By and by, as Olive and Donald continued their dancing, many of the others stopped and at once the young men demanded to be told who Olive was and why she had been hidden away from their sight until now? Whatever replies the girls may have made to these questions, they did not apparently affect their questioners, for from the time of her first dance until the close of the evening Olive no longer lacked for partners. She did not talk very much, but her eyes shone and her cheeks grew crimson with pleasure and now and then her low laugh rang out, and always she could dance. What did conversation at a ball amount to anyhow when movement was the thing, and this stranger girl could dance like a fairy princess just awakened from a long enchantment?
Donald Harmon grew sorry later in the evening that he had ever brought Olive forth from her retreat, but just before midnight, when Primrose Hall parties must always come to an end, he did manage to get her away for a moment out on the veranda, where chairs were placed so that the young people could rest and talk.
CHAPTER VIII
SHADOWS BEFORE
The veranda was prettily lighted with Japanese lanterns and shaded electric lights and Donald found chairs for Olive and himself in a corner where they could see the dancers and yet not be interrupted, for he wished to talk to her alone for a few moments, never having forgotten the impression she had made upon him at their first meeting, nor the peculiar likeness which he still saw in her to his mother.
But though Olive could not forget the Harmons, she had never really liked them nor could she forgive the hurt which Elizabeth had innocently brought upon her beloved Jack. And yet, as she knew that this attitude on her part was hardly fair, she now turned to Donald. “I hope your mother and Elizabeth are quite well,” she inquired with unconscious coldness.
Donald felt the coldness, but answered at once. “Yes, they are both unusually well these days, and if Beth could only hear that your friend Miss Ralston was going to get quite well, why she would brace up a lot. But she worries about her a great deal, so she and my mother have just come out here to Tarrydale for a short visit to my aunt. I got away from college for a few days to be with them and to see you ranch girls again,” he ended honestly.
“You are very kind,” Olive murmured, watching the passers-by for a glimpse of Jean or Frieda.
“Elizabeth and mother wish you to come over very soon and have tea with them,” the young man urged, appearing not to notice his companion’s lack of interest. “My aunt’s place is very near Primrose Hall, so you can easily walk over.”
Olive shook her head. “I don’t believe Miss Winthrop would care to have us go about the neighborhood making visits,” she announced, glad of what seemed to her a reasonable excuse.
Donald laughed, although he did feel somewhat hurt by Olive’s manner. “Don’t try to get out of coming to see us for any such cause, Miss Olive,” he protested, “for Miss Winthrop is one of my aunt’s dearest friends and she and my mother have known one another since they were girls. Why, my aunt is one of the shareholders in this school and is always offering prizes to the girls, a Shakespeare prize and perhaps some others that I don’t know about. You see, I was going to ask Miss Winthrop to bring you and Miss Bruce and Frieda over to us, as she always comes to see my aunt every week, now that Aunt Agatha has grown too old and too cranky to leave her place.”