Bryn Mawr (Pa.) -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Bryn Mawr College -- Fiction; College stories, American; Women college students -- Fiction
Katherine's rooms were on the second floor. When the two girls entered,
the study was in the shadowy dimness of grey twilight cheered by a warm
fire. Katherine lighted an old Venetian lantern and some red-shaded
candles, then drew the sash curtains which were of dark red silk with
arabesques of fine gold lines. Above the mantel hung two carbon
photographs of Fra Angelico angels in vellum frames; and at one end
stood a bronze of the Flying Mercury, at the other a cast of the
Olympian Hermes. On the walls were photographs of Matthew Arnold,
Christina Rossetti, and Cardinal Newman; also some prints that Katherine
fondly believed to be original Dürers. These objects had not the
interpretative value for Lilian that they might have had for another;
but the whole suggested luxury to her, and her eyes turned away
disapprovingly to fall with a sort of startled horror on the recess left
between two bookcases, where, against a dark background, hung an
exquisite ivory crucifix. Lilian's attitude toward Catholicism was of
the original Puritan inflexibility, strengthened by the exaggerated
hatred of the class of people among whom she had lived. And she knew
nothing of any concessions due to the opinions of others. The crucifix
represented merely a sympathy, not a tendency on Katherine's part. But
this fact, even if it had been known to Lilian, would have served none
the less to intensify in her a feeling of radical difference between
Katherine's governing ideals and her own.
When she entered Radnor on her return, two girls were coming slowly down
the stairs, absorbed in confidential chat. They smiled at Lilian as she
passed, but she knew that she had no share in the friendship expressed
even by the touch of Clara's hand on Ethel's shoulder. She drew herself
up sharply, remembering her longing to enter Florence Baker's bright,
gay study.
Her way to her room took her past the single suites. The door of one was
open, and within were trunks and signs of packing.
"Are you going away?" she paused to ask. Gertrude Elbridge, a pretty
little freshman, came forward and drooped against the door.
"Yes, you know I have been ill since the examinations, and papa has sent
for me."
"I am sorry." This was true, as Lilian had a mild fondness for the
child, despite the fact that, through evenings of loud and prolonged
hilarity, Gertrude and her friends had made life a burden to Lilian, and
with direct consequence, to the members of the Executive Board of
Self-Government. Lilian went on to her room, indignation possessing her.
She knew why Gertrude was going away. Before each examination Gertrude
had studied all night, her head bound in a wet towel. The towel really
bothered her, but she knew that was what her brother did. She had kept
awake on strong tea and coffee supplied by sympathizing friends. But
evidently even these frantic efforts had not proved redemptive.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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