U niversity
of
O regon M o nthly
Ì7
T h e Vindication
UST where the rumor originated, no one seemed to know. It
was exceedingly vague in the beginning. Enjoying a multi’-
plicity of liomes, the identity of its'parents meanwhile became
shrouded in increasingly deepening mystery. However, by
the time the school year was well advanced, the rumor had
assumed such proportions that Mary McLeod found herself isolated,
skillfully shunned by’those who should have been her friends, and
an-object of suspicion more or less covert to those who had a leàs;
intimate acquaintance with her. ,
The singular thing about thq whole affair was the fact that she
was innocent of any of: the things implied in the aforesaid rumor,
and owed her ostracism to two characteristics.^ For one thing, her
nature was inwardly Puritanical. This was cleverly: concealed by a
deceptive surface gaiety, a certain freedom of manner, that, sparkling
like the sunlit ripples On,a highland lake, made you forget the depths
beneath. This would not, perhaps, have militated against her popu
larity in the least, but she . was prone to set herself in judgment
against her friends. The rigidity of her own standards, coupled with
her readiness to criticise^ set into motion the forces which culminated
in her withdrawal from college before the year was’out.
“W hat’s become of Mary McLeod,”, said Edward Blair to “Bob”
Ford one day.
Edward was One of the men Who permitted studies to interfere
with his College career to such an extent that he was usually ignorant
of the epoch-making events of the college social world.
“Where you been, man ?” interrogated'Bpb. “Didn't you know
she had to leave school a month or so ago? I don’t know the details
myself, but it was rumored that she wasn’t altogether straight. The
talk started after a bunch of them had some sórt of canoe party down
the river one day. 1 Anyhow, she got unpopular and left.”'
\ Into the memories of four at least of the members of the canoeing
party to which Bob referred, the events of the trip were vividly
burned.
“Charley” Dexter, seemingly careless; bon vivant, had still
continuity yenough in his Ìnature to harbor a definite design. De-
ceiyed by the breezy freedom of Mary’s manner, he had been “rush
ing” her for some time past, and she in turn found in his irresponsible
J