So much I had learned of the I.I. and C. when it came time for me to
flee to the train. My companion and I had already packed our suitcases,
and it had been arranged between us that, instead of consuming time by
trying to meet and drive together to the station, we should work
independently, joining each other at the train.
I left the college in an automobile, stopping at Mrs. Eichelberger's
only long enough to get my suitcase. As I drove on past the next corner
I chanced to look up the intersecting street. There, by a lilac bush,
stood my companion. He was not alone. With him was a very pretty girl
wearing a soft black dress and a corsage of narcissus. But the corsage
was now smaller, by one flower, than it had been before, for, as I
sighted them, she was in the act of placing one of the blooms from her
bouquet in my companion's buttonhole. Her hands looked very white and
small against his dark coat, and I recall that he was gazing down at
them, and that his features were distorted by a sentimental smile.
"Come on!" I called to him.
He looked up. His expression was vague.
"Go along," he returned.
"Why don't you come with me now?"
"I'll be there," he replied. "You buy the tickets and check the
baggage." And with that he turned his back.
"Good-by," I called to the young lady.
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