Elinor smiled and her shining eyes traveled down the wide dim corridor with its rows of battered3 gray lockers4, past the confusion of chairs and easels that clustered around the big screen of the composition room, straight into the farthest nook of the great bare work rooms beyond, where an array of heroic-sized white casts loomed5 conspicuous6 in the cold north light above the clutter7 of easels, stools and drawing-boards that encompassed8 the silent, intent workers.
"I'm not half so calm as I look, Miss Pat," she said, seriously. "I'm more excited than I ever was in my life. It's too deep to come to the surface, I guess. I haven't any words for it."
Patricia nodded approval.
"That's your 'sensitive, artistic9 temperament,' as Mrs. Hand calls it. It must be awfully10 trying, though, not to be able to babble11 when you're pleased. It's such a relief to get it out of your system. I'd simply burst if I tried to keep quiet when I felt excited."
Elinor smiled absently, and then burst out fervently12, "Isn't it all gloriously workmanlike—the bare walls and smudged doors and the painty smell, too? It's so serious. Outside, the people regard a picture as a mere13 luxury, but in here, here," she said, exultantly14, "it is absolutely the necessary thing in life."
Patricia shut her door with a snap and turned to her sister with a glowing face, sweeping15 her stray tendrils back with an eager gesture.
"I know it!" she cried. "It makes even me feel as though I could turn off masterpieces instanter. Merely to look at those lumps of clay in the modeling room made me simply ache to get my hands into them. I was enchanted16 the moment I came in here with you this morning, never dreaming that I should be so lucky as to be one of the illustrious band myself. You're a perfect duck, Norn, to let me tag along after you here."
"You might as well do that as anything else," said Elinor, rather absently. "The best of it is that we shall be together. It will be such fun to see how we each get along."
"'We!'" echoed Patricia. "You mean how you get along. I shan't count at all. I may have to give up when I actually get at it." Then with a swift change of spirit she added: "All the same, if I couldn't do better than some of those smudgy celebrities17 in the modeling room were doing, I'd feel pretty sorry for myself. Such forlorn, lop-sided caricatures of human beings I never saw. I don't see how they can do them."
Elinor's soft laugh rippled18 out. "It's clear that you haven't tried to do it, or you'd see how easy it is to make caricatures instead of portraits," she said. "I didn't think they were so very bad."
"I'd be ashamed to have anyone see them if I'd done them," declared Patricia, unconvinced. "They seemed quite cocky over them, poor idiots. I hope some of them do better than that, or I shan't learn much."
"It would be wonderful if you did make a success of it," said Elinor, beginning to put her newly acquired implements19 into her locker. "How surprised Bruce will be that you are studying here, too."
"Don't tell him, for the world!" cried Patricia, her brow wrinkling at the thought of that noted20 artist's surprise. "I shouldn't have dared to take the course if he was ever to see anything I did! I'm only going into it for fun, and I shouldn't have dreamed of doing it if it hadn't been the cheapest course in the whole school. You know I shouldn't have, Elinor dear, so please don't tell."
Elinor gave her a reassuring21 squeeze. "Don't be afraid, Miss Pat. I won't give away your dark secrets to anyone till you want me to. You'll tell David, won't you?"
Patricia pondered a moment. "I don't believe I'll tell anyone until I see what I can do," she decided22. "I'd love to surprise Francis Edward David Carson Kendall, otherwise known as Frad, but I'll wait till I know whether it is to be the sort of surprise he'd welcome before I spring it on him. He wouldn't appreciate a hideous23 fizzle, like some of those we saw, and I'd hate to inflict24 a newly discovered twin brother with anything of that sort myself."
"I don't believe Fra—David would be very critical; he's so good natured," said Elinor. "Isn't it hard to get used to him as our brother, after knowing him as David Carson for a whole summer? I can't ever feel sure of what is his right name now. We knew him as David Carson for so long, and now that he wants to be called by his real name, I simply get more twisted all the time."
"That's why I call him Frad," said Patricia, with a twinkle. "Combines the whole and is entirely25 original, and so suited to his situation. I don't think he ought to drop all the Carson name, particularly while we're all living comfortably on the Carson money. It seems sort of ungrateful to me."
