Part 61 (1/2)

”What the deuce's got into Tough?”

”It's a rotten trick!”

”Let's hook it.”

”All right. Slide toward the door.”

But at this moment, when deliverance seemed near, Tough bore down and, taking Stover by the arm, drew him aside.

”I say, stick by me on this, old man,” he said desperately. ”Take 'em to the game with me, will you?”

”To the game!” cried d.i.n.k in horror. ”Oh, Tough, come now, I say, I'm no fusser. I'm tongue-tied and pigeon-toed. Oh, I say, old man, do get some one else!”

But as Tough McCarty kept a firm grip on the lapel of his coat d.i.n.k suddenly found himself, with the departure of the other guests, a helpless captive. The first painful sc.r.a.ps of conversation pa.s.sed in a blur. Before he knew it he was crossing the campus, actually walking, in full view of the school, at the side of Miss McCarty.

Her unconsciousness was paralyzing, perfectly paralyzing! d.i.n.k, struggling for a word in the vast desert of his brain, was overwhelmed with the ease with which his companion ran on. He stole a glance under the floating azure veil and decided, from the way the brilliant blue parasol swung from her hand, that she must be a woman of the world--thirty, at least.

He extracted his hands precipitately from the trousers pockets in which they had been plunged and b.u.t.toned the last b.u.t.ton of his coat.

Somehow, his hands seemed to wander all over his anatomy, like jibs that had broken loose. He tried to clasp them behind his back, like the Doctor, or to insert one between the first and second b.u.t.ton of his coat, the characteristic pose of the great Corsican, according to his history. For a moment he found relief by slipping them, English fas.h.i.+on, into his coat pockets; but at the thought of being detected thus by the Tennessee Shad he withdrew them as though he had struck a hornet's nest.

The school, meanwhile, had gamboled past, all snickering, of course, at his predicament. In this state of utter misery he arrived at last at the field, where, to his amazement, quite a group of Fifth-Formers came up and surrounded Miss McCarty, chattering in the most bewildering manner. d.i.n.k seized the opportunity to drop back, draw a long sigh, reach madly behind for his necktie, which had climbed perilously near the edge of his collar, and shoot back his cuffs. He saw the Tennessee Shad and Dennis de Boru grinning at him from the crowd, and showed them his fist with a threatening gesture.

Then the game began and he was seated by Miss McCarty, unutterably relieved that the tension of the contest had diverted the entire attention of the school from his particular sufferings.

The excitement of the play for the first time gave him an opportunity to study his companion. His first estimate was undoubtedly correct; she was plainly a woman of the world. No one else could sit at such perfect ease, the cynosure of so many eyes. Her dress was some wonderful creation, from Paris, no doubt, that rustled with an alluring sound and gave forth a pleasant perfume.

The more he looked the more his eye approved. She was quite unusual--quite. She had style--a very impressive style. He had never before remembered any one who held herself quite so well, or whose head carried itself so regally. There was something Spanish, too, about her black hair and eyes and the flush of red in her cheeks.

Having perceived all this d.i.n.k began to recover from his panic and, with a desire to wipe out his past awkwardness, began busily to search for some subject with which gracefully to open up the conversation.

At that moment his eye fell upon his boot carelessly displayed and, to his horror, beheld there a gaping crack. This discovery drove all desire for conversation at once out of his head. By a covert movement he drew the offending shoe up under the shadow of the other.

”You hate this, don't you?” said a laughing voice.

He turned, blus.h.i.+ng, to find Miss McCarty's dark eyes alive with amus.e.m.e.nt.

”Oh, now, I say, really----” he began.

”Of course, you loathe being dragged out this way,” she said, cutting in. ”Confess!”

d.i.n.k began to laugh guiltily.

”That's better,” said Miss McCarty approvingly. ”Now we shall get on better.”

”How did you know?” said d.i.n.k, immensely mystified.

Miss McCarty wisely withheld this information, and before he knew it d.i.n.k was in the midst of a conversation, all his embarra.s.sment forgot.

The game ended--it had never been really important--and d.i.n.k found himself, actually to his regret, moving toward the Lodge.