Bud reached out and caught the sailing jacket and Emily cried, “Oh, Bud, don’t let me go!” and everybody cheered. When she had the thing safely on she went to the powder room and got her coat and wrapped herself securely in thick gray wool. She was indisputably the queen of the evening, and in spite of her embarrassment she was so roundly and good-naturedly flattered that the accident didn’t seem like quite such a calamity.
Several of the girls who convoyed her to and from the powder room were Alpha Betas. They were laughing because the atmosphere of laughter was irresistible, but they knew, and Emmy knew, that there would be trouble.
“Well,” said Emmy, “I certainly didn’t do it on purpose. Nobody could say that.”
“I hate to think what Mary Lou’s going to say,” said one of the Alpha Betas. “We can’t possibly keep it a secret. Everybody’ll be talking about it.”
Emmy said in alarm, “Do you think they got any pictures of it?”
“Oh, my God! I hope not.”
“I don’t think so,” said another girl. “You turned around so fast. I don’t think anybody had time.”
“Well, pictures or no, Em, you’re going to have to explain it somehow.”
Emmy shrugged. “My costume broke, that’s all. Heavens, it was double stitched. I don’t know how it could have happened.”
“Maybe you were sabotaged.”
“What?”
“Maybe somebody cut the threads.”
Emmy laughed, but she disallowed the suggestion.
She got home at closing hours, and ran breathless up to the room. Beth was just undressing and Laura was still up. Emmy came in laughing and threw herself down on the couch. Beth shut the door hastily and ran to her.
“Emmy!” she said, and Emmy laughed even harder. Beth had to laugh with her, while Laura remained disdainfully aloof. “Emmy, what happened? Tell me.”
Emmy sat up slowly and said theatrically, “Look,” and unbuttoned her coat. Laura gasped, and Beth stared wide-eyed at her for a minute and then she began to laugh.
“Oh, Emmy,” she exclaimed when she could catch her breath. “My God, it broke!”
Laura watched their laughter, properly disapproving. Finally Beth began to get serious.
“Emmy, what happened?” she said. “Was it bad?”
“Oh—” Emmy slowed down a little. “It was just one of those things.” She giggled again. “Bud was tickling me—Oh, guess what? I won first prize!”
Beth had to chuckle at her again. She threw her hands up and slapped her knees. “Emmy, you’re impossible!” she said. “Okay, now be serious. What happened?”
“Well, it just ripped, that’s all.”
“With how many people gaping at you?”
“I don’t know. Oh, I grabbed it, of course. I turned right around and Bud held me so nobody could see.”
“After everybody saw.”
“Well, Beth, I couldn’t help it,” Emmy protested, laughing again. “Oh, I was horribly embarrassed. But it was so funny!”
The door snapped open and Mary Lou bristled in. She shut the door after her and leaned on it.
“Emmy…” she said and paused, her face solemn. “What happened?”
Emmy stood up, still smiling. “Oh, it wasn’t so awful, Mary Lou. It was just an accident.”
“Well, I want to know just exactly what happened. Everybody’s talking about it, Emmy. It’ll be all over the campus by tomorrow. Now tell me.” Her voice trembled with indignation and she was pale and earnest. She found no humor in the situation at all. It was a social fiasco that reflected directly on the good name of Alpha Beta.
“Well, I won first prize for my costume and everybody was sort of cheering and teasing me while they took pictures, and Bud tickled me and I sort of—jerked away from him, and the bra broke. That’s all. I couldn’t help it, Mary Lou. I didn’t do it on purpose.”
“They took pictures?” Mary Lou looked stricken, and Beth watched her with a worried frown. Anybody could have pleaded Emmy’s case better than Emmy pleaded it herself.
“Oh, they didn’t take pictures of that. I mean, I’m sure they didn’t. Oh, Mary Lou, don’t look so grim! You frighten me.” She laughed, but Mary Lou didn’t even smile.
“Emmy, we’re going to have a talk about this. You and me and Sarah and Bobbie.” They were the ranking house officers; Bobbie was one of Emmy’s good friends.
“Mary Lou, you act as if you thought I did this on purpose. I’d never do such a thing.”
“The house is in for a lot of bad publicity about this, Emmy. We have to agree on something to say. The dean is going to want to see you, and so are the alumnae.”
Emmy sobered up suddenly. “Oh, no,” she said. “Do you really think so? But it was just an accident.”
“Be in my room tomorrow morning at nine,” said Mary Lou. “And don’t talk to anybody about it before then.”
“Okay,” said Emmy, and Mary Lou went out, leaving her honestly worried.
“Gee, Beth,” Emmy said, turning anxious eyes on her. “What’ll they do to me?”
“I don’t know, Em. Depends on how it goes over on campus, I guess. Don’t worry, Emmy, it wasn’t your fault.” Beth felt the weight of a new blame on her shoulders. She had failed both Emmy and Mary Lou. She could have warned Emmy to slow down, if she’d only had the eyes to see how fast she was going, if she’d only remembered Mary Lou’s warning. But she had been too engrossed in her strange little triangle. Emmy was outside that triangle, so Emmy’s troubles didn’t count. Nobody had troubles but Beth Cullison, and now Beth was ashamed of her selfishness.
Beth