"But you know Mrs. Carson always wanted him to take his own name if he ever found it," said Elinor, closing her locker and dropping the key into her bag.
"Well, he's dear with any name, and I'm glad Judy discovered him when she did, money or no money," said Patricia seriously. "He was so disappointed when Madam Blitz said my voice needed another year to grow in, that I'm awfully glad I've hit on something to do that will fill in the time, and keep me learning. That's really the great thing, isn't it, after all?"
As she spoke26 a gong sounded from beyond the closed door of a nearby class room; there was sound of movement and subdued27 voices, then the door swung grudgingly28 and a number of students of various ages with smudged hands and soiled aprons30 came straggling out into the dim corridor, laden31 with canvases and drawings to be stowed in the long line of lockers that stretched on either side of the hallway.
Elinor looked at them with a little quick sigh of excited envy.
"They are all so used to it," she said, with a note of humility32 in her sweet voice. "They make me feel so green!"
"Poof! You needn't care," said Patricia, breezily. "If Bruce Haydon says you can draw, you shouldn't mind a lot of sloppy33 students. Wait till you've been here a month—you'll be rearing your crest34 as high as any."
Elinor shook her head. "To tell the truth, Miss Pat dear, I almost wish Bruce hadn't gotten me into the life and portrait classes without the regular term in the antique rooms. I shouldn't feel half so shivery about going in there and drawing from those big casts, for I know they are all more or less beginners there."
"Stuff!" protested Patricia stoutly35. "You know you've been simply crazy to get here. Why spoil it all by squibbling? I think it's perfectly36 gorgeous. I'm wild to begin myself, and I'm about as green as any old shamrock. Besides, it's a mighty37 poor way to show your gratitude38 to Bruce for putting you right slap into the highest classes without slaving your life out for years, perhaps. I'll tell him——"
"Indeed, you'll do no such thing!" cried Elinor, the color rushing to her cheeks and her authority as eldest39 sister asserting itself promptly40. "I don't intend that Bruce shall hear a word until I've had my first good criticism."
Patricia smiled to herself at the effect of her ruse41. "All right. I'll be good," she promised. "Now, to come down to earth again—where are we going to feed? I wish we could find the lunch room. It would be such fun to look our future classmates over while we browse42."
"I think it's in the basement," said Elinor dubiously43, "but I don't believe we can buy things there. We'd have to go out, anyway, I'm afraid."
A blue-aproned girl who had been packing her materials in an adjoining locker turned civilly.
"Are you speaking about the lunch room?" she asked in a pleasant contralto voice. "I can show you where it is, but you'll have to bring your lunch with you. There are gas stoves to cook on in the back room, and tables and chairs in the front one, if you're not too late to get a place."
Elinor thanked her cordially, while Patricia almost dislocated her neck trying to get a glimpse of the big canvas that protruded44 from the locker while still keeping far enough behind Elinor for her curiosity to pass unnoticed.
"It is down a little iron stairway behind that screen," said the girl, tucking a paper parcel into the capacious pocket of her blue jean paint dress, "and it's only for girls. The men have one on the other side of the building. Come down as soon as you can, for it's fearfully crowded later on."
Patricia watched her disappear behind the big screen of the composition room, and then she turned excitedly to Elinor.
"Isn't she nice?" she asked admiringly. "She's so cock-sure of herself and so calm about it. I like the way her eyebrows45 meet over her haughty46 nose, and that superior kink in her nice, crinkly lips. I know she's going to be worth while when we know her."
"For goodness' sake, don't be jumping into admirations wholesale48, Miss Pat, darling," said Elinor, gently pulling Patricia's arm through hers as they passed into the narrow entrance to the dressing49 room. "Don't rush at it so, ducky. You can't know the right people at once, and it saves a lot of bother not to get too familiar with the wrong ones."
"Just as you say, Miss Solomon," rippled Patricia, too happy to be depressed50 by anything. "I'll be as frigid51 as you like, and if any of these frivolous52 young things try to scrape an acquaintance with me, I'll snub them good and hard."
