diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 01:23:13 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 01:23:13 -0700 |
| commit | 33dc81d17c13d2200e8a3fc1a0629000cf544931 (patch) | |
| tree | 27e8b0557c46a9bcdde5f03f76c341aef1649a26 | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20473-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 417005 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20473-h/20473-h.htm | 6661 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20473-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 62348 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20473-h/images/img1.jpg | bin | 0 -> 72954 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20473-h/images/img2.jpg | bin | 0 -> 69194 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20473-h/images/img3.jpg | bin | 0 -> 53275 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20473-h/images/img4.jpg | bin | 0 -> 43607 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20473.txt | 6529 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20473.zip | bin | 0 -> 115786 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
12 files changed, 13206 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/20473-h.zip b/20473-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f9a703f --- /dev/null +++ b/20473-h.zip diff --git a/20473-h/20473-h.htm b/20473-h/20473-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9fd210e --- /dev/null +++ b/20473-h/20473-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6661 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Grace Harlowe's Third Year At Overton College, by JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Grace Harlowe's Third Year at Overton +College, by Jessie Graham Flower + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Grace Harlowe's Third Year at Overton College + +Author: Jessie Graham Flower + +Release Date: January 28, 2007 [EBook #20473] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRACE HARLOWE'S THIRD YEAR *** + + + + +Produced by David Newman, Sigal Alon, Mary Meehan and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a href="images/cover.jpg"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=""/></a> +</div> +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h1>Grace Harlowe's Third Year at Overton College</h1> + +<h3>By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A. M.</h3> + +<h4>Author of The Grace Harlowe High School Girls Series, Grace Harlowe's +First Year at Overton College, Grace Harlowe's Second Year at Overton +College, Grace Harlowe's Fourth Year at Overton College.</h4> + +<h4>PHILADELPHIA<br /> +HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY<br /> +<span class="smcap">Copyright, 1914</span></h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="img1" id="img1"></a> +<img src="images/img1.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>The Eight Originals Were Spending a Last Evening Together.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. <span class="smcap">The Last Evening at Home</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. <span class="smcap">The Arrival of Kathleen</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. <span class="smcap">First Impressions</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. <span class="smcap">Getting Acquainted with the Newspaper Girl</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. <span class="smcap">Two Is a Company</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. <span class="smcap">An Unsuspected Listener</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. <span class="smcap">An Unpleasant Summons</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. <span class="smcap">Elfreda Prophecies Trouble</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. <span class="smcap">Opening the Bazaar</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. <span class="smcap">The Alice in Wonderland Circus</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. <span class="smcap">Grace Meets With a Rebuff</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. <span class="smcap">Thanksgiving at Overton</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. <span class="smcap">Arline Makes the Best of a Bad Matter</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. <span class="smcap">Planning the Christmas Dinner</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. <span class="smcap">A Tissue Paper Tea</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. <span class="smcap">A Doubtful Victory</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII. <span class="smcap">Hippy Looks Mysterious</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII. <span class="smcap">Old Jean's Story</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX. <span class="smcap">Telling Ruth the News</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX. <span class="smcap">Elfreda Realizes Her Ambition</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI. <span class="smcap">Alberta Keeps Her Promise</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII. <span class="smcap">Grace's Plan</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII. <span class="smcap">What Emma Dean Forgot</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV. <span class="smcap">Conclusion</span></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#HENRY_ALTEMUS_COMPANYS">Other Books Published by HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + +<p><a href="#img1">The Eight Originals Were Spending a Last Evening Together.</a></p> + +<p><a href="#img2">The Emerson Twins Looked Realistically Japanese.</a></p> + +<p><a href="#img3">"Here is the Letter You Wrote the Dean."</a></p> + +<p><a href="#img4">"She was Standing Close to the Door."</a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>Grace Harlowe's Third Year at Overton College</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>THE LAST EVENING AT HOME</h3> + + +<p>"Now, then, everyone join in the chorus," commanded Hippy Wingate. There +was an answering tinkle from Reddy's mandolin, the deeper notes of a +guitar sounded, then eight care-free young voices were raised in the +plaintive chorus of "My Old Kentucky Home."</p> + +<p>It was a warm night in September. Miriam Nesbit and seven of the Eight +Originals were spending a last evening together on the Harlowes' +hospitable veranda. They were on the eve of separation. The following +day would witness Nora's and Jessica's departure for the conservatory. +Grace and Miriam would return to Overton at the beginning of the next +week, and the latter part of the same week would find the four young men +entered upon their senior year in college.</p> + +<p>"Very fine, indeed," commented Hippy, "but in order to sing properly one +ought to drink a great deal of lemonade. It is very conducive to a grand +opera voice," he added, confiscating several cakes from the plate Grace +passed to him and holding out his empty lemonade glass.</p> + +<p>"But you haven't a grand opera voice," protested David. "That is only a +flimsy excuse."</p> + +<p>"We won't discuss the matter in detail," returned Hippy with dignity. "I +am prepared to prove the truth of what I say. I will now render a +selection from 'Il Trovatore.' I will sing the imprisoned lover's +song—"</p> + +<p>"Not if I have anything to say about it," growled Reddy.</p> + +<p>"Suit yourself, suit yourself," declared Hippy, shrugging his shoulders. +"You boys will be sorry if you don't let me sing, though."</p> + +<p>"Is that a threat?" inquired Tom Gray with pretended belligerence.</p> + +<p>"A threat?" repeated Hippy. "No, it is a fact. I am contemplating a +terrible revenge. That is, I haven't really begun to contemplate it yet. +I am just getting ready. But when I do start—well, you'll see."</p> + +<p>"I think it would be delightful to hear you sing, 'Ah, I Have Sighed to +Rest Me,' Hippy," broke in Nora sweetly, a mischievous twinkle in her +eyes.</p> + +<p>"Can I believe my ears? The stony, unsympathetic Nora O'Malley agrees +with me at last. She likes my voice; she wishes to hear me sing, 'Ah, I +Have Sighed to Rest Me.' 'Tis true, I <i>have</i> sighed to rest me a great +many times, particularly in the morning when the alarm clock put an end +to my dreams. It is a beautiful selection."</p> + +<p>"Then, why not sing it?" asked Nora demurely.</p> + +<p>"Because I don't know it," replied Hippy promptly.</p> + +<p>"Just as I suspected," commented Nora in disgust. "That is precisely why +I asked you to sing."</p> + +<p>"What made you suspect me?" inquired Hippy, apparently impressed.</p> + +<p>"I suspected you on general principles," was the retort.</p> + +<p>"If you had had any general principles you wouldn't have suspected me," +parried Hippy.</p> + +<p>"I won't even think about you the next time," was the withering reply. +Nora rose and made her way to the other end of the veranda, perching on +the porch railing beside Tom Gray.</p> + +<p>"Come back, Nora," wailed Hippy. "You may suspect me."</p> + +<p>"Isn't he too ridiculous for anything?" whispered Nora, smothering a +giggle and trying to look severe. Her attempt failed ignominiously when +Hippy, with an exaggeratedly contrite expression on his fat face, sidled +up to her, salaamed profoundly, lost his balance and sprawled on all +fours at her feet. A shout of merriment arose from his friends. Hippy, +unabashed, scrambled to his feet and began bowing again before Nora, +this time taking care not to bend too far forward.</p> + +<p>"You are forgiven, Hippy," declared Miriam. "Nora, don't allow your old +friend and playmate to dislocate his spine in his efforts to show his +sorrow."</p> + +<p>"You may stop bowing," said Nora grudgingly. "I suppose I'll have to +forgive you."</p> + +<p>Hippy promptly straightened up and perched himself on the railing beside +Nora.</p> + +<p>"I didn't say you might sit here," teased Nora.</p> + +<p>"I know it," replied Hippy coolly. "Still, you would be deeply, bitterly +disappointed if I didn't."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I should," admitted Nora. "I suppose you might as well stay," +she added with affected carelessness.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," retorted Hippy. "But I had made up my mind not to move."</p> + +<p>"Had you?" said Nora indifferently, turning her back on Hippy and +addressing Tom Gray. Whereupon Hippy raised his voice in a loud +monologue that entirely drowned Tom's and Nora's voices.</p> + +<p>"For goodness' sake, say something that will please him, Nora," begged +Tom. "This is awful."</p> + +<p>Hippy babbled on, apparently oblivious of everyone.</p> + +<p>"I have something very important to tell you, Hippy," interposed Nora +slyly.</p> + +<p>Hippy stopped talking. "What is it?" he asked suspiciously.</p> + +<p>"Come over to the other end of the veranda and find out," said Nora +enigmatically.</p> + +<p>Hippy accepted the invitation promptly, and followed Nora to the end of +the veranda, unmindful of Tom Gray's jeers about idle curiosity.</p> + +<p>Those who read "<span class="smcap">Grace Harlowe's Plebe Year at High School</span>," +"<span class="smcap">Grace Harlowe's Sophomore Year at High School</span>," "<span class="smcap">Grace +Harlowe's Junior Year at High School</span>" and "<span class="smcap">Grace Harlowe's +Senior Year at High School</span>" will have no trouble in recognizing +every member of the merry party of young folks who had taken possession +of the Harlowes' veranda. The doings of Tom, Hippy, David, Reddy, Nora, +Jessica, Anne and Grace have been fully narrated in the "<span class="smcap">High School +Girls Series</span>." There, too, appeared Miriam Nesbit, Eva Allen, +Eleanor Savelli and Marian Barber, together with the four chums, as +members of the famous sorority, the Phi Sigma Tau.</p> + +<p>With the close of their high school days the little clan had been +separated, although David, Reddy and Hippy were on the eve of beginning +their senior year in the same college. Nora and Jessica were attending +the same conservatory, while Grace, Anne and Miriam Nesbit were students +at Overton College.</p> + +<p>During their freshman year at Overton, set forth in "<span class="smcap">Grace Harlowe's +First Year at Overton College</span>," the three girls had not met with +altogether plain sailing. There had been numerous hitches, the most +serious one having been caused by their championship of J. Elfreda +Briggs, a freshman, who had unfortunately incurred the dislike of +several mischievous sophomores. Through the prompt, sensible action of +Grace, assisted by her friends, Elfreda was restored to favor by her +class and became one of Grace's staunchest friends.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Grace Harlowe's Second Year at Overton College</span>" found the +three friends sophomores, and wholly devoted to Overton and its +traditions. Their sophomore days brought them a variety of experiences, +pleasant and unpleasant, and, as in their freshman year, Grace and +Miriam distinguished themselves on the basketball field. It was during +this year that the Semper Fidelis Club was organized for the purpose of +helping needy students through college, and that Eleanor Savelli, the +daughter of a world-renowned virtuoso, and one of the Phi Sigma Tau, +visited Grace and helped to plan a concert which netted the club two +hundred dollars and a substantial yearly subscription from an interested +outsider. The difficulties that arose over a lost theme and the final +outcome of the affair proved Grace Harlowe to be the same honorable, +straightforward young woman who had endeared herself to the reader +during her high school days.</p> + +<p>"Why doesn't some one sing?" asked Grace plaintively. A brief silence +had fallen upon the little group at one end of the veranda, broken only +by Nora's and Hippy's argumentative voices.</p> + +<p>"Because both the someones are too busy to sing," laughed Jessica, +casting a significant glance toward the end of the veranda.</p> + +<p>"Hippy, Nora," called David, "come over here and sing."</p> + +<p>"'Sing, sing, what shall I sing?'" chanted Hippy. "Shall it be a sweetly +sentimental ditty, or shall I sing of brooks and meadows, fields and +flowers?"</p> + +<p>"Sing that funny one you sang for the fellows the night of the Pi +Ipsilon dinner," urged David.</p> + +<p>"Very well," beamed Hippy. "Remember, to the singer belongs the food. I +always negotiate for refreshments before lifting up my voice in song."</p> + +<p>"I will see that you are taken care of, Hippy," smiled Mrs. Harlowe, who +had come out on the veranda in time to hear Hippy's declaration.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Mother dear," called Grace, "I didn't know you were there."</p> + +<p>The young people were on their feet in an instant. Grace led her mother +to a chair. "Stay with us awhile, Mother," she said. "Hippy is going to +sing, and Nora, too."</p> + +<p>"Then I shall surely stay," replied Mrs. Harlowe. "And after the songs +you must come into the house and be my guests. The table is set for +seven."</p> + +<p>"How nice in you, Mother!" exclaimed Grace, kissing her mother's cheek. +"You are always doing the things that make people happy. Nora and Hippy, +please sing your very best for Mother. You first, Hippy, because I want +Nora to sing Tosti's 'Serenata,' and a comic song afterward will +completely spoil the effect."</p> + +<p>Hippy sang two songs in his own inimitable fashion. Then Nora's sweet, +high soprano voice began the "Serenata" to the subdued tinkling +accompaniment of Reddy's mandolin. Two years in the conservatory had +done much for Nora's voice, though its plaintive sweetness had been her +natural heritage. As they listened to the clear, rounded tones, with +just a suspicion of sadness in them, the little company realized to a +person that Nora's hopes of becoming known in the concert or grand opera +world were quite likely to be fulfilled.</p> + +<p>"How I wish Anne were here to-night," lamented Grace, after having +vigorously applauded Nora's song. "She loves to hear you sing, Nora."</p> + +<p>"I know it," sighed Nora. "Dear little Anne! I'm so sorry we can't see +her before we go back to the conservatory. While we have been sitting +here singing and enjoying ourselves, Anne has been appearing in her +farewell performance. I am glad we had a chance to visit her this +summer, even though we had to cross the state to do it."</p> + +<p>"She will be here to-morrow night, but we shall be at the end of our +journey by that time," lamented Jessica. "I wish we might stay and see +her, but we can't."</p> + +<p>"Never mind, you will meet her at Christmas time, when the Eight +Originals gather home," comforted Miriam.</p> + +<p>"But we'd like to see her now," interposed David mournfully. "What is +Oakdale without Anne?"</p> + +<p>At that moment Mrs. Harlowe, who, after Nora's song, had excused herself +and gone into the house, appeared in the door.</p> + +<p>"Come, children," she smiled, "the feast is spread."</p> + +<p>"May I escort you to the table?" asked David gravely, offering her his +arm. Heading the little procession, they led the way to the dining room, +followed by Reddy and Jessica, Hippy and Nora, Grace, Tom and Miriam.</p> + +<p>There for the next hour goodfellowship reigned supreme, and when at last +the various members of the little clan departed for home, each one +carried in his or her heart the conviction that Life could never offer +anything more desirable than these happy evenings which they had spent +together.</p> + +<p>"I can't tell you how much I missed Anne to-night," said Grace to her +mother as, arm in arm, they stood on the veranda watching their guests +until they had turned the corner of the next street.</p> + +<p>"We all missed her," replied her mother, "but I believe David felt her +absence even more keenly than we did. He is very fond of Anne. I wonder +if she realizes that he really loves her, and that he will some day tell +her so? She is such a quiet, self-contained little girl. Her emotions +are all kept for her work."</p> + +<p>"I believe she does," said Grace. "She has never spoken of it to me. +David has been her faithful knight ever since her freshman year at high +school, so she ought to have a faint inkling of what the rest of us +know. I am sorry for David. Anne's art is a powerful rival, and she is +growing fonder of it with every season. If, after she finishes college, +she were to marry David, she would be obliged to give it up. Since the +Southards came into her life she has grown to love her profession so +dearly that I don't imagine she would sacrifice it even for David's +sake."</p> + +<p>"It sounds rather strange to hear my little girl talking so wisely of +other people's love affairs," smiled Mrs. Harlowe almost wistfully.</p> + +<p>"I know what you are thinking, Motherkin," responded Grace, slipping +both arms about her mother and drawing her gently into the big porch +swing. "You needn't be afraid, though. I don't feel in the least +sentimental over any one, not even Tom Gray, and I like him better than +any other young man I know. I am far more concerned over what to do once +I have finished college. I simply must work, but I haven't yet found my +vocation. Neither has Miriam. Jessica thinks she has found hers, but she +found Reddy first, and he does not intend that she shall lose sight of +him. Hippy and Nora are a great deal fonder of each other than appears +on the surface, too. Their disagreements are never private. Nora said +the other day that she and Hippy had had only one quarrel, and—this is +the funniest bit of news you ever heard, Mother—it was because Hippy +became jealous of a violinist Nora knows at the conservatory. Imagine +Hippy as being jealous!"</p> + +<p>Grace talked on to her mother of her friends and of herself while Mrs. +Harlowe listened, thinking happily that she was doubly blessed in not +only her daughter, but in having that daughter's confidence as well.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>THE ARRIVAL OF KATHLEEN</h3> + + +<p>"There is a whole lot in getting accustomed to things," remarked J. +Elfreda Briggs sagely, as she stood with a hammer and nail in one hand, +a Japanese print in the other, her round eyes scanning the wall for an +appropriate place to hang her treasure.</p> + +<p>"It's a beauty, isn't it?" declared Miriam, passing over her roommate's +remark and looking admiringly at the print, which her roommate had just +taken from her trunk.</p> + +<p>"What, this?" asked Elfreda. "You'd better believe it is. Goodness knows +I paid enough for it. But I wasn't talking about this print. I was +talking about our present junior estate. What I wonder is, whether being +a junior will go to my head and make me vainglorious or whether I shall +wear the honor as a graceful crown," ended the stout girl with an +affected smile, which changed immediately to a derisive grin.</p> + +<p>"I should say, neither," responded Miriam slyly. "I don't believe +anything would ever go to your head. You're too matter-of-fact, and as +for your graceful crown, it would be over one ear within half an hour."</p> + +<p>Both girls laughed, then Elfreda, having found a spot on the wall that +met with her approval, set the nail and began hammering. "There!" she +exclaimed with satisfaction. "That is exactly where I want it. Now I can +begin to think about something else."</p> + +<p>"I wonder why Grace and Anne haven't paid us a call this morning?" mused +Miriam, who sat listlessly before her trunk, apparently undecided +whether to begin the tedious labor of unpacking or to put it off until +some more convenient day.</p> + +<p>"I'll go and find them," volunteered Elfreda, dropping her hammer and +turning toward the door. "They must be at home." Five minutes later she +raced back with the news that their door was locked and the "out +indefinitely" sign was displayed.</p> + +<p>"That is very strange," pondered Miriam, aloud. "I wonder where they +have gone?"</p> + +<p>"Why on earth didn't they tell us they were going? That's what I'd like +to know," declared Elfreda.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps Mrs. Elwood knows something about it," suggested Miriam.</p> + +<p>The mere mention of Mrs. Elwood's name caused Elfreda to dart through +the hall and downstairs to the living-room in search of the good-natured +matron. Failing to find her, she walked through the kitchen to the shady +back porch, where Mrs. Elwood sat rocking and reading the newspaper +which the newsboy had just brought.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mrs. Elwood," she cried, "have you seen Grace and Anne? We can't +find them."</p> + +<p>"Didn't Miss Dean tell you?" asked Mrs. Elwood in a surprised tone.</p> + +<p>"Miss Dean," repeated Elfreda disgustedly. "No wonder we didn't know +what had become of them. With all Emma's estimable qualities, she is the +one person I know whom I would not trust to deliver a message. I beg +your pardon, Mrs. Elwood, I didn't mean that you were in any sense to +blame. We ought to have warned you, only Emma is such a splendid girl +that one hates to mention a silly little thing like that. Just forget +that I said it, will you?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Elwood smiled. "I quite understand, Miss Briggs," she said gravely. +"The message Miss Harlowe left with me was this: 'If the girls ask where +we have gone, tell them that we received a telegram and had to go to the +station. All explanations when we come back.'"</p> + +<p>"That settles it," groaned Elfreda. "We know only enough to whet our +curiosity. And we can't find out more unless we follow them to the +station. We can't do that, either. It would not look well. Besides, we +are not invited." Elfreda had been rapidly reflecting aloud, much to +Mrs. Elwood's amusement. "I'll have to go back and tell Miriam," she +finished.</p> + +<p>"But why did they lock their door?" asked Miriam, when Elfreda had +repeated her information.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," returned Elfreda thoughtfully. "Yes, I do know!" she +exclaimed with sudden inspiration. "I think Grace was afraid she might +have a repetition of last year's performance."</p> + +<p>"'Last year's performance,'" repeated Miriam in a puzzled tone.</p> + +<p>"Yes, don't you remember the Anarchist?" retorted Elfreda, with a +reminiscent grin.</p> + +<p>"Of course!" exclaimed Miriam, laughing a little at the recollection. +"Wasn't she formidable, though, when she slammed the door in our faces?"</p> + +<p>Elfreda nodded. "She is all right now. At least she was when she visited +me. I never saw a girl blossom and expand as she did. Pa liked her. He +thought she was smart. She is, too. She has lived so entirely with that +scientific father of hers that she has absorbed all sorts of odds and +ends of knowledge from him. That is why college and girls and the whole +thing terrified her."</p> + +<p>"Terrified her," said Miriam incredulously. "I thought matters quite the +reverse."</p> + +<p>"That was precisely what I thought until she told me that, no matter how +vengeful she looked, she was always afraid of the girls. She never +seemed to be able to say the right thing at the right moment. That was +why she used to scowl so fiercely when any one spoke or looked at her."</p> + +<p>"I don't think it was altogether fear of the girls that caused her to +lock us out that day," observed Miriam, a gleam of laughter appearing in +her black eyes.</p> + +<p>"I don't suppose it was," retorted Elfreda good-humoredly. "She says she +knows her disposition to be anything but angelic. But she is trying, +Miriam. You wait and see for yourself how the new Laura Atkins behaves."</p> + +<p>"But to go back to the subject of the door, what makes you think Grace +locked it on account of last year?" persisted Miriam.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know," answered Elfreda vaguely. "I just thought so, that's +all."</p> + +<p>"We'll ask her when she comes, just for fun," declared Miriam. "Why not +go downstairs and sit on the back veranda with Mrs. Elwood? We can hear +the girls as soon as they come into the yard."</p> + +<p>"All right," agreed Elfreda. "Do you care if I take my magazine along? I +am not quite through with an article I began this morning."</p> + +<p>"I object seriously," smiled Miriam. "I shall expect you to entertain +me. You can finish reading your article later."</p> + +<p>Elfreda glanced up quickly from the magazine she held in her hand. Then, +catching sight of her friend's smiling face, she tucked her magazine +under one arm, linked her free arm through Miriam's and marched her +toward the stairs. They had reached the foot of the stairs and were half +way down the hall when the sound of voices caused both girls to stand +still, listening intently.</p> + +<p>"That sounds like Grace's voice!" exclaimed Elfreda. With one accord +they turned about, hurrying to the veranda at the front of the house in +time to see Grace and Anne approaching. Both girls were laden with +luggage, while between them walked an alert little figure, tugging a bag +of golf sticks, a fat, black leather hand bag and a camera.</p> + +<p>"What manner of woman have we here?" muttered Elfreda, regarding the +newcomer with quizzical eyes.</p> + +<p>But before Miriam found time to reply the newcomer set her luggage in +the middle of the walk, and running up to Miriam and Elfreda, said with +a frank laugh: "This is Miriam and this is Elfreda. You see I know both +of you from Mabel's description."</p> + +<p>"Who—what—" began Elfreda.</p> + +<p>"Girls," said Grace, who had by this time come up with the animated +stranger, "this is Miss West, a friend of Mabel Ashe's. My telegram was +from Mabel asking me to meet Miss West, and as Anne and I were on the +porch when it came, and the train we were to meet was due, we didn't +stop for explanations or hats, but raced down the street as fast as we +could go."</p> + +<p>While Grace was talking, Kathleen West was shaking hands vigorously with +Miriam and Elfreda. "I'm so glad to know you," she said, "and I think +I'm going to like you. I'm not so sure about liking college, even though +I've worked so hard to get here. I hope to goodness I don't flunk in the +exams."</p> + +<p>"I am sure that any friend of Mabel's is bound to be ours also," said +Miriam courteously. She had not made up her mind regarding the newcomer.</p> + +<p>"Thank you. From what she said I should imagine that you and she were on +very good terms," returned the stranger lightly. "Of course you know who +I am and all about me."</p> + +<p>Grace smiled. "Not yet, but we are willing to hear anything you wish to +tell us."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's so!" exclaimed the stranger. "Mabel wrote about me, but her +letter hasn't reached you yet, and, of course, telegrams can't be very +lengthy unless you wish to spend a fortune or the office has a +franchise. There I go again about the office. I might as well tell the +truth and have done with it: I'm a newspaper woman."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>FIRST IMPRESSIONS</h3> + + +<p>Miriam smiled involuntarily, Grace looked surprised, Elfreda +indifferent, and Anne amused. The word "woman" seemed absurdly out of +place from the lips of this girl who looked as though she had just been +promoted to long dresses.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, I know I look not more than eighteen," quickly remarked +Kathleen West, noticing Miriam's smile. "But I'm not. I'm twenty-two +years old, and I've been on a newspaper for four years. Why, that's the +way I earned my money to come here. I'll tell you about it some other +time. It's too long a story for now. Besides, I'm hungry. At what time +are we to be fed and are the meals good? I have no illusions regarding +boarding houses."</p> + +<p>"The meals are excellent," replied Anne. "You must have dinner with us. +Then we will see about securing a room for you. I think you will be able +to get in here. This used to be considered a freshman house, but all +those who were freshmen with us have stayed on, and if last year's +freshmen stay, too, then Wayne Hall will be full and—"</p> + +<p>"I won't get in," finished the young woman calmly.</p> + +<p>"Come into the house now and meet Mrs. Elwood," invited Grace. "Then you +can learn your fate."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I can just make room for you," Mrs. Elwood was saying a few +minutes later. "Miss Evans is not coming back, and Miss Acker is going +to Livingstone Hall. Her two particular friends are there. Miss Dean +wishes to room alone this year, so that disposes of the vacancy left by +Miss Acker. But the half of the room Miss Evans had is not occupied. It +is on the second floor at the east end of the hall."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll take it," returned Kathleen promptly, "and move in at once. I +may not stay here long, but at least I'll be happy while I stay. But if +I should survive all these exams, there will be cause for rejoicing and +I'll give a frolic that you will all remember, or my name's not Kathleen +West. Is there any one who would love to help me upstairs with my +things?"</p> + +<p>"Well, what do you think of her?" asked Elfreda abruptly. Having helped +Kathleen to her room with her luggage they had left her to herself and +were now in their own room. Miriam stood looking out the window, her +hands behind her back. At Elfreda's question she turned, looked +thoughtfully at her roommate, then said slowly: "I don't know. I haven't +decided. She's friendly and enthusiastic and hard and indifferent all in +the same moment. I think her work has made her so. I believe she has +hidden her inner self away so deep that she has forgotten what the real +Kathleen is like."</p> + +<p>"I believe so, too, Miriam," agreed Elfreda. "I could see that you +weren't favorably impressed with her. I could see—"</p> + +<p>"You see entirely too much," laughed Miriam. "I haven't even formed an +opinion of Miss West yet. I wonder how long she has known Mabel Ashe? +Not very long, I'll wager."</p> + +<p>An hour later Grace appeared in the door, waving a letter. "Here's +Mabel's letter!" she cried. "Come into my room, and we will read it."</p> + +<p>"The letter was not far behind the telegram," remarked Anne, as she +closed the door of their room and seated herself on the couch beside +Miriam.</p> + +<p>"Do hurry, Grace, and read us what Mabel has to offer on the subject of +Kathleen Mavourneen—West, I mean," corrected Elfreda with a giggle.</p> + +<p>Grace unfolded the letter and began to read:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">My Dear Grace</span>:—</p> + +<p>"Please forgive me for neglecting you so shamefully, but I am now +wrestling with a real job on a real newspaper and am so occupied +with trying to keep it that I haven't had time to think of anything +else. Father is deeply disgusted with my journalistic efforts. He +wished me to go to Europe this summer, but the light of ambition +burns too vividly to be quenched even by my beloved Europe. When +next I go abroad it will be with my own hard-earned wages.</p> + +<p>"I haven't done anything startling yet; I have been chronicling +faithfully the doings of society. As most of the elect are out of +town, my news gathering has not been in the nature of a harvest. +However, I am still striving, still hoping for the day when I shall +leave society far behind and sally forth on the trail of a big +story.</p> + +<p>"But, I am diverging from one of the chief purposes of this letter. +It is to introduce to you Kathleen West, an ambitious and +particularly clever young woman, who is a 'star' reporter on this +paper. It seems that she and I have changed ambitions. I sigh for +journalistic fame, and she sighs for college. She has done more +than sigh. She has been saving her money for ever so long, +determined to take unto herself a college education. I admire her +spirit and have praised Overton so warmly—how could I help +it?—that she has decided to cast her lot there. Hence my telegram, +also this letter. Please be as nice with her as you know how to be, +for I am sure she will prove herself a credit to Overton.</p> + +<p>"I shall hope to see you some time during the fall. I am going to +try to get a day or two off and run down to see you. Tell Anne the +Press is greater than the Stage, and tell Elfreda and Miriam that I +am collecting the autographs of famous people and that theirs would +be greatly appreciated, particularly if attached to letters. I must +bring this epistle to an abrupt close, and go out on the trail of +an engagement, the rumor of which was whispered to me last night. +With love to you and the girls.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Mabel</span>.</p> + +<p>"P. S. Frances sails for home next week."</p></div> + +<p>"What a nice letter," commented Elfreda. "It is just like her, isn't +it!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Grace slowly. "Girls, do you suppose Mabel and Miss West +are really friends?"</p> + +<p>"Not as we are," replied Miriam, with a positive shake of her head. +"Elfreda and I were talking of that very thing while you were in your +room. Elfreda said she didn't believe that Mabel had known Miss West +long."</p> + +<p>"What is the matter with us?" asked Grace, a trifle impatiently. "Here +we are prowling about the bush, trying to conceal under polite inquiry +the fact that we don't quite approve of Miss West. We would actually +like to dig up something to criticize."</p> + +<p>"There is nothing like absolute freedom of speech, is there?" said +Elfreda, with a short laugh.</p> + +<p>"It is true, though," said Grace stoutly. "It isn't fair, either. She +has done nothing to deserve it. Besides, Mabel likes her."</p> + +<p>"Mabel doesn't say in her letter that she likes her," reminded Anne. +"She says Miss West is clever and that she admires her spirit."</p> + +<p>"You, too, Anne?" said Grace reproachfully.</p> + +<p>"I don't like her," declared Elfreda belligerently. "If it weren't for +Mabel's letter I'd leave her strictly to her own devices."</p> + +<p>"We ought to be ashamed of ourselves!" exclaimed Grace. "We have met +Miss West with smiles, and here we are discussing her behind her back."</p> + +<p>"I didn't meet her with smiles," contradicted Elfreda. "I was as sober +as a judge all the time we stood talking to her. She is too flippant to +suit me. She doesn't take college very seriously. I could see that."</p> + +<p>"There goes the dinner bell!" exclaimed Grace, with sudden irrelevance +to the subject of the newspaper girl. "Let us stop gossiping and go to +dinner."</p> + +<p>At dinner Grace was not sorry to note that Kathleen West had been placed +at the end of the table farthest from her. Through the meal she found +her eyes straying often toward the erect little figure of the newcomer, +who, exhibiting not a particle of reserve, chatted with the girls +nearest to her with the utmost unconcern. "I suppose her newspaper +training has made her self-possessed and not afraid of strangers," +reflected Grace. But she could not refrain from secretly wondering a +little just how strong a friendship existed between Kathleen West and +Mabel.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH THE NEWSPAPER GIRL</h3> + + +<p>"It was just this way," began Kathleen West, setting down her tea cup +and looking impressively from one girl to the other, "Long before I +graduated from high school I had made up my mind to go to college. Now +that I have passed my exams and have become a really truly freshman, +I'll tell you all about it."</p> + +<p>Elfreda and Miriam were giving a tea party with Grace, Anne and Kathleen +West as their guests. It was a strictly informal tea and both hostesses +and guests sat on the floor in true Chinese fashion, kimono-clad and +comfortable. A week had passed since Kathleen's advent among them. She +had spent the greater part of that time either in study or in valiant +wrestling with the dreaded entrance examinations, but she had managed, +nevertheless, to drop into the girls' rooms at least once a day. In +spite of the almost unfavorable impression she had at first created, it +was impossible not to acknowledge that the newspaper girl possessed a +vividly interesting personality. As she sat wrapped in the folds of her +gray kimono, arms folded over her chest, she looked not unlike a +feminine Napoleon. Elfreda's quick eyes traced the resemblance.</p> + +<p>"You look for all the world like Napoleon," she observed bluntly.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," returned Kathleen with mock gratitude. "I can't imagine +Napoleon in a gray kimono at a tea party, but I feel imbued with a +certain amount of his ambition. By the way, would any of you like to +hear the rest of my story?" she asked impudently. "I'm rather fond of +telling it."</p> + +<p>"Excuse me for interrupting," apologized Elfreda. "Go on, please."</p> + +<p>"Where was I?" asked Kathleen. "Oh, yes, I remember. Well, as soon as I +had fully determined to go to college, I began to save every penny on +which I could honestly lay hands. I went without most of the school-girl +luxuries that count for so much just at that time. You girls know what I +mean. Mother and Father didn't wish me to go to college. They planned a +course in stenography and typewriting for me after I should finish high +school, and when I pleaded for college they were angry and disappointed. +They argued, too, that they couldn't possibly afford to send me there. +As soon as I saw that I was going to have trouble with them, I kept my +own counsel, but I was more determined than ever to do as I pleased. At +the beginning of the vacation before my senior year in high school I +went to the only daily paper in our town and asked for work. The editor, +who had known me since I was a baby, gave me a chance. Father and Mother +made no objection to that. They thought it was merely a whim on my part. +But it wasn't a whim, as they found out later, for I wrote stuff for the +paper during my senior year, too, and when I did graduate I turned the +house upside down by getting a position on a newspaper in a big city. +Father and Mother forgave me after awhile, but not until I had been at +work on the other paper for a year.</p> + +<p>"At first I did society, then clubs, went back to society again, and at +last my opportunity came to do general reporting. I was the only woman +on the staff who had a chance to go after the big stories. I have been +doing that only the last two years, though.</p> + +<p>"Naturally, I made more money on the paper than I would as a +stenographer. I saved it, too. It was ever so much harder to hang on to +it in the city. There were so many more ways to spend it. But I kept on +putting it away, and, now, by going back on the paper every summer, I +will have enough to see me through college."</p> + +<p>"But why do you wish so much for a college education when you are +already successful as a newspaper woman?" asked Elfreda.</p> + +<p>"Because I want to be an author, or an editor, or somebody of importance +in the literary world, and I need these four years at college. Besides, +it's a good thing to bear the college stamp if one expects always to be +before the public," was the prompt retort.</p> + +<p>"Suppose you were to find afterward that you weren't going to be before +the public," said Elfreda almost mischievously.</p> + +<p>"But I shall be," persisted Kathleen, setting her jaws with a little +snap. "I always accomplish whatever I set out to do. On the paper they +used to say, 'Kathleen would sacrifice her best friend if by doing it +she could scoop the other papers.'"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by 'scoop the other papers'?" queried Elfreda +interestedly.</p> + +<p>"Why, to get ahead of them with a story," explained Kathleen. "Suppose I +found out an important piece of news that no one else knew. If I gave it +to my paper and it appeared in it before any other newspaper got hold of +it then that would be a scoop."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, I see," returned Elfreda. "Then a scoop might be news about +anything."