“She thought a lot of you, though, Lola. She really did,” Alida said earnestly.
“Oh, I know.” Lola made a little bored movement of the head. “After she mixed things up for me and made me appear an idiot at basketball, I had had enough of being chummy with her. Be careful what you say to her today. Les has some kind of game to play, take it from me. Don’t be too friendly with her. It won’t add to our reputation as seniors to be chummy with her. We’ll have to keep her at a distance. Recall she left Hamilton, _disgraced_.”
The confectioner’s shop reached, Lola had time for no more advice. Natalie Weyman had once characterized Lola Elster to Leslie as “a selfish kid.” In all ways she bore out this opinion. She was constantly alive to her own interests, always placed them first, and callously trampled down anyone who stood in the way of them.
The trio presently established at one of the small round tables and their order given for soda fountain concoctions composed of ice cream, nuts and fruit syrup, Leslie said with an elaborate attempt at indifference, “Well, what is the news from the knowledge shop? Have you seen Walbert yet?”
“She’s at Wayland Hall,” promptly replied Alida. “So are we. Lola and I room together now.” Satisfaction permeated the information.
“What?” Leslie made the monosyllable faintly satiric. “You don’t say so. And Walbert is at the Hall! She tried long and hard enough to get there. So did you, Lola. Where Walbert should be is off the campus. She deserved the run far more than we.”
“We are awfully provoked about it,” went on Alida. “We do not intend to bother with her at all. Do we, Lola?”
Lola shrugged contemptuously. “I sha’n’t lose any sleep over her. I never liked her.”
“You never lost any sleep over admiration for anyone, Lola.” Leslie put a touch of malice in the assertion.
“I know it,” Lola replied boldly, though she reddened. She understood the remark to be a reproach.
“How is Bean, dear creature?” Leslie simulated effusion. “And how are the beanstalks? Grown clear up to the chapel steeple by this time, I don’t doubt.”
“They are back. That’s about all I can say. We aren’t on speaking terms with them, you know. By the way, Les, did Bean stand up before the Board and refuse to answer their questions? I mean last spring when the Sans got in bad. I heard she did.”