A smog of discreet silence settled last night upon the return of James Leigh, Jr. '51, his friend Ralph Foote, and their child "brides" from Philadelphia. The four runaways entered Boston over the weekend in the custody of Leigh's parents.

En route to Elkton, Md., where the two youths felt the age limit would be sufficiently low to allow their marriage with Joanne Forrester, 13, and her sister Kathleen, 15, they were apprehended by local authorities in Philadelphia and held for the parents' arrival.

Freshman Dean Leighton, under whose jurisdiction Leigh falls, explained that he had go more knowledge of the situation than "what I have been able to read in the papers" last night.

Leighton was not sure whether the disciplinary problem would descend to the College level. He admitted that if it does he will be "somewhat non-plussed."

"When the rule book was made up, they didn't exactly anticipate this sort of thing," he declared.

Precedent from previous Deans Office ruling is also out of the question, Leighton added. To his knowledge, during his 16-year tenure, there has never been a case involving a similar issue.

Leighton was unprepared to predict any possible approach that the University authorities might take towards Leigh's recent activities.