“Listen, girls,” said Pauline, “there’s the plane right over us.”
“The Nighthawk,” said Isabel. “Why, there’s something the matter; it’s coming down!”
Deepest of sapphire skies, freshest of air, most sparkling of lakewaters greeted the senior collegiates, dignified by their position atthe head of the school, on their first picnic of the year. By ones,twos, threes and more, they added to the company which sought seats uponthe dancing Greycliff, freshly painted during the summer, the blackletters of the name showing clearly against a pearl-grey side. Thestarry-eyed Eloise Winthrop, her dark locks done up in a new way, lookedprettier than ever, as she stood up and waved wildly to Cathalina VanBuskirk and Lilian North, who were just climbing into the launch.
“This way, girls!” she called. “Here’s Betty,—and Hilary and Pauline!”
“Cathalina and Lilian are getting to look like sisters,” said Pauline.
“It is more their manner,” said Eloise, “and Lilian dresses more likeCathalina now that she lives in New York. Their features are not alike.Lilian’s look like a cameo. How much older she looks with her hair up,in that way too. Cathalina is still our little dreamer,—isn’t shelovely!”
“Being engaged had made Lilian seem older,” said Pauline. “I noticed itlast year when she came back after Christmas, even before she wore herring. Where is Cathalina’s brother now? Do you know, Hilary?”
“Yes. He and his cousin, Campbell Stuart, and Robert Paget, Philip’sother chum, have all been sent to a Southern camp to train recruits.They are lieutenants or something. You know they were at a militaryschool before they went to the university for their last years.”
“Ah, Hilary Lancaster,—I might have known that you would know all aboutit. There’s Helen Paget now. Robert is her cousin, isn’t he?”
“Yes, Miss Tracy,” replied Hilary, pretending to be distant because ofPauline’s implied reference to Hilary’s interest in Campbell Stuart.
Lilian and Cathalina had stopped to chat a moment with Isab