Page:Fidelia, (IA fidelia00balm).pdf/95

 was something far more dismaying to her; it was the sense of natural instinct which this girl had for the sun and which drew her there to the edge of the light as a flower would have been turned or a young, wild animal enticed by the warmth and the light.

Alice looked up at David who was gazing at Fidelia Netley. Of course he was! Alice did not speak; she did not want him to look from Fidelia to her; she could not bear to see the change which would come in his face.

She slipped away and realized that, if she went to her usual seat, she would be beside that girl on the edge of the sun. Alice started elsewhere; then, flushing, she went to her own seat.

"This is fine," Fidelia welcomed her and gave a warm, firm hand. She had taken off her coat and the jacket of her suit was unbuttoned; for it was hot in the room.

Myra came in and sat down beside Alice, while Lan took a seat near Dave. At the start of the lecture, Fidelia opened a new note-book, pulled a silver pencil on a ribbon from her bosom and bent slightly, her hair sometimes in the shadow, sometimes in the sun. Myra began taking notes, also. Alice did not but watched Fidelia's and Myra's hands while they wrote. Myra had a small, practical-looking hand which wrote in clear, plain characters; Fidelia's hands were longer, slender and strong, with beautifully shaped nails. Alice could find no blemish on those hands. Physically, this girl was as nearly perfect as any one Alice had ever seen; and with her beauty went her exuberance of life, her instinct for the sun.