"You are as proud of this class as I am, and you know it, Dolly Alden! Professor Newton told me the other day that the faculty was perfectly satisfied with us. We have some actually brilliant students here. Look at Amy Norton, for instance! She is a phenomenon. Our choir is fine, and altogether," Beth wound up emphatically, "we are just about as nice a class as you can find any place." "We are nice," Dolly conceded, "but, Beth, let me tell you that our pride is going to have a fearful fall in one particular." "I don't understand you." CHAPTER XIX "I am talking about the athletic contests that come off the first of Commencement week. We simply shan't be in it. Vassar, Wellesley, Smith, and all the others, seem to be in great shape, but we shall disgrace ourselves." "But, Dolly dear, we must do tolerably well, or we should never be in the contests at all. There were scores of colleges that tried for a place and we were one of the six successful ones, so we must certainly be able to do something." "You would not be feeling so confident if you took more interest in athletics. We should never have won a place at all except for Ruth Armstrong. She was superb at everything; running, jumping, throwing--everything. It was she, and she alone, who won us our place on the list. She was simply phenomenal, but, as you know, she isn't here this year, and there is no one at all on whom we can count. Vassar is sure now of one event, and the Cornell girls will get another, that is positive. I had hoped that we could do something in the running contests, but Rose Wilson has twisted her ankle, so the only thing in which we stood the least show is out of the question." "Well, Dolly dear, with six colleges represented, and only three events to come off, everyone could not win." "Of course not, and now Westover will not be one of the lucky three. We shall not even win second place in anything! In short, we are in such bad shape that I wish we had never tried to revive athletics here at Westover. The other colleges have been working in this direction for years, and it was absurd for us to compete with them." "Don't worry; I think that we have won honor enough simply by being admitted to the competition. Lots of colleges are envious of us." "They will not be very long," said Dolly soberly. There was really nothing to be said that could comfort Dolly. All that she asserted was only too true. None of the quartette were on the athletic teams, but all of the students had been discussing the coming contests with grave faces. "If we had not made the absurd rule that only Seniors could be in these contests, we might do something even yet. There is rather good material among the freshmen and sophomores." "But the other colleges only admit the seniors, so we could not be allowed to pick from all the classes. If only Ruth Armstrong were here!"