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FIDELIA

quickly upon coming to this place, that perhaps it abounded in such men of unusual attractiveness; but here were boys and men of only the ordinary sorts.

On the sidewalk, where the snow had been plowed away in a path hardly wide enough for two to walk together and for another person to pass, Dorothy lost her flush of importance; for the men, who were overtaking Fidelia and herself, began pushing by in single file, each peering at Fidelia. No one gave so much as a look at Dorothy Hess and no one spoke to her.

Then the door of the Delta Alpha house opened and Fidelia, glancing up, saw on the porch the short man who had directed her at the station and who, as she now knew, was Myra Taine's friend, Landon Blake. Two boys, probably freshmen, were with him and behind was the tall figure of David Herrick.

Fidelia looked away immediately but not before she observed that David Herrick had seen her and had started forward impulsively and then stopped.

Going on, with eyes ahead, she said to herself: "He wants to catch up with me but thinks he shouldn't; but he wants to."

Fidelia's pulses pricked with her instinct for flight; she wanted to hurry on to make him pursue, if he was to speak with her, but Dorothy detained her. Dorothy, who was ignored by so many men, knew the prominent man of the college and she was determined to show it; so she held Fidelia by her fur sleeve.

"There's a friend of mine I want you to know," and she faced Fidelia about to David Herrick.

He approached, feeling self-conscious at immedi-