Eyes grown stormy with indignation and then calmer with humor, Gale watched her stride across the campus and into the red brick building which housed the infirmary and the Doctor’s quarters.
“What a nice, polite way of telling me to mind my own business,” she laughed to herself. “But just the same,” she added mischievously, “I won’t mind it. I, too, would like to know why that rope was cut so Dean Travis’ canoe would drift out and be caught in the rapids.”
She walked across the campus toward the sorority house. The building was gray and ivy covered. The sun’s last rays made the vine leaves gleam silver and gold in turn. “Happiness House!” She smiled. What a fitting name for the place. Whoever had substituted such a name for the intimate use of the girls had chosen it rightly enough. There seemed to be nothing but peace, contentment and utter harmony among the girls. At least so far she and Phyllis had discovered nothing else. Of course when the rest of the girls arrived for the semester things might be different.
She mounted the steps and entered the living room. There were several girls there, gathered about the piano. One held a ukulele and as Gale went toward the staircase she started to sing:
“There was a happy young Freshman,
Who rescued the Dean from the water,
But alas and alack, now the Freshman is sad,
Cause she did something she hadn’t oughter.”
Gale laughed and ran lightly up the Golden Stairs to Sunshine Alley. The rhyming was decidedly bad in the girl’s song.
Just as she reached the door to her room the most blood-curdling yell came through the panels that she had to pause and put her hands over her ears. From all along the hall doors opened and heads were poked out.
Gale turned the door knob and entered. Phyllis was sitting on the bed convulsed with laughter. Astride the footboard of her bed was another girl, evidently the one who had given voice to that shout because her mouth was still open.
“What on earth——” Gale began.
“My roommate,” Phyllis managed to gasp between giggles.
“Howdy!” The girl who was using the bed footboard as a horse said, extending a brown hand. “I’m Ricky Allen. I’m in the room across the hall.”
“I’m glad to know you,” Gale said, laughing in spite of herself, “but would you mind telling me what that noise was just now?”
Phyllis wiped the tears from her eyes. “Ricky is from Wyoming and she was illustrating a cowboy round-up whoop for me.”
There was a heavy knock upon the door. Gale opened it.
“Who is being murdered?” Adele Stevens asked calmly.
Gale shook her head. “It was a mistake. It seems only a cowboy war-whoop got loose. We have it under control now,” she added.
When the Sorority president was gone Ricky grinned at the two girls.
“Reckon I’m goin’ to like this place now I’ve met you. I didn’t at first. I was lonesome for my ranch and my horses.”
“I understand the new Dean plans to have stables and horses installed to teach the girls riding,” Gale said.
“Yipeeee!” Ricky greeted the news eagerly. “That’ll be great. I’ve gotta tell my roommate that!”
She was gone with the same suddenness and whirlwind speed that characterized all her actions. Gale and Phyllis looked at one another and burst out laughing.
CHAPTER III
Bell Night
Classes started and with them the Freshmen’s troubles. New acquaintances, new scenes, new studies, and new instructors came with such rapidity that the girls were dizzy with it all. Carol and Janet were in the same dormitory building as Valerie and Madge. Consequently their close friendship was by no means interrupted. Gale and Phyllis went to see their friends quite often. When they were in their own room they found that Ricky Allen and her roommate joined them frequently. The girls were fast becoming friends.
Ulrich Allen, Ricky to her friends, was a breezy, friendly girl from the West and there was not a soul in the class who did not know all about her. Her roommate was a quiet, sweet young girl from Georgia. Ricky took pains to see to it that everyone should know about her, too.
Janet declared that Ricky was as clear and as unassuming as the country from which she came. Nevertheless, Janet and Ricky could be seen with heads close together very often, planning mischief or laughing over their latest bit of gossip.
Gale, since the afternoon she had rescued the Dean from the lake, had seen the older woman only once. On that occasion the Dean walked across the campus to the library with her. It was something she would take care not to let happen again, she told herself. It seemed that girls from the sorority house had seen her. The upper classmen looked with the utmost distaste upon such familiarity. They saw to it that Gale should regret such friendliness with the head of the institution. She was teased unmercifully and chided and scoffed at upon every occasion. Most of the girls did it in fun, the fun that upper classmen usually have with a Freshman, but one girl in particular seemed to personally resent Gale.
