"I think you ought to preside, Kit1," Charity said as she arranged the tea table more handily before the corner couch. "It's your party, and you ought to pour."
"Takes too much concentration," Kit returned. "Anne'll help you. I want to have my mind perfectly2 clear to manage the thing. You see, Marcelle doesn't know a blessed thing about it yet, and there's no knowing how she'll take it. Wouldn't it be funny if she got proud and haughty3, and marched away from our Founders5' Tea?"
"I don't think you ought to spring it until after we've had refreshments6. Food has such a mellowing7 effect on human nature. It's all a question of tact8, though. If I were you, I'd talk to them in an intimate sort of way instead of lingering too much on the historic value. Better straighten Malcolm, over yonder; he looks kind of topply."
Kit regarded the framed steel engraving9 of Malcolm Douglas almost fondly. It had been taken from a history of early Wisconsin, together with some other founders fortunate enough to be included on the roll of honor, and had hung down in the Dean's room. Now it occupied a prominent spot specially10 cleared for it in the middle of the wall, and Kit had twined a long, double tendril of southern smilax around it, culled12 from the local florist's supply for any chance Delphi festivities.
Backed by Miss Daphne's approval and interest, Kit had called at several homes where lived the descendants of other founders, and the results were manifest. Mrs. Peter Bradbury had contributed two Indian blankets and a hunting-bag, besides an old pair of saddle bags used by her father, one of the early missionary13 bishops14 of the northwest, in his travels through the wilderness15. Two fine timber wolf pelts16 lay on the floor, and of these Kit was specially proud. She had beguiled17 them from the treasure store of old Madame Giron, whose husband could still tell with fiery18 eyes and thrilling tone of how he had killed the animals not a quarter of a mile from the site of Hope College, in the old settler days.
From the cabinet in the Dean's room had come mostly records, old documents carefully framed, and several letters written by the founders themselves.
"You know," Kit said, as she gave a last touch to her exhibit, "of course these are important, but I like the Indian and hunting things best. I wish I could run away with that double pair of buffalo19 horns that belonged to Dr. Gleason's granduncle or somebody. I like them better than anything."
A quick rap came on the door, and before Charity could even call "come in" Peggy entered with her usual galaxy20 behind her, Amy, Norma, and a newcomer from Iowa, Henrietta Jinks, whom the girls had instantly dubbed21 "the Jinx," because of her infallible habit of everlastingly22 doing the inopportune thing.
"If it wasn't that her father was a congressman23, she'd never get by with it," Amy had said, "but as it is, if you'll just remember that she's been reared on rhetoric24 and torch-light parades, you can understand that little abrupt25 way she has. I think it's rather interesting to be a 'Jinx,' it's so different, and the boys only have mascots26. This way, it shows we have a fine, proud disregard for the slings27 and arrows of outrageous28 fortune. Kit, my child, did you hear that? I'll be playing Ophelia before the New Year dawns."
"Tony Conyers sent word she'd be ready in five minutes," said Norma. "I think she's dressing29 up as something symbolical30, and she's got a lot of the girls in there with her. Charity, I think this is a perfectly stupendous idea of yours."
"'Tisn't mine," retorted Charity, hurtling cushions handily from one couch to another in order to balance the room. "It's Kit's. This is her party. Her coming out party at Hope."
"No, precious, I'm not," replied Kit, happily. "I wish this minute I could mount yon rostrum, Mid11 declaim the feats31 of my ancestors. They were pathfinders and Cavaliers, but I don't know of a single blessed founder among them. Peggy, don't sit on the almonds. They're right behind you in that glass dish."
The room filled up rapidly with members of the freshman32 class, and Kit declared after she had been the rounds four times that she felt exactly like the lecturer in the curio hall in a museum, telling the history of the relics33 over and over again. Nobody but Anne knew how anxious she became as the moments slipped by and no Marcelle appeared. It would never do to have a climax34 happen without the surprise of her presence to carry it off. The refreshments had all been served, and the little bronze dragon clock on top of the book shelves showed the hour of five, when Charity called:
"You'd better start in on your Founders' talk, Kit; we've only got about half an hour."
