Page:Fidelia, (IA fidelia00balm).pdf/85

 ately finding Fidelia Netley this morning; for he had been thinking about her more than he liked. Of course he had been thinking much about Alice; he had been impatient, as never before, to have the hour for classes come because it would bring him Alice. But also he had been looking forward to seeing Fidelia Netley.

He called this mere curiosity because she interested everybody so unusually. He said naturally he wanted to know why and he wanted to know more about her "as a person." That was the way he phrased it to himself; he did not say, "as a girl" but "as a person."

The Delta Alphas had talked about her again at breakfast that morning. "That red-haired queen from Fansler's sure stirred up a flurry at the Hall." Dave had kept out of the conversation; he did not even mention that he had met her. The talk was wholly unobjectionable yet he did not like it.

After he finished breakfast, he delayed in the front of the house and several times glanced out the window toward Mrs. Fansler's; yet he denied to himself that he started from the house when he did because he had seen Fidelia Netley come out. Naturally he would be starting then; everybody was going to classes. But he could not deny the sensation which seized him when she looked up at him.

She did not nod; some girls make it a rule never to speak to men on a fraternity house porch. Probably that was her reason, he thought. He liked that in Fidelia Netley, though Alice always spoke to him wherever she saw him. He did not mean to overtake