive answered her with the voice of prophecy. “Jean Bruce, you will have the hardest time of us all in making up your mind when you are in love.”
CHAPTER VI
HER TEMPTATION
Face to face with her first serious temptation stood Jean Bruce. Always beyond anything else had she desired to be popular, even in the old days at the ranch when the only society in which she had a part was composed of the few neighbors in riding distance of the Lodge. But here at Primrose Hall was her first real opportunity to gratify her heart’s desire, and would she for the sake of another be compelled to give it up? For how could she accept the honor that might be bestowed upon her of being chosen for Junior class president without turning traitor to Olive. After her friends’ treatment of Olive in front of the “Theta” house on the afternoon of Peter Drummond’s visit, Jean could no longer shut her eyes to Olive’s unpopularity. What was the cause of it? Try as she might she could not find out, yet the prejudice was certainly deeper than any one could suppose. Suspecting Winifred Graham to be at the bottom of the mischief, Jean kept a close watch upon her, but if she had circulated any story against Olive no one would confess it. “Miss Ralston is so shy and queer, her appearance is so odd, I do not think she enjoys being with other girls,” these evasions of the truth were all Jean could get hold of. But in the meantime there was no doubt that Olive’s classmates absolutely refused to have her in either of the two sororities and that this insult was almost unprecedented in the history of Primrose Hall. Of course, Jean might have appealed to Miss Winthrop or one of the other teachers, asking that their influence be exerted in Olive’s behalf, but this for Olive’s own sake she was unwilling to do. For even if Olive should be forced into one of the sororities, how would it change her classmates’ attitude toward her? Would it not make them more unkind than ever? No, there were only two courses open to Jean, either she must join the sorority she had chosen without any question of Olive’s being a member or else she must decline to be admitted herself until such time as the girls should come to their senses and voluntarily desire the election of them both.
Of course, if membership in one or the other of the two sororities had been Jean’s only dilemma there had been small excuse for her hesitation. But a larger issue was at stake. Unless she became a member of a sorority and as one of its leaders could influence new girls to her cause, she might lose the Junior presidency and Winifred Graham, the head of the Kappa organization, would surely be chosen in her stead.
Jean had won her way to her present popularity in a very charming fashion, just by the power of her own personality, which is after all the greatest force in the world. She had no prominent family connections, as so many of the Primrose Hall girls had, and she continued to act as though she had no money except what was necessary for very simple requirements. Indeed, she behaved as she must have done had the ranch girls come east to boarding school before the discovery of the gold mine of Rainbow Creek. But it was a hard fight and many times the young girl longed to break faith with herself.
Before setting out on their journey, after a careful reading of the Primrose Hall catalogue, Ruth Drew had ordered the three ranch girls’ school outfits, but now these clothes seemed so simple and ordinary that at least two of the girls hated the wearing of them.
Each one of them had several pretty school dresses of light weight flannel and serge, two simple silks for afternoon entertainments and dinner use and a single party dress for the monthly dances which were a feature of Primrose Hall school life. Their underclothes were plentiful but plain. Indeed, until Jean saw her friend Margaret Belknap’s lingerie, she had supposed that only brides, and very wealthy ones at that, could have such possessions. Just think of a single item of a dozen hand-made nightgowns at fifteen dollars apiece in a school girl’s outfit; and yet these were among Margaret’s clothes. Jean openly expressed her wonder and yet managed quietly to refuse to receive a gift of two of them without hurting her new friend’s feelings.
To a girl brought up in the conventional and moneyed atmosphere that Margaret Belknap had been, Jean was a revelation. She seemed not to know the meaning of snobbery, not to care who people were so long as she liked what they were. Her manners were as charming to one person as to another and her interest as sincere. Margaret had already asked Jean to visit her in her home in New York during the Christmas holidays, as she longed to introduce her to her own family in order that they might lose their prejudice against western girls. But more especially Margaret desired to bring her Harvard College brother, Cecil, and Jean together so as to find out what they would think of one another. She was only awaiting the first opportunity. In the meantime, although Jean would not accept other gifts from her wealthy friend, she could not refuse the flowers Margaret so constantly sent her. Indeed, she went about school so much of the time with a pink carnation tucked in her hair that she soon became known as “the pink carnation girl.”
One of Jean’s greatest self-denials was not being able to send flowers to Margaret in return, but in order to retain her masquerade of poverty, most of the time she had to refrain. Only now and then she did relieve her feelings by presenting Margaret a bunch of Violets or roses regardless of cost. And occasionally a box of roses or chrysanthemums would find their way into the room of a teacher who had been especially kind to Olive, Frieda or her.
With Olive there was apparently no self-denial in failing to spread abroad the news of their wealth and in spending no pocket money, but with Frieda the case was very different. It is quite certain that Jean would never have had her way with Frieda except by appealing directly to Jack for advice and assistance. When the letter from Jack came begging her little sister to keep the secret of their wealth and to agree to Jean’s plan, Frieda’s rebellion had weakened. Not that she saw any sense in her sacrifice or was in the least reconciled to it, but simply because under the circumstances, while Jack was still so ill, she could refuse her nothing. And this self-restraint was particularly hard on both the ranch girls, because never before in their lives had they had any money of their own to spend and now Jack was sending each one of them fifty dollars a month for pin money. Think of the fortune of it, if you have had only one-tenth of that amount per month for your own use before!