"Why, it’s ever so kind of you. Of course I’d love to go." A glimmer of suspicion flashed out beneath Elaine’s gratitude. She had learned to accept Peggy’s kindnesses at their face value, without looking for an ulterior motive. But with Priscilla it was different. Out of Peggy’s especial friends Priscilla was the one, Elaine felt sure, who liked her least, and her pleasure in the invitation was lessened by her wonder as to what had called it forth. Peggy was chattering on gaily. "We’ll go early, so as to watch the people come in. I think that’s half the fun. We sit so high up that I am afraid to lean forward for fear of falling down, I don’t know how many stories, but I hold on tight, and crane my neck so as not to miss anybody." "You sit high up?" repeated Mrs. Marshall, breaking in on her animated if not literal description. "Is it possible that the management does not furnish orchestra seats to the students?" "We sit in the second balcony," Priscilla replied, with a flash of resentment which was not allayed by Mrs. Marshall’s manner of receiving the announcement. "And is there really any danger of falling?" Mrs. Marshall was appealing to Peggy. "I have always been accustomed to a box. Dear papa was fond of music, but he invariably secured a box, and he was exceedingly particular about my gowns because we were so conspicuous. But the second balcony! Really I don’t know." Peggy hastened to allay the fears occasioned by her incautious figure of speech, and Elaine said hurriedly and with apparent sincerity, that she shouldn’t enjoy a minute if she sat in a box. It was perhaps due to an effort, conscious or unconscious, to atone for her mother’s implication, that Elaine blossomed into unusual enthusiasm over the proposed pleasure. When Friday came she was still in a particularly appreciative mood, and Priscilla mentally acknowledged that she had never liked the girl so well. She wondered if there was any truth in the theory that Peggy was always advancing, that you were sure to like people if you tried to be nice to them. The concert justified the girls’ anticipations. The great hall was crowded with an audience of music lovers, and the artist of the occasion was called back again and again, to bow her acknowledgement of the enthusiastic applause. Elaine’s sorrowful expression when the last number on the program was reached, was more convincing than even her lament, "O, dear! It can’t be over already." "It’s almost five o’clock. But cheer up! There’ll be another." Priscilla’s smile was thoroughly friendly. Hitherto she had always thought of Elaine as Peggy’s especial property, and as an illustration of Peggy’s recognized propensity for liking all sorts of people. Now as her thoughts ran ahead to the concert two weeks away, she wondered if by any chance she could secure a ticket for Elaine.