There was a baffled look in Kit's eyes, as she picked up the challenge and rose from the brown willow35 chair. Charity must know perfectly well how untimely it was to start to spring the surprise while there was a running chance of Marcelle appearing. Still there was a hush36, and the girls faced her expectantly.
"As you all know," began Kit, "the old bronze tablet in the lower hall carries names on its roll of honor which not only uphold the glory of Hope College, but also of the entire town of Delphi, of the entire state, I may say, of Wisconsin."
"Kit," murmured Peggy, sotto voce, "if you start declaiming like that you'll have 'the Jinx' after your scalp. First thing we know, you'll begin, 'Ladies and fellow constituents37.'"
Kit waited until the laugh had subsided38, and Peggy had replaced the shell pins from her tumbled braids after a tussle39 with "the Jinx," who took all political allusions40 as personal affronts41.
"There are few of us here to-day, if any," continued Kit, slowly, one eye watching the concrete walk across the campus from the nearest window, "who can boast of a Hope founder in her family."
"I can, almost," interrupted Antoinette, otherwise Tony; "my big sister Marie was engaged for a very little while to Bernard Giron. If she had only married him, we would have had a 'Founder' in the family."
"Tony," said Kit, severely42, "I am dealing43 with facts, not prospects44, and you ought not to reveal any family secrets, either. I say it is a great honor to be a direct descendant of a 'Founder,' and we have one in our class. A girl, too modest to take advantage of her grandfather's record." She paused impressively, but with a quickening gleam in her eyes, as there suddenly have in view a hurrying figure in gray sweater and dark crimson45 cap on the campus walk. It was Marcelle herself, late, but in time to create the desired sensation.
Kit drew a deep breath, and plunged46 back to her subject, considering exactly the time it would take for the belated guest to reach the study.
"Since all the girls here belong to this dormitory, it seems appropriate that the founder whose memory we honor should be Malcolm Douglas. His portrait hangs upon the wall, evidently taken from an old likeness47." Oh, how she wished the home folks could hear her roll her phrases! "There is no more adventurous48 or thrilling career in the annals of historic Delphi than that of the illustrious Scotchman. Making his way through the perils50 of the wilderness, he came from Quebec with a party of fur traders and pioneer explorers."
"Don't hit too far back, Kit," interrupted Peggy, alertly. "If he was a founder in '71, you can't have him trotting51 over wilderness trails with Marquette and Lasalle, you know."
"Nevertheless," responded Kit, ignoring the levity52 of her nearest neighbor, "he is one of the heroes of our Wisconsin pioneer times. He came here in his early twenties, and married Lucia, the daughter of Captain Peter Morton. Their daughter was Mary, and, girls, she was the mother of one of our classmates, the very same Mary who went through Hope and graduated with high honors. You'll find her initials carved in Number 10 across the hall, and her portrait—the only one I could find—is in this graduating group."
The girls all crowded forward to look at the group photograph which Kit held out to them, just as a knock came at the door. For one dramatic instant Kit held the knob, her back against the door as she announced in almost a whisper:
"The granddaughter of Malcolm Douglas."
The girls leaned forward, eagerly, every eye fixed53 upon the door. As Kit said afterwards, laughingly to Anne:
"Goodness knows who they expected to see, but I almost felt as though I had promised them the excitement of a live mummy and then had sprung Marcelle. Oh, but wasn't she splendid, Anne? The way she stood the introduction and the shock of finding herself the guest of honor. As I looked at her, I thought to myself, you may be Douglas, and you may be Morton, fine old Scotch49 and English stock, but if it wasn't for the dash of debonair54 Beaubien in you too, you could never carry this off the way you are doing."
Marcelle was not the only person present who had to fall back on inherent caste for their manners of the moment, but Tony was the only one that gave an audible gasp55. Even Peggy and Norma smiled, and greeted the Founder's granddaughter in the proper spirit.