Marcia Marlette had been one of the very last Juniors to arrive for the semester. She lived in Penthouse Row, the fourth floor, in a room directly over Gale and Phyllis. She had heard the story of Gale and the Dean. She had seen for herself that the Dean did smile and stop to talk with Gale when such occasions presented themselves. She was one of the girls who was voluble in her protestations against the new Dean. She had been favored and especially privileged the two terms before. Now that there was a new Dean and a new regime her privileges were swept away. She was to be no more favored than any other girl. That didn’t please Marcia, and since she couldn’t very well spite the Dean she decided to torture Gale—supposedly a close friend of Dean Travis.
Gale bore the girls’ teasing silently, in amused indifference. She didn’t mind the stunts she and Phyllis had to perform to appease their sorority sisters, but from the minute Marcia Marlette appeared on the campus things were different. Gale could bear the other girls’ teasing, their songs, their sly pointed remarks, but she couldn’t and wouldn’t stand for it from Marcia.
“I tell you, Phyl,” Gale said stormily, flinging her books onto her desk, “I won’t stand for it. I’ll—I’ll tell Dean Travis.”
Phyllis smiled patiently. “Can’t do that, Gale. We’ve got to take it. Our turn will come.”
“I know,” Gale said. She flung herself upon the bed and glared at the ceiling. “But I will blow up and explode if Marcia Marlette doesn’t stay away from me.”
“What has she been doing now?”
“Met me after Chemistry class and walked to the house with me—making nasty remarks about the Dean all the while. I’ll—I’ll slap her face some day,” Gale threatened.
“Whoa, there,” Ricky Allen murmured, sticking her head in at the open door. “Who is gonna slap who?”
“Are we missing anything?” added Gloria Manson.
Gale sat up and laughed. “I am boiling over with suppressed wrath.”
“Only it isn’t suppressed any more,” Phyllis murmured. “Girls, you see before you a volcano about to erupt.”
“Go ahead and erupt,” Ricky invited, settling herself comfortably on Phyllis’ bed.
“What happened?” Gloria asked sympathetically.
Gale sat on the window sill and took a deep breath of the autumn air. “That awful Junior has been pestering me again. I suppose it is only a matter of months before I become immune to it.”
“That awful Junior heard what you said,” a voice declared nastily.
Gale put her head out the window and looked up. Marcia Marlette was leaning out her window and grinning with exasperating superiority.
“Perhaps you would like to say it directly to me,” she invited.
Gale was not lacking in courage and her anger now made her more daring.
“Certainly I’ll say it,” she answered firmly. “I said you were pestering me again. So what?”
The Junior’s face was more irritating.
“Fres
hmen are supposed to be polite to upper classmen—especially sorority sisters. Rebellion will cost you a month’s special privileges.”
“But that isn’t fair!” Gale cried indignantly. “I didn’t do anything—wait, Marcia——”
But the Junior had disappeared into her room. Gale swung about and confronted the others. She strode to the door, but Phyllis preceded her. With her back against the door Phyllis asked:
“Where are you going?”
“Up to Marcia’s room,” Gale said hotly. “I’m going to tell her a few things! Things I’ve been aching to say ever since I first saw her. I’m going——”
“You are going to stay right here,” Phyllis said calmly. “Sit down, Gale, and get hold of your temper again. I never saw you so fiery. I don’t know what Marcia might have done or said, but I’ll wager it was only to make you angry. She wants you to do something like this. You will only injure yourself in the end.”
“Ignore Marcia,” Ricky advised.
