be
a part of her love henceforward. She could go home and help her mother
with her work till she died, if love failed her, but she could never
draw another line.

There was going to be an exhibition of Synthesis work at the close of
the Synthesis year, and there was to be a masquerade dance in the
presence of the pictures. Charmian was the heart and soul of the
masquerade, and she pushed its claims to the disadvantage of the
exhibition. Some of the young ladies who thought that art should have
the first place, went about saying that she was for the dance because
she could waltz and mask better than she could draw, and would rather
exhibit herself than her work, but it was a shame that she should make
Miss Saunders work for her the way she did, because Miss Saunders,
though she was so overrated, was really learning something, thanks to
the Synthesis atmosphere; and Charmian Maybough would never learn
anything. It was all very well for her to pretend that she scorned to
send anything to a school exhibition, but she was at least not such a
simpleton as to risk offering anything, for it would not be accepted.
That, they said, was the real secret of her devotion to the masquerade
and of her theory that the spirit of the Synthesis could be expressed
as well in making that beautiful, as in the exhibition. Charmian had
Cornelia come and stay with her the whole week before the great event,
and she spent it in a tumult of joyful excitement divided between the
tremendous interests of Ludlow's coming every night to see Cornelia,
and of having them both advise with her about her costume. Ludlow was
invited to the dance, and he was to be there so as to drive home with
her and Cornelia.

In the mean time Charmian's harshest critics were not going to be
outdone, if they could help it, in any way; they not only contributed
to the exhibition, but four or five days beforehand they began to stay
away from the Synthesis, and get up their costumes for the masquerade.
Everything was to be very simple, and you could come in costume or not,
as you pleased, but the consensus was that people were coming in
costume, and you would not want to look odd.

The hall for the dancing was created by taking down the board
partitions that separated three of the class-rooms; and hanging the
walls with cheese-cloth to hide the old stains and paint-marks, and
with pictures by the instructors. There was a piano for the music, and
around the wall rough bench