"She didn't," said Lulu. "Dr. Randolph says it nearly killed her, and even now she can't bear to speak of it, but she doesn't think it right to sadden her son's life, and so she is always bright and cheerful. If I ever write a book I shall make my heroine just that sort of person."
At this moment Beverly, who had gone to speak to some friends at another table, joined the party, and the subject of his family was dropped. The luncheon was a very merry one. They were a large party, for besides Lulu's father and mother and the three girls, there were a couple of Yale students, friends of the Bells, and everybody seemed in excellent spirits. Marjorie felt a little shy at first, but soon thawed under the genial atmosphere, and before the meal was over she was chatting and laughing as merrily as any of the others.
"Isn't Marjorie a nice girl?" whispered Winifred to Lulu, as they were leaving the restaurant. "I'm so glad she got the chance to come, but I do wonder what Elsie will say."
It seemed to Marjorie that the next three hours must be the most exciting period of her life. To most girls a college football game is looked upon as a rather important event, but to Marjorie, fresh from her Arizona home, it was an experience never to be forgotten. It was on the whole a peaceful game, and there were no serious accidents to mar the general enjoyment and as the sun continued to shine, and the day was comfortably warm, there were not even the usual discomforts of weather to be endured. Marjorie and her friends were about equally divided in their championship; Lulu, Winifred and Gertie being for Yale, while Beverly and Marjorie herself favored Harvard, and joined in the cheers and rejoicing when the "Crimson" at last carried off the honors of the day, although Yale ran so close behind that at one time fears had been entertained that the game would be a tie.
"Are you tired, Marjorie?" Beverly asked, as they were making their way through the dense throng to the waiting motor-car.
"I don't know whether I am or not," said Marjorie, laughing. "It has all been so wonderful, and I don't feel as if I could quite realize it yet. Oh, there they are!"
"Who?" demanded Beverly, looking round in surprise. "Oh, I see, your aunt and cousin—do you want to speak to them?"
"Yes, of course I do; they'll be so surprised. Why, Elsie is staring at me as if she didn't know me."
To say that Mrs. Carleton and her daughter were surprised would be but a mild way of expressing their feelings. They were for the moment literally speechless with astonishment. Elsie was the first to recover her power of articulation.
"Is it really and truly you, Marjorie?" she demanded, regarding her smiling cousin with round-eyed amazement.