Page 19 of One of Them

Later that afternoon, when Anne headed to the Rose Parlor for tea, she found that Virginia and the others were not seated in their usual spot, but standing by the wide double doorway.

“You’re late,” Virginia said.

Had they agreed to meet at an exact time? Anne didn’t think so, but she apologized anyway.

“Well, you’re here now. Get your tea and some cookies if you want. You can take them to my room. That’s where we’re all going.”

“To your room? Why?”

“There’s something we need to talk about. Something highly confidential. I’ll explain when we get there.” Virginia turned to the rest of them. “Come on.” They followed her out of the parlor. Anne watched them go and then hurried to catch up; she decided to skip the tea.

All the girls filed in. Peggy, Carol, and Tabitha found places to sit on the bed while Midge sat on the wooden desk chair.

There were no more seats, so Anne took a spot on the floor.

Virginia presided over them from an armchair upholstered in pink-and-green satin stripes.

“I’ve got news,” she said. “Big news.” Then, for maximum effect, she waited.

“Well, what is it?” Midge said. “Aren’t you going to tell us?”

“Of course I’m going to tell you,” said Virginia, delaying her revelation still longer. She had a genius for orchestrating social interaction, thought Anne, not for the first time. “That’s why I asked all of you to come. It’s about Delia Goldhush.”

Delia. The name started an awful clanging in Anne’s head, reminiscent of the way she’d felt when her own real name, Miriam Bishop, had recently reemerged at the Yale mixer. But she was not surprised; some part of her sensed that Delia would be at the center of whatever Virginia had to tell them.

“Why are you dragging this out?” Carol said. “Just tell us already!”

“I’m dragging this out because it’s really good. Or really bad, depending on your point of view.” Virginia looked around at all of them, her gaze skipping from one face to the next, clearly brimming with anticipation. “Delia is having an affair with Mr. McQuaid!”

“You’re kidding!” said Midge.

“She wouldn’t,” Carol said. “Would she?”

“How do you know?” Tabitha asked.

“I believe it,” Peggy said. “I really do.”

Only Anne was quiet. Although she hoped for Delia’s sake this wasn’t true, the pieces fit. Delia had told her, just hours ago, that she’d had an affair with a married man. As she listened to all the chatter, she felt dread slowly rising inside her, like foul, oily sludge.

“How can you be so sure?” Carol asked. “Delia didn’t tell you, did she?”

So Carol had doubts too.

“As if she would!” Virginia was obviously annoyed. “But it’s not like I needed her to tell me. I found out on my own.”

“How?” Carol wasn’t letting this go so easily.

“I got suspicious watching her in the Shakespeare seminar. Week after week, she would be giving him these little looks. Mooning over him, really. She’d stay late to talk to him. And he gave her paper an A-plus.”

“I’m still not getting how all this adds up to an affair,” said Carol. “I mean, I know you don’t like her—none of us do—and that she acts superior and haughty in the way all of them do. But an affair with a professor? I don’t know...”

“Carol’s right,” said Peggy. “And as for that grade, well, no one ever said she wasn’t smart. She studies all the time.”

“I saw them kissing in his car.” Virginia had clearly been saving this prize, this jewel, and was now quiet so they could absorb the impact.

“You didn’t!” Tabitha said.

“Oh yes, I did. I knew she was up to something. After all that business in class, I started following her because I’d overheard her talking about going over to his house—she’s been babysitting his little girls.

But somehow I didn’t believe that was the only reason.

So one night I drove past the house. I saw them come out together, and Delia got into his car.

I stayed behind them—they didn’t see me.

” Virginia was exceedingly proud of the shiny green Ford convertible her parents had given her for her eighteenth birthday—none of the other girls in their set had a car.

Cars owned by students weren’t allowed on campus, so she had to park elsewhere, at a nearby garage.

“He didn’t go right back to campus. Oh no.

He took a little detour, and it was quite a while—maybe twenty minutes—before he drove her to the dorm.

That’s happened at least two more times.

” She leaned back and gripped the arms of the chair as if it were a throne.

“And who knows—it may have even happened more than that.”

“What do you think they were doing?” asked Tabitha.

“Please, Tabitha, do you have to ask?” Virginia inquired in a withering tone.

