Curious why she should find it difficult; she was perfectly sure of having right on her side in this suggestion she was about to make, and yet there was a quiet, unconscious dignity in Olive’s manner that made her companion a little fearful of approaching her with advice or entreaty. Perhaps it might have been just as well to have laid this matter before Jessica Hunt or, as a last resort, Miss Winthrop, before forging ahead. But Gerry was an ardent suffragette in the making and, as she had determined to follow in the footsteps of her brilliant father, she knew that indecision must never be a characteristic of the new woman. However, it was just as well to have this stranger girl recognize her entire friendliness before she made known her mission.
Having talked of many things together, of their love of the outdoors, of Jack’s condition, after all it was Olive who at last opened up the way for her companion’s disclosure.
“I am sorry to have talked so much,” she said suddenly, “for I have not yet given you a chance to say what you wished to me. What is it?”
And all at once her face flooded with color, her eyes widened and she looked at Gerry with a half-spoken appeal. Up to this moment it had not occurred to Olive that her classmate’s desire for a private interview with her could have any serious import, but noticing Gerry’s hesitation and apparent embarrassment, Olive suddenly believed that she intended questioning her about her past. And what could she say? Ruth and Jack had advised her not to reveal her story, and yet if her schoolmate now asked her for the truth she would not lie. Gerry had always been kinder than the other girls and possibly thinking the gossip about her false, her desire now might be to disprove it.
With a kind of proud humility Olive faced the girl whom she hoped for the minute wished to be her friend. “What is it?” she asked again.
Evasion was not Gerry Ferrows’ strong point. “Do you want Jean to be elected Junior Class president?” she demanded abruptly.
Olive stared and then laughed happily. “Well, I should say I do, rather,” she answered. “What a funny thing for you to ask me. And I am awfully grateful to you for the help you are giving Jean, for she is awfully ambitious and Ruth and Jack and Jim Colter and all of us would be so proud of her if she should win after being so short a time at school.”
“Well, if you are so anxious for her to win, why don’t you do something to help her instead of standing in her way?” This question was even more blunt than the first. And it hurt, because Olive bit her lips.
“I help her? I stand in her way?” she repeated, stopping in her walk and turning to face the other girl squarely. “Tell me, please, how I can help her and how I stand in the way of her election?”
At this, Gerry Ferrows felt extremely uncomfortable, still she was not of the kind to turn back. “Well, you can help Jean a whole lot by making her join our Theta Sorority at once and not hold back any longer because you have not been invited to join also.”