Gale submitted reluctantly to their advice. She knew it was wiser to ignore Marcia’s slights and cutting remarks, but just the same she was still angry. Her resentment was growing deeper every hour. Oh, she had taken instant dislikes to people before, but she had never felt so unreasonably, so thoroughly hateful toward another girl. The minute she had seen Marcia stroll into the dining room on the night of the latter’s arrival Gale could have told Phyllis she wouldn’t like her. Before Marcia ever said a word to her, Gale felt resentment burning within her. She didn’t know why. Then, when Marcia started to annoy her and Phyllis, Gale more than ever disliked the Junior. So far she had been successful in hiding it. She avoided all possible contact with Marcia, but after all they were bound to meet sometimes. They sat at the same table at dinner, and it was there Marcia was worst of all. Gale and Phyllis accepted everything she said with a slight smile and silence. That only seemed to make matters more difficult. Marcia was deliberately picking an open quarrel and the upper classmen fully realized the position of the Freshmen. Their attitude softened somewhat and for that the girls were grateful. But it still did not solve the question of Marcia.
“Are you going out for hockey?” Gloria asked, idly thumbing Gale’s Chemistry book.
“Sure,” Ricky declared, “aren’t we, Phyl?”
“I am,” Phyllis said. “How about you, Gale?”
“For class hockey? The first meeting is tomorrow afternoon.” With difficulty Gale turned her attention to other things.
“We only have five minutes before dinner,” Gloria announced next.
Ricky dragged herself upright. “Shall we go downstairs and wait?”
Phyllis flung a hasty glance at Gale. If they went downstairs now Marcia would most likely be there. It would be bad enough at dinner with her sitting across from them.
“No,” Phyllis said vaguely, “I want to brush my hair and——”
“You had better hurry,” Gale murmured.
Phyllis remained close to Gale when they descended the stairs behind Ricky and Gloria. The girls were moving toward the dining room. Phyllis looked hastily around for Marcia. She was not in sight. When Phyllis slipped into her seat beside Gale she looked across the table. Marcia’s chair was empty.
“Where’s Marcia?” she murmured to the girl on her other side.
“She has permission to eat at the West Campus Dormitory,” was the answer.
Phyllis sighed with relief. She did not want to see a quarrel between Gale and Marcia. It would mean only trouble for Gale. Marcia was used to having her own way, girls naturally catered to her. She would not stand to be ignored by a Freshman. That Gale should be friends with the Dean was all the more reason for Marcia to resent her. Last year Marcia had been close to the old Dean. Marcia had had special privileges. She had not been tied to the college grounds to observe the rules as the other girls had. But now Dean Travis did not grant Marcia those special privileges. Phyllis believed that was all that stood between the Dean and popularity with some girls. A lot of the girls wanted special privileges and the Dean did not grant them. Phyllis could not help but admire the Dean for treating all the girls exactly the same. There would be even more dissatisfaction if some girls were allowed to do things and others weren’t.
Phyllis, upon learning that Gale and Marcia would not possibly meet tonight and quarrel, was gay with relief.
“I know how you feel,” Gale murmured to her friend. “But you really shouldn’t have worried, Phyl. I would never make a scene here—before all the others.”
“Are you a mind reader? How did you know what I was thinking?” Phyllis demanded.
Gale laughed. “You are an open book to me,” she giggled.
Phyllis sighed. “Woe is me! Nothing is a secret any more.”
The girls did not linger with the others long after dinner. They went to their room, Phyllis to read and Gale to write letters. She owed one to her parents, one to Miss Relso, who was still taking an interest in their school life, and one to Brent Stockton. The one to Brent was the longest and well it should be. Gale did not often see the young aviator with whom she was so much in love, but their letters were long and frequent and filled with many pictures.
“Send Brent my love,” Phyllis told her as she struggled into her pajamas. “Doesn’t that make you jealous?” she wanted to know teasingly.
“No,” Gale said promptly. “I even sent him a picture of you—and me,” she added.
“Foiled!” Phyllis murmured, smothering a yawn in the pillow, “Aren’t you ever going to bed?”
“Lights-out bell hasn’t rung yet,” Gale reminded her.
“You can go to bed anyway,” Phyllis informed her. “The Dean won’t mind.”
“Go to sleep,” Gale laughed.
The moonlight came into the room with illuminating brilliance. The girls slept peacefully, sweetly dreaming delightful dreams. The campus was still with the peace of an autumn night. The sorority house was dark. It was as if another world of glorious peace and accord had opened where previously had been the trill of voices and patter of running feet. Now nothing moved but the silent clouds over the moon and the gentle sifting of leaves in the wind.