“That’s really... shocking,” said Peggy. “I wouldn’t have thought she’d have the nerve.”

“There’s more.” Virginia sat up straighter now. “I saw them one night at the door of Avery.”

“Kissing? Really?” Tabitha’s need to know was so strong that she risked Virginia’s disdain.

“No. But it was late, and the building was empty—no lights on anywhere but one room; it must have been his office. So she had been in there with him. Alone.”

Everyone was quiet, absorbing the implications of what Virginia had told them.

“I wonder if they had been drinking,” Midge said. “I know she drinks.”

“How do you know that?” asked Carol. “It’s not like you spend any time with her.”

“She was my roommate last year, remember? She kept a case of wine in our room and had a glass every night. Then she’d be up for hours, conjugating her Latin verbs—out loud—and she read those French poems out loud too.”

“Plenty of girls drink,” Carol said.

“Not wine, and not in their rooms, all by themselves.”

“Did she get drunk?” asked Carol.

“Well, no... She just had one glass, never any more.”

“It’s because she grew up in Paris,” said Peggy.

“You’re getting sidetracked,” Virginia said. “None of that is important. What matters is that she is clearly violating every code of conduct that we’re supposed to obey.”

“Virginia’s right,” Anne found herself saying, and hating herself as she did.

“Okay, let’s say Delia and Mr. McQuaid are having an affair.

What are we supposed to do about it?” Because that was really the point, wasn’t it?

Virginia wasn’t going to be content just dropping this bomb and then expecting them to sit still; she would want to do something.

“Do? Why, report her to the dean of course.”

“She’ll be expelled.” Anne knew that attempting to put the brakes on anything Virginia wanted was risky. But she had to try, however feebly, to protect her new friend.

“Don’t you think she deserves to be expelled?” The challenge to Anne in Virginia’s tone was unmistakable.

Anne was quiet. It was scary to go up against Virginia.

And she had yet to sort out her feelings about Delia’s behavior—carrying on an affair, if that was what she was doing, with a married man was wrong, even reprehensible.

But what had she herself just told her? You’re not defined by the worst thing you’ve done.

And did this “worst thing” deserve expulsion?

“What do you suppose will happen to Mr. McQuaid?” Anne asked.

“What do you mean?” Virginia seemed not to have thought about this.

“Anne has a point,” said Peggy. “Does Mr. McQuaid just get to carry on as if he had no part in any of this?”

“It’s her fault. She seduced him .” Virginia sounded so certain. Smug. “You know what she’s like. What they’re all like. Devious. Cunning. They almost can’t help it.”

These words made Anne feel sick. But she’d already gone as far out on a limb as she dared to go. She couldn’t face having Virginia and all the others turn on her now. If she defended Delia any more, she’d be tarred with that very same brush.

“I’m going to write a letter to the dean,” Virginia said. “I’ll tell her what I saw, and she can decide what to do.”

“I think we all know what she’ll do,” said Anne quietly.

But her tone didn’t reveal how panicked she felt as she glanced around at the other girls.

Maybe someone, even one of them, would balk at the idea of getting Delia expelled.

They might not like her, but getting someone expelled was a serious thing to have on your conscience.

“Well, the punishment fits the crime. She’s not the sort of girl who belongs here.

None of them do, really. Maybe the administration will think twice about letting them in next time.

” Virginia reached for the pad and pen that sat on the desk and began writing.

No one spoke, and when she finished, she read it out loud.

Dear Dean Schoales:

It has come to our attention that Delia Goldhush has been carrying on an affair with Mr. McQuaid in the English Department. I’ve seen the two of them alone in his car, and they have been alone in his office too, at night when no one else was in the building.

I’m also aware of the favoritism he has shown her in class and of her obvious attachment to him.

Some of the other girls on my hall have taken note of her behavior, and we all think she should be punished for her transgression.

It’s for her own good. She needs to find out that there are consequences to her actions and it’s better she finds this out sooner rather than later.

As it is, her presence here casts a shadow on Vassar’s fine reputation, a reputation we are all honor bound to uphold.

“I’m going to sign it first, and then the rest of you can too. Put your dorm and room number next to your name,” Virginia said.

“You want all of us to sign it?” Anne asked. “Why?” This was even worse than she had imagined.

“There’s strength in numbers.”