e
show where Firebrand, the Pirate Chief, pointed at his black flag and
said, "I am a Yale graduate--note my Skull and Bones!"--at this very
moment the six vagabonds were instructed to rise _conspicuously_ and
leave the theatre with looks of deep melancholy and an injured dignity.
It was claimed though never proved that on one occasion the hired Elis
were swelled by one of the real thing.

They played through vacation to the fashionable of eight cities. Amory
liked Louisville and Memphis best: these knew how to meet strangers,
furnished extraordinary punch, and flaunted an astonishing array
of feminine beauty. Chicago he approved for a certain verve that
transcended its loud accent--however, it was a Yale town, and as the
Yale Glee Club was expected in a week the Triangle received only divided
homage. In Baltimore, Princeton was at home, and every one fell in love.
There was a proper consumption of strong waters all along the line; one
man invariably went on the stage highly stimulated, claiming that his
particular interpretation of the part required it. There were three
private cars; however, no one slept except in the third car, which
was called the "animal car," and where were herded the spectacled
wind-jammers of the orchestra. Everything was so hurried that there
was no time to be bored, but when they arrived in Philadelphia, with
vacation nearly over, there was rest in getting out of the heavy
atmosphere of flowers and grease-paint, and the ponies took off their
corsets with abdominal pains and sighs of relief.

When the disbanding came, Amory set out post haste for Minneapolis, for
Sally Weatherby's cousin, Isabelle Borge, was coming to spend the winter
in Minneapolis while her parents went abroad. He remembered Isabelle
only as a little girl with whom he had played sometimes when he first
went to Minneapolis. She had gone to Baltimore to live--but since then
she had developed a past.

Amory was in full stride, confident, nervous, and jubilant. Scurrying
back to Minneapolis to see a girl he had known as a child seemed the
interesting and romantic thing to do, so without compunction he wired
his mother not to expect him... sat in the train, and thought about
himself for thirty-six hours.

*****

"PETTING"

On the Triangle trip Amory had come into constant contact with that
great current American phenomenon, the "petting party."

None of the Victorian mothers--and most of the mothers were
Victor