</p> + +<p>"Exactly," nodded Kathleen. "The harder the news is to get, the better +story it makes. People won't tell one anything, and when one does find +out something startling, then there are always a few persons who make a +fuss and try to keep the story out of the paper. They generally have +such splendid excuses for not wanting a story published. I never paid +any attention to them, though. I turned in every story I ever ran down," +she concluded, her small face setting in harsh lines.</p> + +<p>"But didn't that make some of the people about whom the stories were +written very unhappy?" asked Miriam pointedly.</p> + +<p>"I suppose so," answered Kathleen. "But I never stopped to bother about +them. I had to think of myself and of my paper."</p> + +<p>"How long have you known Mabel Ashe?" asked Grace, abruptly changing the +subject. Something in the cold indifference of Kathleen's voice jarred +on her.</p> + +<p>"Just since she appeared on the paper," returned Kathleen unconcernedly. +"She is very pretty, isn't she? But prettiness alone doesn't count for +much on a newspaper. Can she make good? That is the question. She +imagines that journalism is her vocation, but I am afraid she is going +to be sadly disillusioned. She seems to be a clever girl, though."</p> + +<p>"Clever," repeated Grace with peculiar emphasis. "She is the cleverest +girl we know. While she was at Overton, she was the life of the college. +Everyone loved her. I can't begin to tell you how much we miss her."</p> + +<p>"It's very nice to be missed, I am sure," said Kathleen hastily, +retreating from what appeared to be dangerous ground. "I hope I shall be +eulogized when I have graduated from Overton."</p> + +<p>"That will depend largely on your behavior as a freshman," drawled +Elfreda.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" asked Kathleen sharply. "I thought freshmen were of +the least importance in college."</p> + +<p>"So they are to the other classes," returned Elfreda. "They are of the +greatest importance to themselves, however, and if they make false +starts during their freshman year it is likely to handicap them through +the other three."</p> + +<p>"Much obliged for the information," declared Kathleen flippantly. "I'll +try not to make any false starts. Good gracious! It is half-past ten. I +had no idea it was so late. I've had a lovely time at your tea party. +I'm going to send out invitations for a social gathering before long." +She rose lazily to her feet, and carefully set her cup on the table. "I +suppose Miss Ainslee will be sound asleep," she remarked, yawning. +"Lighting the gas will awaken her and she will be cross. She goes to bed +with the chickens."</p> + +<p>"Don't light it, then," suggested Grace. "You can see to undress with +the blind up. There is full moon to-night."</p> + +<p>"Why shouldn't I light it?" asked Kathleen. "Half of the room is mine. I +wouldn't grumble if the case were reversed. She will soon grow used to +the light. I intend occasionally to read or study after hours. Don't +tell me it is against the rules. I know it. But circumstances, etc. I'll +see you to-morrow. I wish I were a junior. The freshmen I have met so +far are regular babies. I'm going to study hard next summer and see if I +can't pass up the sophomore year. There is nothing like having a modest +ambition, you know."</p> + +<p>With this satirical comment the newspaper girl nodded a pert good night +and left the room.</p> + +<p>No one spoke after she had gone.</p> + +<p>"I must go to bed," said Grace, breaking the significant silence that +had fallen on the quartette. "Come, Anne, it's twenty minutes to eleven. +Good night, girls."</p> + +<p>"What do you think of Miss West, Anne?" asked Grace a little later as +they were preparing to retire.</p> + +<p>"I don't like to say," returned Anne slowly. "She's remarkably +bright—" Anne paused. Her eyes met Grace's.</p> + +<p>"I know," nodded Grace understandingly. "We will try to keep a starboard +eye on her. She is going to find college very different from being a +newspaper woman." Grace smiled faintly. The word "woman," as applied to +Kathleen West, seemed wholly amusing.</p> + +<p>"I don't think she showed particularly good taste in speaking as she did +of Mabel Ashe," criticized Anne, a moment later. "I didn't intend to say +that, but I might as well be perfectly frank with you, Grace."</p> + +<p>"I was sorry she spoke as she did, too," agreed Grace. She did not add +that the newspaper girl's half slighting remarks about Mabel Ashe still +rankled in her loyal soul. It was chiefly to please Mabel that she and +her friends had hospitably received this stranger into their midst, +prepared to do whatever lay within their power to make her feel at home +with them. And she had dared to speak almost disparagingly of the girl +who was beloved by every student in Overton who knew her. In spite of +her resolution to keep a "starboard eye" on the freshman, Grace felt +infinitely more like leaving the ungrateful freshman to shift for +herself.</p> + +<p>"Well, what about her?" Elfreda asked bluntly of Miriam, as she piled +the tea cups one inside the other.</p> + +<p>"What about who?" returned Miriam tantalizingly.</p> + +<p>"You know very well" declared Elfreda; "but, if I must be explicit, what +do you think of Miss West now?"</p> + +<p>"What do you think?" counter-questioned Miriam.</p> + +<p>"I think she has more to learn than I had when I came here," said +Elfreda speculatively, "and unless I am very much mistaken it will take +her longer to learn it."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>TWO IS A COMPANY</h3> + + +<p>"Grace! Grace Harlowe!" called a clear, high voice. On hearing her name, +Grace, who was on the point of entering the library, turned to greet +Arline Thayer, who came running up the walk, flushed and laughing.</p> + +<p>"Did you say you had won prizes as a champion fast walker?" she inquired +laughingly. "I saw you clear across the campus, and I've been running at +top speed ever since. I had just breath enough left to call to you. +Where have you been hiding? I haven't seen you for ages. Ruth thinks you +have deserted her. Don't bother going to the library now. Suppose we go +down to Vinton's and have luncheon. Have you eaten yours? I never eat +luncheon at Morton Hall on Saturday afternoon."</p> + +<p>"I'll answer your questions in the order they were asked," laughed +Grace. "No, I am not a champion fast walker. I haven't been hiding, and +I still live at Wayne Hall, though a certain young person I know has +evidently forgotten it. Ruth owes me a visit, and I haven't had my +luncheon. You mustn't tempt me from my duty, for I am on the trail of +knowledge. I must spend at least two hours this afternoon looking up a +multitude of references."</p> + +<p>"Come and have luncheon first and look up your references afterward," +coaxed Arline. "Then, perhaps, I can help you," she added artfully.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you can," returned Grace dubiously. Their eyes meeting, both +girls laughed.</p> + +<p>"Come with me, at any rate, then," declared Arline.</p> + +<p>"All right. Remember, I must not stay away from work over an hour. I +really have a great deal to do. Isn't it a glorious day, though? Elfreda +and Miriam went for a five-mile tramp. Elfreda is determined to play +basketball in spite of her junior responsibilities, therefore she is +obliged to train religiously."</p> + +<p>"Who is going to play on the junior team this year?" asked Arline.</p> + +<p>"Elizabeth Wade, and that little Tenbrook girl, Marian Cummings, Elfreda +and Violet Darby make the team. Neither Miriam nor I intend to play. +Elfreda begged hard, but we thought it better to stay out of the team +this year. We have played basketball so long, and having been in two big +games, it is time we resigned gracefully; besides, I want to see Elfreda +reap the benefit of her faithful practice and distinguish herself. She +has tried so hard to make the team."</p> + +<p>"I am glad Elfreda is to have her chance," smiled Arline. "We are sure +to see her make the most of it. I'm sorry now that I never went in for +basketball."</p> + +<p>"It is a wonderful old game!" exclaimed Grace with enthusiasm. "Last +year was my sixth year on a team. I was captain of our freshman +basketball team at home. That reminds me, Arline, aren't you and Ruth +coming home with me for the Easter vacation? I am asking you early so no +one else will have a chance. I know it is useless to ask you to come for +Christmas."</p> + +<p>"I think I can come for Easter," replied Arline, "and I don't know of +any reason why Ruth can't. I shall write to Father at once and ask him +if we can go. I want to tell you something, Grace—confidentially, of +course. Father is very fond of Ruth. He and I had a talk this summer, +and he wishes to adopt her. Just think of having Ruth for my very own +sister!" Arline paused, her eyes shining.</p> + +<p>Grace nodded understandingly. "What does Ruth say?" she asked.</p> + +<p>Arline's face clouded. "She doesn't say anything except that she thinks +it better for her to go on in her own way. She is the queerest girl. She +seems to think that it wouldn't be right to allow Father to adopt her +and take care of her. She says she has everything she needs now, and +that I have been far too good to her. Father and I simply made her spend +the summer with us."</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't it be wonderful if Ruth should find her father?" said Grace +musingly.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe she ever will," returned Arline. "It's too bad." Her +flower-like face looked very solemn for a moment, then brightened as she +exclaimed: "Oh, I almost forgot my principal reason for wishing to see +you. The Semper Fidelis Club hasn't held a meeting this year, and we +must begin to busy ourselves. I have heard of five different girls who +need help, but are too proud to ask for it. I am sure there are dozens +of others, too. We must find some way to reach and help them. We have +plenty of money in our treasury now, and we can afford to be generous. +Here we are at Vinton's. Shall we sit in the mission alcove for +luncheon? I love it. It is so convenient when one wishes to indulge in +strictly confidential conversation."</p> + +<p>Once seated opposite each other in the cunning little alcove furnished +in mission oak, Arline continued animatedly:</p> + +<p>"Last spring, when we talked about giving an entertainment, you proposed +giving a carnival in the fall. Well, it is fall now, so why not begin +making plans for our carnival! What shall we have, and what do we do to +draw a crowd?"</p> + +<p>"We held a bazaar in Oakdale that was very successful," commented Grace. +"We held it on Thanksgiving night and half the town attended it. We made +over five hundred dollars. I think a bazaar would be better than a +carnival." Grace did not add that the money had been stolen while the +bazaar was at its height and not recovered until the following spring, +by no other person than herself.</p> + +<p>Those who have read "<span class="smcap">Grace Harlowe's Senior Year at High +School</span>" will remember the mysterious disappearance of the bazaar +money and the untiring zeal with which Grace worked until she found a +clew to the robbery, which led to the astonishing discovery that she +made in an isolated house on the outskirts of Oakdale.</p> + +<p>During the progress of the luncheon Grace gave Arline a detailed account +of the various attractions of which their bazaar had boasted.</p> + +<p>"We can ask some girl who sings to preside at the Shamrock booth and +sing Irish songs as Nora O'Malley did," planned Grace. "We can't have +the Mystery Auction, because we don't care to ask the girls for +packages, and we can't have the Italian booth, either, it would be too +hard to arrange, but we can have a gypsy camp and a Japanese booth and +an English tea shop and two or three funny little shows. The best thing +to do is to call a meeting of the club and put the matter before them. +Almost every girl will know of some feature we can have."</p> + +<p>"I suppose the dean will allow us to use the gymnasium," mused Arline. +"We had better get permission first of all. Then we can call our +meeting."</p> + +<p>Grace looked at her watch. "I've stayed ten minutes over my hour, +Arline," she reminded the little curly-haired girl.</p> + +<p>"Never mind," was the calm reply, "you can stay ten minutes longer in +the library. Oh, Grace, don't look at her now, but who is that girl just +sitting down at that end table? I am sure she lives at Wayne Hall. Some +one told me she was a freshman."</p> + +<p>"If you had been calling faithfully on the Wayne Hall girls, you +wouldn't need to be told the names of the new ones," flung back Grace. +Then, allowing her gaze to slowly travel about the room, her eyes rested +as though by chance on the girl designated by Arline. An instant later +she had bowed to the newcomer in friendly fashion.</p> + +<p>"Who is she?" murmured Arline, her eyes fixed upon Grace.</p> + +<p>"Her name is Kathleen West," returned Grace in a low tone. "Don't say +anything more. Here she comes."</p> + +<p>Kathleen was approaching their table, a bored look on her small, sharp +face. "How are you?" she said nonchalantly. "I thought I'd come over +here. Having tea alone is dull. Don't you think so?"</p> + +<p>Arline's blue eyes rested on the intruder for the fraction of a second. +She resented the intrusion.</p> + +<p>"Miss West, this is Miss Thayer, of the junior class," introduced Grace +good-naturedly. Both girls bowed. There was an awkward silence, broken +by Kathleen's abrupt, "I knew I had seen you before, Miss Thayer," to +Arline.</p> + +<p>"That is quite possible," said Arline, rather stiffly. "I believe I +remember passing you on the campus."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't mean here at Overton," drawled Kathleen. "I saw you in New +York with your father last summer."</p> + +<p>"With my father?" was Arline's surprised interrogation.</p> + +<p>"Yes. Isn't Leonard B. Thayer your father?"</p> + +<p>"Why, how did you know? Have you met my father?" Arline's blue eyes +opened wider.</p> + +<p>"I've seen him," said Kathleen laconically. "I tried to interview him +once, but couldn't get past his secretary."</p> + +<p>"Miss West is a newspaper woman, Arline," explained Grace. "That is, she +was one. She has deserted her paper for Overton, however."</p> + +<p>"How interesting," responded Arline courteously. "Do you like college, +Miss West?"</p> + +<p>"Fairly well," answered Kathleen. "It doesn't really matter whether I +like it or not. I am here for business, not pleasure. Perhaps Miss +Harlowe has told you how I happened to be here."</p> + +<p>"Miss Thayer and I had some weighty class matters to discuss," said +Grace, smiling a little. "We weren't talking of any one in particular. +Miss Thayer did inquire your name when she saw me bow to you. I answered +just as you came toward us," added Grace honestly.</p> + +<p>"I knew you were talking about me," declared Kathleen flippantly. "One +can always feel when one is being discussed."</p> + +<p>A quick flush rose to Grace's cheeks. Usually tolerant toward everyone, +she felt a decided resentment stir within her at this cold-blooded +assertion that she and Arline had been gossiping.</p> + +<p>Arline's blue eyes sent forth a distinctly hostile glance. "You were +mistaken, Miss West," she said coldly. "What was said of you was +entirely impersonal."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't doubt that in the least," Kathleen hastened to say. She had +decided that the daughter of Leonard B. Thayer was worth cultivating. "I +am sorry you misunderstood me; but do you know, when you made that last +remark you looked as your father did the day he wouldn't tell me a thing +I wanted to know." Kathleen's sharp features were alive with the +interest of discovery.</p> + +<p>Despite their brief annoyance Grace and Arline both laughed. Kathleen +took instant advantage of the situation. "Suppose we order another pot +of tea," she said hospitably.</p> + +<p>It was fully half an hour later when the three girls left Vinton's.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my neglected references," sighed Grace. "I must not lose another +minute of the afternoon. Which way are you girls going?"</p> + +<p>"I think I'll go as far as the library with you, Grace," decided Arline. +The interruption by Kathleen had greatly interfered with her plans.</p> + +<p>"I might as well go with you," remarked Kathleen innocently. "I have +nothing to do this afternoon."</p> + +<p>A little frown wrinkled Arline's smooth forehead. Grace, equally +disappointed, managed to conceal her annoyance. Then, accepting the +situation in the best possible spirit, she slipped her hand through +Arline's arm, at the same time giving it a warning pressure. During the +walk to the library Kathleen endeavored to make herself particularly +agreeable to Arline, a method of procedure that was not lost upon Grace. +Later as she delved industriously among half a dozen dignified volumes +for the material of which she stood in need, Kathleen's pale, sharp +face, with its thin lips and alert eyes, rose before her, and, for the +first time, she admitted reluctantly to herself that her dislike for the +ambitious little newspaper girl was very real indeed.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>AN UNSUSPECTED LISTENER</h3> + + +<p>"Those in favor of giving a bazaar on the Saturday afternoon and evening +of November fifteenth say 'aye,'" directed Arline Thayer.</p> + +<p>A chorus of ayes immediately resounded.</p> + +<p>"Contrary, 'no,'" continued Arline.</p> + +<p>There was a dead silence.</p> + +<p>"Carried," declared the energetic little president. "Please, everyone +think hard and try to advance an idea for a feature inside of the next +ten minutes."</p> + +<p>The twelve young women known as the Semper Fidelis Club were holding a +business meeting in Grace Harlowe's and Anne Pierson's, room. The two +couch beds had been placed in a kind of semicircle and eight members of +the club were seated on them. The other three young women sat on +cushions on the floor, while Arline presided at the center table, which +had been placed several feet in front of the members.</p> + +<p>"The meeting is open for suggestions," repeated Arline after two minutes +had elapsed and not a word had been said. "If any one has a suggestion, +she may tell us without addressing the chair. We will dispense with +formality," she added encouragingly. "Of course, we know we are going to +have the gypsy encampment and the Irish booth and the Japanese tea room, +but we want some really startling features."</p> + +<p>"We might have an 'Alice in Wonderland' booth," suggested Elfreda. +"'Alice' stunts always go in colleges. The girls are never tired of +them."</p> + +<p>"What on earth is an 'Alice in Wonderland booth'?" asked Gertrude Wells +curiously.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what it is yet," grinned Elfreda. "The idea just came to +me. I suppose," she continued reflectively, "we could have all the +animals, like the March Hare, for instance, and the Dormouse. Then +there's the Mock Turtle and the Jabberwock. No, that's been done to +death. Besides, it's in 'Through the Looking Glass.' We could have the +Griffon, though, and then, there's the Duchess, the King, the Queen, and +the Mad Hatter. I'd love to do the Mad Hatter." Elfreda paused, eyeing +the little group quizzically.</p> + +<p>"I think that's a brilliant idea, Elfreda!" exclaimed Grace warmly.</p> + +<p>"Great!" exulted three or four girls, in lively chorus.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what we could have," cried one of the Emerson twins. "Why +not make it an 'Alice in Wonderland Circus,' and have all the animals +perform?"</p> + +<p>"We are growing more brilliant with every minute," laughed Arline. "That +is a positive inspiration, Sara."</p> + +<p>"A circus will exactly fill the bill. It is sure to be the biggest +feature the Overton girls have ever spent their money to see," predicted +Elfreda gleefully. "Ruth Denton, you will have to be the Dormouse."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I can't," blushed Ruth.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you can," mimicked Elfreda. "I'll help you plan your costume."</p> + +<p>"Will the club please come to order," called Arline, for a general buzz +of conversation had begun. "We shall have to choose part of our animals +from outside the club. We can't all be in the circus. Grace and Miriam +are going to dress as gypsies. Julia and Sara," smiling at the +black-eyed twins, who looked precisely alike and were continually being +mistaken for each other, "are going to be Japanese ladies, aren't you, +girls?"</p> + +<p>The twins nodded emphatically.</p> + +<p>"Those in favor of an Alice in Wonderland Circus please say 'aye,'" +dutifully stated Arline. The motion was quickly carried. "That is only +one feature," she reminded. "This meeting is open for further +suggestions. Let us have the suggestions first, then we can discuss them +in detail afterward."</p> + +<p>After considerable hard thinking, a "bauble shop," a postcard booth, and +a doll shop were added. The latter idea was Ruth Denton's. "Now that it +is fall, Christmas isn't so very far off. Almost every girl has a little +sister or a niece or a friend to whom she intends to give a doll," she +said almost wistfully. "We could pledge ourselves to contribute one doll +at least, and as many more as we please. Then we could draw on the +treasury for a certain sum and invest it in dolls. We could dress a few +of them as college girls, too. I'm willing to use part of my spare time +to help the good work along. Perhaps it wouldn't be a success," she +faltered.</p> + +<p>"Success!" exclaimed Arline, stumbling over Gertrude Wells's feet and +treating Ruth to an affectionate hug. "I think it's perfectly lovely. We +can have a live doll, too. Do any of you know that exquisite little +freshman with the big blue eyes who rooms at Mortimer Hall?"</p> + +<p>"I do. Her name is Myra Stone," responded Julia Emerson. "She looks like +a big doll, doesn't she!"</p> + +<p>"She does," commented Arline. "That is precisely what I was thinking. +Dressed as a live doll and placed on exhibition in the middle of the +booth, she would prove a drawing card. Will you ask her to meet us at +the gymnasium on Monday at five o'clock? We will try to see the others +we want for the bazaar before Monday. We had better decide now just who +is going to be left over for the circus."</p> + +<p>"There is only one objection to little Miss Stone," said Gertrude Wells +thoughtfully. "She is a freshman. I am afraid this mark of upper class +favor may cause jealousy."</p> + +<p>"The freshmen ought to be glad one of their class is to have the honor +of being chosen," retorted Grace, opening her gray eyes in surprise.</p> + +<p>"They ought to, but they won't be," predicted Gertrude dryly. "There are +a number of revolutionary spirits among the freshmen this year. That +queer little West girl, who styles herself a 'newspaper woman' and looks +like a wicked little elf, is the ringleader."</p> + +<p>"She is very bright, Gertrude, and she deserves a great deal of credit +for the way she has worked and studied to fit herself for college," +defended Grace, her old love of fair play coming to the surface.</p> + +<p>"That may all be so. I believe it is, if you say so, Grace, but why +doesn't she display common sense enough to settle down and obey the +rules of the college? She doesn't transgress the study rules, but she is +lawless when it comes to the others. Besides, she runs roughshod over +traditions, and all that they imply. She—well—" Gertrude hesitated, +then, flushing slightly, stopped.</p> + +<p>"You mean she is tricky, don't you?" asked Elfreda promptly. "I could +see that before I talked with her five minutes."</p> + +<p>Grace shook her head disapprovingly at Elfreda. Something in her glance +caused Elfreda to subside suddenly.</p> + +<p>"If there is no further business of which to dispose, will some one make +a motion that we adjourn!" asked Arline quietly.</p> + +<p>The motion was made and seconded, but before any one had time to step +into the hall, a slight figure flitted from her position before the +almost closed door, and disappeared into the room at the end of the +hall.</p> + +<p>"We must be sure and see the dean as soon as we can, Arline," called +Grace after Arline, who was hurrying down the hall to overtake Ruth.</p> + +<p>"I'll see her to-morrow afternoon," assured Arline, with a parting wave +of her hand as she disappeared down the stairs.</p> + +<p>"And I'll make it my business to see her to-morrow morning," muttered +Kathleen West vindictively, who, standing well within the shadow of her +own door at the end of the hall, had heard the remark and the reply. +"Who knows but that the Semper Fidelis Club may not be able to give +their great bazaar after all. They certainly won't if I can prevent +them. I'll never forgive them for discussing me as they have this +afternoon." There was an unpleasant light in the newspaper girl's eyes, +as, closing the door of her room, she went to her desk and opening it, +sat down before it, picking up her pen. After a little thought she began +to write, and when she had finished what seemed to be an extremely short +letter, she slipped it into the envelope with a smile of malicious +satisfaction. She had found a way to retaliate.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>AN UNPLEASANT SUMMONS</h3> + + +<p>"Here's a letter for you, Grace," called Elfreda, who had run downstairs +ahead of Grace to survey the contents of the house bulletin board before +going in to breakfast.</p> + +<p>Grace surveyed the envelope critically, tore it open and unfolded the +sheet of paper inside. In another moment a little cry of consternation +escaped her.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" asked Elfreda curiously, trying to peer over her +shoulder.</p> + +<p>"It—it's a summons from the dean," said Grace a trifle unsteadily. +"What do you suppose it means?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing very serious," declared Elfreda confidently. "How can it? Think +over your past misdeeds and see if you can discover any reason for a +summons."</p> + +<p>Grace shook her head. "No," she said slowly. "I can't think of a single, +solitary thing."</p> + +<p>"Then don't worry about it," was Elfreda's comforting advice. "Whatever +it is, you are ready for it."</p> + +<p>As Grace entered the dean's office that morning a vague feeling of +apprehension rose within her. The dean, a stately, dark-haired woman +with a rather forbidding expression, which disappeared the moment she +smiled, glanced up with a flash of approval at the fine, resolute face +of the gray-eyed girl who walked straight to her and said firmly, "Good +morning, Miss Wilder."</p> + +<p>"Good morning, Miss Harlowe," returned the dean quietly. Then picking up +a letter that lay on the middle of her desk, she said gravely: "I +received a very peculiar letter this morning, Miss Harlowe, and as it +concerns not only you, but a number of your friends as well, I thought +it better to send for you. You may throw light upon what at present +seems obscure."</p> + +<p>Grace mechanically stretched forth her hand for the open letter and +read:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"When giving an entertainment in any of the halls or in the +gymnasium, is it not usually customary, not to say courteous, to +ask permission of the president of the college or the dean +beforehand? The young women whose names appear on the enclosed +list evidently do not consider any such permission necessary. +For the past week preparations for a bazaar have been going +briskly forward, to be held in the gymnasium on the evening of +November ——. For inside information inquire of Miss Harlowe.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">A Well Wisher</span>."</p></div> + +<p>Grace read the note through twice, then, looking squarely at the dean, +she said: "May I see the enclosed list?" The dean handed her a smaller +slip of paper on which appeared the names of the girls who had been +present at the meeting in her room. Grace scanned the slip earnestly. +Her color rose slightly as she returned it to Miss Wilder.</p> + +<p>"The names on this list are the names of the young women who belong to +the Semper Fidelis Club. After the concert last spring it was partly +decided to give a bazaar the following autumn. The other day the club +met in my room to talk over the matter. As we were all in favor of +giving one, the meeting was open for the discussion of ideas for +attractive features. Finally something was proposed that was so very +clever we couldn't help adopting it. I assure you, Miss Wilder, we had +no thought of doing anything definite about the bazaar without first +obtaining proper permission to give it and to use the gymnasium as our +field of operation. In fact, Miss Thayer promised me on the afternoon of +the meeting that she would see you the following afternoon. She is the +president of the club. I haven't seen her since then." Grace paused, +looking worried.</p> + +<p>"Miss Thayer has not been here," returned Miss Wilder kindly. "However, +your explanation is sufficient, Miss Harlowe. I am reasonably sure that +the writer of this letter has either misunderstood the situation, or has +been misinformed. To be candid, very little credence can be placed on +the information contained in an anonymous letter. In fact, my reason for +sending for you had to do with that, rather than the implied charge the +letter makes. I wish you to examine this handwriting," she touched the +letter which Grace still held in hand. "Do you recognize it?"</p> + +<p>There was a slight interval of silence. Grace devoted herself to the +examination of the letter and the slip of paper. Then, handing it to the +dean, she said frankly: "I have no recollection of having seen this +handwriting before to-day."</p> + +<p>The dean folded the letter, placed the list of names inside its folds +and returned it to the envelope. "This is the first anonymous letter +that has ever been brought to my notice," she said gravely. "I trust it +will be the last. It is hard to believe that a student of Overton would +resort to such petty spite, for that seems to be its keynote. It is +practically impossible, however, to find the writer among so many +girls."</p> + +<p>Grace would have liked to say that this was not the first anonymous +letter that had been brought to her notice. The ghost of a disturbing, +unsigned note that had almost wrecked Elfreda's freshman happiness rose +and walked before her. Could it be possible that the same hand had +written the second note? Grace was startled at her own thought.</p> + +<p>"May I see the note again, Miss Wilder?" she asked soberly. This time +she scrutinized the writing even more closely. There was something +familiar, yet unfamiliar, about the formation of the letters. Finally +she handed it back. "It is a mystery to me," she said, with a little +sigh. "I am so glad you understood about the bazaar."</p> + +<p>Before the dean could reply the click of approaching heels was heard. A +moment later a light knock sounded on the door. At a nod from the dean, +Grace opened it, and stood face to face with Arline Thayer.</p> + +<p>"Why, Grace Harlowe!" she exclaimed in her sweet, high voice. "I didn't +know you were here. Did you get my message? Good afternoon, Miss +Wilder," she added, following Grace inside the office.</p> + +<p>"Good afternoon, Miss Thayer," smiled Miss Wilder, indicating a chair, +which Arline accepted.</p> + +<p>"I owe you and the Semper Fidelis Club an apology for not having +delivered their message. I spent yesterday nursing a headache and was +not able to attend any of my classes. Miss Harlowe has already asked +your permission to hold a bazaar in the gymnasium, I believe."</p> + +<p>"Yes," returned Miss Wilder pleasantly. "I am willing to allow the +Semper Fidelis Club carte blanche for one night. I approve warmly of +both the club and its object. I shall, of course, ask formal permission +of the president, but that need not necessarily delay your plans. The +concert given by your club last year was a most enjoyable affair and +proved very profitable to the club, did it not?"</p> + +<p>Grace answered in the affirmative. "We were fortunate in being able to +secure Savelli, the virtuoso," she replied. "It was by the merest chance +that he happened to have that one evening free. His daughter, Eleanor, +who is one of my dear friends, and I telephoned to New York City to ask +him to play for us. We saved him until last as a surprise number."</p> + +<p>"The audience fully appreciated his playing," returned Miss Wilder. "To +hear the great Savelli was an unexpected privilege. I shall look forward +to your bazaar with pleasurable anticipation and I wish you success."</p> + +<p>Grace looked searchingly into the smiling, dark eyes of the dean.</p> + +<p>"Thank you so much, Miss Wilder," she said earnestly. "I felt sure you +would understand."</p> + +<p>"We should like Professor Morton to open the bazaar, and would +appreciate a speech from you also," added Arline.</p> + +<p>"I shall be pleased to help the club in any way I can," assured Miss +Wilder graciously as the two girls were about to leave the office. "I am +certain that Professor Morton will echo my sentiments." Something in the +older woman's quiet tones made Grace feel that the anonymous letter had +entirely failed in its object.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>ELFREDA PROPHESIES TROUBLE</h3> + + +<p>Not until the two girls were well outside did either venture to speak. +Then their eyes met. "Did you receive my message?" asked Arline +abruptly.</p> + +<p>"Your message," repeated Grace. "No, I didn't receive any message. By +whom did you send it?"</p> + +<p>"Emma Dean," declared Arline. "She was at Morton House yesterday for +luncheon, and I ran across her in the hall. I asked her to ask you if +you would see Miss Wilder after classes yesterday afternoon."</p> + +<p>"Emma Dean again," laughed Grace. "Didn't you know, Arline, that the +Dean messenger service is absolutely unreliable? Emma is always +perfectly willing to deliver a message, but never remembers to deliver +it. Only last week Elfreda made an engagement with a dressmaker who sews +for Emma. In the meantime Emma went to the dressmaker's house for a +fitting, and the woman asked her to tell Elfreda to come for her fitting +on Thursday instead of Friday night. Emma forgot it before she was a +block from the dressmaker's, and poor Elfreda dutifully trudged off to +her fitting instead of accepting an invitation to a theatre party that +the girls got up on Friday afternoon. The dressmaker wasn't in and +Elfreda went home angry. Emma delivered the message the next day."</p> + +<p>"No wonder you didn't receive mine then," laughed Arline.</p> + +<p>"How did you happen to find me?" asked Grace.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I wasn't looking for you," replied Arline. "I thought as long as I +felt better, I had better call on Miss Wilder, too. But," said Arline, a +puzzled look creeping into her eyes, "if you didn't receive my message, +how did you happen to be in the dean's office?"</p> + +<p>"I received a summons," answered Grace quietly. "The dean wished to see +me about—well—" Grace hesitated. "I should like to tell you about it," +she went on. "Miss Wilder did not ask me to keep the matter a secret. +That was understood, I suppose. But, Arline, I think it would be better +to ask her permission before telling even you."</p> + +<p>"Is it anything about me or about the club?" asked Arline curiously.</p> + +<p>"It is something about the club," replied Grace enigmatically.</p> + +<p>"Then suppose we go back and ask her now," proposed Arline.</p> + +<p>"No," negatived Grace wisely, "it wouldn't do. Wait a little. I shall +see her again in a day or two. Then I may have a chance to ask her."</p> + +<p>"All right," sighed Arline disappointedly. "Now that we have permission +we must go to work with a will. The 'Circus' must meet and plan the +costumes. Each girl will have to furnish her own. Ruth said she thought +she could design them all, and cut them out if the girls could do their +own sewing."</p> + +<p>"Ruth is doing too much," demurred Grace. "Remember she is going to help +dress dolls for the doll shop."</p> + +<p>"I know it," responded Arline, "but, thanks to the Semper Fidelis Club, +she doesn't have to burden herself with mending. Besides, I keep her so +busy with my clothes she doesn't have time to do anything for outsiders. +Some of the girls were so provoking. They used to give her their work at +the eleventh hour, and then send for it before she had half a chance to +finish it. They didn't exert themselves to pay her, however. It was +weeks, sometimes, before they gave her the money. They usually forgot +about it and spent their allowance money for something else. I think I +have already told you that Father would adopt Ruth if she would consent +to it. But she is a most stiff-necked young person. She says she must +work out her own salvation, and that too much comfort might spoil her +for doing good work in the world."</p> + +<p>"Do you suppose her father is really dead?" asked Grace thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I think he must be," returned Arline quickly. "Even if he isn't +dead, there is only one chance in a thousand of her finding him. When I +went home last June I had one of my famous talks with Father. We decided +that I needed a competent person to look after me in college, and Father +asked Ruth to accept the position of companion. Then she could room with +me and be free from this hateful sewing. But she wouldn't do it, the +proud little thing! I like her all the better for her pride, though," +concluded Arline in a burst of confidence.</p> + +<p>"I think she is right about making her own way," declared Grace. "If I +were placed in her circumstances I imagine I should look at the matter +in the same light. Really, Arline, I often think that girls as happily +situated as you and I do not half appreciate our benefits."</p> + +<p>"I know it," agreed Arline. "Still, I am wide awake to the fact that a +single room, pretty clothes and a generous allowance are not to be +despised. I have grown so used to my way of living that to adopt Ruth's +wouldn't be easy. I'd be worse off than she, for I don't know how to +mend or sew or do anything else that is useful. I wonder if the girls +would like me as well poor as rich," she said almost wistfully.</p> + +<p>"Goose!" scoffed Grace. "Of course they would. How could any one help +liking you? To change the subject, when shall we call a meeting of the +bazaar specialists? We might as well post a notice on the big bulletin +board. It will do more to advertise the bazaar than anything else."</p> + +<p>"Grace, you are a born advertiser," cried Arline. "There will be a crowd +around that bulletin board all day. Will you write the notice to-night? +Oh, did I tell you? I'm going to have my horse here this year. Father +wants me to ride."</p> + +<p>"How lovely!" exclaimed Grace with a little sigh. "How I wish I had a +horse. I'd willingly use all my allowance to feed one, if Father could +afford to buy him for me."</p> + +<p>"Mabel Ashe has the handsomest horse I ever saw," said Arline. "He is +black as jet. You know I often see her in New York during vacations. We +have ridden together several times."</p> + +<p>"You mean Elixir," returned Grace. "I have never seen him, but I have +heard of him. That reminds me, Mabel is coming down here for +Thanksgiving. I received a letter from her yesterday."</p> + +<p>"I wish she could come down for the bazaar," sighed Arline regretfully.</p> + +<p>"So do I," responded Grace heartily.</p> + +<p>At the corner above Wayne Hall Arline left Grace with a warning, "Don't +forget to post that notice." As Grace reached the steps of the Hall the +front door opened and two girls stepped out on the porch, followed by an +alert little figure whose small face wore an expression of malicious +amusement. "Do come again," she was saying in clear, high tones. "I've +heard some very interesting things this afternoon." Looking down, +simultaneously, three pairs of eyes were leveled on Grace and +conversation instantly ceased. Grace walked quietly up the steps and, +with a courteous "good afternoon," passed into the house and up the +stairs to her room. Her face was unusually sober as she slowly pulled +the hatpins from her hat. "How did Miss West happen to meet them?" she +said half aloud.</p> + +<p>"Meet whom?" asked Elfreda, who had come into the room in time to hear +Grace's half musing question.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Elfreda. How you startled me!" exclaimed Grace.</p> + +<p>"How did Miss West meet whom? That's what I am curious to know," +returned Elfreda, regarding Grace with lively interest.</p> + +<p>"Alberta Wicks and Mary Hampton, Inquisitive," answered Grace.</p> + +<p>"Where did you see them?" asked Elfreda, exhibiting considerable +excitement.</p> + +<p>"On the front porch. They had evidently been making a call on Kathleen."</p> + +<p>"Then look out," predicted Elfreda. "They began back in the freshman +year with me. Last year it was Laura Atkins and Mildred Taylor. This +year it will be Kathleen West, and you mark my word, she won't reform at +the end of the year as the rest of us did."</p> + +<p>"'Quoth the raven, "nevermore",'" laughed Grace.</p> + +<p>"Well, you'll see," declared Elfreda gloomily. "I'm sorry Kathleen West +lives here. I thought we were going to have a peaceful year. But every +fall apparently brings its problem. Really, Grace, I can't help feeling +terribly remorseful to think that it is I who have caused all this +trouble. If I hadn't been such an idiot when I first came here, you and +Alberta Wicks and Mary Hampton might at least be on speaking terms."