Another of the cla.s.s was doing lyceum work as a public reader. Still another had opened a kindergarten, and many more, like Beth and Dolly, were filling quietly and efficiently the little niches at home which sadly needed them.

For the most part, college life had broadened all of the girls, so that none of them were entirely content to lead a perfectly useless life of fashion and gayety. Constance herself had gone into college settlement work, just as she had planned to do long before.

After the rest of their cla.s.smates had gone, Mary and the "diggers"

(for the old name seemed still to cling to them) stayed for a cosy chat with Constance. Beth and Dolly, indeed, would stay for a couple of days longer.

They were sipping tea, which Constance had insisted on making, when her sharp eyes caught the gleam of a new ring on Margaret's finger. "Who gave you that, Meg? Are you keeping secrets from your crowd? I wouldn't have believed it of you."

Margaret flushed richly. "I truly meant to tell you girls before I left tonight, but it was not easy to tell someway. It is absurd to think of it, but really, I am going, if nothing happens, to be Abby Dunbar's sister some day."

"Margaret! how lovely! no, not that you will be her sister, but that you will be Raymond Dunbar's wife, for he is as broad and generous and fine as she is petty and narrow."

"I congratulate you with all my heart, Meg, and I am so glad that Abby married that Englishman and will live abroad. Raymond is just the one man in all the world that you should marry."

"Thank you a thousand times, girls," Margaret said heartily when she had been duly kissed and hugged. "But you know really, that he is much better and n.o.bler than I. It is so, and you need not try to contradict me. I thought at first that he was trying in this way to atone for his father's youthful faults, but--"

"But you do not think so any more," Dolly said shrewdly, looking at her friend's changing face.

"No, I do not," Margaret owned softly.

Constance looked around on the other faces. "Now I wonder if any more of you are hiding weighty secrets. If so, confess!"

"How about our hostess, herself?" retorted Beth quickly.

Constance smiled serenely. "I have absolutely nothing to confess. I feel like a grandmother, with all this talk of engagements and marriage going on around me. I am outside of it all. Margery Ainsworth and I will probably be the old, staid spinsters of the cla.s.s; we have found work enough to fill all our lives. By the way, Dolly, how long is Mr.

Martin going to consent to wait for you? You have been engaged a couple of years now."

"More than that, and his patience seems about exhausted," Dolly acknowledged with a frank blush. "So I presume that you will receive our cards immediately after Christmas."

"It is your turn, now, Mary. What have you to say for yourself?"

Constance continued mercilessly.

"Absolutely nothing beyond what you already know. I have the position which I have coveted all my life, so, of course, I am quite satisfied."

Despite Mary's words, however, there was a new tone in her voice, which made Dolly resolve to catechise her later. Something had happened, but Dolly could not make out what.

"Your turn now, Elizabeth," commanded Constance.

Dolly laughed mischievously. She alone knew that Beth really had some news to tell. "Shall I spare your blushes and help you out, dear? She has only been engaged two days now, so that she cannot carry her new honors as sedately as--"

"As some people who have worn an engagement ring for two years and a half," Beth interposed. "I'll tell my own story, Dolly Alden. Father has offered to take Mr. Steele into partnership this summer, and--"

"And the daughter thought it such a good scheme that she is going to do likewise," Dolly interjected, and then after the first burst of astonishment was over, the girls had a long talk over their plans and hopes.

It was a couple of hours later before Dolly found the quiet opportunity that she wanted for speaking to Mary.

"Aren't you ever going to be good to Fred, Mary? He is one of the very best boys in the world."

"I know it, and it doesn't seem fair to him that he should be wasting his time and thoughts on me."

Dolly looked at her friend keenly. "You and Fred have some new understanding. Aren't you going to tell me what it is?"

Mary looked troubled. "It is not an understanding at all, and I cannot have you think that, or Fred either. I have promised to write to him, and he says he will not take my final answer for a couple of years. It does not seem fair to him--"

Dolly interrupted her with a kiss. "Don't worry your tender conscience.

Just leave it all to time, and to Fred. If he is contented, you can afford to be."

And to herself Dolly added: "Fred has the wisdom of the serpent; Mary cares more for him than she realizes, and he will win her in the end."