fact
that she had great possessions--in addition to the Court fan and the dog
collar--possessions which were commonly supposed to be destined for the
college, the Lee-Satterlees having no issue. Accordingly, Mrs. Robert
Lee-Satterlee was allowed liberties unthinkable in another; but, be it
said to her credit, she never abused them. Since she, or at least her
property, was to take such an active part in Woodbridge affairs when she
passed into the next world, it was only reasonable that she should take
an active part while she was still in this; and it is safe to say that
no one knew more about college affairs than she. Still, no one ever
thought of calling her a nuisance. When, occasionally, she did quietly
suggest that possibly such-and-such a course might be a wise one or that
such-and-such a man might be the one to appoint to such-and-such a
vacancy, it would be discovered that, with singular insight, she had
made a perfect suggestion. Whereas, therefore, it might be said that she
was a despot, it was universally agreed that she was a benevolent one
and an enlightened one, and many even went so far as to fear that her
death might actually prove a loss.

The library was filling fast. Mrs. Norris, casting a rather wild eye
into it occasionally, would perhaps signal out an individual for a
mission that somehow in the general run of things could not conceivably
be completed. For example, her eye, on one of these expeditions,
happened to alight on a gentleman of the Physics Department, a gentleman
with a gold tooth and a loud laugh, who represented a somewhat larger
group of instructors than the best Tutors' Lane families cared to
acknowledge. The gentleman responded with an alacrity that did him
credit, nor did he quail before the steady gaze of Mrs. Norris, which
seemed to wonder if she hadn't been a little unwise in placing such
trust in so uninteresting a vessel. She asked him, however, to see if
the musicians had found a good place to put their hats and coats, and as
there were several musicians, some of whom had not arrived, he was not
restored to his nervous and too friendly mate until the charades were
over.

And now there was a suggestive flutter in the Dean's study, behind whose
large folding doors the charades were to be acted. Gentlemen who were
standing urbanely about moved into corners, with smiles calculated to
impress all with their self-possession in even the first houses. The
doors rolled open and a bu