She was dressed in white, just a plain kilted skirt and smock, but Kit gloried in the way she took her place beside Charity at the tea table, and parried the questions of the girls with laughing ease.
"Of course," she said, with the little slight accent she seemed to have caught from her father and old Grandmother Beaubien, "I thought every one in Delphi knew. For myself, I am proud of him, and of all my mother's people, but I am also proud of being a Beaubien. You girls do not know perhaps that some of my father's people helped to found Fort Dearborn, and they were very brave and courageous56 voyagers in the early days of New France."
Peggy really rose to the occasion remarkably57, Kit thought. Probably the most zealously58 guarded membership in Hope's freshman class was that of the Portia Club, and yet, before the tea was over, she had invited Marcelle to attend the next meeting and be proposed for membership.
"We're not going to try a whole play at first, just famous scenes, and I know you'd fit in somewhere and enjoy it. Don't you want to, Marcelle?"
"I shall be glad to help always," she said, with simple dignity, "if you wish to make me one of you. We have an old copy of Shakespeare at home that was my mother's, and I have read much of it in the long winter evenings. I think," she added, whimsically, "that I would rather play parts like Shylock or Hamlet than the girl rôles, and best of all, I should love dearly to play Prince Hal."
"What do you think of that?" Anne said on the way home. "The idea of her being interested in Shakespeare at all or knowing anything about it, after living all her life in that little sand dump. Kit, you certainly have discovered a flower that was born to blush unseen."
"It will take her out of her shell, anyway," Kit replied, happily. "And I do think the girls came up to the mark splendidly. Heaven knows how they are talking about us now, behind our backs, but they acted their parts nobly when I swung that door open, and there stood, just Marcelle!"
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1
kit
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| n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物 | |
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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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haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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Founder
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| n.创始者，缔造者 | |
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founders
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| n.创始人( founder的名词复数 ) | |
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refreshments
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| n.点心,便餐;(会议后的)简单茶点招 待 | |
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mellowing
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| 软化，醇化 | |
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tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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engraving
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| n.版画；雕刻（作品）；雕刻艺术；镌版术v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的现在分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中） | |
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specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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mid
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| adj.中央的，中间的 | |
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culled
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| v.挑选，剔除( cull的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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bishops
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| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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pelts
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| n. 皮毛，投掷, 疾行 vt. 剥去皮毛，（连续）投掷 vi. 猛击，大步走 | |
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17
beguiled
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| v.欺骗( beguile的过去式和过去分词 )；使陶醉；使高兴；消磨（时间等） | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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buffalo
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| n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛 | |
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galaxy
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| n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物) | |
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dubbed
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| v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制 | |
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everlastingly
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| 永久地，持久地 | |
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Congressman
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| n.（美）国会议员 | |
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rhetoric
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| n.修辞学，浮夸之言语 | |
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abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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mascots
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| n.吉祥物( mascot的名词复数 ) | |
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slings
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| 抛( sling的第三人称单数 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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symbolical
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| a.象征性的 | |
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feats
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| 功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 ) | |
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freshman
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| n.大学一年级学生(可兼指男女) | |
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relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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climax
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| n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点 | |
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willow
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| n.柳树 | |
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hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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constituents
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| n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素 | |
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subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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tussle
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| n.&v.扭打，搏斗，争辩 | |
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allusions
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| 暗指，间接提到( allusion的名词复数 ) | |
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affronts
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| n.（当众）侮辱，（故意）冒犯( affront的名词复数 )v.勇敢地面对( affront的第三人称单数 )；相遇 | |
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severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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adventurous
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| adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的 | |
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scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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perils
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| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
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trotting
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| 小跑，急走( trot的现在分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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levity
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| n.轻率，轻浮，不稳定，多变 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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debonair
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| adj.殷勤的，快乐的 | |
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gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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courageous
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| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
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remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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zealously
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| adv.热心地；热情地；积极地；狂热地 | |
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shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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