</p> + +<p>"You mustn't think about such ancient history, Elfreda," admonished +Grace. "We all do things for which we are afterward sorry. I daresay I +should have offended those two girls in some other way before my +freshman year was over. Both sides were to blame. I suppose we were +naturally antagonistic."</p> + +<p>"That is one way of putting it," muttered Elfreda, scowling over her +past misdeeds.</p> + +<p>"Come, come, Elfreda, don't glower over what has been forgotten," smiled +Grace, patting Elfreda's plump shoulder.</p> + +<p>"You may forget," declared the stout girl solemnly, "but I never shall."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>OPENING THE BAZAAR</h3> + + +<p>It was Saturday afternoon, and the Semper Fidelis bazaar had just been +opened. Grace Harlowe, attired in her gypsy costume, for which she had +sent home, stood watching the gay scene, her eyes glowing with interest +and pleasure. Professor Morton, the president of the college, had set +his seal of approval on the bazaar by making a short speech. Then the +dean had added a word or two, and the applause had died away in a +pleasant hum of conversation that arose from the throng of students and +visitors that more than comfortably filled the gymnasium.</p> + +<p>"I don't see how those girls managed to accomplish so much in so short a +time," remarked the dean to Miss Duncan. "I understand Miss Harlowe was +a prime mover in the work."</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Miss Duncan. "Miss Harlowe seems to have plenty of +initiative. She is one of the most active members of this new club, who +have taken upon themselves the responsibility of helping needy students +through college. I understand their treasury is already in a flourishing +condition, thanks to their own efforts and a timely contribution they +received after their concert last spring. I consider Miss Harlowe the +finest type of young woman I have encountered during all my years of +teaching," replied Miss Duncan warmly, which was a remarkable statement +from this rather austere teacher.</p> + +<p>"The junior class is particularly rich in good material," replied the +dean. "I could name at least a dozen young women whom I consider +splendid types of the ideal Overton girl."</p> + +<p>Utterly unaware of the approval of the faculty, Grace had paused for a +moment outside the gypsy encampment to cast a speculative eye over the +crowd, which seemed to be steadily increasing.</p> + +<p>"It is a brilliant success," she said to Arline gleefully, who had come +up and now stood beside her. "I am so glad, but so tired. I do hope +everyone will like the bazaar, and have a good time this afternoon and +to-night. Everything has gone so beautifully. There hasn't been a sign +of a hitch. Oh, yes, there was one." Her face clouded for a second. Then +she looked at Arline brightly. "I'm not going to think of it. There are +so many nice things to remember that one little unpleasantness doesn't +count, does it?"</p> + +<p>"I think it counts," declared Arline stubbornly. "I shall never forget +it as long as I live. Why, it nearly spoiled our bazaar. It was dreadful +to have some one spread the story of our circus, and just what we +intended to have, when we wanted the whole thing to be a surprise."</p> + +<p>"Really, I think the person who told the tales did us a good turn after +all," laughed Grace. "The girls were ever so much more anxious to attend +the bazaar after they heard of the circus. Every girl loves 'Alice in +Wonderland,' I think. And then the Sphinx is a first-class surprise."</p> + +<p>"Isn't it funny?" chuckled Arline, who, in her short, white, embroidered +dress, pale blue sash, blue silk stockings and heelless blue kid +slippers, her golden hair hanging in curls, tied up on one side with a +blue ribbon, looked exactly as Lewis Carroll's immortal Alice might have +looked if she had been inspired with life.</p> + +<p>"Alice" was allowed to show herself to the public before the +performance, and on catching sight of Grace had run across the gymnasium +to her in true little girl fashion.</p> + +<p>Never before had Overton's big gymnasium been so peculiarly and gayly +arrayed. At one end a numerous band of gypsies had pitched their tents +and here Grace and Miriam, garbed in the many-colored raiment of the +Zingari, jingled their tambourines in their familiar but ever-popular +Spanish dance, and read curious pink palms itching to know the future.</p> + +<p>Adjoining the gypsy encampment was a doll shop, over which the cunning +freshman, Myra Stone, dressed as a sailor doll, presided. Then came the +Japanese tea shop, with the Emerson twins as proprietors, looking so +realistically Japanese that Arline declared she didn't believe they were +the Emerson twins, but two geisha girls straight from Japan. At +intervals, when their patrons had all been served, they sidled up to the +center of the shop and performed a quaint Oriental dance for the +entertainment of their guests.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="img2" id="img2"></a> +<img src="images/img2.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>The Emerson Twins Looked Realistically Japanese.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + + + +<p>Violet Darby had been asked to preside at the Shamrock booth instead of +Arline, as had first been suggested, Arline having been elected to +portray the world-renowned Alice. As an Irish colleen, Violet, however, +proved a distinct success, and thrilled her hearers with "Kathleen +Mavourneen" and "The Harp that Once Through Tara's Halls." Her voice +held that peculiarly sweet, plaintive quality so necessary to bring out +the beauty of the old Irish melodies, and Grace and Anne both agreed +that there was only one who could surpass her. There was only one Nora +O'Malley.</p> + +<p>Farther on four pretty sophomores, dressed as Norman peasant girls, were +dispensing cakes and ices to a steadily increasing patronage. There was +a postcard and souvenir booth, around which a crowd seemed perpetually +stationed. The souvenirs consisted mainly of small black and white or +water color sketches contributed by the artistic element of Overton.</p> + +<p>Occupying one entire end of the room was the circus ring, and on this +public attention was centered. A gayly decorated poster at the door bore +the pleasing information that there would be four performances, at +two-thirty, four-thirty, eight-thirty, and nine-thirty, respectively, in +which would appear the "Celebrated Alice in Wonderland Animals."</p> + +<p>The club had originally planned to keep the matter of the circus as a +surprise until the patrons of the bazaar should enter the gymnasium, but +in some mysterious manner the secret had leaked out. Even the identity +of certain animals was known, and when this unpleasant news had reached +the ears of the "animals" themselves a meeting was called, which almost +put an end to the circus then and there. After due consideration the +performers agreed to go on with the spectacle, but many and indignant +were the theories advanced as to the manner in which the news had +traveled abroad. That the information had gone forth through a member of +the club or any one taking part in the circus no one of them believed. +Complete ostracism threatened the offender or offenders provided she or +they, as the case might be, were discovered. Later the members of the +club were forced to admit that, although the principle of the act was +reprehensible, the act itself had served only as a means of advertising, +and had aroused the curiosity and interest of the public.</p> + +<p>After several earnest discussions on the part of the club, the admission +fee had been fixed at twenty-five cents, and the public had been +invited. As a college town Overton's "public" was largely made up of the +classes rather than the masses, and many of the visitors claimed Overton +as their Alma Mater. The students, however, were the hope on which the +club based its dreams of profit. "No girl could walk around the +gymnasium without spending money. She couldn't resist those darling +shops. They are all too fascinating for words," Arline had declared +rapturously as she and Grace were taking a last walk around the great, +gayly decorated room before going to luncheon that day.</p> + +<p>Now, as they stood side by side anxiously watching the steadily +increasing tide of visitors, they agreed that their efforts were about +to be rewarded.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it splendid!" exulted Arline. "And, oh, have you seen the Sphinx, +and isn't she great! How did Emma happen to think of her, let alone +getting her up?"</p> + +<p>"S-h-h!" cautioned Grace in a warning tone. "Some one might hear you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I forgot. Sphinxes are supposed to be shrouded in mystery, aren't +they?"</p> + +<p>"This one is," smiled Grace. Then her face sobered instantly. "I hope no +one else besides ourselves finds out. We ought to keep her identity a +secret. I think the idea is simply great, don't you?"</p> + +<p>Arline nodded. "Come on over and see her," she coaxed.</p> + +<p>A moment later they stood before the entrance to a small tent, hung with +a heavy curtain. Pushing the curtain aside, Arline stepped into the +tent. A burnoosed, turbaned Arab standing inside salaamed profoundly. +The two girls giggled, and there was a stifled, most un-Arab-like echo +from the bronzed son of the desert. Then they paused before a platform +about four feet in height on which reposed what appeared to be a +gigantic Sphinx, her paws stiffly folded in front of her.</p> + +<p>"Ask me a question." This sudden, mysterious croak that issued from +inside the great head caused Arline to start and step back. "Ask me a +question. I am as old as the world. I am the world's great riddle, the +one which has never been solved. Ask me a question, only one, one only." +The eerie voice died away into yards of drapery that extended in huge +folds from the back of the head and far out on the platform.</p> + +<p>"How on earth did you ever get into that affair, and who made it?" asked +Arline curiously.</p> + +<p>"Mystery, all is mystery," croaked the Sphinx.</p> + +<p>"But you said you would answer my question!" persisted Arline.</p> + +<p>"Which one?" plaintively inquired the voice.</p> + +<p>"Both," declared Arline boldly.</p> + +<p>"Only one, only one," was the provoking reply.</p> + +<p>"Then, who made it?" asked Arline.</p> + +<p>"It was made ages ago." Emma Dean's familiar drawl startled both Grace +and Arline. "My brother had it made for a college play called 'Sphinx.' +When we began to plan for the bazaar I sent home for it. I was so afraid +it wouldn't arrive on time. My brother hired an old man who does this +wonderful papier mache work to make it. I made the paws. Rather +realistic, aren't they? All this drapery came with the head. I am inside +the head, sitting on a stool. It's rather dark and stuffy, but it's lots +of fun, too. I can appear before the audience at any moment. The head is +built over a light frame. There is an arrangement inside the head that +makes promenading possible. In fact, I had practiced an attractive +little dance—"</p> + +<p>"Hurrah!" cried Arline. "Another feature. When shall we have it! Won't +that be splendid?"</p> + +<p>"Not this afternoon. Late in the evening," counseled Emma. "I don't wish +to dance more than once, and you know what a college girl audience +means. Now, is there anything else you want to know?"</p> + +<p>There was a sudden murmur of voices outside which silenced Emma +immediately. Then Alberta Wicks, Mary Hampton and Kathleen West were +ushered into the tent.</p> + +<p>"I am the Sphinx," began the far-away voice again in the mammoth head. +"Ask me a question."</p> + +<p>Bowing to the newcomers rather coldly, Grace and Arline turned to leave +the tent. But Grace reflected grimly as she lifted the tent flap that if +any one of the trio had been the all-wise Sphinx, instead of her friend +Emma Dean, there were several questions she might have asked that would +have been disconcerting to say the least.</p> + +<p>A little later she strolled back to the Sphinx's tent, only to find that +amiable riddle besieged by an impatient throng of girls who were eager +to spend their money for the mere sake of hearing the Sphinx's +ridiculous answers to their questions, and incidentally to try if +possible to discover her identity. Emma had succeeded in changing her +voice so completely that the far-away, almost wailing tones of the +Egyptian wonder had little in common with her usual drawl. She and her +faithful Arab had thoroughly enjoyed the attempts of the various girls +to discover who was inside the great head and voluminous drapery.</p> + +<p>"I would never have known who was in there if Emma herself had not told +me. I don't believe any one outside the club knows either," was Grace's +conclusion as she returned to her own booth. But in this she was +mistaken.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>THE ALICE IN WONDERLAND CIRCUS</h3> + + +<p>The Alice in Wonderland Circus went down in the annals of Overton as the +most original "stunt" ever attempted by any particular class. 19— bore +its honors modestly, but was inordinately proud of the achievement of +the Semper Fidelis Club.</p> + +<p>The animals' costumes had been designed by Ruth and Elfreda. After much +poring over half a dozen editions of "Alice," the original illustrations +by "John Tenniel" had appealed most strongly to them, and these had been +copied as faithfully as possible in style and color. The only important +dry goods store in Overton had been ransacked for colored cambrics, +denim and khaki, and under the clever fingers of Ruth, who seemed to +know the exact shape and proportion of every one of the Wonderland +"animals," the Dormouse, the Griffon and the Rabbit had been fitted with +"skins." Elfreda had skilfully designed and made the Mock Turtle's huge +shell and flappers, the Griffon's wings, not to mention ears for at +least half the circus, and Gertrude Wells, whose clever posters were +always in demand, obligingly painted bars, dots, stripes or whatever +touch was needed to make the particular animal a triumph of realism. The +King and Queen looked as though they might have stepped from the pages +of the book, and the Duchess, as played by Anne, was a masterpiece of +acting.</p> + +<p>The circus opened with a grand march of the animals. Then followed the +"Mad Hatter Quadrille," called by the Mad Hatter and danced by the March +Hare, the Dormouse, the Rabbit, the Griffon, the Mock Turtle, the Dodo, +the Duchess and Alice. Then the Mad Hatter stepped to the center of the +ring, flourished his high hat, bowed profoundly, and made a funny little +speech about the accomplishments of the animals, each one walking +solemnly into the middle of the ring as his name was called and clumsily +saluting the audience.</p> + +<p>Then the real circus began. The Dormouse skipped the rope, the Rabbit +balanced a plate on his nose, the Griffon, with a great flapping of +wings, laboriously climbed a ladder and jumped from the top rung to the +ground, a matter of about six feet, where he bowed pompously and waved +his long claws to the audience. Then the Mock Turtle sang "Beautiful +Soup," and wept so profusely he toppled over at the end of the song and +lay flopping on his back. The Mad Hatter and the Griffon hastily raised +him only to find he had made a dreadful dent in his shell. This did not +hinder him from joining his friend, the Griffon, in "Won't You Join the +Dance?" which stately caper they performed around Alice, while the other +animals stood in a circle and marked time with their feet, solemnly +waving their paws and wagging their heads in unison.</p> + +<p>The Cheshire Cat, who had a real Chessy Cat head which Gertrude Wells +had manufactured and painted, and who wore Arline's long squirrel coat +with a squirrel scarf trailing behind for a tail, executed a dance of +quaint steps and low bows. The Dodo jumped or rather walked through +three paper hoops, which had to be lowered to admit his chubby person. +The King and Queen gave a dialogue, every other line of which was "Off +with her head," and the Mad Hatter performed an eccentric dance +consisting of marvelous leaps and bounds that took him from one side of +the ring to the other with amazing rapidity. When he made his bow the +audience shouted with laughter and encored wildly, but with a last +nimble skip the panting Hatter made for the Griffon's ladder and, +seating himself upon it, refused to respond beyond a nod and a careless +wave of his hand. Later he left his perch and proceeded to convulse his +audience by sitting on his tall hat and taking a bite from his teacup, +the three-cornered bite having been carefully removed beforehand and +held temporarily in place with library paste until the proper moment.</p> + +<p>As the Mad Hatter, Elfreda was entirely in her element. Her unusually +keen sense of humor prompted her to make her impersonation of the +immortal Hatter one long to be remembered by those who witnessed the +performance given by the famous animals. She was without doubt the +feature of the circus and the spectators were quick to note and applaud +her slightest movement.</p> + +<p>The circus ended with an all-around acrobatic exhibition. The Dodo +performed on the trapeze. The Mock Turtle and the Cheshire Cat took +turns on a diminutive springboard. The March Hare and the Dormouse +energetically jumped over a small barrel. The Queen and the Duchess had +a fencing match, the Queen using her sceptre, the Duchess the rag baby +she carried, and to which she had sung the "Pepper Song" at intervals +during the performance. The King tossed four colored balls into the air, +keeping them in motion at once. The Rabbit went on balancing his plate +until it slid off his nose, but being tin it struck the ring without +breaking. The Griffon lumbered up and down his ladder, while the King +and Alice, stepping down to the front of the ring, sang their great +duet, "Come, Learn the Way to Wonderland," while, one by one, the +animals left off performing their stunts and, surrounding Alice and the +King, came out strongly on the chorus:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Come, learn the way to Wonderland.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">None of the grown folks understand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Just where it lies,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hid from their eyes.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Tis an enchanted strand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the Hare and the Hatter dance in glee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where curious beasts sit down to tea,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the Mock Turtle sings<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the Griffon has wings,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In curious Wonderland."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>After the animals had romped out of the ring, and romped in again to +take an encore, the audience, who had occupied every reserved seat in +the gallery opposite the ring, and packed every available inch of +standing room there, came downstairs, while those who had stayed +downstairs and peered over one another's shoulders, made a rush for the +reserved seat ticket window. Mr. Redfield, the old gentleman who had +contributed so liberally to the Semper Fidelis Club, chuckled gleefully +over the circus and put in a request that it be given again at the next +public entertainment under the auspices of the club.</p> + +<p>The second performance was given toward the close of the afternoon, and +was even more enthusiastically received. None of the performers left the +gymnasium for dinner that night. They preferred to satisfy their hunger +at the various booths.</p> + +<p>"Oh, there goes Emma," laughed Grace, as late that evening she caught a +glimpse of the Egyptian mystery parading majestically down the room +ahead of her, then stopping at the Japanese booth to exchange a word +with the giggling Emerson twins, who thought the Sphinx the greatest +joke imaginable.</p> + +<p>A little later as Grace was about to return to the gypsy camp she heard +a sudden swish of draperies behind her. Glancing hastily about, she +laughed as she saw the Sphinx's unwieldy head towering above her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Great and Wonderful Mystery—" began Grace.</p> + +<p>But Emma answered almost crossly: "Don't 'Great and Wonderful Mystery' +me. This head is becoming a dead weight, and I'm thirsty and tired, and, +besides, something disagreeable just happened."</p> + +<p>"What was it?" asked Grace unthinkingly. Then, "I beg your pardon, Emma, +I didn't realize the rudeness of my question. Pretend you didn't hear +what I said."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that is all right," responded Emma laconically. "I don't mind +telling you if you will promise on your honor as a junior not to tell a +soul."</p> + +<p>"I promise," agreed Grace.</p> + +<p>"It's about that West person," began Emma disgustedly. "I overheard a +conversation between her and her two friends to-night. How did she +become so friendly with Alberta Wicks and Mary Hampton? They addressed +one another by their first names as though on terms of greatest +familiarity."</p> + +<p>"I don't know, I am sure," answered Grace slowly. "I seldom see either +Miss Wicks or Miss Hampton. When they lived at Stuart Hall I used +frequently to pass them on the campus, but since they have been living +at Wellington House I rarely, if ever, see either of them. It is just as +well, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"Thank goodness, this is their last year here," muttered Emma. "We shall +have peace during our senior year at least, unless some other disturber +appears on the scene."</p> + +<p>"Why, Emma Dean!" exclaimed Grace, "what is the matter with you +to-night? You aren't a bit like your usual self."</p> + +<p>"Then, I'm a successful Sphinx," retorted Emma satirically.</p> + +<p>"Of course you are," smiled Grace. "But you can be a successful Sphinx +and be yourself, too. But you haven't yet told me anything."</p> + +<p>"I'm coming to the information part now," went on Emma. "About an hour +ago, while the circus was in full swing, I slipped out of my Sphinx rig +and, asking Helen to watch it,—she is made up as the Arab, you know,—I +went for a walk around the bazaar. I was sure no one knew that I was the +Sphinx, and the Sphinx was I, for I hadn't told a soul except the club +girls and Helen. You know I've been purposely taking occasional walks +about the gymnasium as Emma Dean. I went over to the Japanese booth for +some tea, and while I was drinking it the circus ended and the girls +began to pile into the garden for tea. All of a sudden I heard some one +say, 'Why didn't you bring your Sphinx costume along, Miss Dean?' It was +that horrid little West girl who spoke. Her voice carried, too, for +every one in the garden heard her, and they all pounced upon me at once. +It made me so angry I rushed out without waiting for my tea, and inside +of five minutes the news had circled the gym, and the Sphinx had ceased +to be the world's great mystery. I got into the costume again, but the +fun was gone. I didn't answer any more questions and I didn't do my +dance. I was looking for you to tell you that the Sphinx was about to +give up the ghost."</p> + +<p>"How could Miss West be so spiteful?" asked Grace vexedly. "Where do you +suppose she heard the news, and who told her? You don't suppose—" Grace +stopped abruptly. A sudden suspicion had seized her.</p> + +<p>"Don't suppose what?" interrogated Emma sharply.</p> + +<p>"Nothing," finished Grace shortly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you do suppose something," declared Emma. "I know just what you +are thinking. You believe as I do, that Miss West listened—"</p> + +<p>"Don't say it, Emma!" exclaimed Grace. "We may both be wrong."</p> + +<p>"Then you do believe——"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Grace bravely. "I admit that suspicion points +toward Miss West, but until we know definitely, we must try to be +fair-minded. I have seen too much unhappiness result from misplaced +suspicion. I know of an instance where a girl was sent to Coventry by +her class for almost a year on the merest suspicion."</p> + +<p>"Not here?" questioned Emma, her eyes expressing the surprise she felt +at this announcement.</p> + +<p>"No," returned Grace soberly. There was finality in her "no."</p> + +<p>"And the moral is, don't jump at conclusions," smiled Emma. "Come on +down to my lair while I remove my Sphinx-like garments and step forth as +plain Emma Dean. Don't look so sober, Grace. I've put my suspicions to +sleep. I'll give even Miss West the benefit of my doubt. I will even go +so far as to forgive her for spoiling my fun to-night. Now smile and +say, 'Emma, I always knew you to be the soul of magnanimity.'"</p> + +<p>Grace laughed outright at this modest assertion, and obligingly repeated +the required words.</p> + +<p>"Now that my reputation has been once more established, and because I +don't feel half so wrathful as I did ten minutes ago," declared Emma, +"let us lay the Sphinx peacefully to rest and do the bazaar arm in arm."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>GRACE MEETS WITH A REBUFF</h3> + + +<p>It was several days before the pleasant buzz of excitement created by +the bazaar had subsided. With a few exceptions the Overton girls who had +turned out, almost in a body, to patronize it, were loud in their +praises of the booths, and spent their money with commendable +recklessness. Outside the circus it was difficult to say which booth had +proved the greatest attraction. But late that evening, after the crowd +had gone home and the proceeds of the entertainment were counted, the +club discovered to their joy that they were nearly six hundred dollars +richer. Arline had laughingly proclaimed the Semper Fidelis Club as a +regular get-rich-quick organization with honest motives.</p> + +<p>By the time the last bit of frivolous decoration had been removed from +the gymnasium, and the big room had recovered its usual business-like +air, the bazaar had become a bit of 19—'s history, and Thanksgiving +plans were in full swing. There had been two meetings of the club, but +to Grace's surprise no mention had been made of Kathleen West's +intentional betrayal of Emma Dean's identity. Grace felt certain that +the majority of the club had heard the story, and with a thrill of pride +she paid tribute to her friends, who, in ignoring the thrust evidently +intended for the club itself, had shown themselves as possessors of the +true Overton spirit. After Emma's one outburst to Grace against Kathleen +she said no more on the subject. Even Elfreda, who usually had something +to say about everything when alone with her three friends, was +discreetly silent on the subject of the newspaper girl. Long ago she had +delivered her ultimatum. To be sure, she went about looking owlishly +wise, but she offered no comment concerning Kathleen's unpleasant +attitude.</p> + +<p>For the time being Grace had put aside all disturbing thoughts and +suspicions, and was preparing to make the most of the four days' +vacation. Mabel Ashe was to be her guest on Thanksgiving Day, and this +in itself was sufficient to banish everything save pleasurable +anticipations from her mind. Then, too, there was so much to be done. +The Monday evening preceding Thanksgiving Grace hurried through her +lessons and, closing her books before she was at all sure that she could +make a creditable recitation in any of her subjects, settled herself to +the important task of letter-writing.</p> + +<p>"There," she announced with satisfaction, after half an hour's steady +work, "Father and Mother can't say I forgot them. Let me see, there are +Nora and Jessica, Mrs. Gray and Mabel Allison. Eleanor owes me a letter, +and, oh, I nearly forgot the Southards, and there is Mrs. Gibson. I +shall have to devote two nights to letter-writing," she added ruefully. +"I do love to receive letters, but it is so hard to answer them."</p> + +<p>"Isn't it, though?" sighed Anne, who was seated at the table opposite +Grace, engaged in a similar task. "Now I wish we were going home, don't +you, Grace?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," returned Grace simply. "But we can't, so there is no use in +wishing. However," she continued, her face brightening, "we are going to +have Mabel with us, and that means a whole lot. All Overton will be glad +to see her—that is, all the juniors and seniors and the faculty and a +few others."</p> + +<p>"There is only one Mabel Ashe," said Anne softly. "Won't it be splendid +to have her with us?"</p> + +<p>Grace nodded. Then, after writing busily for a moment, she looked up and +said abruptly: "There is just one thing that bothers me, Anne, and that +is the way Miss West is behaving. What shall I tell Mabel when she asks +me about her? In my letters I haven't made the slightest allusion to +anything."</p> + +<p>"Tell Mabel the truth," advised Anne calmly. "By that I don't mean that +you need mention the Sphinx affair, but if you say to her frankly that +we have tried to be friendly with Miss West and that she appears +especially to dislike us, she will understand, and nine chances to one +she will be able to point out the reason, which so far no one seems to +know."</p> + +<p>"I suppose I had better tell her," sighed Grace. "I hate to begin a +holiday by gossiping, but something will have to be done, or Mabel will +find herself in an embarrassing position, for I have a curious +presentiment that Miss Kathleen West will pounce upon her the moment she +sees her, just to annoy us."</p> + +<p>Since the evening of the bazaar, when Kathleen had nodded curtly to +Grace at the entrance to the Sphinx's tent, she had neither spoken to +nor noticed the four girls who had in the beginning received her so +hospitably. No one of them quite understood the newspaper girl's +attitude, but as she was often seen in company with Alberta Wicks and +Mary Hampton, they were forced to draw their own conclusions. Grace +fought against harboring the slightest resemblance to suspicion against +the two seniors and their new friend.</p> + +<p>"Does Miss West know that Mabel is coming to Overton for Thanksgiving?" +asked Anne.</p> + +<p>"No," returned Grace, looking rather worried. "I suppose some one ought +to tell her."</p> + +<p>"I'll tell her, if you like," proposed Anne quietly. "I think she is in +her room this evening. I heard her say to one of the girls at dinner +that she intended to study hard until late to-night."</p> + +<p>"No," decided Grace, "it wouldn't be fair for me to shirk my +responsibility. Mabel wrote me about Kathleen West in the first place, +and I promised to look out for her. If she doesn't yearn for my society, +it isn't my fault. I'm not going to be a coward, at any rate. I'll go at +once, while my resolution is at its height. She can't do more than order +me from her room, and having been through a similar experience several +times in my life I shan't mind it so very much," concluded Grace grimly, +closing her fountain pen and laying it beside her half-finished letter. +"I'm going now, Anne. I hope she won't be too difficult."</p> + +<p>Grace walked resolutely down the hall to the door at the end. It was +slightly ajar. Rapping gently, she stood waiting, bravely stifling the +strong inclination to turn and walk away without delivering her message. +She heard a quick step; then she and Kathleen West confronted each +other. Without hesitating, Grace said frankly: "Miss West, Miss Ashe is +to be my guest on Thanksgiving Day. Of late you have avoided me, and my +friends as well. But Mabel is our mutual friend. So I think, at least +while she is here, we ought to put all personal differences aside and +unite in making the day pleasant for her."</p> + +<p>"Nothing like being disinterested, is there?" broke in the other girl +sneeringly, her sharp face looking sharper than ever. "I can quite +understand your anxiety regarding not letting Miss Ashe know how +shabbily you have treated me. Your promises to her didn't hold water, +did they? And now you are afraid she will find you out, aren't you? +Don't worry, I shan't tell her. She'll learn the truth about you and +your three friends soon enough."</p> + +<p>"You know very well I had no such motive," cried Grace, surprised to +indignation. "Besides, I know of no instance in which either my friends +or I have failed in courtesy to you."</p> + +<p>"How innocent you are!" mimicked Kathleen insolently. "You must think me +very blind. Remember, I haven't worked for four years on a newspaper +without having learned a few things."</p> + +<p>Grace felt her color rising. The retort that rose to her lips found its +way into speech. "No doubt your newspaper work has taught you a great +deal, Miss West," she said evenly, "but I have not been in college for +over two years without having learned a few things, also, of which, if I +am not mistaken, you have never acquired even the first rudiments. I am +sorry to have troubled you. Good night."</p> + +<p>With a proud little inclination of the head, Grace turned and walked +down the hall to her own room, leaving the self-centered Kathleen with +an angry color in her thin face and the unpleasant knowledge that though +she might be in college, she was not of it.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>THANKSGIVING AT OVERTON</h3> + + +<p>In spite of the awkwardness of the situation precipitated by the +belligerent newspaper girl, Thanksgiving Day passed off with remarkable +smoothness. Greatly to Grace's surprise, in the morning after Mabel's +arrival at Wayne Hall Kathleen West had appeared in the living-room +where Mabel was holding triumphant court, greeted her with apparent +cordiality, and after remaining in the room for a short time had pleaded +an engagement for the day, and said good-bye.</p> + +<p>"Too bad she couldn't stay with us and go to the game, isn't it?" Mabel +had declared regretfully. "I suppose she is obliged to divide her time. +Miss West is so clever. She must be very popular?" she added +inquiringly.</p> + +<p>At that moment Elfreda purposely began an account of the latest practice +game in which her team had played, and Mabel, who was an ardent +basketball fan, failed to notice that her questioning comment had been +neither answered nor echoed. To the relief of the four friends the +subject of Kathleen West was not renewed during Mabel's stay, and when, +that night, she went to the station surrounded by a large and faithful +bodyguard, all adverse criticism against the girl for whom she had +spoken was locked within the breasts of the four who knew.</p> + +<p>On the Friday after Thanksgiving the first real game between the +freshmen and the sophomore teams took place in the gymnasium. The +freshmen won the game, much to Elfreda's disgust, as she had pinned her +faith on the sophomores. The triumphant team marched around the +gymnasium, lustily singing a ridiculously funny basketball song which it +afterward developed had been composed by none other than Kathleen West.</p> + +<p>"Too bad she isn't up to her song," had been Elfreda's dry comment, with +which the other three girls privately agreed.</p> + +<p>The Morton House girls issued tickets for a play, which had to be +postponed because the leading man (Gertrude Wells) spent Thanksgiving in +the country and missed the afternoon train to Overton. Nothing daunted, +Arline descended upon Grace, Miriam and Anne, pressed them into service +and sent them scurrying about to the houses and boarding places of the +girls they knew to be at home, with eleventh-hour invitations to a fancy +dress party to be held at Morton Hall in lieu of the play, which had to +be postponed until the following week. Arline had stipulated that the +costumes must be strictly original. Wonderland costumes were to be +tabooed. "If we present the circus again later on we don't want to run +the risk of giving any one the slightest chance to grow tired of seeing +the animals," had been her wise edict.</p> + +<p>That night a mixed company of gay and gallant folks danced to the music +of the living-room piano at Morton House. Those receiving invitations +had immediately planned their costumes and by eight o'clock that +evening, resplendent in their own and borrowed finery, were on their way +to the ball. At ten o'clock there had been a brief intermission, when +cakes and ices were served. This had been an unlooked-for courtesy on +the part of Arline, who had plunged recklessly into her month's +allowance for the purchase of the little spread. The ball had lasted +until half-past eleven o'clock, and the participants, after singing to +Arline and rendering her a noisy vote of thanks, had gone home tired and +happy.</p> + +<p>Saturday had been devoted to the "odds and ends" of vacation. The +majority of the girls, having stayed in Overton, paid long-deferred +calls, gave luncheons or dinners at Vinton's or Martell's, or, the day +being unusually clear, went for long walks. Guest House was the +destination of a party of girls of whom Grace made one, and which also +included Miriam, Elfreda, Laura Atkins, Violet Darby and half a dozen +other young women who had elected the five-mile walk, supper, and a +return by moonlight. Arline, Anne and Ruth had at the last moment +decided to attend an illustrated lecture on Paris, to be held in the +Overton Theatre that afternoon, with the gleeful prospect of cooking +their supper at Ruth's that evening, an occasion invariably attended +with at least one laughable mishap, as neither Arline's nor Anne's +knowledge of cooking extended beyond the art of boiling water.</p> + +<p>On the way back from Guest House the pedestrians had stopped at Vinton's +for a rest and ices. As they trooped in the door, they passed Kathleen +West, accompanied by Alberta Wicks, Mary Hampton, and a freshman whom +Grace had frequently noticed in company with the newspaper girl. Several +of the girls with her bowed to the passing trio, but Grace fancied there +was a lack of cordiality in their salutations. She also imagined she +noticed a fleeting gleam of malice in Alberta Wicks's face as the senior +passed their table. Inwardly censuring herself for allowing any such +impression to creep into her mind, Grace dismissed it with an impatient +little shake of the head.</p> + +<p>The walking party indulged in a second round of ices before leaving +Vinton's. Everyone seemed to be in a particularly happy mood, and long +afterward Grace looked back on this night as one of the particular +occasions of her junior year, when everyone and everything seemed to be +in absolute harmony.</p> + +<p>All the way home this exalted, elated mood remained with her. She smiled +to herself as she leisurely prepared for bed at the recollection of her +happy evening. Elfreda's sharp, familiar knock on the door caused her to +start slightly, then she called, "Come in!"</p> + +<p>"Hasn't Anne come home yet?" asked Elfreda, glancing about her, then, +shuffling across the room in her satin mules, she curled herself +comfortably on the end of Grace's couch, and, surveying Grace with +friendly, half-quizzical eyes, said shrewdly, "Well, what's the latest +on the bulletin board?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," smiled Grace. "I didn't look at the one in the hall and +as for the one over at the college, I haven't paid any attention to it +for the last two days. My letters usually come to Wayne Hall."</p> + +<p>Elfreda sniffed disdainfully. "I don't mean either of those bulletin +boards, and you know it, too, Grace Harlowe. I could see danger signals +flying to-night, even if you couldn't. I don't see how you could have +missed them." She eyed Grace searchingly, then said, with conviction, "I +don't believe you did miss them. They were too plain to be missed."</p> + +<p>Grace hesitated, then said frankly: "To tell you the truth, Elfreda, I +did fancy for a moment that Miss Wicks favored me with a very peculiar +look. Then I decided it to be a case of imagination on my part. Those +girls haven't troubled us this year. I don't know——" she began slowly.</p> + +<p>Elfreda interrupted her with an emphatic: "That is just what I've been +telling you. That's what I mean by danger signals. Those two girls will +never forgive you for making them ridiculous the night they locked me in +the haunted house. Last year they had to content themselves with simply +being disagreeable, because they could find no particularly weak spot in +our sophomore armor. They accomplished very little with Laura Atkins and +Mildred Taylor. This year it's different." Elfreda paused to give full +effect to her words. Then she ended slowly and impressively: "Don't +think I'm trying to court calamity, but I am certain that perky little +newspaper woman, as she styles herself, is going to prove a thorn in +your side. You had better write to Mabel and explain matters, then leave +Miss Kathleen West alone. She hasn't spoken to you since the day of the +bazaar, so I can't see that your junior counsel is of any particular use +to her."</p> + +<p>"Still, it seems a shame to give up; besides, it is the first thing +Mabel ever asked me to do," demurred Grace.</p> + +<p>"I know, I've thought of that," continued Elfreda a little impatiently. +"But I don't think you are justified in wasting your whole year's fun +worrying about some one who isn't worth it. If Mabel knew, she would be +the first one to indorse what I have just said."</p> + +<p>"I'm not wasting my year, Elfreda mine," contradicted Grace +good-naturedly. "Just think what a nice time we had to-night! And I'm +getting along splendidly with all my subjects. I belong to the Semper +Fidelis Club, and am having the jolliest kind of times with you girls. +That doesn't sound much like wasting my year, does it?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't say you had wasted it," retorted Elfreda gruffly. "I said, or +rather intended to say, that you would be likely to waste it. You are +the sort of girl who ought to have the best Overton can offer, +because—well—because you deserve it. You think too much about other +people, and not enough about yourself," she concluded shortly.