She lowered her voice as two newcomers entered—one a slender, faded young woman with near-sighted pale eyes, and the other a blond girl with a dazzling skin and glorious shimmering53 hair wound around a shapely head. Both were in aprons, but the younger wore a dull green that set off her fair beauty to perfection, while the checked gingham of the other proclaimed a hopelessly downright taste.
Patricia, at the mirror, paused in the act of pinning on her hat, her eyes riveted54 on the vision in dull green.
"Isn't she lovely?" she demanded in a thrilling whisper of Elinor, who had slipped into her things and was already at the door.
The girl unmistakably caught the words, for she turned a brilliant, measuring, half-approving look on her while she slowly began to divest55 herself of the alluring56 green apron29. She was so evidently used to admiration47 that her smooth cheek showed no change of color, though the panic red of swift confusion flamed on Patricia's bright face.
Pinning on her hat hastily, she fled after Elinor, feeling that she must seem most inexperienced and childish in the eyes of this fascinating creature who at once had eclipsed all previous claimants to her admiration.
"I wonder if she is in the modeling class?" she said as she caught up with Elinor in the composition room. "I don't suppose there's any such luck as that. She looks too clean——"
Elinor interrupted her with a little shake. "You hopeless little goose," she said, in laughing despair. "You've just promised me not to, and here you are it, hammer and tongs57, under my very eyes."
"My word!" cried Patricia indignantly. "You don't mean I'm not to look at anyone! I can't even express a little tame approval without your accusing me of grabbing a new soul mate. You can't say she isn't simply ravishing, and just because she's alive instead of being a picture or statue or some such made-up thing, you want me to turn up my nose at her. I must say you are getting to be awfully extreme, Elinor Kendall. You'll want me to wear a muzzle58 next."
Elinor gave her a loving look, and Patricia, appropriating a corner of her big muff, gave her hand a surreptitious squeeze.
"I wish I could kiss you, you old angel," she said, irrelevantly59. "Let's lay in our pemmican, and hustle60 back for a seat in the parquet61 circle. I'm dying to look them over and see who's who and what's what before I make any more breaks."
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1
locker
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| n.更衣箱，储物柜，冷藏室，上锁的人 | |
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enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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lockers
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| n.寄物柜( locker的名词复数 ) | |
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loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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clutter
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| n.零乱，杂乱；vt.弄乱，把…弄得杂乱 | |
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encompassed
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| v.围绕( encompass的过去式和过去分词 )；包围；包含；包括 | |
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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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babble
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| v.含糊不清地说，胡言乱语地说，儿语 | |
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fervently
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| adv.热烈地，热情地，强烈地 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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exultantly
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| adv.狂欢地，欢欣鼓舞地 | |
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sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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enchanted
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| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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17
celebrities
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| n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉 | |
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18
rippled
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| 使泛起涟漪（ripple的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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implements
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| n.工具( implement的名词复数 )；家具；手段；[法律]履行（契约等）v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 )；执行；贯彻；使生效 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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reassuring
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| a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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inflict
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| vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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27
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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grudgingly
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apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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aprons
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| 围裙( apron的名词复数 )； 停机坪，台口（舞台幕前的部份） | |
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laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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sloppy
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| adj.邋遢的，不整洁的 | |
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crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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stoutly
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| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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41
ruse
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| n.诡计，计策；诡计 | |
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42
browse
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| vi.随意翻阅，浏览；(牛、羊等)吃草 | |
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43
dubiously
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| adv.可疑地，怀疑地 | |
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44
protruded
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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45
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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46
haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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47
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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48
wholesale
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| n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售 | |
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49
dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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50
depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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51
frigid
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| adj.寒冷的，凛冽的；冷淡的；拘禁的 | |
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52
frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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53
shimmering
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| v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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54
riveted
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| 铆接( rivet的过去式和过去分词 )； 把…固定住； 吸引； 引起某人的注意 | |
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55
divest
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| v.脱去，剥除 | |
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56
alluring
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| adj.吸引人的，迷人的 | |
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57
tongs
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| n.钳；夹子 | |
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58
muzzle
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| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
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59
irrelevantly
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| adv.不恰当地，不合适地；不相关地 | |
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60
hustle
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| v.推搡；竭力兜售或获取；催促；n.奔忙(碌) | |
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61
parquet
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| n.镶木地板 | |
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