"Tell her Bruce Haydon is here," said Judith. "Oh, there she goes! I was afraid you couldn't get her. She's sitting down beside Miss Green now, and we'll never be able to let her know."
"Bruce Haydon!" exclaimed Patricia, astonished. "Why, he's in Italy, isn't he? Elinor had a letter yesterday——"
"He's here all the same," said Judith, interrupting her surprise. "And he sent a message to Elinor, so she'd be prepared, I guess. But I simply can't get to her now. She'll have to find it out for herself."
"What's Bruce doing here?" asked Patricia, as they resigned themselves to the inevitable and prepared to await the event.
"He says he finished his studies, and has come back because he wanted to keep an eye on you two art students," replied Judith. "He looks awfully well. You ought to have seen them stare when he grabbed me up and kissed me in the corridor just now."
Patricia gave a happy sigh. "It'll be good to have him around again," she said appreciatively. "I never knew how weak in the knees I was until this very moment. Things are bound to go right with Bruce hovering around. I hope Elinor sees him. She's feeling mighty shaky right now, I fancy."
"Isn't it queer how wobbly one feels?" commented Judith uneasily. "We've been crazy for the time to come, and now we feel like running away. I know I'll simply drop when Mr. Benton makes his speech."
"Nonsense," said Patricia stoutly, although her own knees were not too steady. "Keep your eyes on Elinor, and remember how glad you are that she's getting an official apology, after all the cheating and nastiness—then you won't want to collapse."
"Sounds like you were prescribing for yourself," retorted Judith with a flash of intuition. "You look just as——"
"Hush, he's coming," warned Patricia, turning pale in spite of her brave words. "Listen, he has begun."