Medora made a slight grimace. "Yes, we can notice." He the actor; they theaudience. "A farewell performance."

"A final view."

Convocation day came clear, fair, mild. The professors strode in colorfulsolemnity beneath the elms and up the middle aisle of the chapel, lendingboth to outdoors and indoors the enlivenment of hoods black, yellow, purple.The marshals led strings of candidates--long strings and short--to theplatform where the president sat, and the deans presented in due ordertheir bachelors, masters and physicians. The rapid arming out of the diplomasbrought frequent applause--bits, spatters, volleys, as the case might be.There was recognition for a Chinaman, for a negro law-student, for a pairof Filipinos; there was a marked outburst for a husky young man who wasassumed by the uninformed to have been a star in the college's athleticlife; there was a respectful but emphatic acknowledgment for a determined-looking middle-aged woman with gray hair, who was led on with four men as alittle string of five; there was a salvo for a thoughtful, dignified man ofthirty-odd, who went up as a group in himself, attended by marshals beforeand close behind; and there was a slight spatter of applause for Bertram Cope(one of a teeny procession of six), yet rather more for a smiling young manwho followed him....

Cope looked somewhat spare, despite his voluminous gown. The trying lightsadded little color to his face, and brought his cheek-bones into undueprominence. But he took his sheepskin with a bow and a gesture thatextinguished several of his companions; and he faced the audience, ondescending from the stage, with a composed effect gained by experience inthe choir. The lustre in the ceiling lit up his yellow hair and his blackeyes: "He is as charming as ever!" thought Medora Phillips.

"He's had a hard pull of it," commented Randolph.

"I hope his own people will feed him up this summer," exclaimed Medora. Heremphasis was wayward; "He wouldn't let we do it," she seemed to mean.

"Nor me," she almost made Randolph say.

There was a recessional, and then the crowds of students flooded thecorridors and circulated under the fresh foliage of the campus. Randolparm Medora Phillips passed out with the rest of the assemblage. In themidst of one of the avenues of elms they noticed Cope as the center of alittle group: two plain, elderly people (his parents, doubtless)and--and----

Medora Phillips looked twice. Yes, the other figure was Carolyn Thorpe,offering congratulations. Carolyn had returned to her post and her work theday before. "H'm," thought Medora, disposed to be miffed. Still, Carolynhad, after all, the same right to attend as anyone else.

Medora and Basil Randolph added their congratulations to Carolyn's. Cope,still in academic garb, performed the necessary introductions. His air waseager, but cursory; smiling and ready, yet impersonal and cool; somewhat above all,expeditious. If his parents passed on with the impression that MedoraPhillips and Basil Randolph were but casual acquaintances, worthy ofnothing beyond brief formalities, the blame was his own.