of you. I was thinking that Min Kean must have
been a different person last term. I could not, although I stretched my
imagination to its limit, think of her as taking the lead in any matter.
What part did Landis take?"
"I do not know. No one ventured to tell me and I would not ask. Before we
left Exeter in the spring, she came into my room and stayed almost all of
the evening. She told me that she thought the girls acted impulsively, and
that she had done what she could to have them wait and consider; but she
was only one among many. She was acting-president at that meeting."
"Where was Anna Cresswell?"
"She was here, but would not attend. Someone told me that she refused to
be present."
"Did Landis ever come again to see you?"
"Very often this semester. I have all the essays and papers my mother
wrote when she was a student at Arlington Seminary. People who remember
her say she was gifted in that line. Of course, I do not know, for she
died when I was a baby. Somehow I never had the heart to read them,
although I have saved every one. Landis says they are quite good, and
Landis, you know, has some ability in that line herself."
Elizabeth smiled. She was beginning to understand. New ideas burst upon
her suddenly. Unconscious of the meaning which might be given to her
words, she said, "I'm just beginning to learn that it is not wise to take
any one's opinion in regard to any one else. You must trust and be
deceived, and trust again, and just go on learning people for yourself.
Did Anna Cresswell never come to see you? I should think she would since
she refused to attend the meeting."
"She came twice to ask me to go somewhere with her, once for a drive, and
once to walk, but each time I refused. I felt so badly that I had no
courage to go out among the girls. It was only a few weeks before we were
to go home. I made up my mind to bear it until school was out and then not
come back. But I changed my mind, as I told you. She did not ask me again.
But I did not expect that for she is very busy with extra work. I suppose
she thinks it has all passed away. She doesn't run about to spreads and
high teas, so she may not have discovered that I am not among those
present."
Elizabeth was silent. She was thinking, not of her companion's misdeed,
but of the part which Landis had probably played throughout the affair.
Nora waited for her to speak, but receiving no answer put another
question.
"Are you, too, so dis
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