</p> + +<p>"What a selfish Elfreda," laughed Grace, walking across the room and +sitting down beside the stout girl, whose round face looked unusually +severe. "One might think Elfreda Briggs never did an unselfish act in +all her twenty-two years. Now I am going to give you a piece of your own +advice. Stop worrying—about me. Whatever my just desserts are, they'll +overtake me fast enough. Hurrah! Here is our little Anne. Did you have a +nice time, dear, and what did you cook for supper?"</p> + +<p>"I always have a nice time at Ruth's," smiled Anne, "but, if you had +seen the three cooks all trying to spoil the broth and succeeding beyond +their wildest expectations, you would have been greatly edified."</p> + +<p>"I can imagine Arline Thayer gravely bending over that little gas stove +of Ruth's," said Grace.</p> + +<p>"She had all sorts of splendid ideas about what we might make, but no +one had the slightest idea as to how to make anything she proposed."</p> + +<p>"I am afraid none of us would ever set the world on fire as cooks," +observed Elfreda with sarcasm.</p> + +<p>"Where's Miriam?" asked Anne, slipping out of her coat and unpinning her +hat.</p> + +<p>"Writing to her mother," returned Elfreda. "Now tell us what you +cooked."</p> + +<p>Frequent bursts of laughter arose as Anne described Arline's valiant +attempt at making a Spanish omelet from a recipe in a cook-book she had +purchased that very day for twenty-five cents at the little book store +just below the campus. "It was called the 'Model Housewife,' but the +omelet was really a dreadful affair," continued Anne. "Then I let the +potatoes boil dry and they scorched on the bottom, and no one knew how +to make a cream dressing for the peas.</p> + +<p>"Ruth made a Waldorf salad. We had a bottle of dressing, thank goodness. +And Arline made coffee, which she really does know how to make. We had +olives and pickles and cakes, and two dozen of those cunning little +rolls from that German bakery down the street. So we really managed to +get enough to eat after all. There wasn't much left except the omelet, +and no one wanted that."</p> + +<p>"I don't suppose it would be of the least use to propose tea," said +Grace innocently.</p> + +<p>"Well, of course, if you insist," declared Elfreda politely.</p> + +<p>At this juncture Miriam appeared in the door. "I thought I'd drop in for +a minute. You were making so much noise I suspected that a tea party was +in progress," she said significantly.</p> + +<p>"We were just talking about making tea," declared Anne. "In fact, I was +on the point of remarking that tea was really the one thing needed to +complete our happiness."</p> + +<p>A little gust of laughter greeted this pointed remark. It echoed down +the hall, and was carried through the half-opened door of the room at +the end, where a girl sat busily engaged in writing a theme. She lay +down her pen, listened for a moment, then went on writing, a sarcastic +little smile playing about her lips. But in her eyes flashed two danger +signals.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>ARLINE MAKES THE BEST OF A BAD MATTER</h3> + + +<p>"What shall we do for our eight girls this year?" asked Grace +reflectively of Arline Thayer. It was barely two weeks until Christmas +and the two girls had decided to spend their half holiday in doing the +Overton stores.</p> + +<p>"I know the stock better than the saleswomen themselves do," chuckled +Arline, "but it is great fun to go on exploring expeditions and watch +other people buy the things. Of course, I always buy something, too, +unless I am deep in that state of temporary poverty that lies in wait +for me at the end of every month."</p> + +<p>"Of course you do," agreed Grace, with an answering chuckle. "Even +though it is a hat and you feel obliged to dispose of it before going +home, so that the Morton House girls won't laugh at you."</p> + +<p>"Who told you about it?" asked Arline in a half-vexed tone.</p> + +<p>"You told me, don't you remember?" asked Grace.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, of course. Wasn't I a goose?"</p> + +<p>"Thank you," bowed Grace mockingly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't mean because I told you," apologized Arline hastily. "I +mean, wasn't I a goose to buy it? It was in this very store. It looked +so pretty. I was determined to have it. Outside the store it looked +quite different. It was a perfectly honest dollar-and-a-half hat. But in +the store under the electric lights it was really a pretentious affair. +Ruth was with me at the time, and, wise little pilot that she is, tried +to steer me past it. But I was determined to have it. After I left Ruth, +I opened the box and looked at it in broad daylight, and then I happened +to meet my washerwoman's daughter, and I gave it to her. It was so +fortunate I met her, wasn't it?" finished Arline plaintively.</p> + +<p>"For the washerwoman's daughter, yes," returned Grace.</p> + +<p>"It served me right for buying it. I spend too much money foolishly," +said Arline self-accusingly. "I'm going to stop being so reckless. +Suppose my father were to lose all his money and I couldn't even come +back to college next year? I would, though. I'd go and live with Ruth +and borrow enough money of the Semper Fidelis Club to see me through my +senior year. Then, I suppose, I'd have to teach or something afterward. +I think it would be 'or something.' I don't believe teaching is my +vocation."</p> + +<p>Grace listened in smiling silence to Arline's remarks. A vision of the +little blue-eyed golden-haired girl who always did exactly as she +pleased in the prim guise of a teacher was infinitely diverting.</p> + +<p>"You haven't answered my question about our girls yet," reminded Grace, +as they walked down the center aisle of the larger of the two Overton +stores, stopping frequently at the various counters to examine the +display of holiday wares.</p> + +<p>"Haven't you any suggestions?" counter-questioned Arline. "I have been +depending on you for inspiration."</p> + +<p>"Nothing new or original," answered Grace doubtfully. "Last year's stunt +was beautifully carried out, but we can't repeat it this year without +running the risk of some one finding out just who our eight girls are +and all about them. Then, too, what we did last year was on the spur of +the moment. If we tried to do the same thing this year it might fall +flat, on account of being too carefully planned. Besides, these girls +have the privilege of borrowing from the Semper Fidelis fund now, and I +imagine most of them have done so. Of course, only the treasurer knows +that."</p> + +<p>"It looks to me as though there were more real need of a little +Christmas cheer," declared Arline thoughtfully. "Couldn't we arrange +some kind of entertainment to take place before we all go?"</p> + +<p>"But that wouldn't seem much like Christmas unless it happened on +Christmas Day," objected Grace. "We'll all be at home then."</p> + +<p>"Why not have a talk with Miss Barlow?" proposed Arline eagerly. "You +are the one to do it. You know her better than I do. Suppose we call +upon her within the next few days. Then you can find out what she and +her friends intend to do. If she says they are all going to stay here, +then ask her if she wouldn't like to—" Arline paused and looked rather +helplessly at Grace. "That's as far as I can go," she confessed. "I +haven't the least idea of what I should ask her."</p> + +<p>"I am equally destitute of ideas," agreed Grace. "Perhaps the +inspiration is yet to come."</p> + +<p>"It will have to come soon then, or we won't have the time to carry it +out," commented Arline dryly. "Keep it in mind, and if you think of +anything let me know instantly, won't you?"</p> + +<p>Grace gave the desired promise and thought no more of it until she and +Arline almost came into violent collision just outside the library the +following Monday evening.</p> + +<p>"Grace Harlowe!" exclaimed the little girl. "I was coming to Wayne Hall +to see you the instant I finished here. It has come, Grace! The great +inspiration! But it is a dreadful disappointment to me." Several big +tears chased each other down Arline's rosy cheeks. Her lip quivered, and +with a little, choking sob she sat down on the lowest step of the +library and began to cry softly.</p> + +<p>"Arline, dear child, whatever is the matter?" cried Grace in quick +alarm. A moment later she had slipped to the step beside Arline, passing +one arm about her friend's shoulder. She could scarcely believe this +weeping, disconsolate little creature to be the smiling, self-assured +Arline Thayer, who was forever receiving flowers from admiring freshmen +crushes.</p> + +<p>"Father's going to—Europe—on—important business," quavered Arline +brokenly. "He—he sails to-morrow morning and he can't possibly return +before the middle of January." She raised her sad little face to Grace's +sympathetic one, then, straightening up, she went on bravely, "We had so +many lovely Christmas plans."</p> + +<p>"Come home with me, Arline," begged Grace. "I'd love to have you."</p> + +<p>Arline shook her blonde head, at the same time slipping her hand into +Grace's. "I thought of that, too," she returned softly. "I was going to +ask you if I might go home with you for Christmas. Then Ruth and I had a +talk. I had asked her to go home with me, and she had refused because +she is so afraid of outwearing her welcome. Then came Father's letter. +Ruth was a dear about that. She said at once that if I wished to go home +and felt that I needed her she would go, but I couldn't bear to think of +spending Christmas in that big, lonely house. It is Father that makes it +seem so wonderful to go home." Arline's lip quivered piteously. "He and +I could be happy if we were the poorest of the poor. You must visit me +some time, Grace. Perhaps we could have an Easter house party. Wouldn't +that be splendid?" Arline's woe-be-gone face brightened. Grace patted +her hand.</p> + +<p>"Get up, Arline, before some one sees you," she advised. "Whoever heard +of proud little Daffydowndilly Thayer crying like an ordinary mortal?" +Grace went on soothing Arline in this half-serious fashion, which +presently had its effect.</p> + +<p>"You are so comforting, Grace," sighed Arline, as she rose from the +steps, an expression of gratitude in her pretty blue eyes. "Can't you +walk over to the house with me? I want you to hear my plan and tell me +what you think of it."</p> + +<p>"I could put off my library business until to-morrow," reflected Grace, +smiling a little. "It will be a case of doing as I please instead of +doing as I ought. Still, as a loyal member of Semper Fidelis it is my +duty to comfort my sorrowing comrades. Don't you think so?"</p> + +<p>Arline laughed an almost happy response to Grace's question.</p> + +<p>"But I mustn't stay long," warned Grace a little later, as, seated +opposite Arline in the latter's room, she awaited the unfolding of +Arline's "inspiration."</p> + +<p>"I'm going to stay here for Christmas," announced Arline with the +finality of one who knows her own mind. "Ruth is coming up to live with +me for the whole vacation, too. That isn't the inspiration, though. That +is only the first part of it. The second part is that Ruth and I are +going to see to the eight girls, and all the others who aren't going +away from Overton. What do you think of that?"</p> + +<p>"I think it is dear in you, Arline," responded Grace very earnestly. "I +only wish I might stay to help you. However, Father and Mother have +first claim on my vacation. But let me help you plan and get things +ready before I go. I'll be here until a week from next Thursday, you +know."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I shall need you," Arline assured Grace. "I thought we might have +Christmas dinner at Vinton's and Martell's, too. I've thought it all +out. Both restaurants depend largely on the Overton girls' patronage. +Naturally, they are very dull at Christmas time. My idea was to +interview both proprietors and see if for once they wouldn't combine and +furnish the same menu at the same price per plate, the price to be not +more than fifty cents. It must be just an old-fashioned turkey dinner +with plenty of dressing and vegetables. We must have plum pudding, too, +and all the things that go with a real Christmas dinner."</p> + +<p>"But neither Vinton's nor Martell's would serve that sort of Christmas +dinner for fifty cents," said Grace slowly. "I don't wish to discourage +you, but—"</p> + +<p>"I know that, too," broke in Arline eagerly, "but no one else need know. +I'm going to take my check that Father always gives me for theatres and +things when I'm at home, and spend it to make up the difference. It will +more than cover the extra expense of the dinner. I'd like to give the +dinner to the girls, but of course that is out of the question. They +wouldn't like it. However, if they are allowed to pay fifty cents for it +they will feel independent, and, nine chances out of ten, won't trouble +themselves about the actual cost of the dinner, as have some persons I +might mention," ended Arline meaningly.</p> + +<p>Both girls laughed. Then Grace said admiringly: "It is a splendidly +unselfish idea, and you and Ruth are the very ones to carry it out. +Shall you have a play or anything afterward?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, if we can find a good one. I thought we might have a New Year's +masquerade party here. It will be an innovation for these girls. I am +not very sure of anything yet, except that I am not going to New York +and that I must do something to amuse myself while the rest of my +friends are reposing in the bosoms of their families. After all, mine is +really a selfish motive," said the little girl whimsically.</p> + +<p>"Hush!" exclaimed Grace, laying her hand lightly against Arline's lips. +"I shall not allow you to say slighting things of yourself. I have just +one remark to make. Be very diplomatic, Arline. If any of these girls +who can't afford to go home for the holidays were even to imagine +themselves objects of charity, your dinner plan would be a failure. +Don't tell a soul about it except Ruth."</p> + +<p>"I know," nodded Arline wisely. "I had thought of that, too. Never fear, +I won't breathe it to another soul."</p> + +<p>"My half hour is more than up," exclaimed Grace ruefully, glancing +toward the little French clock on Arline's chiffonier. "I must hurry +away this instant. I'll see you again in a day or two. I am so sorry for +your disappointment. You're the bravest little Daffydowndilly. If my +prospects of going home were suddenly swept away, I'm afraid I'd be too +busy with my own woes to think about making other people happy."</p> + +<p>"You would do just what I am planning to do, Grace Harlowe," declared +Arline emphatically. "After all, perhaps it is just as well I can't +always have my own way. I might become a monument of selfishness."</p> + +<p>"There doesn't seem to be much danger of it," laughed Grace, as she put +on her hat and slipped into her long coat. "There is a strong +possibility, however, that 'not prepared' will be my watchword +to-morrow. I think I shall write a theme on the decline of the art of +study and use personal illustrations. It seems such a shame that +mid-years had to come skulking along on the very heels of Christmas, +doesn't it?"</p> + +<p>Arline nodded. "I haven't looked at my French for to-morrow, either," +she confessed, "and I've been saying 'not prepared' for the last two +recitations. Ruth and I have planned a systematic study campaign during +vacation, so you see the ill wind will blow some little good," she +concluded wistfully.</p> + +<p>Grace smiled very tenderly at the little, golden-haired girl who was +bearing her cross bravely, almost gayly. "Good-night, little +Daffydowndilly," she said impulsively, bending to kiss Arline's rosy +cheek. "I think you can teach all of us a lesson in real unselfishness."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>PLANNING THE CHRISTMAS DINNER</h3> + + +<p>The ensuing days before Christmas were filled to the brim with business +for Grace and Arline, who had been making secret tours of investigation +about Overton with regard to the girls who were not going to their homes +or to friends for the vacation. The managers at Martell's and Vinton's +had been interviewed, and both proprietors had agreed to furnish +practically the same dinner at the same price, which was considerably +more than fifty cents, and was to be paid privately from Arline's own +pocket money.</p> + +<p>"I feel like a conspirator," confided Arline to Grace as the two girls +sat at the library table in the living room at Wayne Hall late one +afternoon going over a long list of names and addresses which they had +obtained by dint of much walking and inquiring.</p> + +<p>"But it is such a delightful conspiracy," reminded Grace. "One doesn't +often conspire to make other people happy. I hope the girls will fall in +readily with your plan."</p> + +<p>"I shall have to be as wise as a serpent," smiled Arline, "and as +diplomatic as—as—Miriam Nesbit. She is the most diplomatic person I +ever knew."</p> + +<p>"Isn't she, though?" agreed Grace smilingly. "Yes, my dear +Daffydowndilly, you have a delicate task before you. Playing Lady +Bountiful to the girls who are left behind without them suspecting you +won't be easy. There are certain girls who would languish in their rooms +all day, rather than accept a mouthful of food that savored of charity. +I don't believe our eight girls ever suspected us of playing Santa Claus +to them last year."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am certain they never knew," returned Arline quickly. "Of course, +there was a remote chance that they and the various girls, who +contributed might compare notes. But those who gave presents and money +were in honor bound not to ask questions or even discuss the matter +among themselves. I know the Morton House girls never said a word, too."</p> + +<p>"Neither did the Wayne Hallites," rejoined Grace. "Even Miriam, Anne and +Elfreda asked no questions."</p> + +<p>"Doesn't it seem wonderful to think that girls can be so splendidly +impersonal and honorable?" commented Arline admiringly. "College is the +very place to cultivate that attitude. Living up to college traditions +means being honorable in the highest sense of the word. There are plenty +of girls who come here without realizing what being an Overton girl +means, until they find themselves face to face with the fact that their +standards are not high enough. That is why one hears so much about +finding one's self. College is like a great mirror. When one first +enters it, one takes a quick glance at one's self and is pleased with +the effect. Later, when one stops for a more comprehensive survey, one +discovers all sorts of imperfections, and it takes four years of +constant striving with one's self as well as one's studies to make a +satisfactory reflection."</p> + +<p>"What a quaint idea!" exclaimed Grace. "We might evolve a play from that +and call it 'The Magic Mirror.' That would be a stunt for a show. Miriam +Nesbit could do a college girl. She looks the part. But here, I am miles +off my subject. Suppose we go back to our girls. How are you going to +propose the dinner plan, Arline?"</p> + +<p>"I'm going to wait until every last girl that is going home has +departed, bag and baggage; then I shall post a bulletin on the big +board, asking all the stay-heres to meet me in the gymnasium," planned +Arline. "I shall say that as I am going to stay over and didn't fancy +eating my Christmas dinner alone I thought perhaps the girls who had no +particular plans for the day would like to join me at either Martell's +or Vinton's. Then I'll explain about the price of the dinner, etc., all +in a perfectly offhand manner, and let them do the rest. There are +anywhere from one to two hundred girls who live at the various rooming +and boarding houses who will be glad to come. Many of them have never +been inside either Vinton's or Martell's. You would hardly believe it, +but it's true."</p> + +<p>"I do believe it," said Grace soberly. "It seems a shame, too, when I +think of the amount of time and money we spend there."</p> + +<p>"Well, I haven't grown philanthropic enough to give up going to either +one," declared Arline. "They are my havens of refuge when Morton House +cooking deteriorates, as it frequently does. Ask me for my cloak or even +my best new pumps, but don't tear me away from my favorite haunts."</p> + +<p>"I won't," promised Grace. "I am afraid I feel the same. No chance for +reformation along that line. Shall we send the eight girls gifts or a +present of money this year, or both?"</p> + +<p>"I suspect they have all borrowed from the Semper Fidelis fund this +year," was Arline's quick answer. "Suppose we send presents, and ask our +club girls alone to contribute toward them. If every one we asked gave +two dollars apiece, that would mean twenty-four dollars. We could invest +it in gloves, neckwear and pretty things that most poor girls are +obliged to do without. We gave money last year because those girls had +no one to help them. This year Semper Fidelis stands behind them. +Besides, some one might find it out this time. I said I was certain they +never knew, but I always had a curious idea that Miss Barlow suspected +you, Grace. Whenever I meet her she always speaks of you with positive +reverence."</p> + +<p>A flush rose to Grace's face. "How ridiculous," she murmured. "You are +the real heroine of that adventure. Have you decided on your programme +for the week yet?"</p> + +<p>"Only the costume party and a basketball game, if we can scare up two +teams, and a winter picnic at Hunter's Rock, if it isn't too cold. A +play, if we can gather up enough actors, and a dance in the gymnasium. +I'm going to give an afternoon tea, and that's all, I think. They will +have to amuse themselves the rest of the time," finished Arline with a +sigh. "There are so many ifs attached to my plans."</p> + +<p>"I predict a busy two weeks for you," said Grace, "but then—"</p> + +<p>From the room adjoining, which opened into the living room and was used +as a parlor, came the sound of a slight cough. Grace was on her feet in +an instant. With a bound she sprang toward the curtained archway and, +pushing it aside, peered sharply into the room. It was empty.</p> + +<p>"Did you hear some one cough, Arline?" she asked anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Arline, who had joined her. "The sound came from in here, +didn't it?"</p> + +<p>"So I imagined," declared Grace in a puzzled tone. "Perhaps it came from +the hall. No one could have escaped from here before I reached the door +without my hearing them. It startled me, because we had been talking so +confidentially. I glanced in as we passed the door when we went into the +living room and there wasn't a soul in sight. Whoever coughed a few +moments ago must have slipped into the room and slipped out again."</p> + +<p>"Then, whoever it is has heard the very things we didn't wish known!" +exclaimed Arline in consternation. "Now I can't carry out any of my +plans. How perfectly dreadful!"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it was Mrs. Elwood," said Grace hopefully.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Elwood is far too stout to walk so lightly and vanish so rapidly," +discouraged Arline. "I—it—must have been some one who was trying to +hear."</p> + +<p>"If that is the case, the person is in this house and must be found and +sworn to secrecy," said Grace sternly. "I am afraid we were talking too +loudly. However, the person may have only come as far as the door, then +passed on upstairs. Suppose we go up and ask all the girls. We shall +feel better satisfied, and they won't object to being interviewed."</p> + +<p>But all efforts to locate the accidental or intentional listener failed. +Many of the girls had not yet come in from their classes, and those whom +Grace found in their rooms had evidently been there for some time. +Kathleen West was among those still out. Miss Ainslee informed her +visitors of this fact with an unmistakable sigh of relief that Grace +interpreted with a slight smile. As she went slowly down the stairs to +the living room, followed by Arline, whose baby face wore an expression +of deepest gloom, the door bell rang and the maid admitted the newspaper +girl. She swept past the two juniors who stood at the foot of the stairs +without the slightest sign of recognition, and neither girl saw the look +of triumph that animated her face the instant she had turned her back +upon them and hurried up the stairs.</p> + +<p>"What shall we do?" asked Arline as once more they seated themselves at +the library table opposite each other.</p> + +<p>"We can't do anything until we find the girl who listened, and the +question is how are we to find her?" Grace made a little gesture of +despair.</p> + +<p>Arline shrugged her dainty shoulders. "I don't know. Perhaps she will +never repeat what she has heard. Curiosity alone may have prompted her +to listen. We may be agreeably disappointed."</p> + +<p>Grace shook her head. "I wish I could believe that," she said. "I don't +wish to croak, but I have a curious conviction that the person who +listened had a motive deeper than mere curiosity."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>A TISSUE PAPER TEA</h3> + + +<p>"What in the name of all mysterious is going on between you and +Alice-In-Wonderland Daffydowndilly Thayer?" demanded Elfreda Briggs as +she lovingly wrapped a large pasteboard box in white tissue paper and +tied it with a huge bow of scarlet satin ribbon. "This is Miriam's +present," she drawled calmly. "You will observe that she has obligingly +turned her back while I am engaged in wrestling with wrapping it. I +never could tie a bow. I have had this box in the closet for a week, and +it has fallen out every time we opened the door, but Miriam, beloved +angel, hasn't shown the slightest curiosity. You may look, my dear, the +big box is all put away," she declared, as though addressing a very +small child.</p> + +<p>"What a ridiculous person you are, J. Elfreda Briggs," laughed Miriam. +"One might think me at the kindergarten age, instead of your guardian +and keeper."</p> + +<p>"Tell me what it is, Elfreda," teased Grace.</p> + +<p>"On one condition," answered Elfreda, reaching for a small square box +and beginning to wrap it in holly paper. "Tell me what you and Arline +are planning!"</p> + +<p>"It's a secret," returned Grace. "I'd love to tell you, but I am pledged +until the day we go home. When we are all in the train and it has +started on the home stretch then you shall know."</p> + +<p>"There is no time like the present," invited Elfreda.</p> + +<p>"No," laughed Grace, shaking her head. "Not now. I have given my promise +to Arline."</p> + +<p>"She won't tell even me," smiled Anne Pierson, who, with Grace, had +carried her Christmas gifts to Miriam's and Elfreda's room, in answer to +Elfreda's invitation to a tissue paper tea. "Bring all your stuff," +Elfreda directed. "There will be plenty of paper and ribbon and twine +and tea and cakes if I have time to go for them." Cheered with the +prospect of tea and cakes, which were a certainty in spite of Elfreda's +provisional promise, the two guests had come, their arms full of +bundles.</p> + +<p>"Well, if she won't tell <i>you</i>, the rest of us might as well save our +breath," declared Elfreda. "Never mind, we have only two more days to +wait. Oh, aren't you glad you're going home? I have been homesick for +the last three days. I'm glad we are going to stay in Fairview and have +an old-fashioned Christmas. I am going to drive to the woods and cut +down my own Christmas tree, too."</p> + +<p>"That reminds me, Miriam, we must make up a party and go to Upton Wood +to see old Jean. We didn't see him last summer on account of his being +away up in northwestern Canada. He went as a guide. Don't you remember? +In Mother's last letter she wrote that he had been seen in Oakdale. That +means that he has come back to his cabin in Upton Wood."</p> + +<p>"Hurrah!" exclaimed Miriam, waving a long, narrow package over her head. +"That means a winter picnic, and supper at old Jean's cabin."</p> + +<p>"Who is old Jean?" asked Elfreda curiously.</p> + +<p>"Come down to Oakdale between Christmas and New Year and go with us on +the picnic," teased Miriam. "You can see old Jean for yourself."</p> + +<p>"Can't do it," responded Elfreda. "I am strictly Pa's and Ma's girl this +time. I've promised."</p> + +<p>"Then I suppose I shall have to enlighten you," smiled Grace. "Jean is +an old Frenchman, a hunter who drifted down to Oakdale from somewhere in +Canada. He has a log cabin in Upton Wood, a forest just east of Oakdale. +To him I owe the beautiful set of fox furs, you have so often admired. +He had the skins dressed for me, and Mother sent them to a furrier's in +New York and had them made into a muff and scarf for me. I have known +him since I was a little girl."</p> + +<p>"Lucky you," commented Elfreda. "There, I've finished my packages. I'm +going out to buy cakes. You have worked nobly. This Saturday afternoon, +at least, has been well spent, thanks to my tissue paper tea. Now we'll +have real tea." Piling her smaller packages into a neat heap, she made a +dive for her long brown coat and fur cap. "Don't dare to touch one of +those packages. You might guess what is in them. Good-bye. I'll be back +before you know it."</p> + +<p>As the door closed after her with a resounding bang, Miriam remarked +affectionately: "Elfreda is in her element. She loves to play hostess +and give tea parties."</p> + +<p>"She is becoming one of the important girls in college, isn't she?" +observed Anne. "I was so glad to see her rushed by the Phi Beta Gammas."</p> + +<p>"She was more moved than she would admit over being asked to join them," +returned Miriam. "She used to make ridiculous remarks about them and +call them the P. B. Gammas, but in her heart she looked upon them with +positive awe. Wasn't it nice to think we were all asked?"</p> + +<p>"I should say so," agreed Grace. "It would have been dreadful if one of +us had been left out." She patted her sorority pin with intense +satisfaction. "In spite of belonging to the most important sorority in +college, there never will be another sorority like the Phi Sigma Tau, +will there, girls?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Miriam, smiling with a reminiscent tenderness at sound of the +familiar name.</p> + +<p>"Dear old P. S. T.," murmured Anne. "How I wish we might call a meeting +now and have every member present."</p> + +<p>"There is bound to be one vacant place when we gather home next week," +said Grace a trifle sadly.</p> + +<p>"The Lady Eleanor," sighed Miriam. "I hope we'll see her some time next +year."</p> + +<p>The arrival of Elfreda, her arms filled with bundles, cut short Miriam's +reflections. One by one Elfreda calmly laid down her packages and began +preparations for her tissue paper tea. The stout girl's mood seemed to +have changed, however. She answered her companions' gay sallies rather +abstractedly, with the air of one whose thoughts were anywhere but on +her guests. Several times Grace glanced up to find Elfreda's eyes fixed +reflectively upon her.</p> + +<p>When, at five o'clock, she announced her intention of going for a walk +before dinner, Elfreda gave her another peculiar look and announced her +intention of accompanying her. Anne and Miriam, who had elected to +occupy the time before dinner in writing to the Southards, declined +Grace's invitation, and as the two girls walked briskly down the street, +Elfreda breathed a deep sigh of relief. "With all due respect to Miriam +and Anne, I am glad they didn't join us," she said coolly.</p> + +<p>"What is on your mind now?" asked Grace shrewdly.</p> + +<p>"So you realize at last that there is something on my mind, do you!" +retorted Elfreda grimly. "I began to think you never could. I made all +kinds of signals to you with my eyes."</p> + +<p>"I thought they were signals, but wasn't sure," said Grace quickly.</p> + +<p>"Well, you can be sure now. I don't want you to think me a Paul Pry, but +I know all about that Christmas business last year."</p> + +<p>"What 'Christmas business'?" asked Grace sharply.</p> + +<p>"You know very well what I mean, the eight girls and all that."</p> + +<p>"Why—who——" began Grace in displeased astonishment.</p> + +<p>"No, I didn't try to find out," interrupted Elfreda. "You know me better +than that. No one told me, either. I just put two and two together. I +could see last year that——"</p> + +<p>"Is there anything you can't see?" exclaimed Grace.</p> + +<p>"Not much," responded Elfreda modestly. "I knew, of course, you would do +something for those girls this year."</p> + +<p>"You could see that, I suppose," said Grace satirically.</p> + +<p>"Exactly," nodded Elfreda with an irresistible grin. Their eyes meeting, +both girls laughed. Elfreda's face sobered first. "My news isn't +pleasant, Grace. Read this." Slipping her hand into her coat pocket she +drew forth a half sheet of paper partly covered with writing. Grace +received it wonderingly:</p> + +<p>"Two Overton College Girls Play Lady Bountiful to Their Needy +Classmates," she read. The words were arranged to form headlines, and +below was written: "The latest whim of two wealthy students of Overton +College has taken the form of Sweet Charity, and impecunious students of +Overton whose finances will not permit of their making long railway +journeys home for Christmas are to be the object of these young women's +solicitude. Their less fortunate classmates will be their guests at a +dinner on Christmas which by special arrangement will be served +at——" The writing ended with the bottom of the sheet.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of that?" demanded Elfreda laconically.</p> + +<p>A tide of crimson rose to Grace's face. "I think it is contemptible," +she cried. "When and where did you find it, Elfreda?"</p> + +<p>"Just outside the door of the room at the end of the hall," replied +Elfreda. "I picked it up as I was coming back from the delicatessen +shop."</p> + +<p>Grace's eyes flashed. "I suspected as much," she said shortly. "What +does this look like to you, Elfreda?"</p> + +<p>"Newspaper copy," replied Elfreda promptly. "It isn't the first, either. +I happen to know she writes college stuff and sends it to her paper +every week. I knew that long ago. I subscribed to the Sunday edition of +her paper on purpose. I know her articles, too. She signs them +'Elizabeth Vassar.' I have been quietly censoring them all along, ready +to object if she once overstepped the line. So far she hasn't. I didn't +know this was her copy until I had read it. Then it dawned upon me what +the whole thing meant. This is the beginning of an article designed +purely for spite. It is a direct stab at you and Arline. I suppose +certain other people have influenced her against you, Grace. These very +people will see to the circulation of the paper here at Overton, too, +when the article appears, or I'm no prophet."</p> + +<p>"I suppose so," assented Grace almost wearily. "I am sure I can't think +of any reason other than spite for this." She took a few steps in +silence, her eyes bent on the sheet of paper.</p> + +<p>"You had better hurry and do something about this," advised Elfreda, +lightly touching the paper with her forefinger, "or it will be too +late."</p> + +<p>Grace glanced up with a slight start.</p> + +<p>"Once she finds the first of her copy missing it won't take her long to +rewrite it," reminded Elfreda. "She may have mailed it by this time, +although I hardly think so. I am afraid you will have trouble with her. +She looks like one of the do-as-I-please-in-spite-of-you kind. What's +the matter, Grace? What makes you look so funny?"</p> + +<p>"I know where I saw it!" exclaimed Grace enigmatically, apparently deaf +to Elfreda's questions. "It was in the note. She wrote it. Strange I +never thought of that."</p> + +<p>"Grace Harlowe," demanded Elfreda with asperity, "have you suddenly +taken leave of your senses?"</p> + +<p>"No," returned Grace, her gray eyes gleaming wrathfully, her lips set in +a determined line as she faced about. "I've just found them. Yes, +Elfreda, I shall certainly call on Miss West, and at once."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>A DOUBTFUL VICTORY</h3> + + +<p>During the walk to Wayne Hall, Elfreda could scarcely keep pace with +Grace's flying feet. She made no complaint, however, but kept sturdily +at her companion's side, holding her breath and closing her lips tightly +to keep from panting. Grace ran into her own room for a moment, then +back to Elfreda, who stood waiting in the upstairs hall.</p> + +<p>"Shall I leave you here?" she asked in a low tone as Grace returned, a +second folded paper in her hand.</p> + +<p>"No," replied Grace. "I think it would be well for you to go with me. I +don't know any one else I'd rather have," she added honestly.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," bowed Elfreda, flushing and looking embarrassed at the +compliment. "I'll never desert Micawber—Harlowe, I mean."</p> + +<p>"Look serious. I am ready," said Grace softly. Then she knocked +imperatively upon the door. There was a tense moment of waiting, then +the door was opened by Kathleen West herself. Her sharp face looked +still sharper as she eyed her visitors with ill-concealed disapproval.</p> + +<p>"Good evening, Miss West," said Grace with distant politeness. "If you +are not too busy, can you spare Miss Briggs and me a few moments? We +have something of grave importance to say to you."</p> + +<p>"Please make your business as brief as possible," snapped Kathleen, +holding the door as though ready to close it in their faces the instant +they stated their errand.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said Grace with unruffled calm. "We had better step inside +your room, for a moment, at least. The hall is hardly the place for what +I have to say."</p> + +<p>The newspaper girl darted a swift, appraising glance at Grace. Her +shrewd eyes fell before the steady light of Grace's gray ones. "Come +in," she said shortly, then in a sarcastic tone, "Shall I close the +door?"</p> + +<p>"It would be better, I think," returned Grace in quietly significant +tones.</p> + +<p>The color flooded Kathleen West's sallow face. Her eyes began to flash +ominously. "Your tone is insulting, Miss Harlowe!" she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"I answered your question, Miss West," returned Grace evenly. "However, +I did not come here to quarrel with you. My errand has to do with the +articles you write for the Sunday edition of your paper which you sign +'Elizabeth Vassar.' Miss Briggs has been following them for some time +with a great deal of interest. This afternoon she found a part of what +is evidently copy for an article."</p> + +<p>Before Grace could go on Kathleen West had turned imperatively toward +Elfreda. "Give it to me at once," she commanded. "I have hunted high and +low for it. Your finding it is very strange, I must say. I am sure it +was never off my desk."</p> + +<p>Elfreda half closed her eyes and regarded the newspaper girl with the +air of one viewing a rare curiosity for the first time. "Then your desk +must be on the hall floor just outside the door," was her dry retort. +"At least that is where I found this paper." A certain significant ring +in the girl's voice admitted of no contradiction. For a brief interval +no one spoke. Then Elfreda said smoothly, "As we appear to understand +that point, go on, Grace."</p> + +<p>"Give me my copy," reiterated Kathleen sullenly, before Grace had a +chance to continue.</p> + +<p>"Miss West," returned Grace very quietly, "Miss Briggs and I have read +the copy which Miss Briggs found, and I have come here to say that you +will be doing not only yourself but a great many other girls an +injustice if you make public Miss Thayer's plans for the girls who +remain at Overton for the holidays. Miss Thayer wishes the girls to feel +perfectly independent in this matter, and whatever she contributes +privately toward it is strictly her own affair. If this article appears +on the school and college page, some of these girls are sure to hear of +it and feel humiliated and resentful, particularly if the rest of the +article is as callously cruel as its beginning."</p> + +<p>Kathleen West laughed disagreeably. "That is not my affair. I have +agreed to furnish my paper with snappy college news. This makes a good +story. To supply my paper with good stories is my first business."</p> + +<p>"Pardon me," retorted Grace scornfully, "I should imagine that loyalty +to one's self and one's college constituted an Overton girl's first +business."</p> + +<p>"I can't see that this particular story has anything to do with being +loyal to Overton," sneered Kathleen. "As for being loyal to myself, that +is for me to judge. Who dares say I am disloyal?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing very daring about that," drawled Elfreda. "I say so."</p> + +<p>"You," stormed Kathleen. "Who are you?"</p> + +<p>"J. Elfreda Briggs," murmured the stout girl sweetly.</p> + +<p>"Yes," continued Kathleen sneeringly, "I have heard of the jumble you +made of your freshman year. It took a number of influential friends to +pull you into favor again, I believe."</p> + +<p>"Not half such a jumble as you are making of yours," smiled Elfreda. +Then she went on gravely: "I am glad you mentioned that freshman year. I +did behave like an imbecile. Thanks to a number of girls who believed I +was worth bothering with, I have learned to know what Overton requires +of me. If you are wise, you'll face about, too. You will find it pays, +and there are all sorts of pleasant compensations for what one expends +in effort. That's all. I've said my say."</p> + +<p>A curious, half-admiring expression flitted across Kathleen's thin +little face. Then, turning to Grace, she said defiantly: "Give me my +copy. I don't wish to rewrite it and I am going to send it to-night."