The trio of silent spectators to the freshman’s gust of anger could not but exchange significant glances. Into the mind of each had sprung the question: “Had the blow, which Leslie had anticipated, fallen already?”
“Let us go into my room,” Leila proposed tactfully, rising from her chair as she spoke.
“We’ll wait for you there, Leslie.” Marjorie was already following Leila to the door.
“Go ahead.” Leslie’s dark brows raised themselves in indicative despair. “I’ll join you presently.”
“I’m wondering if the prophecy has come true so soon,” were Leila’s first words as they shut themselves into her room. “Sit down, Beauty, and be at home.” Abruptly she dropped into a chair and burst into laughter.
“Never think that I am making a mock of misfortune,” she said presently, a mirthful quiver in her tones. “I’m still thinking of the amazing bounce that midget made into the room. It might well have been that of a circus performer. She little knows the honor in store for her. It seems I have found a star for my play ‘The Leprachaun’ and that without the trouble of seeking.”
“You are a funny old dear, Leila Harper,” Marjorie, girl-like, could not do other than laugh with Leila. “Something harrowing must have happened to Miss Ogden at the frolic to send her away from it in such a tempest. It’s early yet.” Her eyes sought the clock on Leila’s dressing-table. “Only twenty-five minutes to ten. The beauty contest must just have begun. She’s awfully tiny, isn’t she?” she again reverted to the subject of Miss Ogden, “at least two inches shorter than Vera. She’s pretty, I think.”
“She has the prettiness of a child when she is good-natured,” Leila said, “but, oh, my stars, what a temper! Until tonight she has shown nothing of it to Leslie, Vera and me. Vera will not be long in coming now. She promised to slip away from the gym as soon as the contest was over. Grant that before then Leslie will have calmed the storm and reduced the whirlwind to order,” she finished with dry humor.
It was Vera, however, who appeared in the room ahead of Leslie. She dropped into a chair with exaggerated weariness and a long, sighing: “_Such_ a time as there has been tonight, over at the gym. Truly, girls, it was dreadful! Where’s Leslie?” Vera’s quick glance in the direction of Leslie’s room conveyed an inkling of the reason of Leslie’s absence.