Their new acquaintance of the corridor stopped at their table as she,
too, made her way out.

"I am going into the portrait class when I go up," she said, her
dark-fringed eyes smiling frankly down on Elinor. "They tell me you
are going to take your first plunge this afternoon. I'll be glad to
show you about if you need any chaperoning."

Elinor's eyes met hers gratefully. "I'll be so glad to have you tell
me what I should do," she said with relief and instant friendliness in
her soft voice. "I'm just a beginner, you know. I've never been in a
class in my life and I'm rather scared about it."

The lips that Patricia had designated as "nice and crinkly" widened in
a bright smile that held no hint of hauteur.

"I'll be about in the corridor when you come up," she promised. "You
don't need to feel that way about it. It's the simplest thing in the
world--after you once get settled. You're in great luck to get into
life and head classes without ever having gone to school before. I
fancy you are a very special brand of genius to have such privileges."

Elinor blushed and shook her head.

"I studied with Bruce Haydon last summer," she said. "He got me in
here."

"O--oh," responded the girl, her face suddenly alight. "That is
splendid. You know he's the most severe critic we have, but we all
adore his work." Then she added as an afterthought: "He's tremendously
popular with the men. He studied here, you know."

Patricia opened her eyes wide. "Why, Bruce is the most amiable sort,"
she protested. "He'll simply eat out of your hand up at home. I
didn't know he ever criticized here," she ended, rather suspiciously.

Elinor's new friend smiled good-naturedly. "He only drops in once in a
while," she said. "He was here pretty often last month, but he hadn't
been here before that for nearly four years, they said. He's abroad
now, isn't he?"

Elinor told her that Bruce was in Italy, getting his studies for the
Francais Society's panel of early Italian history.

"It must be jolly to know him out of the limelight," said the girl,
seriously. "The girls were so crazy over him here that there wasn't a
chance for a rational word with him, unless one were a man. He simply
evaporated when he saw an apron."

Patricia laughed. "He's not so retiring in private," she declared,
gayly. "He was one of our happy family for three months last summer
and we never noticed any shyness; did we, Norn?"

Elinor reared