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry you won't be fair about this, Miss West," said Grace +regretfully, "but perhaps I can induce you to change your mind."</p> + +<p>"I don't understand you," said Kathleen West stiffly.</p> + +<p>Grace held a folded paper before the newspaper girl's eyes.</p> + +<p>"Here is the letter you wrote the dean regarding our bazaar. The dean +gave it to me. She does not nor never will know who wrote it, unless +you, yourself, tell her. That is something, however, that you and your +conscience must decide. Here also is your page of copy. Under the +circumstances, don't you think you might destroy this page and the +others?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="img3" id="img3"></a> +<img src="images/img3.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"Here is the Letter You Wrote the Dean."</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + + + +<p>Kathleen took the proffered papers with a set, enigmatic expression on +her pointed features. Slowly she walked to her desk, picked up several +sheets of copy and placing them with the sheet in her hand offered them +to Grace.</p> + +<p>Grace shook her head. "I will take your word," she said.</p> + +<p>With a shrug of her shoulders the newspaper girl tore the papers across, +then into bits, tossing them into her waste basket. "You win," she said +with slangy effectiveness, then she added—"this time."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," responded Grace gravely. "Good night, Miss West."</p> + +<p>Kathleen did not respond.</p> + +<p>Grace's hand was on the doorknob when the newspaper girl said harshly: +"Wait. Don't think your lofty sentiments about college honor and all +that nonsense impressed me to the point of destroying that copy. Once +and for all I want you to understand that college ideals and traditions +are not worrying me. I did not come to Overton to moon. I am only using +college as a means to the end. What you offered me was a fair exchange. +As you know a great deal too much about certain things, it is just as +well to be on the safe side. I dare say I shall stumble on something +else in the news line just as good as the charity dinner stunt." With a +shrug of her shoulders that conveyed far more than words, she walked +over to the window, turning her back directly upon her callers, nor did +she change her position until an instant later the sound of the closing +door announced to her that her unwelcome visitors had departed.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3>HIPPY LOOKS MYSTERIOUS</h3> + + +<p>"Merry, Merry Christmas everywhere, Cheerily it ringeth through the +air," sang Grace Harlowe joyously as she twined a long spray of ground +pine about the chandelier in the hall, then stepping down from the stool +on which she had been standing, backed off, viewing it critically.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but it's good to be home!" she trilled, making a rush for her +mother, who had just appeared in the door, and winding both arms tightly +about her.</p> + +<p>"My own little girl," returned her mother fondly. "How Father and I have +missed you!"</p> + +<p>"That's my greatest drawback to perfect happiness," sighed Grace, +rubbing her soft cheek against her mother's: "Not to be able to be in +two places at once. Now, if you were with me at Overton I wouldn't have +a thing left to sigh for. You don't know how much I miss you, Mother, +and Father, too. Sometimes I grow so homesick that I can't read or study +or do anything but just think of you. Anne says she can always tell when +I am extra blue."</p> + +<p>"Your college life is only the beginning of our parting of ways, dear +child. Mother would like to keep you safe and sheltered at home, but you +are too active, too progressive, to be content as a home girl," said +Mrs. Harlowe rather sadly. "You are likely to discover that your work +lies far from Oakdale, but you know that whatever or wherever it may be +your father and I will wish you Godspeed. You are to be perfectly free +in the matter of choosing your future business of life."</p> + +<p>"Don't I know that, you dearest, best mother a girl ever had!" exclaimed +Grace, a quick mist clouding her gray eyes. "But never fear, I shan't +ever stay away from you long at a time. I couldn't." Unwinding her arms +from about her mother's neck, Grace linked one arm through Mrs. +Harlowe's and marched her into the adjoining living room.</p> + +<p>"Doesn't it look exactly like Christmas?" she asked proudly. "See the +tree. Isn't it a beauty? We have loads of presents, too. Isn't Miriam a +goose and a dear all rolled into one? She won't come to my Christmas +tree because she isn't one of the Eight Originals. I asked her to be a +Ninth Original, but she said 'No.' She is coming, though, only she +doesn't know it. David received a telegram from Arnold Evans yesterday. +He is expected to-night on the six o'clock train. Miriam doesn't know +that, either. She thinks he was unable to come, and won't she be +surprised when he appears to escort her to our house?" Grace laughed +gleefully in anticipation of Miriam's astonishment at sight of Arnold +Evans, who was always a welcome addition to their little company.</p> + +<p>Two immeasurably happy days had passed since the train from the east had +steamed away from Oakdale, leaving three eager girls on the platform of +the station. The evening train had brought Eva Allen, Marian Barber, +Jessica Bright and Nora O'Malley. Grace, Miriam and Anne, accompanied by +a slender, brown-eyed young woman, whom they addressed as Mabel, had met +the train. Jessica Bright's radiant delight at beholding the face of her +foster sister, Mabel Allison, can be better imagined than described. +Mabel and her mother had arrived three days before, and were to divide +their month's stay in Oakdale between the Gibsons of Hawk's Nest, an +estate several miles from Oakdale, and the Brights. Jessica's aunt, Mr. +Bright's only sister, who had never married, now presided over the +Bright household, with a grace and hospitality that gained for her not +only the reputation of a delightful hostess, but the adoration of +Jessica's friends as well.</p> + +<p>It was now the day before Christmas, and that evening Grace had invited +her dearest friends to help her keep Christmas Eve.</p> + +<p>"Just as though we could get along without Miriam!" she exclaimed +enthusiastically. "You haven't any idea, Mother, what a power for good +she is at Overton. It isn't half so much what she says as the way she +says it. She has so much tact. Elfreda worships her."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry Elfreda could not come home with you," commented Mrs. +Harlowe.</p> + +<p>"We were all sorry," returned Grace regretfully. "She may run down for a +day before we go back to college. We have promised her a winter picnic +in Upton Wood and a supper at old Jean's if she comes. That ought to +tempt her. Oh, there's the bell. I know that is Anne! She promised to be +here early. The Eight Originals are going to trim the tree, you know."</p> + +<p>Grace rushed to the front door to open it for Anne, who staggered into +the hall, her arms full of packages. "Oh, catch them," she gasped. "I'm +going to drop them all and two of them are breakable."</p> + +<p>Grace sprang forward to relieve Anne of her load. One fat package fell +to the floor and rolled under the living-room sofa. Grace made a +laughing dive after it. Then, dropping to her knees, peered under the +sofa, dragged it forth in triumph and presented it to Anne.</p> + +<p>Anne thanked her. "It is for Hippy," she smiled. "You might know that it +would behave in an extraordinary manner. I've been so busy this morning. +I was up before seven, helped Mother with the breakfast, went on a +shopping expedition, and now I'm here. It isn't eleven o'clock yet, +either."</p> + +<p>"Imagine Everett Southard's leading woman washing dishes," smiled Grace.</p> + +<p>"She did, though," rejoined Anne cheerfully, "and swept the dining room +and kitchen, too. I have an invitation to deliver. I am going to +entertain the Eight Originals and Mrs. Gray at my house next Tuesday +evening. You'll receive a real summons to my party by mail."</p> + +<p>"How formal," said Grace gayly. "However, Miss Harlowe accepts with +pleasure Miss Pierson's kind invitation, etc."</p> + +<p>"Miss Pierson is duly honored by Miss Harlowe's prompt acceptance," +laughed Anne. "Do the boys know about bringing their presents here?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," returned Grace. "There goes the door bell!" She hurried to +the door, flinging it wide open to admit three stalwart young men whose +clean-cut, boyish faces shone with good humor.</p> + +<p>"Hurrah for old Kris Kringle!" cried Hippy, who was in the lead, as he +skipped nimbly into the living-room, and set down the heavy suit case he +carried with a flourish. Then backing into David Nesbit, who stood +directly behind him, he said apologetically: "I beg your pardon, David, +but if you will insist in taking up so much space you must expect to +have your toes trampled upon."</p> + +<p>"I don't take up one half as much space as you do," flung back David.</p> + +<p>"True; I hadn't looked at the matter in that light," Hippy agreed +hastily. "Let us change the subject. I am so pleased, Grace, to know +that you are giving this little affair in my honor. I really didn't +expect to——"</p> + +<p>"Be put out of the house," finished Reddy with a menacing step toward +Hippy.</p> + +<p>"Exactly," agreed Hippy. "No, I don't mean that at all. I was about to +say that I really didn't expect to be obliged to put Reddy Brooks out of +the house for threatened assault. It seems too bad to mar the gentle +peace of Christmas by such deeds of violence." Hippy sighed loudly, then +with a gesture of finality warily sidled toward Reddy, an expression of +deadly determination on his round face. The sound of a ringing laugh +from the doorway caused him to forget his grievance and make for the +door as fast as his legs would carry him. "Reddy, you are saved," he +announced, leading Nora O'Malley into the room. "Thank your gentle +preserver, Miss O'Malley."</p> + +<p>"You mean you are saved," corrected Reddy with a derisive grin.</p> + +<p>"All the same, all the same," retorted Hippy airily. "I am saved because +you are saved, and you are saved because I am saved. We are both saved +this time, aren't we, Grace?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I forbid either one of you to usher the other out," laughed Grace.</p> + +<p>"There, Reddy, you heard!" exclaimed Hippy. "Now heed."</p> + +<p>"Have you seen Jessica this morning, Nora?" asked Reddy, answering +Hippy's admonition with a withering look.</p> + +<p>"She will be here later," replied Nora. "She has gone shopping with +Mabel, who is going to Hawk's Nest for Christmas Eve."</p> + +<p>"We are all booked for Christmas Day with our families," smiled David.</p> + +<p>"Thank goodness we have them," said Hippy with a seriousness that +surprised even himself.</p> + +<p>"Same here, Hippy," agreed David gravely.</p> + +<p>"And here," was the united response from the others.</p> + +<p>Jessica, who had seen Mabel Allison into the car Mrs. Gibson had sent to +convey her to Hawk's Nest, was the next arrival. Later Tom Gray appeared +with a grip and a suit case. When the real work of trimming the tree +began, Hippy retired to the library table with the plea that he had not +yet tagged his gifts. To that end he wrote what seemed to Nora O'Malley, +who eyed him suspiciously, a surprising amount of cards, chuckling +softly to himself as he wrote. Happening to catch her eye he looked +rather guilty, then, cocking his head to one side, simpered +languishingly, "What shall I say to thee, heart of my heart?" Nora's +tip-tilted little nose was promptly elevated still higher, and she +walked away without observing the triumphant gleam in Hippy's blue eyes.</p> + +<p>At one o'clock the Eight Originals halted for luncheon, which proved to +be a merry meal. By half-past two o'clock the tall balsam tree, heavy +with its weight of decorations and strange Christmas fruit, was +pronounced finished, and the party of jubilant young people reluctantly +separated to assemble after dinner for one of their old-time frolics.</p> + +<p>The evening train brought Arnold Evans, and Miriam found herself whisked +down Chapel Hill toward Grace's home by David and Arnold despite her +protests that neither she nor Arnold really belonged. "You and Arnold +are the honorary members," David reminded her, "and are, therefore, +eligible to all our revels."</p> + +<p>When, at eight o'clock, the little group of guests, which included Mrs. +Gray, had gathered in the Harlowe's cozy living room and to Mr. Harlowe +had fallen the honor of playing Santa Claus, something peculiar +happened. Nearly all the gifts fell to Hippy, who rose with every +repetition of his name, bowed profoundly, grinned significantly in his +best Chessy-cat manner and, swooping down upon the gifts, gathered them +unto himself. As he was about to take smiling possession of a large, +flat package an indignant, "Let me see that package, Mr. Harlowe," from +Nora O'Malley caused all eyes to be focused upon it.</p> + +<p>"Just as I suspected," sputtered Nora, glaring at the offending Hippy, +whose grin appeared to grow wider with every second. Taking the package +from Mr. Harlowe, she triumphantly held up a holly-wreathed card that +had been deftly concealed beneath a fold of tissue paper, and read, "To +Grace, with love from Nora."</p> + +<p>"Discovered!" exclaimed Hippy in hollow tones, making a dive for the +package and failing to secure it.</p> + +<p>Nora held it above her head. "Here, Grace, it's yours," she explained. +"Don't pay any attention to that other card."</p> + +<p>Grace had turned her attention to a large tag that was fastened to the +holly ribbon with which the package was tied. She read aloud, "To my +esteemed friend, Hippy, from his humble little admirer, Nora O'Malley."</p> + +<p>The instant of silence was followed by a shout of laughter, in which +Nora joined. "You rascal!" she exclaimed, shaking her finger at Hippy. +"I knew you were planning mischief when you sat over there writing those +cards. Take all those presents, girls. I am sure they don't belong to +this deceitful reprobate."</p> + +<p>Hippy at once set up a dismal wail, and clutched his packages to his +breast, dropping all but two in the process. These were snapped up by +Reddy and Nora almost before they touched the floor.</p> + +<p>"Here's the umbrella I thought I bought for Tom," growled Reddy, as he +ripped off the simple inscription, "To Hippy, with love, Reddy."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and here is the monogrammed stationery I ordered made for +Jessica," added Nora, glaring at the stout young man, who smiled +blithely in return as one who had received an especial favor.</p> + +<p>"You are holding on to two of my presents, though," he reminded.</p> + +<p>Nora made a hasty inspection of the packages, then shoved the two +presents toward him. "There they are," she said severely. "If I had +known how badly you were going to behave, I wouldn't have given you a +thing."</p> + +<p>"Take your scarf pin, Indian giver," jeered Hippy, holding out a small +package, then jerking it back again.</p> + +<p>"How do you know it's a scarf pin?" inquired Nora.</p> + +<p>"My intuition tells me, my child," returned Hippy gently.</p> + +<p>"Then your intuition is all wrong," declared Nora O'Malley disdainfully.</p> + +<p>"Always ready to argue," sighed Hippy.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Gray, I appeal to you, don't allow Hippy and Nora to start an +argument. There won't be either time or chance for anything else."</p> + +<p>"Hippy and Nora, be good children," laughingly admonished the sprightly +old lady.</p> + +<p>"Look out for Hippy's cards," David cautioned Mr. Harlowe.</p> + +<p>The rest of the gifts were distributed without accident, and then by +common consent a great unwrapping began, accompanied by rapturous "ohs," +and plenty of "thank yous."</p> + +<p>It was almost one o'clock on Christmas morning before any of the guests +even thought of home. After the tree had been despoiled of its bloom, an +impromptu show followed in which the young folks performed the stunts +for which they were famous. Then came supper, dancing, and the usual +Virginia Reel, led by Mr. Harlowe and Mrs. Gray, in which Hippy +distinguished himself by a series of quaint and marvelous steps.</p> + +<p>"One more good time to add to our dozens of others," said Miriam Nesbit +softly as she kissed Grace good night. "I feel to-night as though I +could say with particular emphasis: 'Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward +Men.'"</p> + +<p>"And I feel," said Hippy, who had overheard Miriam's low-toned remark, +"as though I had been unjustly and unkindly treated. I was cheated of +over half my Christmas gifts by those unblushing miscreants known as +David Nesbit, Reddy Brooks and Tom Gray. Nora O'Malley helped them, +too."</p> + +<p>"Jessica and Reddy, will you take me home to-night?" asked Nora sweetly, +edging away from the complaining Hippy.</p> + +<p>"We shall be only too pleased to be your escort," Reddy answered with +alacrity, casting a sidelong glance of triumph at Hippy.</p> + +<p>"And I shall be only too pleased to annihilate Reddy Brooks for daring +to suggest any such thing," retorted Hippy, striding toward the +offending Reddy.</p> + +<p>"Come, come, Hippy," laughed Mrs. Harlowe, who enjoyed Hippy's pranks as +much as did his companions, "this is Christmas, you know. Why not let +Reddy live?"</p> + +<p>"Very well, I will," agreed Hippy, "but only to please you, Mrs. +Harlowe. Once we leave here, the annihilation process is likely to begin +at the first disrespectful word on the part of a certain crimson-haired +individual whose name I won't mention. It will be a painful process."</p> + +<p>"There isn't the slightest doubt about it being painful to you," was +Reddy's grim retort.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if I had better wait until after Christmas to do the deed," +mused Hippy. "There's Reddy's family to consider. Perhaps I had +better—"</p> + +<p>"—behave yourself in future and not refer to your friends as +'miscreants' after appropriating their Christmas presents," lectured +David Nesbit.</p> + +<p>"All right, I agree to your proposition on one condition," stipulated +Hippy.</p> + +<p>"Something to eat, I suppose," said David wearily.</p> + +<p>"No; you are a wild guesser as well as a slanderer. If Nora O'Malley +will withdraw the cruel request she just made I will forgive even +Reddy."</p> + +<p>And when the little party of young folks started on their homeward way +the forgiving Hippy with Nora O'Malley on his arm marched gayly along +behind the forgiven, but wholly unappreciative Reddy.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h3>OLD JEAN'S STORY</h3> + + +<p>"It's 'Ho for the forest!'" sang Tom Gray jubilantly, as he waved his +stout walking stick over the low stone wall that separated the party of +picnickers from Upton Wood.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it magnificent?" asked Grace of Anne, her gray eyes glowing as +she looked ahead at the snowy road that stretched like a great white +ribbon between the deep green rows of pine and fir trees.</p> + +<p>"Perfect," agreed Anne dreamily, who was drinking in the solemn beauty +of the snow-wrapped forest, an expression of reverence on her small +face.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if the snow in the road is very deep?" soliloquized Jessica +unsentimentally.</p> + +<p>"How can you break in upon our rapt musings with such commonplaces?" +laughed Grace. "To return to earth; I don't imagine the snow is deep. +This road is much traveled, and the snow looks fairly well packed. What +do you say, Huntsman Gray?" She turned to Tom with a smile.</p> + +<p>"It isn't deep. All aboard for Upton Wood!" called Tom cheerily. "Come +on, Grace." He extended a helping hand to her.</p> + +<p>But Grace needed no assistance. With a laughing shake of her head she +vaulted the low wall as easily as Tom himself could have cleared it. +Nora followed her, then Miriam, while Anne and Jessica were content to +allow themselves to be assisted by David and Reddy. Then the picnickers +swung into the wide snow-packed road that wound its way to the other end +of Upton Wood, a matter of perhaps ten miles. Being a part of the road +to the state capital and a famous automobile route it was sedulously +looked after and kept in good condition, and was therefore not difficult +to travel.</p> + +<p>The cabin of old Jean, the hunter, was situated some distance from the +main road in the thickest part of the forest. The day before, the five +young men, with a bobsled filled with grocers' supplies, had driven to +the point of the road nearest the cabin and a brisk unloading had +followed. After their first trip to the cottage old Jean had returned to +the sleigh with them, his fur cap awry, gesticulating delightedly and +chattering volubly as he walked. Of a surety Mamselle Grace and her +friends were welcome. He deplored the fact that they had insisted upon +bringing their own provisions, but David, who suspected the old hunter's +larder to be none too well stocked with eatables, had quieted Jean's +remonstrances with the diplomatic assertion that the affair having been +planned by the "Eight Originals Plus Two," as they had now agreed to +call themselves, and given in honor of the old hunter himself, it was +their privilege to pay the piper. Jean had shaken his head rather +dubiously over the miscellaneous heap of groceries that spread over at +least a quarter of his floor, but his first protest had been laughingly +silenced by the five sturdy foresters, who threatened to turn him out of +house and home if he did not allow his friends to celebrate in peace.</p> + +<p>On this particular morning Jean had been up and doing since five +o'clock. He had decorated his cabin walls with ground pine and +evergreen, and as a last touch had, with many chuckles, suspended from +the ceiling an unusually perfect piece of mistletoe, which he had +tramped into Oakdale early that morning to secure. He had cleaned his +rifle first, then swept and scrubbed his cabin floor, and the pine table +off which he ate, until the most critical housekeeper could have found +no fault with the shining cleanliness of the place. The rousing fire +that he built in the big fireplace soon dried the floor, and after +arranging his few household effects to the best advantage, Jean busied +himself with getting in a good supply of wood before his young guests, +who had set the hour of three o'clock for their arrival, should appear +upon the scene.</p> + +<p>It was precisely ten minutes to three when the little company reached +the top of the hill at the foot of which nestled old Jean's cottage, and +halted for a moment before descending.</p> + +<p>"Sound the call of the Elf's Horn, Tom," demanded Grace. "I only wish I +could sound it. I've tried over and over again, but I can't do it."</p> + +<p>"It is a gift which the fairies reserve for only a few favored mortals," +teased Tom.</p> + +<p>"Then I am not one of them," declared Grace. "I have watched for fairies +since I was a little girl and never met with one yet. I know every +individual fairy in Grimms', Andersen's and Lang's by reputation, too."</p> + +<p>"What about your fairy prince?" was Tom's quick question. The two pairs +of gray eyes met. Grace smiled with frank amusement.</p> + +<p>"I have never looked for a fairy prince," she said lightly. "I never +cared half so much about the fairy princes and the clothes and weddings +as I did about giants, witches and spells, mysterious happenings and +magic mirrors. I loved 'The Brave Little Tailor' and 'The Youth Who +Could Not Shiver and Shake.'"</p> + +<p>"I always liked the 'False Bride' and 'Rapunzel,'" remarked Jessica +sentimentally, who had come up beside Grace and Tom.</p> + +<p>"Of what are you talking?" asked Nora, who had caught Jessica's last +word.</p> + +<p>"We were naming the fairy tales we always liked best."</p> + +<p>"I always liked the 'Magic Fiddle,'" said Nora, with a reminiscent +chuckle. "I used to keep a copy of Grimms' Fairy Tales in my desk at +school, just for that story. It always made me giggle. I could fairly +see all those poor people dancing whether they wished to dance or not. +Ask Hippy what his favorite fairy tale is," she dimpled, lowering her +voice.</p> + +<p>"Say, Hippopotamus," called Tom, "what's your favorite fairy tale?" +Hippy, who stood a little to one side, appeared to think deeply, then +said with a sentimental smile: "The 'Table Prepare Thyself' story. Oh, +if I might have had such a table!" Hippy sighed dolefully. "Then I would +never have been obliged when out on these excursions to humbly beg for +crumbs to sustain my failing strength till such time as you slow-pokes +saw fit to eat."</p> + +<p>"Don't I always give you things to eat when everyone else laughs at +you?" demanded Nora belligerently.</p> + +<p>"Yes, my noble benefactor," whined Hippy, "but you didn't to-day."</p> + +<p>"I don't intend to, either," was Nora's unfeeling response. "I purposely +told Tom to ask you that. I knew you'd name one that had a good deal +about eating in it."</p> + +<p>"Stop squabbling," commanded Reddy, his fingers fastened in the back of +Hippy's collar, "or down the hill you go. Keep quiet, now, Tom is going +to perform."</p> + +<p>Tom placed his hands to his mouth. His friends listened intently. Then +came the peculiar whistle that sounded like the note of a trumpet. Tom +whistled repeatedly, and two minutes later they saw old Jean come racing +up the steep path toward them. He had heard the mysterious Elf's Horn.</p> + +<p>"Never forgot it, did you, Jean?" laughed Tom, seizing the old man's +hand and shaking it warmly.</p> + +<p>"No, Monsieur Tom; once I hear, it is impossible that I should forget," +replied Jean in his quaint English. "An' now that you have honor me this +afternoon, it is well that you come to my cabin where the fire burn for +you an' the coffee wait, an' all is ready for my frien's who mak' so +long walk for the sake of ol' Jean."</p> + +<p>"Of course we did, Jean," smiled Grace as they started for the cabin. +"Don't we always come to see you when we are home from college?"</p> + +<p>"It is true, Mamselle Grace," returned Jean solemnly. "I am lucky man to +have such fren's."</p> + +<p>"Don't look so sad over it, Jean!" exclaimed Hippy. "Be merry, and gayly +dance as I do." He essayed several fantastic steps over the frozen +ground, stubbed his toe on a projecting root and lunged forward, falling +heavily into a huge snowdrift, his hands and face plowing into the snow.</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha!" jeered Reddy. "'Be merry, and gayly dance as I do.' No, thank +you. I prefer to walk along like an ordinary human being."</p> + +<p>"That is exactly what you are," was Hippy's calm retort from the +snowdrift, "'an ordinary human being.'" Floundering out of the drift he +shook himself free of snow and, undaunted by his fall, went on skipping +and pirouetting toward the cabin, while his companions shrieked mirthful +comments into his apparently unhearing ears.</p> + +<p>How fast the afternoon and evening slipped away! The girls insisted on +helping Jean with the dinner, and at half-past five the whole party sat +down at the rude table that had been improvised by the boys the day +before. Eating in the heart of the forest made things taste infinitely +better than at home. Never before had there been such coffee, or steak, +or baked potatoes! There was dessert, too—Mrs. Nesbit's famous fruit +cake and Mrs. Harlowe's equally prized mince pie, besides fruit and +nuts, Jean adding the latter to the feast. Then everyone's health was +drunk in grape juice, and it was almost seven o'clock before Jean and +his guests rose from the table.</p> + +<p>"Ten minutes to seven," declared David, consulting his watch. "We must +leave here at eight o'clock. We ought to be home by nine. I feel very +responsible for these youngsters, Jean. It was I who agreed to play +chaperon."</p> + +<p>"Youngsters, indeed," growled Reddy scornfully. "Listen to Methuselah."</p> + +<p>"Tell us a story before we go, Jean," begged Grace. She loved to hear +the old hunter tell in his quaint way of his many perilous adventures in +the great northwestern woods of Canada, where he had spent so many years +of his life.</p> + +<p>"If Mamselle Grace like I will tell of w'en I track the fierce panther +who have kill my lambs, an' what happen to me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, splendid!" cried Grace. "We should love to hear it."</p> + +<p>The glow from the big back log reflected the interested faces of the +others. Jean's stories were always well received. Settling himself +cross-legged on the floor, his back against the wall, he related how, +after tracking a panther all day, he had slipped while going down a +steep bank and losing his footing had plunged to the bottom. How he had +lain there bruised and helpless with a broken leg, expecting at any time +to see the beast he had been tracking bear down upon him. How at last, +after hours of unspeakable agony, help had come in the shape of a tall, +strongly built young man, whose cabin was not far off and who had +carried Jean to it, then, after roughly setting the injured leg, and +making his patient as comfortable as might be expected under the +circumstances, he had ridden thirty miles for a doctor, then tended the +old hunter until his leg healed.</p> + +<p>"Ten week I stay in bed an' this good frien' take care of me. He inten' +to go to Alaska for gold. He say he have wife once an' baby but they die +in railroad wreck. He never see their bodies. He very sad. The fire in +the train burn everybody, all t'ings." Jean waved his arms +comprehensively. "He stay by me until I am well. Then he say, 'Jean, +come along to Alaska.' But I say, 'No. I am too ol'. I wish live all my +days in Canada woods.' So he go on. After many years he write. Only last +summer I have receive his letter. He have found plenty gold, an' is +rich. He say when he come back, then he will buy for me a new rifle an' +give me much money. But what does Jean care for money? Rather I would +see my frien' whose letter I have always keep."</p> + +<p>The old man ceased speaking and looked retrospectively into the fire. +Then, without speaking, he rose, shuffled to a small table in one corner +of the room, and opening the drawer took from it a well-thumbed +envelope. Returning to the group he handed it to Grace, saying proudly: +"This is the letter my frien' write. Will Mamselle Grace read?"</p> + +<p>Grace obediently took the letter from the envelope.</p> + +<p>"My dear Jean:" she read. "How can I ever forgive myself for neglecting +you so long? I can only say that though I have failed to make good my +promise to write, you have never been forgotten by me. Jean, I am sorry +you didn't come here with me. I found gold, more than I can spend in a +lifetime, and I have made you a stockholder in my mine. I am coming back +to the States next spring and will look you up first of all. I am +sending this to the old address, trusting that if you are not there it +will be forwarded to you. I used to think it would be glorious to be +rich, but now that I am alone in the world, money seems a poor +substitute for my lost happiness.</p> + +<p>"Let me hear from you soon, Jean, and address your letter, Post Office +Box 462, Nome, Alaska. I hope you are well and happy. You always were a +sunshiny old chap. Here's hoping.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Your old friend,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"<span class="smcap">Denton</span>."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Is it not a very gran' letter?" asked old Jean with anxious pride. "My +frien' Denton have study in college, too."</p> + +<p>"Indeed it is, Jean," agreed Anne warmly.</p> + +<p>"Your friend seems to be the right sort of comrade, even if he is a bad +correspondent," remarked David Nesbit.</p> + +<p>"Something like me," murmured Hippy gently.</p> + +<p>No one appeared to notice this modest assertion.</p> + +<p>"Sounds like a page from a best seller, doesn't it, Grace?" asked Tom +laughingly.</p> + +<p>Grace did not answer. She was gazing at the signature of the letter with +perplexed eyes. She was wondering why the name Denton seemed so +familiar. Remembrance came suddenly—Ruth, of course. With that +recollection came a sudden startling train of thought. Ruth's father had +gone west, had been heard from in Nevada, then disappeared. Jean's +friend had lost his wife and child on a westbound train. Here, however, +Grace's supposition proved weak. Both wife and child had been burned to +death in the railroad wreck. Still, mistakes in identification were +frequently made on such painful occasions. Grace went back to her first +supposition. "It is the only shred of a clew that I have run across +yet," she reflected. "I am going to hang to it and see where it leads. +And to think that perhaps old Jean once knew Ruth's father. It's +unbelievable."</p> + +<p>"We must start in ten minutes." David's crisp, business-like tones +brought her to a realization of her immediate surroundings.</p> + +<p>"Ten minutes is long enough for me to say what is on my mind," Grace +said eagerly. Then she began to tell of Ruth, her poverty, and her great +wish to know whether her father were dead or alive. Knowing Grace as +they did, her friends guessed that she had something of real importance +to impart. When she came to the part about Ruth's father going west +after promising to send for his little family, a light began to dawn +upon them, and Jessica exclaimed: "Why, they must have been killed while +on their way to join him!"</p> + +<p>"It is so. Mamselle speak the truth!" almost shouted Jean. "It was then +they die. He have tol' me so many times."</p> + +<p>"Then the man who saved Jean must have been Ruth's father!" exclaimed +Miriam, "and a dreadful mistake was made in telling him his child was +dead, too. The packet fastened by a cord about Ruth's neck ought easily +to have proved her identity. Perhaps the packet was stolen."</p> + +<p>"Then how did Ruth come by the watch and letter?" asked Grace.</p> + +<p>"I give it up," replied Miriam. "It certainly is a tangled web."</p> + +<p>"But we shall straighten it," said Grace resolutely. "The next thing to +do is to find Mr. Denton. Tell me, Jean, how many years since you first +met Mr. Denton?"</p> + +<p>Jean counted laboriously on his fingers. "Twelve years," he finally +announced, "an' say his family have died six years then."</p> + +<p>"Eighteen years," mused Grace, "and Ruth is twenty-two. The years seem +to tally with the rest of the story, too. Will you give me Mr. Denton's +address and allow me to write to him, Jean?"</p> + +<p>"Whatever Mamselle Grace wishes shall be hers," averred Jean.</p> + +<p>"Then I'll write the letter to-morrow. The sooner it is written and +sent, the sooner we shall receive an answer to it," declared Grace. +"That is unless he is dead. But I have a strange presentiment that he is +alive. What do you think, Jean?" she turned to the old hunter, who +nodded sagely.</p> + +<p>"I think my frien', he alive, too," agreed Jean, "an' I hope, mebbe I +shall see again."</p> + +<p>"You shall see him and so shall Ruth, if letters can accomplish your +wish, Jean," promised Grace.</p> + +<p>"Eight o'clock," announced David judicially.</p> + +<p>No one paid the slightest attention to him, however, Ruth Denton's +affairs being altogether too engrossing a matter for discussion. It was +half-past eight when, after a hearty vote of thanks and three cheers for +old Jean, the picnickers climbed the little hill and took the moonlit +homeward trail.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h3>TELLING RUTH THE NEWS</h3> + + +<p>"Yes, it was a busy two weeks," declared Arline Thayer, "and yet, oh, +Grace, you can't possibly know how slowly the time has gone. I am sure I +could live all the rest of my life on a desert island if I had the +Semper Fidelis crowd with me. Of course, Ruth helped a whole lot, but +you know Ruth isn't a butterfly like I am. She has had so many cares and +disappointments that she isn't as gay in her wildest moments as I am in +my ordinary ones. Besides, it was so hard to be sure that I was doing +and saying the right thing. I was so afraid of hurting some one's +feelings, or of being accused of trying to patronize those girls.</p> + +<p>"The dinner passed off beautifully. Every girl who stayed over was +there. It cost me most of my check." Here Arline smiled rather ruefully. +"But you never saw so many happy girls. Many of them had never been to +either Martell's or Vinton's for dinner. I was at Vinton's and Ruth was +at Martell's. No one had the slightest idea that there was anything cut +and dried. We did all the other stunts; the play and the masquerade, and +I am so tired." Arline curled herself up on Grace's couch, looking like +an exhausted kitten. "I wonder if Elfreda has any tea," she said +plaintively.</p> + +<p>"Of course she has," smiled Grace. "So have I. I'll make you some at +once. Then I have something perfectly amazing to tell you. You won't +remember whether you are tired or not after you hear my news."</p> + +<p>Taking the little copper tea-kettle, Grace went for water, leaving +Arline considerably mystified and mildly excited. When at last the tea +was ready, and Grace had placed crackers, nabisco wafers and a plate of +home-made nut cookies on the table between them, Arline said +impatiently, "Do begin."</p> + +<p>"Daffydowndilly, this is the strangest news you ever heard. Ready?"</p> + +<p>"Ready," echoed Arline.</p> + +<p>"We believe Ruth's father is still living and in Alaska."</p> + +<p>There was a little cry of rapture from Arline as she hastily set down +her cup and caught Grace's hand in hers. "Congratulations," she trilled. +"I knew you'd find him. I've seen it in your eye for months."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense," laughed Grace, "I don't deserve a particle of credit. It was +quite by accident that I learned what I know of him." There-upon an +account of their visit to old Jean followed, and Arline was soon in full +possession of the details.</p> + +<p>"Shall you tell Ruth?" was her first question after Grace had finished.</p> + +<p>"What would you do?" Grace asked.</p> + +<p>"I don't think it would be best to tell her yet," returned Arline +slowly. "Suppose we were to find that he had died or disappeared again +since your old hunter received his letter. Think how dreadful that would +be after telling her that he was alive and well. We must not arouse her +hopes until we know."</p> + +<p>Grace nodded gravely. "That is what I thought. I am glad you are of the +same mind. No one here except yourself and Elfreda have been told. Of +course, Anne and Miriam heard it at the same time I did. I wrote to Mr. +Denton at once, but I suppose my letter isn't more than half way to Nome +yet."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it is the greatest thing that ever happened," exulted Arline. +"Ruth's father found at last, away up in old, cold Alaska. Hurrah!"</p> + +<p>"Stop making so much noise," cautioned Grace, "while I tell you what I +propose doing. It is two weeks since I wrote to Mr. Denton. I am going +to write another letter to him before long. If he doesn't answer that, I +shall stop for a while, then write again. If he is not in Nome I shall +request the post-master to forward the letters, if possible."</p> + +<p>At this juncture a knock sounded on the almost closed door, then Elfreda +came hurrying in, her cheeks glowing from her walk in the January wind. +"Were you talking secrets?" she demanded, without stopping to greet +Arline.</p> + +<p>"No,—that is—yes," replied Arline. "Grace was telling me about Ruth's +father and—"</p> + +<p>Elfreda dropped on the couch beside Arline with a groan of dismay. "Why +didn't you close the door?" she asked gloomily.</p> + +<p>"Why? What has happened?" questioned Grace anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Nothing much," retorted Elfreda, "only that West person was standing as +close to your door as she could possibly stand without attracting marked +attention. She was listening, too. I saw her when I reached the first +landing. At first I thought I would walk up to her and call her to +account for eavesdropping. But before I could make up my mind just what +to do she went on down the hall to her room. I suppose you will hear +about this affair of Ruth finding her father from a dozen different +sources to-morrow. She will go directly to the Wicks-Hampton faction +with the news. She may have gone already."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="img4" id="img4"></a> +<img src="images/img4.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"She was Standing Close to the Door."</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + + +<p>"This is dreadful," gasped Grace in consternation, "but our own fault. +Will I ever learn to keep my door closed and either whisper my secrets +or else lock them behind my lips?"</p> + +<p>"It was my fault," declared Arline contritely. "I was shouting, 'Ruth's +father found at last!' at the top of my voice. Grace told me to +subside."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps she only heard that much," comforted Elfreda, trying to be a +little more hopeful.</p> + +<p>"Suppose she tells Ruth," suggested Arline nervously.</p> + +<p>Grace's eyes met those of her friend's in genuine alarm. Without a word +she went to the closet and reaching for her coat and furs slipped them +on. Jamming her fur cap down on her head, she pinned it securely, thrust +her hands into her muff and walked to the door. "Elfreda, you will take +care of Arline, won't you? She is going to stay with me for dinner. I am +going to Ruth's and I think perhaps I had better go alone. I'll be back +as soon as possible, and bring Ruth with me, if I can. Tell Mrs. Elwood +that Ruth will be here. I must be off. I will see you at dinner."