"That's the right spirit! Madison needs no praise from me; it speaks for itself. Is this the nearest way to the station?"
It had been on Sylvia's tongue to ask him the name of his college, but he had perhaps read this inquiry in her eyes, and as though suddenly roused by the remembrance of the secrecy that had been imposed upon him, he moved on.
"Yes, I understand," he called over his shoulder. "Thank you, very much."
He whistled softly to himself as he continued on his way, still glancing about alertly.
The manner of the old professor in receiving the letter and the calmness with which he had given his reply minimized the importance of the transaction in the mind of the messenger. He was thinking of Sylvia and smiling still at her implication that while there were larger colleges than Madison there was none better. He turned to look again at the college buildings closely clasped by their strip of woodland. Madison was not a college to sneer at; he had scanned the bronze tablet on the library wall that published the roll of her Sons who had served in the Civil War. Many of the names were written high in the state's history and for a moment they filled the young man's mind.
As she neared home Sylvia met her friend Dr. Wandless, the former president, who always had his joke with her.
"Hail, Lady of the Constellations! You have been looting the library, I see. Hast thou named the stars without a gun?"
"That isn't right," protested Sylvia. "You're purposely misquoting. You've only spoiled Emerson's line about the birds."
"Bless me, I believe that's so!" laughed the old gentleman. "But tell me, Sylvia: 'Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or guide Arcturus with his sons?'"
Sylvia, with brightening eyes and a smile on her lips, answered:—