But suddenly the night was shattered by a bell, a bell riotous and loud, somewhere close to the ear of the sleeping Phyllis. She sprang out of bed with a shriek. Gale sat up and put her hands over her ears. Another bell joined the first and together their voices made a clatter that disturbed sleepers all over the building. Phyllis dashed wildly about, seeking the cause of the clatter. She found an alarm clock under the bed, whose bell was the cause of the initial outburst. She turned it off while Gale sought the second bell. But Gale had no sooner found the clock hidden in her suitcase than another bell broke forth and another and another. The place was alive with bells, each louder and more shrill than the one before.
The girls sat in the center of the floor and looked helplessly at one another.
“Let ’em ring,” Phyllis advised.
“That’s all we can do,” Gale conceded laughingly. “I wonder whose idea this was?”
“What?”
“I said——” Gale began to repeat patiently, but it was no use. Phyllis could not hear her above the clatter. It seemed a million bells were ringing. Never had the girls heard such a varied assortment of bell sounds.
Gradually the bells began to stop. Gently the tinkling died out and the girls climbed back into bed. But they were no sooner settled than the loudest and most disturbing gong of all started.
“Sounds like a fire alarm,” Phyllis shouted.
She was hastily rummaging in her closet. Her search disclosed a big alarm clock hidden in a hat box. She brought it out.
“How do you shut it off?” she yelled to Gale.
Gale shook her head, laughing. The two tried everything, but the most effective was stuffing the clock under two pillows. That softened its siren shriek somewhat.
“What a night!” Phyllis groaned, as she climbed back into bed. She very slowly and carefully
stuffed cotton in her ears. “I am going to sleep the rest of the night even if the roof caves in!” she prophesied.
“What was going on in your room last night?” Ricky demanded the next morning when she paid them a visit before breakfast.
“Somebody hid a hundred alarm clocks in here to scare us,” Phyllis explained, crawling from under Gale’s bed. She had discovered two more clocks.
“Going to start a store?” Gloria asked, motioning to the array of clocks standing on Phyllis’ desk.
Phyllis shook her head. She opened the door and pushed a chair out into the hall. On it she set all the clocks. In front of them she put a sign “To be claimed,” and then they all went down to breakfast.
“Look!” Ricky pointed dramatically to the chair when they returned to get their books for classes.
The chair was empty. The clocks were all gone.
CHAPTER IV
Trouble Ahead
Gale tucked her books under her arm and started down the steps of Happiness House.
“Gale! Wait!” Adele Stevens called and fell into step beside her. “Even Seniors go to classes sometimes,” she smiled. “Nice morning, isn’t it?”
“Very,” Gale agreed.
“Last night was a nice night, too,” the Senior said, with twinkling eyes.
Gale laughed. “Yes. The sound of a million bells always lends enchantment to an autumn night.”
Adele laughed, too. “You and Phyllis have been good sports, Gale. Don’t think we haven’t noticed it.”
“We’ve gotten fun out of it, too,” Gale said.
“You are the kind of girls we want in Happiness House,” the Senior declared. “But,” she frowned, “Gale, we are sorry for some things——”
“Freshmen expect a lot,” Gale said, smiling.
“I mean—such as Marcia Marlette.”
“Oh.” Gale looked across the campus, letting her eyes dwell on the red and golden brown of the leaves stirring in the breeze.
“Gale, don’t ever think that the things she does have the approval of the whole sorority,” Adele continued seriously. “She is one of our members, true. She was elected to our house when she was a Freshman. Now we can’t exactly put her out—it wouldn’t be the nice thing to do and she won’t quit of her own accord. She knows we don’t like what she has been doing lately. Our sorority house is Happiness House. We want to keep it that. We don’t want quarrels or bickering. We want friendship between the girls, friendship that lasts much longer than our college days. Do you see what I mean?”
The Second Girl Detective Megapack: 23 Classic Mystery Novels for Girls Page 280