</p> + +<p>Grace was out of the room and down the stairs in a twinkling. As she set +off toward Ruth's at a rapid pace she wondered if there was not some way +in which she might capitulate with this strange girl who seemed so +determined to blot the pages of her freshman year with unworthy deeds. +"I am so disappointed," Grace reflected. "I did wish to like her because +she was Mabel's friend, but she is so—so—different." It cost Grace an +effort to end her sentence mildly. "But I'm not going to gossip about +her, even to myself."</p> + +<p>After ringing three times Ruth's tired-eyed landlady opened the door to +Grace with a mumbled apology about being in the attic when the bell +rang. Grace hurried up the two flights of stairs and down the long, bare +hall to Ruth's room. She paused an instant before knocking, half +expecting to hear the sound of voices inside. All was still. Grace +knocked twice, pausing between knocks. It was a signal Ruth and her +intimate friends had adopted.</p> + +<p>Ruth answered the signal, a book in her hand. She gave a little cry of +delight at seeing Grace. "How funny! I was just thinking of you. Come in +and take off your wraps. Did you come to help me cook supper? You +promised me you would some day."</p> + +<p>"No; I came to take you back to Wayne Hall with me. But, first of all, +has Kathleen West been here to see you within the past half hour?" said +Grace, stepping into the room and closing the door after her.</p> + +<p>"No," replied Ruth wonderingly. "Why do you ask? But do sit down, +Grace."</p> + +<p>"I'm so glad," sighed Grace, sitting on the edge of the chair, "because +she overheard something that I wish to tell you first."</p> + +<p>"I don't understand," was Ruth's perplexed answer.</p> + +<p>"I don't blame you for not understanding," smiled Grace. Then she rose, +and, crossing the room, put her hands on her friend's shoulder. "Ruth," +she said gently, "if you might have one wish granted to you, what would +you wish?"</p> + +<p>"To find my father," was the instant reply.</p> + +<p>"That is what I thought you would say," returned Grace quietly. "Can you +bear good news?"</p> + +<p>"Yes." Ruth's face had turned very white. She pulled one of Grace's +hands from her shoulder, holding it in hers. "Tell me," she whispered +tensely.</p> + +<p>Grace's gray eyes filled with tears. The hungry look in Ruth's eyes told +its own story. "He is alive, Ruth," she said, steadying her voice. "At +least he was alive less than six months ago. I'll begin at the very +first and tell you everything."</p> + +<p>It was half an hour later when the two friends set out for Wayne Hall.</p> + +<p>"I am so happy; it seems as though I must be with you girls to-night," +declared Ruth. "I am so anxious to see Arline. My Daffydowndilly will be +happy, too, for my sake. And Grace, I have a strange presentiment that I +shall see him before long. I can't think of him as anything but alive. +I'm so glad that you told me. It would have been a dreadful shock to +have had the news come through Miss West or her friends."</p> + +<p>"She hasn't the slightest idea that we know she was in the hall," said +Grace. "I imagine you will hear of your father through half a dozen +different sources in the morning. I don't believe she intended to tell +you to-day. I think it was part of her plan to take you by surprise and +completely unnerve you. Alberta Wicks and Mary Hampton are efficient +town criers," Grace added bitterly. "She depended on them to spread the +news in the cruelest way."</p> + +<p>"Why, Grace, I never heard you speak so bitterly of any one before!" +exclaimed Ruth.</p> + +<p>"Ruth, to tell the honest truth, I am thoroughly disgusted with those +two girls," confessed Grace wearily. "They have been at the bottom of +every annoyance I have had since I came to Overton. It may not be +charitable to say so, but I shall certainly not regret seeing them +graduated and gone from Overton. I know it sounds selfish, but I can't +help it. I mean it. And now we are going to talk only of delightful +things. I think we ought to give a spread to-night in honor of you. It +isn't every day one finds a long-lost father. Arline is going to stay to +dinner, and, of course, she'll stay afterward."</p> + +<p>Grace's proposal of a spread met with gleeful approval, and in spite of +a hearty six-o'clock dinner, there was no lack of appetite when at ten +o'clock Elfreda, who insisted on taking the labor of the spread upon her +own shoulders, appeared in the door announcing that it was ready. By +borrowing Grace's table and using it in conjunction with her own, +employing the bureau scarf for a centerpiece, and filling up the bare +spaces with paper napkins, the table assumed the dignity of a banqueting +board. There were even glasses and plates and spoons enough to go round +and one could have either grape juice or tea, Elfreda informed them. +"You'd better take tea first, though, because there are only two bottles +of grape juice, and we need that for the toast to Ruth's father. Of +course if you insist upon having grape juice——"</p> + +<p>"Tea," was the judiciously lowered chorus from the obliging guests.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," bowed Elfreda. "I wouldn't have given you the grape juice, +at any rate."</p> + +<p>By half-past ten nothing remained of the feast but the grape juice, and +the guests began clamoring insistently for that.</p> + +<p>"We are breaking the ten-thirty rule into microscopic pieces," declared +Elfreda as she dropped slices of orange and pineapple on the ice in the +bottom of the glasses, added orange juice, sugar and grape juice. "If it +isn't sweet enough, help yourself to sugar. The bowl is on the table. +And you can only have one straw apiece. The commissary department is +short on straws. A word of warning, don't drink the toast to Ruth's +father through a straw," she ended with a giggle.</p> + +<p>The giggle proved infectious and went the round of the table. Grace was +the first to remember the toast to be drunk. Elfreda had just poured the +sixth, her own glass of grape juice, and slipped into her place at the +table. Rising to her feet Grace said simply, "To Ruth's father. May she +see him soon." The toast was drunk standing. Ruth still looked rather +dazed. She could not yet think of her father as a reality.</p> + +<p>"I thank you all," she said tremulously, her eyes misty. "Of course you +know I am not quite certain of my great happiness, but I am going to +write to Father to-morrow, and perhaps before long I'll have a letter to +show you."</p> + +<p>"If Ruth is to be surprised now, some one will have to get up early in +the morning," declared Elfreda with satisfaction, as she collected the +dishes for washing after the guests had departed.</p> + +<p>"And that some one will be doomed to feel foolish," added Miriam.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h3>ELFREDA REALIZES HER AMBITION</h3> + + +<p>Midyears, a season of terror to freshmen, a still alarming period to +sophomores, but no very great bugbear to the two upper classes, came and +went. During that strenuous week the usual amount of midnight oil was +burnt, the usual amount of feverish reviewing done, and the usual amount +of celebrating indulged in when the ordeal was passed.</p> + +<p>"Don't forget the game to-morrow," said J. Elfreda Briggs to the girls +at her end of the breakfast table one morning in early March. "The only +one this year in which the celebrated center, Miss Josephine Elfreda +Briggs, will take part. Sounds like a grand opera announcement, doesn't +it? Maybe it hasn't taken endless energy to keep that team together and +up to the mark. But our captain is a hustler and we are marvels," she +added modestly.</p> + +<p>"I need no bard to sing my praises," began Miriam mischievously.</p> + +<p>"I didn't say 'I,'" retorted Elfreda. "I said 'we.'"</p> + +<p>"Meaning 'I'," interposed Emma Dean wickedly.</p> + +<p>"As you like," flung back Elfreda sweetly. "You needn't come to the +game, you know, if you think it is to be a one-player affair."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'll be there, never fear," Emma assured her. "I have a special +banner of junior blue to wear."</p> + +<p>Only one color had been chosen by 19— for their junior year, one of the +new shades of blue which Gertrude Wells had at once renamed "junior" +blue. It was greatly affected by the juniors for ties, belts, hat +trimmings and girdles.</p> + +<p>"Doesn't it seem strange not to be on the team this year, Miriam?" asked +Grace. "That is, when one stops to think about it. It never occurred to +me until this moment how much I have missed basketball. Mabel Ashe said +that we'd just simply drift away from it this year, and so we have. Now +we are going to cheer Elfreda on to victory."</p> + +<p>"Elfreda is an artist in making baskets," commended Miriam.</p> + +<p>"Much obliged," rejoined Elfreda, "but your praise doesn't turn my head +in the least. You can judge better of my artistic qualities after the +game."</p> + +<p>"We hope to secure seats in the gallery," said Anne. "The front ones, of +course, are reserved for the faculty, but if we go to the gym very early +we may get good seats."</p> + +<p>"I am not going to wait for you, if you don't mind, Miriam," remarked +Elfreda, rising. "I must see our captain before going to chapel this +morning."</p> + +<p>"Run along," said Miriam. "I am not going to chapel this morning. I must +have that extra time for my biology. I can use it to good advantage, +too. There won't be any noise or disturbance in the room," she added +slyly.</p> + +<p>Elfreda gave Miriam a reproachful glance over her shoulder as she left +the dining room. "You'll be sorry for 'them cruel words' some day," she +declared. "For instance, the next time my services as a chef are +desired," and was gone.</p> + +<p>Miriam left the dining room a little later, going directly upstairs. +Grace and Anne lingered to talk with the girls still at breakfast, half +expecting to hear the news of Ruth's father brought up. Nothing was said +on the subject, however, and Grace wondered if Alberta Wicks and Mary +Hampton could possibly have come to their senses and refused to take +part in whatever mischief Kathleen had planned. How glad she would be, +she reflected, if the two seniors, who had caused her so many unpleasant +thoughts and moments turned out well after all.</p> + +<p>After the service that morning she waited for Ruth, who was one of the +last of the long procession of girls who filed out of the chapel. Arline +was with her and made a rush for Grace the moment she caught sight of +her. "I have been watching for you," she said eagerly. "I haven't heard +a word, and neither has Ruth. Perhaps they were more honorable than we +believed them to be."</p> + +<p>"I thought that, too," rejoined Grace. "It has been almost a week since +I told Ruth. We may never hear a word concerning it."</p> + +<p>"It wouldn't make much difference now," said Arline. "Ruth knows, and +there isn't really anything to be said except that after many years' +separation she may find her father. She need not care who knows that."</p> + +<p>"It was the cruel shock to her that I thought of, and so did Kathleen +West," explained Grace. "She seems determined to hurt some one's +feelings by 'notoriety' methods. Her newspaper work has made her hard +and unfeeling. She is always trying to dig up some one's private affairs +and make them public property. I imagine our two seniors have placed a +restraining hand on this last affair. I hope Mabel Ashe will never grow +cruel and unfeeling—and dishonorable."</p> + +<p>"She won't," predicted Arline. "Father knows many delightful newspaper +women who are above reproach. Besides, Mabel will never remain on a +newspaper long enough to change. There is a certain young lawyer in New +York City who adores her, and I think she cares for him. There is no +engagement yet, but there will be inside of a year or my name is not +Arline Thayer."</p> + +<p>"Really?" asked Grace, her eyes widening with interest. "She has never +so much as intimated it to me."</p> + +<p>"I know a little about it, for we have mutual friends in New York. +Besides, Father knows the man. I've met him. He's a dear, and awfully +handsome."</p> + +<p>Having lingered to talk until the last moment the two girls were obliged +to part abruptly and scurry off to their recitation rooms, which lay in +different directions. They met late in the afternoon in the gymnasium to +watch Elfreda's last practice playing before the game, but in their +momentary basketball enthusiasm the topic of the morning's conversation +was not touched upon.</p> + +<p>The game between the sophomore and junior teams was looked upon as an +event of extreme importance. Elfreda's love for the game and the story +of her persistent effort to reduce her weight in order to glitter as a +prominent basketball star had become familiar to not only her upper +class friends, but throughout the college as well. She had several +freshmen adorers, who sent her violets and vied with one another in +entertaining her whenever she had an hour or two to spare them. In fact, +J. Elfreda Briggs was becoming an important factor in the social life of +Overton, with the satisfaction of knowing that she had won a place in +the hearts of her admirers through her own merit.</p> + +<p>Considerable preparation in the way of decorations had been made. About +the balcony railing green and yellow bunting mingled with that of junior +blue. The two front rows were well filled with members of the faculty, +who wore ribbon rosettes with long ends and carried banners of blue, or +green and yellow, as the case might be. The Semper Fidelis Club, +resplendent in cocked hats of junior blue and wide blue crepe paper +sashes fastened in the back with immense butterfly bows, occupied places +directly behind the faculty. They had gone to the gymnasium an hour and +a half before the game in order to secure these seats, and were now +ranged in an eager, exultant row, impatiently awaiting the entrance of +the two teams.</p> + +<p>With the shrill notes of the whistle began one of the most stubborn +conflicts ever waged between two Overton teams. From the instant the +ball was put in play and the players leaped into action the interest of +the spectators never wavered. During the first half of the game the +sophomores valiantly contested every foot of the ground, and it was only +at the very end of the half that the juniors succeeded in making the +score six to four in their favor.</p> + +<p>In the last half the doughty sophomores rose to the occasion and tied +the score with their first play. Then Elfreda, with unerring aim, made a +long overhand throw to basket that brought forth deafening applause from +the spectators. The sophomores managed to gain two more points, but the +juniors again managed not only to gain two points, but to pile up their +score until a particularly brilliant play to basket on the part of +Elfreda closed the last half with the glorious reckoning of seventeen to +twelve in favor of the juniors.</p> + +<p>Immediately a hubbub arose from the gallery. The Semper Fidelis Club +burst forth into a victorious song they had been practising for the +occasion, while another delegation of juniors also rent the air with +their chant of triumph over their sophomore sisters.</p> + +<p>After Elfreda had experienced the satisfaction of being escorted round +the room by her classmates, who continued to sing spiritedly at least +three different songs at the top of their lungs, she was hurried into +the dressing room by the Semper Fidelis Club. The moment she was dressed +she was seized by friendly hands and marched off to Vinton's to a dinner +given by the club in honor of her. For the present, at least, she was +the most important girl in college, and feeling the weight of her +new-born fame, she was unusually silent, almost shy.</p> + +<p>"Elfreda can't accustom herself to being a celebrity," laughed Miriam. +"She is terribly embarrassed."</p> + +<p>"That is really the truth," confessed Elfreda. "I've always wanted to be +a basketball star, but it seems funny to have the girls make such a fuss +over me."</p> + +<p>"You deserve it!" exclaimed Gertrude Wells. "You were the pride of the +team. I never want to see a better game. That last play of yours was a +record breaker."</p> + +<p>The other members of the club joined in Gertrude's praise of Elfreda's +playing. The stout girl's face shone with happiness. To her it was one +of the great moments of her college life.</p> + +<p>It was after seven o'clock when the diners left Vinton's. The club +gallantly escorted Elfreda to the very door of Wayne Hall and left her +after singing to her and giving three cheers. Grace, Anne, Miriam, +Arline, Ruth, Mildred Taylor and Laura Atkins were her body guard up the +stairs. At the landing Laura Atkins called a halt and invited every one +present to a jollification in her room that night in honor of Elfreda.</p> + +<p>While Elfreda was explaining that she didn't wish the girls to go to any +trouble for her, although her eyes shone with delight at being thus +honored, the door bell rang repeatedly, and the maid, grumbling under +her breath, admitted Emma Dean, who skipped up the stairs two at a time.</p> + +<p>"I'm always late," she announced cheerfully, "but hardly ever too late. +I stopped at the big bulletin board. I noticed a letter there addressed +to you, Grace. It was marked 'Important' in one corner. I had half a +mind to bring it with me, then—well—you know how one feels about +meddling with some one else's mail."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry you didn't bring it with you. Don't hesitate to do so next +time," returned Grace regretfully. "However, it won't take long to run +across the campus for it. I'll go now before I take off my hat and coat. +Thank you for telling me about it, Emma."</p> + +<p>"You are welcome," called Emma after her as Grace ran to her room for +her wraps. Always on the alert for home letters, under no circumstances +could she have been content to wait quietly until the next day for the +coveted mail. If it were from her mother or father she could read it +over and over before bedtime and go to sleep happy in the possession of +it, and if it were from one of her numerous friends it would be joyfully +received.</p> + +<p>The handwriting on the envelope Grace took from the bulletin board +looked strangely familiar. Tearing it open, she glanced hastily over the +few lines of the letter, an expression of incredulity in her eyes, for +the note said:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">My Dear Miss Harlowe</span>:—</p> + +<p>"May I come to Wayne Hall to see you to-morrow evening at half-past +seven o'clock? Please leave note in the bulletin board stating +whether this will be convenient for you.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Yours sincerely,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"<span class="smcap">Alberta Wicks</span>."<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + +<p>Grace read the note again, then mechanically folding it, returned it to +its envelope, and walked slowly back to Wayne Hall divided between her +disappointment in the letter, and speculation as to the purport of +Alberta Wicks's proposed call.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<h3>ALBERTA KEEPS HER PROMISE</h3> + + +<p>During the following day Grace pondered not a little over the possible +meaning of Alberta Wicks's note. She wrote an equally brief reply, +stating that she would be at Wayne Hall the following night at the +appointed time, and tried, unsuccessfully, to dismiss the matter from +her mind. It persisted in recurring to her at intervals, and when, at +exactly half-past seven o'clock, Alberta Wicks was ushered into the +living room, Grace's heart beat a trifle faster as she went forward to +greet her guest, who looked less haughty than usual, and who actually +smiled faintly as she returned Grace's greeting.</p> + +<p>"I know I am the last person you ever expected to see," began Alberta, +looking embarrassed, "but I simply felt as though I must come here +to-night. Are we likely to be interrupted?" she asked suddenly.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps we had better go upstairs to my room," suggested Grace. "My +roommate is away this evening."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," replied the other girl. She followed Grace upstairs with an +unaccustomed meekness that made Grace marvel as to what had suddenly +wrought so marked a change in this hitherto disagreeable senior.</p> + +<p>Once the two girls were seated opposite each other, Alberta leaned +forward and said earnestly: "I know that you must dislike me very, very +much, Miss Harlowe, and I always supposed that I disliked you even more, +but I have lately come to the conclusion that I admire you more than any +girl I know."</p> + +<p>Grace looked at her guest in uncomprehending wonder. Could this be the +sneering, insolent Miss Wicks who was speaking? There was no sign of a +sneer on her face now. She spoke with a simple directness that could not +fail to impress the most sceptical. "I have been hearing about you from +a source entirely outside Overton," she continued, "from a Smith College +senior who lives in Oakdale. She visited a friend of mine during the +holidays. I live in Boston, you know."</p> + +<p>"I didn't know," began Grace, then with a little exclamation: "It can't +be possible! You don't mean Julia Crosby?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," nodded Alberta. "I do mean Julia Crosby. Thanks to her, I have +had my eyes opened to a good many things. I—am—sorry—for everything, +Miss Harlowe." Her voice faltered. "I—never—saw—myself as I +was—until Miss Crosby made me see. Directly after meeting her she asked +me if I knew you, and I spoke slightingly of you. She said very +decidedly that you were one of her dearest friends, and defended you to +the skies. She told me about your saving her from drowning, and of how +badly she had once behaved toward you, and how brave and loyal you were. +Then we had a long talk and she made me promise to square things with +you the minute I came back, but I haven't had the courage until to-day." +She paused and looked appealingly at Grace.</p> + +<p>Without hesitation Grace held out her hand. "I am not a very formidable +person," she smiled. "I am so glad you know Julia Crosby, too. She must +have told you of the good times we used to have together in Oakdale."</p> + +<p>Alberta nodded. She could not yet trust her voice.</p> + +<p>"Julia wanted me to go to Smith with her," Grace went on rapidly in +order to give her guest a chance to recover herself. "At first I thought +seriously of it, but later Anne and Miriam and I decided on Overton. And +we haven't been disappointed, not for an hour! I wouldn't exchange +Overton for any other college in the United States," she ended with +loyal pride. "Don't you love Overton, Miss Wicks?"</p> + +<p>"No," returned the other girl shortly. "It is too late for that sort of +thing for me. I forfeited my right long ago. No one will miss me when I +leave. Other than Mary, I have no real friends, even in my own class, +and you know what most of the juniors think of us." Alberta's tone was +very bitter. "Of course, we have no one but ourselves to blame, but just +lately I've begun to wish that I had been different."</p> + +<p>There was an awkward silence. Grace made a vain effort to think of +something to say to this hitherto unapproachable senior who had suddenly +become so humble. Before she could frame a reply Alberta continued +almost sullenly:</p> + +<p>"I don't know why I should care so much. But after Julia Crosby told me +how you saved her life when she broke through the ice into the river and +what a splendid girl you were, I felt awfully ashamed of myself. She +talked to me and made me promise I would come to see you as soon as I +returned to Overton. I am afraid I would have stayed away, though, if it +hadn't been for something else."</p> + +<p>Grace's eyes were frankly questioning, but she still said nothing.</p> + +<p>"It is about that Miss West," said the senior, as though in answer to +Grace's mute inquiry. "I am sorry to say that I encouraged her to do all +sorts of revolutionary things when she first came here. I discovered she +disliked you and your friends, and I was glad of it. I never lost an +opportunity to fan the flame."</p> + +<p>"But why did she dislike us?" asked Grace. "That is the thing none of us +understand. We were prepared to like her because Mabel Ashe had written +me, asking me to look out for her. You know they worked on the same +newspaper. We did everything we could to make her feel at home, until +suddenly she began to cut our acquaintance. Later on something happened +that made her angry with me, but to this day none of us knows why she +cut us in the first place."</p> + +<p>"She never said a word to Mary or me about Mabel Ashe," declared Alberta +in frowning surprise. "We supposed she had come to Wayne Hall as a +stranger and had been snubbed by your crowd of girls. She was furiously +angry with you because she wasn't asked to help with the bazaar. She +wanted to be in the circus, and said you asked other freshmen and +slighted her."</p> + +<p>"And I never dreamed she would care," returned Grace wonderingly. "If we +had only asked her to take part, all these unpleasantnesses might have +been avoided. You see, we didn't intend to ask any freshmen, but we +finally asked Myra Stone because she made such a darling doll. Oh, I'm +so sorry."</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't be if I were you," declared Alberta dryly. "Judging from +what I know of her, I don't think she deserves much sympathy. I just +prevented her from publishing Miss Denton's private affairs broadcast +through the medium of her paper."</p> + +<p>"You don't mean she—" began Grace.</p> + +<p>Alberta nodded. "Yes, she wrote a story in a highly sensational style +and brought it to me to read. She was going to send it to her paper, +then mail copies of the edition in which the story appeared to a number +of girls here. She had a long list, which she showed me, and wanted me +to promise to help her address the papers and send them to the various +girls. But after I had that talk with Julia Crosby I vowed within myself +that the little time I had left at Overton should be devoted to some +better cause than planning petty, silly ways of 'getting even.' I can't +tell you how thankful I am that I have had this chance to live up to a +little of what I promised myself I would do. There is just one thing I'd +like to know, and that is the truth of the story concerning Miss +Denton's father."</p> + +<p>"I shall be glad to tell you all I know, which is really very little," +answered Grace, and once more repeated the story of what their holiday +visit to the old hunter had brought forth. "I wrote to Mr. Denton to the +address in Nome the very next day after we were out at Jean's and have +written once since then, and so has Ruth, but we have never received an +answer. Still, I believe that we shall yet hear from him. I feel certain +that he is still living. I really hated to tell Ruth, and raise her +hopes only to destroy them again by having to say that he had never +answered our letters, but we decided that it was best for her to know. +She has been so brave and dear. We told Miss Thayer, and my three +friends know it, too, but we don't want any one else to know unless Ruth +really finds her father. It is her own personal affair, you see."</p> + +<p>"But how did Miss West find it out?" was Alberta's question.</p> + +<p>Grace shook her head. "Don't ask me," she said, a hint of scorn in her +eyes. "I am so glad you prevailed upon her to give up the plan, for +Ruth's sake and for her own as well."</p> + +<p>"She was very determined at first, but she finally weakened and promised +to drop the whole idea after she found that we were opposed to her +plan," rejoined Alberta.</p> + +<p>"You did a good day's work for Ruth," smiled Grace, holding out her hand +to the other girl.</p> + +<p>Alberta leaned forward in her chair and took Grace's hand in both of +hers. "I wish I hadn't been so blind, Miss Harlowe. If I had only tried +to know you long ago. There is so little of my college life left I can't +hope to win your respect and liking."</p> + +<p>"Don't try," laughed Grace. "You have my respect already, as for my +liking, I'd be very glad to say 'Alberta Wicks is my friend.'"</p> + +<p>"Can you say that and really mean it?" asked Alberta almost +incredulously.</p> + +<p>"I would not say it unless I were quite certain that I meant it," Grace +assured her. "Your coming here to-night proved clearly that you were +ready to forget all past differences. Then, why should I hold spite or +nurse a grievance? Now, we are not going to say another word about it. I +should like to have you spend the evening with me. I am going to invite +Miriam and Elfreda to a conversation and tea party in honor of you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!" protested Alberta, half rising. "They wouldn't come. Elfreda +will never forgive me for causing her so much trouble."</p> + +<p>"Elfreda has forgotten all about what happened to her as a freshman. At +least she has forgiven you," added Grace. "She and Miriam will be glad +to know that we are friends." Grace spoke confidently, though she did +have a brief instant of doubt as to just how Elfreda would regard +Alberta's belated repentance. To her intense relief, however, when +leaving Alberta for a moment she ran down the hall to invite Miriam and +Elfreda, the one-time stout girl offered no other comment than a +grumbled, "Just like you, Grace Harlowe."</p> + +<p>"But will you come to my tea party?" persisted Grace.</p> + +<p>"Of course we will," accepted Miriam.</p> + +<p>"She knows about it all, she knows, she knows," droned Elfreda. "What's +the use in asking me anything when Miriam is here?"</p> + +<p>"All right." Grace turned to go. "I'll expect to see both of you within +the next ten minutes. Don't change your mind after I have gone."</p> + +<p>"See here, Grace Harlowe!" Elfreda rose from her chair and walked toward +Grace. "I should like to know—"</p> + +<p>"Don't say it, Elfreda," interrupted Grace. "Just say you'll come. If +you don't come Alberta will go back to Stuart Hall, disappointed and +resentful at having her friendly overtures rejected. She is at the +critical stage now, Elfreda, dear, and needs encouragement and cheering +up. She is a trifle bitter, and has the blues, too, although she is too +stiff-necked to admit it."</p> + +<p>"You needn't be afraid. I wasn't going to throw cold water on the tea +party. Of course we'll attend, and bring the whole two pounds of fruit +cake we bought to-day with us. You can take our new cups and saucers, +too, can't she, Miriam? What I should like to know is how it all +happened."</p> + +<p>"I can't stop to tell you now. Wait until Anne comes home to-night and +we'll congregate. I want to see Arline, too. I have a plan that just +came to me a little while ago, and I should like to hear what you think +of it. I must hurry back to my guest. Come to my room as soon as you +can."</p> + +<p>"Now I wonder what she has on her mind?" smiled Miriam. "I imagine it +has something to do with Alberta Wicks."</p> + +<p>"Do you know," remarked Elfreda, looking up with a sudden tender light +in her usually matter-of-fact face, "there's a line in 'Hamlet' that +always makes me think of Grace. It's the one in which Hamlet speaks of +his father. He says, 'I shall never look upon his like again.' +Substituting 'her' for 'his,' that is exactly what I think about Grace."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The next morning Grace awoke with the feeling of one who has had +something disagreeable suddenly disappear from her life. "What happened +last night?" she asked herself, then smiled as the memory of what had +passed the evening before returned. "I'm so glad," she said half under +her breath.</p> + +<p>"Glad of what?" asked Anne, who, wrapped in her kimono, sat sleepily on +the edge of her bed, trying to make up her mind to stay awake.</p> + +<p>"That Alberta Wicks came to see me," replied Grace. "I hate quarrels and +misunderstandings, Anne, yet I seem destined to become involved in them. +Do you suppose it is because I have a quarrelsome disposition?" Grace +had slipped out of bed, and, wrapping herself in her bath robe, trotted +across the room and seated herself beside Anne, one arm thrown across +her friend's shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Quarrelsome? You are a positive snapping turtle," Anne assured her +gravely. "I am so glad I have only one more year of your detestable +society before me. Now you know the truth. Kill me if you must," she +added in melodramatic tones.</p> + +<p>"I'll be merciful and let you live until after Easter," laughed Grace. +"That reminds me, Anne. I am going to ask Ruth to go home with us. I +know she is anxious to talk with Jean, although she wouldn't say so for +the world. She is always in mortal fear of intruding. Arline knows that +I am going to invite Ruth. I'm going there this very morning if I can +manage to hustle down to her room before my biology hour," concluded +Grace, rising from the couch with an energy that nearly precipitated +Anne to the floor. "We forgot to congregate last night after Alberta +went home, it was so late. I'll tell you my plan to-night. But we won't +try to carry it out until after Easter."</p> + +<p>Ruth cried a little on Grace's comforting shoulder when, an hour later, +she delivered her Easter invitation. To Grace's satisfaction, she +accepted without a protesting word. She remembered only that Jean, the +hunter, had known her father and she had a wistful desire to take old +Jean by the hand for her father's sake. Arline had promised to spend +Easter with Grace, but her father had planned a trip to the Bermudas for +her and Ruth. Realizing that it would be best for Ruth to go to Oakdale, +she cheerfully put aside her own personal desire for Ruth's +companionship and urged Ruth to go home with Grace.</p> + +<p>Elfreda had accepted Laura Atkins's invitation to spend Easter with her, +and was already convulsing the three Oakdale girls with excerpts from +conversations to take place, supposedly, between herself and Laura's +learned father. "I have been reading up a lot on the pterodactyl and +ichthyosaurus and other small, playful animals of the beginning of the +world variety," she confided to Miriam. "I expect to astonish him."</p> + +<p>"I am reasonably sure that you will," was Miriam's mirthful reply. "I +wish you were coming home with me, instead."</p> + +<p>"So do I." Elfreda's shrewd eyes grew wistful. "I know I'd have the best +time ever if I went home with you, but I feel as though I ought to go +with Laura. She would have been so disappointed if I had refused her +invitation. That sounds conceited, doesn't it? But you can see how +things are, can't you?"</p> + +<p>"I can, indeed," returned Miriam, and the significance of her tone left +no doubt in Elfreda's mind regarding her roommate's understanding of +things.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<h3>GRACE'S PLAN</h3> + + +<p>The Easter vacation slipped away at the same appalling rate of speed +that had marked the passing of all Grace's holidays at home. There were +so many pleasant things to do and so many old friends to welcome her +return to Oakdale that she sighed regretfully to think she could not +possibly accept one half of the invitations that poured in upon her from +all sides.</p> + +<p>Nora and Jessica had come from the conservatory to spend Easter at home, +so had the masculine half of the "Eight Originals Plus Two." Then, too, +the Phi Sigma Tau, with the exception of Eleanor Savelli, had renewed +their vows of unswerving loyalty, and their numerous sessions ate up the +time. There was one day set aside, however, on which the little clan had +paid a visit to Jean, the old hunter, and Ruth had experienced the +satisfaction of seeing and talking with a man who had been her father's +friend. The old woodsman had been equally delighted to take Arthur +Denton's child by the hand, and the tears had run down his brown, +weather-beaten cheeks as he looked into Ruth's face and exclaimed at the +resemblance to her father that he saw there. "You shall yet hear. You +shall yet see, Mamselle," he had prophesied with a fullness of belief +that made Grace resolve to keep on writing to the address Jean had given +her for a year at least, whether or not she received a line in return. +She, too, felt confident that Arthur Denton still lived.</p> + +<p>She was, therefore, more disappointed than she cared to admit when, on +returning to Overton, she failed to find an answer to the letters which +she had sent to Nome at stated intervals. Ruth, apprehensive and sick at +heart, by reason of hope deferred, was striving to be brave in spite of +the bitterness of her disappointment. From the beginning she had sternly +determined not to be buoyed by false hopes, then if she never heard from +the letters that she and Grace had sent speeding northward, she would +have nothing to disturb her peace of mind other than the regret that her +dream had never come true. Yet it was hard not to think of her father +and not to hope.</p> + +<p>A late Easter made a short April, and May was well upon them before the +students of Overton College awoke to the realization that it was only a +matter of days until the senior class would be graduated and gone; that +the juniors would be seniors, the sophomores juniors, and even the +humblest freshman would taste the sweetness of sophomoreship.</p> + +<p>To Grace the rapid passing of the last days of her junior year brought a +certain indefinable sadness. There were times when she wished herself a +freshman, that she were ending her first year of college life rather +than the third. Only one more year and it would all be over. Then what +lay beyond? Grace never went further than that. She had no idea as to +what life would mean to her when her college days were past. She had not +yet found her work. Anne would, no doubt, return to her profession. +Miriam intended to study music in Leipsig at the same conservatory where +Eleanor Savelli's father and mother had met. Elfreda had long since +announced her intention of becoming a lawyer. Ruth fully expected to +teach, and even dainty Arline had hinted that she might take up +settlement work.</p> + +<p>Grace was thinking rather soberly of all this, late on Saturday +afternoon as she walked slowly across the campus toward Wayne Hall. "I +really ought to begin to think seriously of my future work," she +thought. "Father and Mother would only be too glad to have me stay at +home with them, but I feel as though I ought to 'be up and doing with a +heart for any fate' instead of just being a home girl. Miss Duncan said +the last time I talked with her that I would some day hit upon my work +when I least expected it. I hope it will happen soon. Oh, there goes +Alberta Wicks!" she cried aloud. "I must see her at once. Alberta!"</p> + +<p>Alberta Wicks, who was within hailing distance, turned abruptly and +walked toward Grace.</p> + +<p>"Where have you been of late? I haven't seen you. Did you receive my +note?" asked Grace, holding out her hand to the other girl.</p> + +<p>"Yes," returned Alberta, a slow red creeping into her cheeks. "I meant +to come to Wayne Hall, but——" She paused, then said with a touch of +her old defiance, "I might as well tell you the truth, I am rather +afraid of the girls there."</p> + +<p>"'Afraid of the girls!'" repeated Grace. "Why are you afraid of them, +Alberta?"</p> + +<p>"Because I've been so disagreeable," was the low reply. "They were very +sweet with me the night of your tea party, but I felt as though they +bore with me for your sake."</p> + +<p>"On the contrary, they were pleased to entertain you," replied Grace +with a sincerity that even Alberta could not doubt. "I hope you will +come again soon, and I wish you would bring Miss Hampton with you."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," returned Alberta, but her hesitating reply was equivalent +to refusal.</p> + +<p>"She wants to come, but she still believes we don't like her," reflected +Grace, as Alberta said good-bye and walked away with an almost dejected +expression on her face. "Now is the time to put my plan into execution. +I had forgotten it until seeing Alberta brought it back to me. I must +propose it to the girls to-night."</p> + +<p>From the evening on which Alberta had kept her promise to Julia Crosby +and come to Wayne Hall to make peace, Grace had experienced a strong +desire to help her sweeten and brighten the last days of her college +life. With this thought in mind she had evolved the idea of giving +Alberta and Mary a surprise party at Wellington House and inviting the +Semper Fidelis girls as well as certain popular seniors and juniors who +would be sure to add to the gayety of the affair. But when after dinner +she broached the subject to her three friends, who had seated themselves +in an expectant row on her couch to hear her plan, she was wholly +unprepared for the amount of opposition with which it was received.</p> + +<p>"I can't see why we should exert ourselves to make things pleasant for +those two girls," grumbled Elfreda. "For almost three years they have +taken particular pains to make matters unpleasant for us. The other +night I treated Miss Wicks civilly for your sake, Grace, not because I +am fond of her."</p> + +<p>"I am afraid you will have considerable trouble in making the other +girls promise to help you," demurred Miriam. "Neither Miss Wicks nor +Miss Hampton have ever done anything to endear themselves to the girls +here at Overton. Personally, I believe in letting well-enough alone in +this case. If you wish to entertain them at Wayne Hall, of course we +will stand by you. But I don't believe it would be wise to attempt to +give a semi-public demonstration. It would be very humiliating for you +if the girls refused to help you."