“Yes if you want me to and if you are fit to be left.”
“Oh, I will be. I guess I am pretty tired and nervous this spring. After you have put it all through, you know——”
“Indeed I do know. Now let me tell you what I am thinking about. The telegram said that the boys were on their way from the south, didn’t it?”
“That means a day or two yet before they even arrive, and they have to get their overseas outfit. It is rarely that they are rushed right to sea. Suppose you let the girls go, as they intend, tomorrow night, and then you and I will leave as soon as the doctor says it is safe.”
“Oh, Aunt Hilary,—‘you and I’—would you go _with_ me?”
“Do you suppose I’m going to fail the dearest niece I have at such a time as this, if there are trains and comfortable drawing room to get you to your sweetheart? Besides, I want a look at the boy.”
Aunt Hilary laughed at the blissful expression that dawned upon Hilary’s face. “Do you like the idea? How very fortunate that I came.”
“Do I _like_ it! ‘Fortunate!’ Aunt Hilary have you ever been lifted from the depths of despair to the heights of—” Hilary was hesitating for a word.
“Happiness?” suggested her aunt. “If you want to follow the alliteration.”
“Oh, I don’t mind this, if I can only go.”
“Go you shall,” asserted her aunt. “Now, child, I want you to be perfectly quiet and if you can, take a good nap. You are worn out.”
“I believe I can take a little nap before dinner. When the gong rings you will go, won’t you?”
“Oh, yes, and I shall be all the more likely to do so if you go to sleep.”
“All right, Aunt Hilary. Isn’t it funny how quickly things can change? I know better how Betty felt now. But she fell from a horse and did not sprain a limb, while I only fell a little way.”
“Sh-sh, Hilary. I used to put you to sleep when you were a little girl; can’t I be successful now?”
Hilary laughed and obediently closed her eyes.
The other girls, meanwhile, had received from the hands of their favorite teacher their society certificates and were busy talking to a few visiting alumnae, friends, and each other, while serving and being served with the light refreshments offered.
“Isn’t it the most unfortunate thing that Hilary had to have an accident right now!” Cathalina was filling a plate with macaroons to pass around a second time, while Lilian was putting more ice in the bowl and filling it up with the mixed fruit juices again.