THE FREE LANCE.
Published Monthly during the College Year by the Students of
The Pennsylvania State College.
Vol. X
The old courthouse clock was tolling the hour of midnight, but
Harold Brown had no desire to shake off the reverie into which he
had fallen. He lay in the veranda hammock until the sinking
moon streamed through the lattice, tempering with a dreamy
sweetness his recollection of days gone by, and thought.
" What a contrast between Flossie and Miss Fleming! Flossie,
so innocent and childlike. Ha! ha! I used to think I loved her
when we were children together. Miss Fleming—Hazel—such a
charming, original girl!" And then his mind went off on a philo
sophical discussion about the broadening of the faculties and the
outgrowing of childish fancies.
Less than a week ago he had spoken his love to Hazel Fleming.
It happened one of those nights when the love-spirit makes all
outdoors enchanted ground, and her dark beauty would have con
quered even a stronger heart than Harold's. She had said " yes "
—he remembered that so well, and now much of the uncertainty of
his life was settled, or rather, about to begin. But in his quieter
moments he tried to weigh the importance of his action. He
loved to watch the rich color come and go in. her expressive face,
he loved to catch the flashes of her dark eyes and to hear the
rippling laugh from those lips, yet somehow; somewhere, away
down in the corner of his heart, he• felt a longing which was not
.satisfied.
The Spring term of Harold Brown's Junior year in college was
drawing to a close. Soon examinations were over, but Harold
lingered two or three days at Montrose—it took so long to bid
Hazel good-bye—and he did not reach home until the afternoon
before the reception which Fenton yearly tenders to home-coming
JUNE, 1896.
A COLLEGE ROMANCE.
No. 3.