</p> + +<p>"But if they promise to help they are not likely to break their word," +argued Grace, "and I shall make a personal call upon every girl on my +list."</p> + +<p>"Aren't you afraid that a 'list' may cause jealousy and ill-feeling on +the part of certain girls who are not included in it?" was Anne's +apprehensive question.</p> + +<p>"And you, too, Anne!" exclaimed Grace in a hurt voice, looking her +reproach. "No, I don't see why it should cause any ill-feeling whatever. +We are not making it a class affair. There will be perhaps thirty girls +invited. Aside from the surety that we'll have a good time, I believe we +will be going far toward displaying the true Overton spirit. Of course, +if you girls feel that you don't wish to enter into this with me, then I +shall have to go on alone, for I am determined to do it. At least you +can't gracefully refuse to come to the surprise party," she ended, with +a little catch in her voice.</p> + +<p>"Grace Harlowe, you big goose!" exclaimed Elfreda, springing to Grace's +side and winding both arms about her. "Did you believe for one instant +that we wouldn't stand by you no matter what you planned to do? I am +ashamed of myself. If it hadn't been for me, you would never have had +any trouble with either Alberta Wicks or Mary Hampton. Plan whatever you +like, and I set my hand and seal upon it that I'll aid you and abet you +to the fullest extent of my powers."</p> + +<p>"And so will I," cried Miriam. "I am sorry I croaked."</p> + +<p>"And to think I was a wet blanket, too," murmured Anne, patting one of +Grace's hands.</p> + +<p>"You are perfect angels, all of you," declared Grace, her gray eyes +shining. "I know I am always dragging you into things, and making you +help me for friendship's sake."</p> + +<p>"But they are always the right sort of things," retorted Elfreda, with +an affectionate loyalty.</p> + +<p>"Let us atone for our defection by making ourselves useful," proposed +Anne, picking up paper and pencil from the writing table. "I'll write +the names of those eligible to the surprise party if you'll supply +them."</p> + +<p>After considerable discussion, erasing, crossing out and re-establishing +the list of names was finally declared to be satisfactory.</p> + +<p>"Is there any particular friend of either of these girls that we have +forgotten to include?" asked Anne, as she carefully scanned the list.</p> + +<p>"What of Kathleen West?" asked Elfreda.</p> + +<p>Grace shook her head. "I believe it would be better not to ask her," she +said. "She wouldn't come; besides, she might—" Grace stopped. She had +been tempted to say that Kathleen would be likely to tell tales and +spoil the surprise.</p> + +<p>"I know what you were going to say. You believe she would tell Alberta +our plans and spoil the party," was Elfreda's blunt comment. "Well, so +do I believe it. Any one can see that."</p> + +<p>Grace smiled at Elfreda's emphatic statement.</p> + +<p>"It is wiser not to ask her," she said again. "There are four of us, and +we can count on Arline and Ruth; that leaves twenty-four girls to be +invited. Divided, that is six girls to each one of us. You must each +choose the six girls you will agree to see and make it your business to +invite them to the party. Try to make them promise to come, for we don't +want to change the list."</p> + +<p>"What are we going to have to eat?" asked Elfreda. "That is an extremely +important feature of any jollification. I always think of things to eat, +even though I don't eat them. Just thinking of them can't make one +stout, and it is a world of satisfaction."</p> + +<p>"We had better have different kinds of sandwiches, olives and pickles, +and what else?" asked Grace.</p> + +<p>"Ice cream and cake. We might have salted nuts and lemonade, too," added +Miriam.</p> + +<p>"It sounds good to me," averred Elfreda, relapsing into slang. "But +don't rely on the girls to bring this stuff. Assess them fifty cents +apiece with the understanding that another tax will be levied if +necessary."</p> + +<p>"That is sound advice," laughed Miriam, "but it means that the duty of +making of the sandwiches must fall upon us."</p> + +<p>"I guess I can stand it," nodded Elfreda with a sudden generosity. "I'll +take the sandwich making upon myself, if you say so. You all know +perfectly well that I can neither be equalled nor surpassed when it +comes to the 'eats' problem. Candidly, I'm ashamed of myself because I +didn't respond when Grace first asked me to help, and this sandwich task +is going to be my act of atonement. So, Anne, you and Miriam had better +get busy, too, and decide what yours will be, for we've all been found +guilty of lacking college spirit, and we've got to make good."</p> + +<p>"I will pledge myself to collect the money for the refreshments as a +further act of atonement," volunteered Anne.</p> + +<p>"And I will do the shopping for you when the money is collected," +promised Miriam. "Thanks to the careful training of J. Elfreda Briggs, I +know what to buy and where to buy it."</p> + +<p>"But you are leaving nothing for me to do," protested Grace.</p> + +<p>"There will be plenty of things for you to do," declared Elfreda. "You +will have to keep an eye on us and see that we perform our tasks with +diplomacy and skill."</p> + +<p>"It requires a great deal of diplomacy to make sandwiches, doesn't it, +Elfreda?" was Anne's innocent observation.</p> + +<p>"You know very well I wasn't referring to the making of the sandwiches," +retorted Elfreda, with a good-natured grin. "It is the delivering of the +invitations that is going to require a wily, sugar-coated tongue. The +majority of the girls are not fond of either Alberta Wicks or Mary +Hampton. The very ones you believe will help you may prove to be the +most prejudiced."</p> + +<p>"I am well aware of that fact," flung back Grace laughingly. "I received +an unexpected demonstration of it a few moments ago."</p> + +<p>"So you did," responded Elfreda unabashed. "I hadn't forgotten it, +either. Therefore I repeat that you will have your hands full managing +the ethical side of this surprise party. You will have to interview the +girls we can't persuade to come, for there are sure to be some of them +who will raise the same objections that we did, and if they do accept, +it will be only to please Grace Harlowe."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> + +<h3>WHAT EMMA DEAN FORGOT</h3> + + +<p>The surprise party did much toward placing Alberta Wicks and Mary +Hampton on a friendly footing with the members of their own class and +the juniors. Strange to relate, there had been little or no reluctance +exhibited by those invited in accepting their invitations, and as a +final satisfaction to Grace the night of the party was warm and moonlit.</p> + +<p>The astonishment of the two seniors can be better imagined than +described. Grace had purposely made an engagement to spend the evening +with them, and under pretense of having Alberta Wicks try over a new +song, had inveigled them to the living room, where the company of girls +had trooped in upon them, and a merry evening had ensued.</p> + +<p>Wholly unused to friendly attentions from their classmates, Alberta and +Mary, formerly self-assured even to arrogance, did the honors of the +occasion with a touch of diffidence that went far toward establishing +them on an entirely new basis at Overton, and they said good-night to +their guests with a delightful feeling of comradeship that had never +before been theirs.</p> + +<p>It had been agreed upon by the Semper Fidelis girls that they should +extend the right hand of fellowship as often as possible to the two +seniors during the short time left them at Overton. It was Grace who had +proposed this. "We must do all we can to help them fill the last of +their college days with good times. Then they can never forget what a +great honor it is to call Overton 'Alma Mater,'" she had argued with an +earnestness that could not be gainsaid.</p> + +<p>Now that this particular shadow had lifted, Grace was still concerned +over her utter failure to keep her word to Mabel Ashe regarding the +newspaper girl. When Kathleen had discovered that Alberta Wicks and Mary +Hampton now numbered themselves among Grace's friends, she religiously +avoided the two seniors as well as the Semper Fidelis girls. She became +sullen and moody, apparently lost all interest in breaking rules and +studied with an earnestness that evoked the commendation of the faculty, +and caused her to be classed with the "digs" by the more +frivolous-minded freshmen. Her reputation for dashing off clever bits of +verse also became established, and her themes were frequently read in +the freshman English classes and occasionally in sophomore English, too. +In spite of her literary achievements, however, she remained as +unpopular as ever. To the girls who knew her she was too changeable to +be relied upon, and her sarcastic manner discouraged those who ventured +to be friendly.</p> + +<p>"If I haven't been able to keep my word to Mabel it isn't because I have +not tried," Grace Harlowe murmured half aloud, as she walked toward her +favorite seat under a giant elm at the lower end of the campus, an +unopened letter in her hand. Grace tore open the envelope and +immediately became absorbed in the contents of the letter. "I wish she +could come up here for commencement," she sighed, "and I wish she knew +the truth about Kathleen West. I can't write it. It would seem so unfair +and contemptible to present my side of the story to Mabel without giving +Kathleen a chance to present hers. That is, if she really considers that +she has one."</p> + +<p>"I knew I'd find you here," called a disconsolate voice, and Emma Dean +appeared from behind a huge flowering bush. "I've a terrible confession +to make, and there's no time like the present for admitting my sins of +omission and commission. Please put a decided accent on omission."</p> + +<p>"Now what have you forgotten to do?" laughed Grace. "It can't be +anything very serious."</p> + +<p>"You won't laugh when I tell you," returned Emma, looking sober. "I +shall never be agreeable and promise to deliver a message or anything +else for any one again. I am not to be trusted. Here is the cause of all +my sorrow." She handed Grace a large, square envelope with the contrite +explanation: "Words can't tell you how sorry I am. It has been in the +pocket of my heavy coat since the week before I went home for the Easter +holidays. I went over to the big bulletin board the day before you went +home and saw this letter addressed to you. I wish I had left it there, +as I did last time. There was one for me, too, so I put them both in my +coat pocket, intending to give you yours the moment I reached Wayne +Hall. But before I was half way across the campus I met the Emerson +twins, and they literally dragged me into Vinton's for a sundae. By the +time I reached the hall, all remembrance of the letters had passed from +my mind.</p> + +<p>"I didn't take my heavy coat home with me, and when I came back to +Overton the weather had grown warm, so I did not wear it again. This +afternoon it fell on the floor of my closet, and when I picked it up I +noticed something white at the top of one of the pockets. There! Now +I've confessed and I shall not blame you if you are cross with me. My +letter didn't amount to much. It was from a cousin of mine, whose +letters always bore me to desperation. Now, say all the mean things to +me that you like. I'm resigned," invited Emma, closing her eyes and +folding her hands across her breast.</p> + +<p>"I'm not going to scold you, Emma," declared Grace, laughing a little. +"I wonder who this can be from? The postmark is almost obliterated. +However, I'll soon see."</p> + +<p>"Do you want me to go on about my business?" was Emma's pointed +question.</p> + +<p>"Certainly not. Pardon me while I read this. Then I'll walk to the Hall +with you. It is almost dinner time." As Grace unfolded the letter the +inside sheet fell from it to the ground. As she bent to pick it up her +eyes lingered upon the signature with an expression of unbelieving +amazement stamped upon her face. Then she glanced down the first page of +the letter.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it can't be true! It's too wonderful!" she gasped. "Oh, Emma, Emma, +if I had only received this the day it came!"</p> + +<p>"I knew it was something important," groaned Emma. "And I was trying to +be so helpful."</p> + +<p>Unmindful of Emma's remorseful utterance, Grace went on excitedly: "Only +think, Emma, it is from Ruth's father. He is alive and well and frantic +with joy over the news that Ruth did not die in that terrible wreck." +Grace sprang from her seat and seized Emma by the arm. "Come on," she +urged, "I must tell the girls at once."</p> + +<p>Grace ran all the way to Wayne Hall, and bursting into her room pounced +upon Anne and hustled her unceremoniously into Miriam's room, where +Elfreda and Miriam viewed their noisy entrance with tolerant eyes. A +moment afterward Emma Dean appeared, out of breath. In a series of +excited sentences, Grace told the glorious news. "But I must read you +what he says," she said, her eyes very bright.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">My Dear Miss Harlowe</span>:—</p> + +<p>"What can I say to you who have sent me the most welcome message I +ever received? It is as though the dead had come to life. To think +that my baby daughter, my little Ruth, still lives, and has fought +her way to friends and education. It is almost beyond belief. I +cannot fittingly express by letter the feeling of gratitude which +overwhelms me when I think of your generous and whole-souled +interest in me and my child. I have certain matters here in Nome to +which I must attend, then I shall start for the States, and once +there proceed east with all speed. It will not be advisable for you +to answer this letter, as I shall have started on my journey before +your answer could possibly reach me. I shall telegraph Ruth as soon +as I arrive in San Francisco. I have not written her as yet, +because you said in your letter to me that you did not wish her to +know until you had heard from me. I thank you for trying to shield +her from needless pain, and I am longing for the day when I can +look into Ruth's eyes and call her daughter. Believe me, my +appreciation of your kindness to me and to Ruth lies too deep for +words. With the hope that I shall be in Overton before many weeks +to claim my own, and thank you and your friends personally,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Yours in deep sincerity,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"<span class="smcap">Arthur Northrup Denton</span>."<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + +<p>"Well, if that isn't in the line of a sensation, then my name isn't +Josephine Elfreda Briggs! And to think Ruth's father has actually +materialized and is coming to Overton? When did you receive the letter, +Grace?"</p> + +<p>"It came just before the Easter vacation," interposed Emma Dean bravely, +without giving Grace a chance to answer. "I might as well tell you. I +took it from the big bulletin board, put it in my coat pocket to bring +to Grace and forgot it. Don't all speak at once." Emma bowed her head, +her hands over her ears.</p> + +<p>Then an immediate buzz of conversation arose, and Emma came in for a +deserved amount of good-natured teasing.</p> + +<p>"What is the date of the letter!" asked Elfreda.</p> + +<p>"The twenty-sixth of February," replied Grace. "It must have been on the +way for weeks."</p> + +<p>"And in Emma's pocket longer," was Miriam's sly comment.</p> + +<p>"But he should have arrived long before this," persisted Elfreda. "I +wonder if he received Ruth's letter."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he didn't start as soon as he intended," said Anne.</p> + +<p>"That may be so. Nevertheless, he has had plenty of time to attend to +his affairs and come here, too," declared Elfreda. "I wouldn't be +surprised to see him almost any day."</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't it be splendid if he were to come here in time to see Ruth +usher at commencement?" smiled Grace.</p> + +<p>"He'd better hurry, then," broke in Emma Dean, "for commencement is only +two weeks off. Shall you tell Ruth? Who is going with you to tell her, +and when are you going?"</p> + +<p>"After dinner, all of us," announced Elfreda. "Aren't we, Grace?"</p> + +<p>Grace nodded.</p> + +<p>"Then I shall join the band," announced Emma. "Although I proved a +delinquent and untrustworthy messenger, still you must admit that at +last I delivered my message."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> + +<h3>CONCLUSION</h3> + + +<p>The last of June, in addition to its reputed wealth of roses, brought +with it exceedingly hot weather, but to the members of the senior and +junior classes, whose eyes were fixed upon commencement, the warm +weather was a matter of minor importance. It was the first Overton +commencement in which the three Oakdale girls had taken part, and +greatly to their satisfaction they had been detailed to usher at the +commencement exercises. Arline, Ruth, Gertrude Wells, the Emersons and +Emma Dean had also acted as ushers, and on the evening of commencement +day the Emerson twins had given a porch party to the other "slaves of +the realm," as they had laughingly styled themselves.</p> + +<p>It had been a momentous week, and the morning after commencement day +Grace awoke with the disturbing thought that her trunk remained still +unpacked, that she had two errands to do, and that she had promised to +meet Arline Thayer at Vinton's at half-past nine o'clock that morning.</p> + +<p>"I am glad it isn't eight o'clock yet," she commented to Anne, as she +stood before the mirror looking very trim and dainty in her tailored +suit of dark blue. "I'm going to put on my hat now, then I won't have to +come upstairs again. I'll do my errands first, then it will be time to +meet Arline, and I'll be here in time for luncheon. After that I must +pack my trunk, and if I hurry I shall still have some time to spare. Our +train doesn't leave until four o'clock. Will you telephone for the +expressman, Anne?"</p> + +<p>Anne, who was busily engaged in trying to make room in the tray of her +trunk for a burned wood handkerchief box which she had overlooked, +looked up long enough to acquiesce. "There!" she exclaimed as the box +finally slipped into place, "that is something accomplished. Hereafter, +I shall leave this box at home. Every time I pack my trunk I am sure to +find it staring me in the face from some corner of the room when I +haven't a square inch of space left. I'll keep my handkerchiefs in the +top drawer of the chiffonier next year."</p> + +<p>"I wish I had no packing to do," sighed Grace. "You never seem to mind +it."</p> + +<p>"That is because I am a trouper, and troupers live in their trunks," +smiled Anne. "Packing and unpacking never dismay me."</p> + +<p>"Isn't it fortunate, Anne, that our commencement happened a week before +that of the boys? We can be at home for a day or two before we go to +M—— to attend their commencement."</p> + +<p>"I can't realize that our boys are men, and about to go out into the +world, each one to his own work," said Anne. "They will always seem just +boys to us, won't they?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, the spirit of youth will remain with them as long as they live," +prophesied Grace wisely, "because they will always be interested in +things. And if one lives every day for all it is worth and goes on to +the next day prepared to make the best of whatever it may bring forth, +one can never grow old in spirit. Look at Mrs. Gray. She never will be +'years old,' she will always be 'years young.' I am so anxious to see +Father and Mother and Mrs. Gray and the girls, but I hate saying +good-bye to Overton. Every year it seems to grow dearer."</p> + +<p>"That is because it has been our second home," was Anne's soft +rejoinder.</p> + +<p>A knock at the door, followed by a peremptory summons in Elfreda's +voice, "Come on down to breakfast," ended the little talk.</p> + +<p>By half-past eight o'clock Grace was on her way toward Main Street, bent +on disposing of her errands with all possible speed. The vision of her +yawning trunk, flanked by piles of clothing waiting patiently to be put +in it, loomed large before her. Later on, keeping her appointment with +Arline, she heroically tore herself from that fascinating young woman's +society and hurried toward Wayne Hall, filled with laudable intentions. +Anne had finished her packing and departed to pay a farewell visit to +Ruth Denton.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear," sighed Grace, "I hate to begin. I suppose I had better put +these heavy things in first." She reached for her heavy blue coat and +sweater, slowly depositing them in the bottom of the trunk. Her raincoat +followed the sweater, and she was in the act of folding her blue serge +dress, when a knock sounded on the door, and the maid proclaimed in a +monotonous voice, "Telegram, Miss Harlowe."</p> + +<p>The blue serge dress was thrown into the trunk, and Grace dashed from +the room and down the stairs at the maid's heels. Her father and mother +were Grace's first thought. What if something dreadful had happened to +either of them! The bare idea of a telegram thrilled Grace with +apprehension. Her fingers trembled as she signed the messenger's book +and tore open the envelope. One glance at the telegram and with an +inarticulate cry Grace darted up the stairs and down the hall to her +room. Stopping only long enough to seize her hat, she made for the +stairs, the telegram clutched tightly in her hand. "Oh, if Anne or +Miriam were only here," she breathed, as she paused for an instant at +Mrs. Elwood's gate to look up and down the street, then set off in the +direction of the campus. At the edge of the campus she paused again, +glancing anxiously about her in the vain hope of spying Ruth or Miriam, +then she started across the campus toward Morton House. As she neared +her destination, the front door of the hall opened and a familiar figure +appeared. It was followed by another figure, and with a little +exclamation of satisfaction Grace redoubled her pace. "Ruth! Arline!" +she cried, her face alight: "Can't you guess? It has come at last. Here +it is. Read it, Ruth."</p> + +<p>Ruth had turned very pale, and was staring at Grace in mute, questioning +fashion. "You don't mean——" her voice died away in a startled gasp.</p> + +<p>"I do, I do," caroled Grace, tears of sheer happiness rising in her gray +eyes. "Read it, Ruth. Oh, I am so glad for your sake. Three more hours +and you will see him. It seems like a fairytale."</p> + +<p>Ruth stood still, reading the telegram over and over: "Arrive Overton +2:40. Will you and Ruth meet me? Arthur N. Denton."</p> + +<p>"And to think," said Arline, in awe-stricken tones, "that Ruth is +actually going to see her father!"</p> + +<p>"My very own father." The tenderness in Ruth's voice brought the tears +to Arline's blue eyes. Grace was making no effort to conceal the fact +that her own were running over.</p> + +<p>"You mustn't cry, girls," faltered Ruth. "It's the happiest day +of—my—life." Then she buried her face in her hands and ran into the +house. Grace and Arline followed, to find her huddled on the lowest step +of the stairs, her slender shoulders shaking.</p> + +<p>"I—I can't help it," she sobbed. "You would cry, too, if after being +driven from pillar to post ever since you were little, you'd suddenly +find that there was some one in the world who loved you and wanted to +take care of you."</p> + +<p>"Of course you can't help crying," soothed Grace, stroking the bowed +head. "Arline and I cried, too. This is one of the great moments of your +life."</p> + +<p>"Dear little chum," said Arline softly, sitting down beside Ruth and +putting her arms around the weeping girl, "your wish has been granted."</p> + +<p>An eloquent silence fell upon the trio for a moment, which was broken by +the sound of voices in the upstairs hall. Ruth and Arline rose +simultaneously from the stairs. "Come up to my room," urged Arline, "and +we will finish our cry in private."</p> + +<p>"I have no more tears to shed," smiled Grace, "and I dare not go to your +room."</p> + +<p>"Dare not?" inquired Arline.</p> + +<p>"I haven't finished my packing, and our train leaves at four-thirty. +Oh!" Grace sprang to her feet in sudden alarm. "I asked Anne to +telephone for the expressman. Perhaps he has called for my trunk, and +gone by this time. If he has, I shall have to reopen negotiations with +the express company at once in order that it shall reach the station in +time. Will you meet me at the station at a quarter-past two o'clock, or +can you stop for me at the Hall?"</p> + +<p>"I'll be at the Hall at two o'clock," promised Ruth.</p> + +<p>Filled with commendable determination to finish her packing as speedily +as possible, Grace hurried home and up the stairs, unpinning her hat as +she ran. Dashing into her room, she dropped her hat on her couch, then +stared about her in amazement. The piles of clothing she had left had +disappeared, and, yes, her trunk had also vanished. "Where—" she began, +when the door opened and three figures precipitated themselves upon her.</p> + +<p>"Don't say we never did anything for you," cried Elfreda.</p> + +<p>"We didn't overlook a single thing," assured Anne.</p> + +<p>"It isn't every one who can secure the services of professional trunk +packers."</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'Will you, won't you, will you, won't you,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Come and join the dance?'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>caroled Elfreda off the key, as she did a true mock turtle shuffle +around Grace. Joining hands, the three girls hemmed Grace in and pranced +about her.</p> + +<p>"What is going on in here?" demanded Emma Dean, appearing in the +doorway. "Is the mere idea of being seniors going to your heads?"</p> + +<p>"I ought to be the one to dance, Emma," laughed Grace. "I went out of +here with my room in chaos and my trunk unpacked, and came back to find +it not only packed but gone. Thank you, girls," she nodded +affectionately to her chums.</p> + +<p>"No one exhibited any such tender thoughtfulness for me," commented +Emma. "I had to wrestle with my packing unaided and alone. And how +things do pile up! I could hardly find a place for all my stuff."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I almost forgot my great news," cried Grace. Then she produced the +telegram, and a buzz of excited conversation began which lasted until +the luncheon bell rang.</p> + +<p>Ruth was punctual to the moment, and after receiving the affectionate +congratulations of the girls, she and Grace started for the station on +the, to Ruth, most eventful errand of her young life.</p> + +<p>"How shall I know him, Grace, and how will he know me?" she said +tremulously.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," returned Grace rather blankly. "That part of it hadn't +occurred to me. Still, Overton is only a small city, and there won't be +many incoming passengers. It's a case of outgoing passengers this week. +I have an idea that we shall know him," she concluded.</p> + +<p>When, at exactly 2:40, the train pulled into the station, two pairs of +eyes were fixed anxiously on the few travelers that left the train. +Suddenly Grace's hand caught Ruth's arm, "There he is! Oh, Ruth, isn't +he splendid? Come on. Don't be afraid. I feel certain he is Arthur +Northrup Denton."</p> + +<p>Seizing Ruth's hand, she led her, unresisting, to meet a tail, +broad-shouldered, smooth-faced man, whose piercing gray eyes constantly +scanned the various persons scattered along the platform. His brown hair +was touched with gray at the temples, and his keen, resolute face +bespoke unfaltering purpose and power.</p> + +<p>With Grace to think was to act. She took an impulsive step toward the +tall stranger, confronting him with, "I am Grace Harlowe. I am sure you +are Mr. Denton."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am Arthur Denton, and——"</p> + +<p>"This is your daughter, Ruth," declared Grace hurriedly, pushing Ruth +gently forward. An instant later the few persons lingering on the +station platform saw the tall stranger fold the slender figure of Ruth +in a long embrace.</p> + +<p>"I was sure you were Ruth's father," declared Grace as, a little later, +they were speeding through the streets of Overton in the taxicab Mr. +Denton had engaged at the station. "The moment I saw you I felt that you +could be no one else."</p> + +<p>Ruth sat with her hand in her father's, an expression of ineffable +tenderness on her small face. She was content to listen to him and Grace +without joining in the conversation. Her greatest wish had been +fulfilled and she was experiencing a joy too deep for words. Mr. Denton +explained to them that his long silence had been due to a series of +misadventures that had befallen him on his way from Alaska to San +Francisco. He had received only one letter from Grace and none from +Ruth, as he had left Nome directly after receiving Grace's letter. The +others had evidently reached Nome after his departure and had not been +forwarded to him. The boat on which he had taken passage had been +wrecked and he had barely escaped drowning. He had been rescued by an +Indian fisherman from the icy waters of Bering Sea, and taken to his +hut, where for days he had lain ill from exposure to the elements.</p> + +<p>At the earliest possible moment he had embarked for San Francisco, then +journeyed east. He had purposely refrained from telegraphing until +within a day's journey from Overton, fearing that something might occur +to delay his meeting with his daughter.</p> + +<p>Ruth, who had already planned to remain in Overton during the summer and +work at dressmaking, smiled in rapture as she heard her father plan a +long sight-seeing trip through the west which would last until time for +her return to college in the fall. They drove with Grace to Wayne Hall, +promising to return to the station in time to meet her friends and say +good-bye to her, Mr. Denton assuring her that he hoped some day to repay +the debt of gratitude which he owed her.</p> + +<p>Three familiar figures ran downstairs to meet Grace as she stepped into +the hall.</p> + +<p>"We've been waiting patiently for you," announced Elfreda.</p> + +<p>"Did he materialize?" from Anne.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of him?" was Miriam's quick question.</p> + +<p>"Come into the living-room and I'll tell you," said Grace. "We won't +have much time to talk, though. It is after three o'clock now."</p> + +<p>"No; come upstairs to our room," invited Elfreda. "We have a special +reason for asking you."</p> + +<p>Grace obediently accompanied the three girls upstairs. The first thing +that attracted her eye was a tray containing a tall pitcher of fruit +lemonade and four glasses. Elfreda stepped to the table and began +pouring the lemonade. When she had filled the glasses she handed them, +in turn, to each girl. "To our senior year," she said solemnly, raising +her glass. "May it be the best of all. Drink her down."</p> + +<p>"What a nice idea," smiled Grace as she set down her glass.</p> + +<p>"It was Elfreda's proposal," said Miriam. "She made the lemonade, too."</p> + +<p>"Then let us drink to her." Grace reached for her glass and Miriam for +the pitcher.</p> + +<p>"I'll do the honors this time," declared Miriam. "Here's to the +Honorable Josephine Elfreda Briggs, expert brewer of lemonade, model +roommate and loyal friend."</p> + +<p>"Oh, now," protested Elfreda, "what made you spoil everything? I was +just beginning to enjoy myself."</p> + +<p>"The pleasure is all ours," retorted Anne.</p> + +<p>"Besides, you are getting nothing but your just deserts. We are only +glad to have a chance to demonstrate our deep appreciation of your many +lovely qualities, Miss Briggs," she ended mischievously.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Miss Briggs," laughed Grace, "you are indispensable to this happy +band, Miss Briggs. You must be blind if you can't see that."</p> + +<p>"Very blind indeed, Miss Briggs," agreed Miriam Nesbit. "But because you +are so blind, Miss Briggs, I shall endeavor, in a few well chosen words, +Miss Briggs, to make you see what is so plain to the rest of us." +Whereupon Miriam launched forth into a funny little eulogy of Elfreda +and her good works which caused the stout girl to exclaim in +embarrassment, "Oh, see here, Miriam, I'm not half so wonderful as I +might be. If you said all those nice things about yourself or Grace or +Anne it would be more to the point."</p> + +<p>"But it might not be true," interposed Grace.</p> + +<p>"And we quite agree with Miriam," added Anne.</p> + +<p>Elfreda surveyed them in silence, an unusually tender expression in her +shrewd blue eyes. "I can see that I have a whole lot to be thankful +for," she said after a moment. "Next year I am going to try harder than +ever to live up to your flattering opinion of me. Then I know that I +can't fail to be a good senior."</p> + +<p>Just how completely Elfreda carried out her resolution and what happened +to Grace Harlowe and her friends during their senior year in college +will be found in "<span class="smcap">Grace Harlowe's Fourth Year at Overton +College</span>."</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The End</span>.</p> + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="HENRY_ALTEMUS_COMPANYS" id="HENRY_ALTEMUS_COMPANYS"></a>HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY'S</h2> + + +<h3>Best and Least Expensive Books<br /> +for Boys and Girls</h3> + + +<p>Really good and new stories for boys and girls are not plentiful. Many +stories, too, are so highly improbable as to bring a grin of derision to +the young reader's face before he has gone far. The name of ALTEMUS is a +distinctive brand on the cover of a book, always ensuring the buyer of +having a book that is up-to-date and fine throughout. No buyer of an +ALTEMUS book is ever disappointed.</p> + +<p>Many are the claims made as to the inexpensiveness of books. Go into any +bookstore and ask for an Altemus book. Compare the price charged you for +Altemus books with the price demanded for other juvenile books. You will +at once discover that a given outlay of money will buy more of the +ALTEMUS books than of those published by other houses.</p> + +<p>Every dealer in books carries the ALTEMUS books.</p> + +<p>Sold by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt of price</p> + +<h4>Henry Altemus Company<br /> +1326-1336 Vine Street, Philadelphia</h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h2>The Motor Boat Club Series</h2> + +<h3>By H. IRVING HANCOCK</h3> + +<p>The keynote of these books is manliness. The stories are wonderfully +entertaining, and they are at the same time sound and wholesome. No boy +will willingly lay down an unfinished book in this series.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB OF THE KENNEBEC;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, The Secret of Smugglers' Island.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AT NANTUCKET;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, The Mystery of the Dunstan Heir.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB OFF LONG ISLAND;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, A Daring Marine Game at Racing Speed.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AND THE WIRELESS;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, The Dot, Dash and Dare Cruise.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB IN FLORIDA;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Laying the Ghost of Alligator Swamp.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AT THE GOLDEN GATE;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, A Thrilling Capture in the Great Fog.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB ON THE GREAT LAKES;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, The Flying Dutchman of the Big Fresh Water.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>The Range and Grange Hustlers</h2> + +<h3>By FRANK GEE PATCHIN</h3> + +<p>Have you any idea of the excitements, the glories of life on great +ranches in the West? Any bright boy will "devour" the books of this +series, once he has made a start with the first volume.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS ON THE RANCH;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, The Boy Shepherds of the Great Divide.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS' GREATEST ROUND-UP;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Pitting Their Wits Against a Packers' Combine.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS ON THE PLAINS;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Following the Steam Plows Across the Prairie.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS AT CHICAGO;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, The Conspiracy of the Wheat Pit.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>Submarine Boys Series</h2> + +<h3>By VICTOR G. DURHAM</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE SUBMARINE BOYS ON DUTY;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Life on a Diving Torpedo Boat.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE SUBMARINE BOYS' TRIAL TRIP;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, "Making Good" as Young Experts.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE MIDDIES;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, The Prize Detail at Annapolis.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SPIES;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Dodging the Sharks of the Deep.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE SUBMARINE BOYS' LIGHTNING CRUISE;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, The Young Kings of the Deep.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE SUBMARINE BOYS FOR THE FLAG;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Deeding Their Lives to Uncle Sam.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SMUGGLERS;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Breaking Up the New Jersey Customs Frauds.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>The Square Dollar Boys Series</h2> + +<h3>By H. IRVING HANCOCK</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE SQUARE DOLLAR BOYS WAKE UP;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Fighting the Trolley Franchise Steal.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE SQUARE DOLLAR BOYS SMASH THE RING;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, In the Lists Against the Crooked Land Deal.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>The College Girls Series</h2> + +<h3>By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A.M.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">GRACE HARLOWE'S FIRST YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">GRACE HARLOWE'S SECOND YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">GRACE HARLOWE'S THIRD YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">GRACE HARLOWE'S FOURTH YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">GRACE HARLOWE'S RETURN TO OVERTON CAMPUS.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>Dave Darrin Series</h2> + +<h3>By H. IRVING HANCOCK</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">DAVE DARRIN AT VERA CRUZ;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Fighting With the U. S. Navy in Mexico.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>Pony Rider Boys Series</h2> + +<h3>By FRANK GEE PATCHIN</h3> + +<p>These tales may be aptly described the best books for boys and girls.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ROCKIES;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, The Secret of the Lost Claim.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN TEXAS;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, The Veiled Riddle of the Plains.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN MONTANA;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, The Mystery of the Old Custer Trail.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE OZARKS;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, The Secret of Ruby Mountain.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ALKALI;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Finding a Key to the Desert Maze.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN NEW MEXICO;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, The End of the Silver Trail.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE GRAND CANYON;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, The Mystery of Bright Angel Gulch.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>The Boys of Steel Series</h2> + +<h3>By JAMES R. MEARS</h3> + +<p>Each book presents vivid picture of this great industry. Each story is +full of adventure and fascination.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE IRON BOYS IN THE MINES;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Starting at the Bottom of the Shaft.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE IRON BOYS AS FOREMEN;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Heading the Diamond Drill Shift<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE IRON BOYS ON THE ORE BOATS;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Roughing It on the Great Lakes.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE IRON BOYS IN THE STEEL MILLS;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Beginning Anew in the Cinder Pits.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>The Madge Morton Books</h2> + +<h3>By AMY D. V. CHALMERS</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">MADGE MORTON—CAPTAIN OF THE MERRY MAID.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">MADGE MORTON'S SECRET.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">MADGE MORTON'S TRUST.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">MADGE MORTON'S VICTORY.