The Orchard Secret Part 13

It was great fun going in to the city. The seniors and juniors were, of course, literally "on their own," but the lower-cla.s.s girls were chaperoned by the ever-watchful Mrs. Malvern.

The train was crowded, but Arden and her friends, after some tactful pus.h.i.+ng, managed to get seats together.

"It was fine of Mary Todd to help us get the boys to go to the dance with. And it wasn't so hard in her own case, for she lives so near New York. None of the boys we know could travel so far for a tea dance."

Terry was chattering excitedly.

"Yes, it was nice," Sim agreed. "I was certainly relieved when I heard they could come. If Mother lets me have a house party at Christmas, we could invite them."

"Do you mean the boys or the girls?" asked Arden.

"I mean the boys," supplied Sim.

"How perfectly grand!" exclaimed Terry.

"Of course, we haven't seen the boys yet," continued Arden. "So perhaps we had better wait until we do."

"And of course, I haven't asked Mother about the party yet, either. It was just an idea," Sim concluded.

"Oh--Sim!" was all Arden and Terry could say to that admission, and presently they lapsed into silence while the train clicked on.

The ride to New York from Cedar Ridge was hardly long enough, and it seemed no time at all before the various groups of girls were alighting from the variously colored taxis in front of the Chancellor Hotel.

Then up to their rooms in the gorgeous bird-cage elevators, to unpack their dresses and give last-minute touches to hair, hands, and complexions.

"Sim looks simply darling!" observed Arden in an aside to Terry. "As long as she is small and child-like, I think she's wise in making the most of it."

"Yes, she does look sweet," agreed Terry. "And you look nice, too, Arden.

I like that color on you. Your hair has a dandy wave. I think that was a good beauty shop, don't you?"

"Very good," a.s.sented Arden. "And to complete the circle, Terry, you look--wonderful!"

"Thanks!"

Sim was so busy preening herself before a large gla.s.s set in the closet door that she took no part in the conversation until, all at once, she seemed satisfied with her appearance and, turning to her chums, remarked:

"Your dress is just perfect, Arden--blue is surely _your_ color. And green is yours, Terry: you look sweet. And I think we all three are credits to Cedar Ridge. But let's go down. It's late, and we have to find Mary and meet the boys. They must have been waiting a long time."

So they left their room after many last-minute touches, and with some temerity descended to the ballroom. Already lights were casting soft glows over the tapestry-hung walls. The orchestra was playing a lively tune, and several couples were dancing in the stately Louis XIV room.

Smartly dressed girls and good-looking boys were laughing and talking together in little knots, their eager antic.i.p.ation being distinctly felt if not actually heard.

"Have you seen Mary Todd anywhere?" Sim had a chance to ask Helen Burns, a cla.s.smate, who was apparently waiting for someone at the door of the ballroom.

"Oh, h.e.l.lo, Sim!" Helen greeted. "You look lovely! Yes, I saw Mary and Jane and Ethel and a whole lot of boys over there in that small room."

She pointed toward a sort of alcove off the dancing s.p.a.ce.

"Oh, gosh, Arden!" Sim's poise was leaving her. "What shall we do now?

Wait! There's Mary. I see her!"

"Why, let's go over and speak to her, of course," suggested Arden. "Your nerve seems to be deserting you, Sim. You got us into this very nicely, but you don't seem so brave about it just now."

"You lead the way, Arden, and we'll follow," Terry said, smoothing her bright hair. "I've never been in a situation just like this before. I feel almost as frightened as though I were in the orchard!"

"Hey there! No orchards tonight, girlie," cautioned Arden. "Come on, children! We'll get the introductions over with, and the rest will be easy." Arden started toward Mary who was chatting with several young men.

Then Mary looked up, saw Arden coming toward her, followed by Sim and Terry, and went halfway to meet the trio. So it wasn't so difficult, after all, to cross to the small room where the boys were waiting.

"Arden," said Mary formally, "may I present my brother Jim? This is Arden Blake, Jim. I've told you about her."

"How do you do?" greeted Jim. "Mary wrote me all about your adventure."

Arden was wondering just what Mary had referred to, but there was no time to ask, for the others were now being presented, Sim and Terry taking their turns. Sim was now her vivacious self, and Terry had lost all her nervousness. Could one boy have brought them such rea.s.surance?

Then Ethel Anderson's brother Ed, a tall, good-looking boy, asked Sim to dance, and soon she was humming "Tea for Two" as though they were old friends. Yes, boys did inspire confidence just like that.

Terry was dancing with d.i.c.k Randall, talking and laughing as they whirled about the big, beautiful room. It truly was exciting.

Next Arden and Mary Todd's brother Jim joined the dancers. Arden unconsciously made a pretty picture as she looked up smiling at the handsome boy. She was thinking how easily the introductions had gone off after all and how glad she was to be there. Then, as the music stopped, she glanced about her inquiringly.

"There are not as many here as I thought there would be," she remarked.

"I wonder if the soph.o.m.ores will clear expenses and make something for repairing the swimming pool?"

"You sound almost as if you wished they wouldn't," observed Jim, somewhat curiously.

"It isn't that, exactly," went on Arden. "But, you see, I had sort of planned on raising the money for the pool myself--with the help of Sim and Terry. I suppose it doesn't matter, though, if they have _more_ than they need, just as long as they don't have _less_."

"You talk like Alice in Wonderland and you remind me of her, too,"

laughed Jim. "But that's rather a tall order, isn't it? Trying to raise such a large sum by yourselves--just you girls?"

"About a thousand dollars," admitted Arden. "I know it sounds awfully conceited, but back at school, in the post office----"

Arden was interrupted by Ed Anderson coming to claim her for a dance.

"I'll tell you some other time," she explained gayly to Jim, and to her waiting partner she smiled a little coquettishly as she put up her arms in the correct position as he danced away with her. No thought of ugly orchards now; even college could be forgotten with that rapturous music.

Arden was a pretty dancer.

The rest of the afternoon dissolved into a lovely kaleidoscope of color, music, and lights. The three soph.o.m.ore hazers of the trio from 513, headed by Toots Everett, managed the affair extremely well as far as the social end of it was concerned. Arden and her chums had occasional glimpses of "the apple trio," as they were sometimes thought of, surrept.i.tiously regarding them and the good-looking boys with whom the freshmen danced so often.

Was there envy in the glances?

Now and then an ominous "good-bye" intruded upon the pleasant dream Arden was living in, until, as though she were slowly awakening, she realized that the party was over.

The boys and girls of Arden's little group were gathered in a corner near the ballroom door. Like overlapping broadcasts of sound, the farewells and thank-yous crossed and crisscrossed among them.

"I want to say good-bye to Sim."

Ed Anderson's smiling request caused them all suddenly to stop talking and look at one another.

"Where is she?" d.i.c.k Randall asked. "I haven't seen her for a long time."