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>West Point Series</h2> + +<h3>By H. IRVING HANCOCK</h3> + +<p>The principal characters in these narratives are manly, young Americans +whose doings will inspire all boy readers.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">DICK PRESCOTT'S FIRST YEAR AT WEST POINT;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Two Chums in the Cadet Gray.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">DICK PRESCOTT'S SECOND YEAR AT WEST POINT;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Finding the Glory of the Soldier's Life.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">DICK PRESCOTT'S THIRD YEAR AT WEST POINT;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Standing Firm for Flag and Honor.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">DICK PRESCOTT'S FOURTH YEAR AT WEST POINT;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Ready to Drop the Gray for Shoulder Straps.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>Annapolis Series</h2> + +<h3>By H. IRVING HANCOCK</h3> + +<p>The Spirit of the new Navy is delightfully and truthfully depicted in +these volumes.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">DAVE DARRIN'S FIRST YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Two Plebe Midshipmen at the U. S. Naval Academy.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">DAVE DARRIN'S SECOND YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Two Midshipmen as Naval Academy "Youngsters."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">DAVE DARRIN'S THIRD YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Leaders of the Second Class Midshipmen.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">DAVE DARRIN'S FOURTH YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Headed for Graduation and the Big Cruise.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>The Young Engineers Series</h2> + +<h3>By H. IRVING HANCOCK</h3> + +<p>The heroes of these stories are known to readers of the High School Boys +Series. In this new series Tom Reade and Harry Hazelton prove worthy of +all the traditions of Dick & Co.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN COLORADO;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, At Railroad Building in Earnest.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN ARIZONA;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Laying Tracks on the "Man-Killer" Quicksand.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN NEVADA;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Seeking Fortune on the Turn of a Pick.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN MEXICO;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Fighting the Mine Swindlers.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>Boys of the Army Series</h2> + +<h3>By H. IRVING HANCOCK</h3> + +<p>These books breathe the life and spirit of the United States Army of +to-day, and the life, just as it is, is described by a master pen.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">UNCLE SAM'S BOYS IN THE RANKS;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Two Recruits in the United States Army.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">UNCLE SAM'S BOYS ON FIELD DUTY;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Winning Corporal's Chevrons.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">UNCLE SAM'S BOYS AS SERGEANTS;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Handling Their First Real Commands.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">UNCLE SAM'S BOYS IN THE PHILIPPINES;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Following the Flag Against the Moros.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>Battleship Boys Series</h2> + +<h3>By FRANK GEE PATCHIN</h3> + +<p>These stories throb with the life of young Americans on to-day's huge +drab Dreadnaughts.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE BATTLESHIP BOYS AT SEA;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Two Apprentices in Uncle Sam's Navy.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE BATTLESHIP BOYS FIRST STEP UPWARD;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Winning Their Grades as Petty Officers.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE BATTLESHIP BOYS IN FOREIGN SERVICE;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Earning New Ratings in European Seas.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE BATTLESHIP BOYS IN THE TROPICS;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Upholding the American Flag in a Honduras Revolution.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>The Meadow-Brook Girls Series</h2> + +<h3>By JANET ALDRIDGE</h3> + +<p>Real live stories pulsing with the vibrant atmosphere of outdoor life.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS UNDER CANVAS.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ACROSS COUNTRY.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS AFLOAT.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS IN THE HILLS.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS BY THE SEA.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ON THE TENNIS COURTS.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>High School Boys Series</h2> + +<h3>By H. IRVING HANCOCK</h3> + +<p>In this series of bright, crisp books a new note has been struck. Boys +of every age under sixty will be interested in these fascinating +volumes.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMEN;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Dick & Co.'s First Year Pranks and Sports.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE HIGH SCHOOL PITCHER;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Dick & Co. on the Gridley Diamond.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE HIGH SCHOOL LEFT END;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Dick & Co. Grilling on the Football Gridiron.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE HIGH SCHOOL CAPTAIN OF THE TEAM;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Dick & Co. Leading the Athletic Vanguard.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h2>Grammer School Boys Series</h2> +<h3>By H. IRVING HANCOCK</h3> + +<p>This series of stories, based on the actual doings of grammar school +boys, comes near to the heart of the average American boy.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS OF GRIDLEY;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Dick & Co. Start Things Moving.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS SNOWBOUND;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Dick & Co. at Winter Sports.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS IN THE WOODS;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Dick & Co. Trail Fun and Knowledge.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS IN SUMMER ATHLETICS;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Dick & Co. Make Their Fame Secure.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>High School Boys' Vacation Series</h2> + +<h3>By H. IRVING HANCOCK</h3> + +<p>"Give us more Dick Prescott books!"</p> + +<p>This has been the burden of the cry from young readers of the country +over. Almost numberless letters have been received by the publishers, +making this eager demand; for Dick Prescott, Dave Darrin, Tom Reade, and +the other members of Dick & Co. are the most popular high school boys in +the land. Boys will alternately thrill and chuckle when reading these +splendid narratives.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' CANOE CLUB;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Dick & Co.'s Rivals on Lake Pleasant.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS IN SUMMER CAMP;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, The Dick Prescott Six Training for the Gridley Eleven.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' FISHING TRIP;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Dick & Co. in the Wilderness.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' TRAINING HIKE;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Dick & Co. Making Themselves "Hard as Nails."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>The Circus Boys Series</h2> + +<h3>By EDGAR B. P. DARLINGTON</h3> + +<p>Mr. Darlington's books breathe forth every phase of an intensely +interesting and exciting life.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE FLYING RINGS;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Making the Start in the Sawdust Life.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE CIRCUS BOYS ACROSS THE CONTINENT;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Winning New Laurels on the Tanbark.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE CIRCUS BOYS IN DIXIE LAND;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Winning the Plaudits of the Sunny South.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE MISSISSIPPI;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Afloat with the Big Show on the Big River.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>The High School Girls Series</h2> + +<h3>By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A. M.</h3> + +<p>These breezy stories of the American High School Girl take the reader +fairly by storm.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">GRACE HARLOWE'S PLEBE YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, The Merry Doings of the Oakdale Freshman Girls.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">GRACE HARLOWE'S SOPHOMORE YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, The Record of the Girl Chums in Work and Athletics.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">GRACE HARLOWE'S JUNIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Fast Friends in the Sororities.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">GRACE HARLOWE'S SENIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, The Parting of the Ways.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>The Automobile Girls Series</h2> + +<h3>By LAURA DENT CRANE</h3> + +<p>No girl's library—no family book-case can be considered at all complete +unless it contains these sparkling twentieth-century books.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT NEWPORT;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Watching the Summer Parade.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS IN THE BERKSHIRES;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, The Ghost of Lost Man's Trail.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS ALONG THE HUDSON;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Fighting Fire in Sleepy Hollow.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT CHICAGO;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Winning Out Against Heavy Odds.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT PALM BEACH;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Proving Their Mettle Under Southern Skies.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT WASHINGTON;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or, Checkmating the Plots of Foreign Spies.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Grace Harlowe's Third Year at Overton +College, by Jessie Graham Flower + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRACE HARLOWE'S THIRD YEAR *** + +***** This file should be named 20473-h.htm or 20473-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/4/7/20473/ + +Produced by David Newman, Sigal Alon, Mary Meehan and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/20473-h/images/cover.jpg b/20473-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..53a393a --- /dev/null +++ b/20473-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/20473-h/images/img1.jpg b/20473-h/images/img1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8eee45a --- /dev/null +++ b/20473-h/images/img1.jpg diff --git a/20473-h/images/img2.jpg b/20473-h/images/img2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f5e7b13 --- /dev/null +++ b/20473-h/images/img2.jpg diff --git a/20473-h/images/img3.jpg b/20473-h/images/img3.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1278433 --- /dev/null +++ b/20473-h/images/img3.jpg diff --git a/20473-h/images/img4.jpg b/20473-h/images/img4.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..384412c --- /dev/null +++ b/20473-h/images/img4.jpg diff --git a/20473.txt b/20473.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f2d32d2 --- /dev/null +++ b/20473.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6529 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Grace Harlowe's Third Year at Overton +College, by Jessie Graham Flower + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Grace Harlowe's Third Year at Overton College + +Author: Jessie Graham Flower + +Release Date: January 28, 2007 [EBook #20473] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRACE HARLOWE'S THIRD YEAR *** + + + + +Produced by David Newman, Sigal Alon, Mary Meehan and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + Grace Harlowe's Third Year at Overton College + + By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A. M. + +Author of The Grace Harlowe High School Girls Series, Grace Harlowe's +First Year at Overton College, Grace Harlowe's Second Year at Overton +College, Grace Harlowe's Fourth Year at Overton College. + + + + +PHILADELPHIA +HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY +Copyright, 1914 + + + + +[Illustration: The Eight Originals Were Spending a Last Evening +Together.] + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I. The Last Evening at Home + + II. The Arrival of Kathleen + + III. First Impressions + + IV. Getting Acquainted with the Newspaper Girl + + V. Two Is a Company + + VI. An Unsuspected Listener + + VII. An Unpleasant Summons + + VIII. Elfreda Prophecies Trouble + + IX. Opening the Bazaar + + X. The Alice in Wonderland Circus + + XI. Grace Meets With a Rebuff + + XII. Thanksgiving at Overton + + XIII. Arline Makes the Best of a Bad Matter + + XIV. Planning the Christmas Dinner + + XV. A Tissue Paper Tea + + XVI. A Doubtful Victory + + XVII. Hippy Looks Mysterious + + XVIII. Old Jean's Story + + XIX. Telling Ruth the News + + XX. Elfreda Realizes Her Ambition + + XXI. Alberta Keeps Her Promise + + XXII. Grace's Plan + + XXIII. What Emma Dean Forgot + + XXIV. Conclusion + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +The Eight Originals Were Spending a Last Evening Together. + +The Emerson Twins Looked Realistically Japanese. + +"Here is the Letter You Wrote the Dean." + +"She was Standing Close to the Door." + + + + +Grace Harlowe's Third Year at Overton College + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE LAST EVENING AT HOME + + +"Now, then, everyone join in the chorus," commanded Hippy Wingate. There +was an answering tinkle from Reddy's mandolin, the deeper notes of a +guitar sounded, then eight care-free young voices were raised in the +plaintive chorus of "My Old Kentucky Home." + +It was a warm night in September. Miriam Nesbit and seven of the Eight +Originals were spending a last evening together on the Harlowes' +hospitable veranda. They were on the eve of separation. The following +day would witness Nora's and Jessica's departure for the conservatory. +Grace and Miriam would return to Overton at the beginning of the next +week, and the latter part of the same week would find the four young men +entered upon their senior year in college. + +"Very fine, indeed," commented Hippy, "but in order to sing properly one +ought to drink a great deal of lemonade. It is very conducive to a grand +opera voice," he added, confiscating several cakes from the plate Grace +passed to him and holding out his empty lemonade glass. + +"But you haven't a grand opera voice," protested David. "That is only a +flimsy excuse." + +"We won't discuss the matter in detail," returned Hippy with dignity. "I +am prepared to prove the truth of what I say. I will now render a +selection from 'Il Trovatore.' I will sing the imprisoned lover's +song--" + +"Not if I have anything to say about it," growled Reddy. + +"Suit yourself, suit yourself," declared Hippy, shrugging his shoulders. +"You boys will be sorry if you don't let me sing, though." + +"Is that a threat?" inquired Tom Gray with pretended belligerence. + +"A threat?" repeated Hippy. "No, it is a fact. I am contemplating a +terrible revenge. That is, I haven't really begun to contemplate it yet. +I am just getting ready. But when I do start--well, you'll see." + +"I think it would be delightful to hear you sing, 'Ah, I Have Sighed to +Rest Me,' Hippy," broke in Nora sweetly, a mischievous twinkle in her +eyes. + +"Can I believe my ears? The stony, unsympathetic Nora O'Malley agrees +with me at last. She likes my voice; she wishes to hear me sing, 'Ah, I +Have Sighed to Rest Me.' 'Tis true, I _have_ sighed to rest me a great +many times, particularly in the morning when the alarm clock put an end +to my dreams. It is a beautiful selection." + +"Then, why not sing it?" asked Nora demurely. + +"Because I don't know it," replied Hippy promptly. + +"Just as I suspected," commented Nora in disgust. "That is precisely why +I asked you to sing." + +"What made you suspect me?" inquired Hippy, apparently impressed. + +"I suspected you on general principles," was the retort. + +"If you had had any general principles you wouldn't have suspected me," +parried Hippy. + +"I won't even think about you the next time," was the withering reply. +Nora rose and made her way to the other end of the veranda, perching on +the porch railing beside Tom Gray. + +"Come back, Nora," wailed Hippy. "You may suspect me." + +"Isn't he too ridiculous for anything?" whispered Nora, smothering a +giggle and trying to look severe. Her attempt failed ignominiously when +Hippy, with an exaggeratedly contrite expression on his fat face, sidled +up to her, salaamed profoundly, lost his balance and sprawled on all +fours at her feet. A shout of merriment arose from his friends. Hippy, +unabashed, scrambled to his feet and began bowing again before Nora, +this time taking care not to bend too far forward. + +"You are forgiven, Hippy," declared Miriam. "Nora, don't allow your old +friend and playmate to dislocate his spine in his efforts to show his +sorrow." + +"You may stop bowing," said Nora grudgingly. "I suppose I'll have to +forgive you." + +Hippy promptly straightened up and perched himself on the railing beside +Nora. + +"I didn't say you might sit here," teased Nora. + +"I know it," replied Hippy coolly. "Still, you would be deeply, bitterly +disappointed if I didn't." + +"Perhaps I should," admitted Nora. "I suppose you might as well stay," +she added with affected carelessness. + +"Thank you," retorted Hippy. "But I had made up my mind not to move." + +"Had you?" said Nora indifferently, turning her back on Hippy and +addressing Tom Gray. Whereupon Hippy raised his voice in a loud +monologue that entirely drowned Tom's and Nora's voices. + +"For goodness' sake, say something that will please him, Nora," begged +Tom. "This is awful." + +Hippy babbled on, apparently oblivious of everyone. + +"I have something very important to tell you, Hippy," interposed Nora +slyly. + +Hippy stopped talking. "What is it?" he asked suspiciously. + +"Come over to the other end of the veranda and find out," said Nora +enigmatically. + +Hippy accepted the invitation promptly, and followed Nora to the end of +the veranda, unmindful of Tom Gray's jeers about idle curiosity. + +Those who read "Grace Harlowe's Plebe Year at High School," +"Grace Harlowe's Sophomore Year at High School," "Grace +Harlowe's Junior Year at High School" and "Grace Harlowe's +Senior Year at High School" will have no trouble in recognizing +every member of the merry party of young folks who had taken possession +of the Harlowes' veranda. The doings of Tom, Hippy, David, Reddy, Nora, +Jessica, Anne and Grace have been fully narrated in the "High School +Girls Series." There, too, appeared Miriam Nesbit, Eva Allen, +Eleanor Savelli and Marian Barber, together with the four chums, as +members of the famous sorority, the Phi Sigma Tau. + +With the close of their high school days the little clan had been +separated, although David, Reddy and Hippy were on the eve of beginning +their senior year in the same college. Nora and Jessica were attending +the same conservatory, while Grace, Anne and Miriam Nesbit were students +at Overton College. + +During their freshman year at Overton, set forth in "Grace Harlowe's +First Year at Overton College," the three girls had not met with +altogether plain sailing. There had been numerous hitches, the most +serious one having been caused by their championship of J. Elfreda +Briggs, a freshman, who had unfortunately incurred the dislike of +several mischievous sophomores. Through the prompt, sensible action of +Grace, assisted by her friends, Elfreda was restored to favor by her +class and became one of Grace's staunchest friends. + +"Grace Harlowe's Second Year at Overton College" found the +three friends sophomores, and wholly devoted to Overton and its +traditions. Their sophomore days brought them a variety of experiences, +pleasant and unpleasant, and, as in their freshman year, Grace and +Miriam distinguished themselves on the basketball field. It was during +this year that the Semper Fidelis Club was organized for the purpose of +helping needy students through college, and that Eleanor Savelli, the +daughter of a world-renowned virtuoso, and one of the Phi Sigma Tau, +visited Grace and helped to plan a concert which netted the club two +hundred dollars and a substantial yearly subscription from an interested +outsider. The difficulties that arose over a lost theme and the final +outcome of the affair proved Grace Harlowe to be the same honorable, +straightforward young woman who had endeared herself to the reader +during her high school days. + +"Why doesn't some one sing?" asked Grace plaintively. A brief silence +had fallen upon the little group at one end of the veranda, broken only +by Nora's and Hippy's argumentative voices. + +"Because both the someones are too busy to sing," laughed Jessica, +casting a significant glance toward the end of the veranda. + +"Hippy, Nora," called David, "come over here and sing." + +"'Sing, sing, what shall I sing?'" chanted Hippy. "Shall it be a sweetly +sentimental ditty, or shall I sing of brooks and meadows, fields and +flowers?" + +"Sing that funny one you sang for the fellows the night of the Pi +Ipsilon dinner," urged David. + +"Very well," beamed Hippy. "Remember, to the singer belongs the food. I +always negotiate for refreshments before lifting up my voice in song." + +"I will see that you are taken care of, Hippy," smiled Mrs. Harlowe, who +had come out on the veranda in time to hear Hippy's declaration. + +"Hello, Mother dear," called Grace, "I didn't know you were there." + +The young people were on their feet in an instant. Grace led her mother +to a chair. "Stay with us awhile, Mother," she said. "Hippy is going to +sing, and Nora, too." + +"Then I shall surely stay," replied Mrs. Harlowe. "And after the songs +you must come into the house and be my guests. The table is set for +seven." + +"How nice in you, Mother!" exclaimed Grace, kissing her mother's cheek. +"You are always doing the things that make people happy. Nora and Hippy, +please sing your very best for Mother. You first, Hippy, because I want +Nora to sing Tosti's 'Serenata,' and a comic song afterward will +completely spoil the effect." + +Hippy sang two songs in his own inimitable fashion. Then Nora's sweet, +high soprano voice began the "Serenata" to the subdued tinkling +accompaniment of Reddy's mandolin. Two years in the conservatory had +done much for Nora's voice, though its plaintive sweetness had been her +natural heritage. As they listened to the clear, rounded tones, with +just a suspicion of sadness in them, the little company realized to a +person that Nora's hopes of becoming known in the concert or grand opera +world were quite likely to be fulfilled. + +"How I wish Anne were here to-night," lamented Grace, after having +vigorously applauded Nora's song. "She loves to hear you sing, Nora." + +"I know it," sighed Nora. "Dear little Anne! I'm so sorry we can't see +her before we go back to the conservatory. While we have been sitting +here singing and enjoying ourselves, Anne has been appearing in her +farewell performance. I am glad we had a chance to visit her this +summer, even though we had to cross the state to do it." + +"She will be here to-morrow night, but we shall be at the end of our +journey by that time," lamented Jessica. "I wish we might stay and see +her, but we can't." + +"Never mind, you will meet her at Christmas time, when the Eight +Originals gather home," comforted Miriam. + +"But we'd like to see her now," interposed David mournfully. "What is +Oakdale without Anne?" + +At that moment Mrs. Harlowe, who, after Nora's song, had excused herself +and gone into the house, appeared in the door. + +"Come, children," she smiled, "the feast is spread." + +"May I escort you to the table?" asked David gravely, offering her his +arm. Heading the little procession, they led the way to the dining room, +followed by Reddy and Jessica, Hippy and Nora, Grace, Tom and Miriam. + +There for the next hour goodfellowship reigned supreme, and when at last +the various members of the little clan departed for home, each one +carried in his or her heart the conviction that Life could never offer +anything more desirable than these happy evenings which they had spent +together. + +"I can't tell you how much I missed Anne to-night," said Grace to her +mother as, arm in arm, they stood on the veranda watching their guests +until they had turned the corner of the next street. + +"We all missed her," replied her mother, "but I believe David felt her +absence even more keenly than we did. He is very fond of Anne. I wonder +if she realizes that he really loves her, and that he will some day tell +her so? She is such a quiet, self-contained little girl. Her emotions +are all kept for her work." + +"I believe she does," said Grace. "She has never spoken of it to me. +David has been her faithful knight ever since her freshman year at high +school, so she ought to have a faint inkling of what the rest of us +know. I am sorry for David. Anne's art is a powerful rival, and she is +growing fonder of it with every season. If, after she finishes college, +she were to marry David, she would be obliged to give it up. Since the +Southards came into her life she has grown to love her profession so +dearly that I don't imagine she would sacrifice it even for David's +sake." + +"It sounds rather strange to hear my little girl talking so wisely of +other people's love affairs," smiled Mrs. Harlowe almost wistfully. + +"I know what you are thinking, Motherkin," responded Grace, slipping +both arms about her mother and drawing her gently into the big porch +swing. "You needn't be afraid, though. I don't feel in the least +sentimental over any one, not even Tom Gray, and I like him better than +any other young man I know. I am far more concerned over what to do once +I have finished college. I simply must work, but I haven't yet found my +vocation. Neither has Miriam. Jessica thinks she has found hers, but she +found Reddy first, and he does not intend that she shall lose sight of +him. Hippy and Nora are a great deal fonder of each other than appears +on the surface, too. Their disagreements are never private. Nora said +the other day that she and Hippy had had only one quarrel, and--this is +the funniest bit of news you ever heard, Mother--it was because Hippy +became jealous of a violinist Nora knows at the conservatory. Imagine +Hippy as being jealous!" + +Grace talked on to her mother of her friends and of herself while Mrs. +Harlowe listened, thinking happily that she was doubly blessed in not +only her daughter, but in having that daughter's confidence as well. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE ARRIVAL OF KATHLEEN + + +"There is a whole lot in getting accustomed to things," remarked J. +Elfreda Briggs sagely, as she stood with a hammer and nail in one hand, +a Japanese print in the other, her round eyes scanning the wall for an +appropriate place to hang her treasure. + +"It's a beauty, isn't it?" declared Miriam, passing over her roommate's +remark and looking admiringly at the print, which her roommate had just +taken from her trunk. + +"What, this?" asked Elfreda. "You'd better believe it is. Goodness knows +I paid enough for it. But I wasn't talking about this print. I was +talking about our present junior estate. What I wonder is, whether being +a junior will go to my head and make me vainglorious or whether I shall +wear the honor as a graceful crown," ended the stout girl with an +affected smile, which changed immediately to a derisive grin. + +"I should say, neither," responded Miriam slyly. "I don't believe +anything would ever go to your head. You're too matter-of-fact, and as +for your graceful crown, it would be over one ear within half an hour." + +Both girls laughed, then Elfreda, having found a spot on the wall that +met with her approval, set the nail and began hammering. "There!" she +exclaimed with satisfaction. "That is exactly where I want it. Now I can +begin to think about something else." + +"I wonder why Grace and Anne haven't paid us a call this morning?" mused +Miriam, who sat listlessly before her trunk, apparently undecided +whether to begin the tedious labor of unpacking or to put it off until +some more convenient day. + +"I'll go and find them," volunteered Elfreda, dropping her hammer and +turning toward the door. "They must be at home." Five minutes later she +raced back with the news that their door was locked and the "out +indefinitely" sign was displayed. + +"That is very strange," pondered Miriam, aloud. "I wonder where they +have gone?" + +"Why on earth didn't they tell us they were going? That's what I'd like +to know," declared Elfreda. + +"Perhaps Mrs. Elwood knows something about it," suggested Miriam. + +The mere mention of Mrs. Elwood's name caused Elfreda to dart through +the hall and downstairs to the living-room in search of the good-natured +matron. Failing to find her, she walked through the kitchen to the shady +back porch, where Mrs. Elwood sat rocking and reading the newspaper +which the newsboy had just brought. + +"Oh, Mrs. Elwood," she cried, "have you seen Grace and Anne? We can't +find them." + +"Didn't Miss Dean tell you?" asked Mrs. Elwood in a surprised tone. + +"Miss Dean," repeated Elfreda disgustedly. "No wonder we didn't know +what had become of them. With all Emma's estimable qualities, she is the +one person I know whom I would not trust to deliver a message. I beg +your pardon, Mrs. Elwood, I didn't mean that you were in any sense to +blame. We ought to have warned you, only Emma is such a splendid girl +that one hates to mention a silly little thing like that. Just forget +that I said it, will you?" + +Mrs. Elwood smiled. "I quite understand, Miss Briggs," she said gravely. +"The message Miss Harlowe left with me was this: 'If the girls ask where +we have gone, tell them that we received a telegram and had to go to the +station. All explanations when we come back.'" + +"That settles it," groaned Elfreda. "We know only enough to whet our +curiosity. And we can't find out more unless we follow them to the +station. We can't do that, either. It would not look well. Besides, we +are not invited." Elfreda had been rapidly reflecting aloud, much to +Mrs. Elwood's amusement. "I'll have to go back and tell Miriam," she +finished. + +"But why did they lock their door?" asked Miriam, when Elfreda had +repeated her information. + +"I don't know," returned Elfreda thoughtfully. "Yes, I do know!" she +exclaimed with sudden inspiration. "I think Grace was afraid she might +have a repetition of last year's performance." + +"'Last year's performance,'" repeated Miriam in a puzzled tone. + +"Yes, don't you remember the Anarchist?" retorted Elfreda, with a +reminiscent grin. + +"Of course!" exclaimed Miriam, laughing a little at the recollection. +"Wasn't she formidable, though, when she slammed the door in our faces?" + +Elfreda nodded. "She is all right now. At least she was when she visited +me. I never saw a girl blossom and expand as she did. Pa liked her. He +thought she was smart. She is, too. She has lived so entirely with that +scientific father of hers that she has absorbed all sorts of odds and +ends of knowledge from him. That is why college and girls and the whole +thing terrified her." + +"Terrified her," said Miriam incredulously. "I thought matters quite the +reverse." + +"That was precisely what I thought until she told me that, no matter how +vengeful she looked, she was always afraid of the girls. She never +seemed to be able to say the right thing at the right moment. That was +why she used to scowl so fiercely when any one spoke or looked at her." + +"I don't think it was altogether fear of the girls that caused her to +lock us out that day," observed Miriam, a gleam of laughter appearing in +her black eyes. + +"I don't suppose it was," retorted Elfreda good-humoredly. "She says she +knows her disposition to be anything but angelic. But she is trying, +Miriam. You wait and see for yourself how the new Laura Atkins behaves." + +"But to go back to the subject of the door, what makes you think Grace +locked it on account of last year?" persisted Miriam. + +"Oh, I don't know," answered Elfreda vaguely. "I just thought so, that's +all." + +"We'll ask her when she comes, just for fun," declared Miriam. "Why not +go downstairs and sit on the back veranda with Mrs. Elwood? We can hear +the girls as soon as they come into the yard." + +"All right," agreed Elfreda. "Do you care if I take my magazine along? I +am not quite through with an article I began this morning." + +"I object seriously," smiled Miriam. "I shall expect you to entertain +me. You can finish reading your article later." + +Elfreda glanced up quickly from the magazine she held in her hand. Then, +catching sight of her friend's smiling face, she tucked her magazine +under one arm, linked her free arm through Miriam's and marched her +toward the stairs. They had reached the foot of the stairs and were half +way down the hall when the sound of voices caused both girls to stand +still, listening intently. + +"That sounds like Grace's voice!" exclaimed Elfreda. With one accord +they turned about, hurrying to the veranda at the front of the house in +time to see Grace and Anne approaching. Both girls were laden with +luggage, while between them walked an alert little figure, tugging a bag +of golf sticks, a fat, black leather hand bag and a camera. + +"What manner of woman have we here?" muttered Elfreda, regarding the +newcomer with quizzical eyes. + +But before Miriam found time to reply the newcomer set her luggage in +the middle of the walk, and running up to Miriam and Elfreda, said with +a frank laugh: "This is Miriam and this is Elfreda. You see I know both +of you from Mabel's description." + +"Who--what--" began Elfreda. + +"Girls," said Grace, who had by this time come up with the animated +stranger, "this is Miss West, a friend of Mabel Ashe's. My telegram was +from Mabel asking me to meet Miss West, and as Anne and I were on the +porch when it came, and the train we were to meet was due, we didn't +stop for explanations or hats, but raced down the street as fast as we +could go." + +While Grace was talking, Kathleen West was shaking hands vigorously with +Miriam and Elfreda. "I'm so glad to know you," she said, "and I think +I'm going to like you. I'm not so sure about liking college, even though +I've worked so hard to get here. I hope to goodness I don't flunk in the +exams." + +"I am sure that any friend of Mabel's is bound to be ours also," said +Miriam courteously. She had not made up her mind regarding the newcomer. + +"Thank you. From what she said I should imagine that you and she were on +very good terms," returned the stranger lightly. "Of course you know who +I am and all about me." + +Grace smiled. "Not yet, but we are willing to hear anything you wish to +tell us." + +"Oh, that's so!" exclaimed the stranger. "Mabel wrote about me, but her +letter hasn't reached you yet, and, of course, telegrams can't be very +lengthy unless you wish to spend a fortune or the office has a +franchise. There I go again about the office. I might as well tell the +truth and have done with it: I'm a newspaper woman." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +FIRST IMPRESSIONS + + +Miriam smiled involuntarily, Grace looked surprised, Elfreda +indifferent, and Anne amused. The word "woman" seemed absurdly out of +place from the lips of this girl who looked as though she had just been +promoted to long dresses. + +"Oh, yes, I know I look not more than eighteen," quickly remarked +Kathleen West, noticing Miriam's smile. "But I'm not. I'm twenty-two +years old, and I've been on a newspaper for four years. Why, that's the +way I earned my money to come here. I'll tell you about it some other +time. It's too long a story for now. Besides, I'm hungry. At what time +are we to be fed and are the meals good? I have no illusions regarding +boarding houses." + +"The meals are excellent," replied Anne. "You must have dinner with us. +Then we will see about securing a room for you. I think you will be able +to get in here. This used to be considered a freshman house, but all +those who were freshmen with us have stayed on, and if last year's +freshmen stay, too, then Wayne Hall will be full and--" + +"I won't get in," finished the young woman calmly. + +"Come into the house now and meet Mrs. Elwood," invited Grace. "Then you +can learn your fate." + +"Yes, I can just make room for you," Mrs. Elwood was saying a few +minutes later. "Miss Evans is not coming back, and Miss Acker is going +to Livingstone Hall. Her two particular friends are there. Miss Dean +wishes to room alone this year, so that disposes of the vacancy left by +Miss Acker. But the half of the room Miss Evans had is not occupied. It +is on the second floor at the east end of the hall." + +"Then I'll take it," returned Kathleen promptly, "and move in at once. I +may not stay here long, but at least I'll be happy while I stay. But if +I should survive all these exams, there will be cause for rejoicing and +I'll give a frolic that you will all remember, or my name's not Kathleen +West. Is there any one who would love to help me upstairs with my +things?" + +"Well, what do you think of her?" asked Elfreda abruptly. Having helped +Kathleen to her room with her luggage they had left her to herself and +were now in their own room. Miriam stood looking out the window, her +hands behind her back. At Elfreda's question she turned, looked +thoughtfully at her roommate, then said slowly: "I don't know. I haven't +decided. She's friendly and enthusiastic and hard and indifferent all in +the same moment. I think her work has made her so. I believe she has +hidden her inner self away so deep that she has forgotten what the real +Kathleen is like." + +"I believe so, too, Miriam," agreed Elfreda. "I could see that you +weren't favorably impressed with her. I could see--" + +"You see entirely too much," laughed Miriam. "I haven't even formed an +opinion of Miss West yet. I wonder how long she has known Mabel Ashe? +Not very long, I'll wager." + +An hour later Grace appeared in the door, waving a letter. "Here's +Mabel's letter!" she cried. "Come into my room, and we will read it." + +"The letter was not far behind the telegram," remarked Anne, as she +closed the door of their room and seated herself on the couch beside +Miriam. + +"Do hurry, Grace, and read us what Mabel has to offer on the subject of +Kathleen Mavourneen--West, I mean," corrected Elfreda with a giggle. + +Grace unfolded the letter and began to read: + + "MY DEAR GRACE:-- + + "Please forgive me for neglecting you so shamefully, but I am now + wrestling with a real job on a real newspaper and am so occupied + with trying to keep it that I haven't had time to think of anything + else. Father is deeply disgusted with my journalistic efforts. He + wished me to go to Europe this summer, but the light of ambition + burns too vividly to be quenched even by my beloved Europe. When + next I go abroad it will be with my own hard-earned wages. + + "I haven't done anything startling yet; I have been chronicling + faithfully the doings of society. As most of the elect are out of + town, my news gathering has not been in the nature of a harvest. + However, I am still striving, still hoping for the day when I shall + leave society far behind and sally forth on the trail of a big + story. + + "But, I am diverging from one of the chief purposes of this letter. + It is to introduce to you Kathleen West, an ambitious and + particularly clever young woman, who is a 'star' reporter on this + paper. It seems that she and I have changed ambitions. I sigh for + journalistic fame, and she sighs for college. She has done more + than sigh. She has been saving her money for ever so long, + determined to take unto herself a college education. I admire her + spirit and have praised Overton so warmly--how could I help + it?--that she has decided to cast her lot there. Hence my telegram, + also this letter. Please be as nice with her as you know how to be, + for I am sure she will prove herself a credit to Overton. + + "I shall hope to see you some time during the fall. I am going to + try to get a day or two off and run down to see you. Tell Anne the + Press is greater than the Stage, and tell Elfreda and Miriam that I + am collecting the autographs of famous people and that theirs would + be greatly appreciated, particularly if attached to letters. I must + bring this epistle to an abrupt close, and go out on the trail of + an engagement, the rumor of which was whispered to me last night. + With love to you and the girls. + + "MABEL. + + "P. S. Frances sails for home next week." + +"What a nice letter," commented Elfreda. "It is just like her, isn't +it!" + +"Yes," replied Grace slowly. "Girls, do you suppose Mabel and Miss West +are really friends?" + +"Not as we are," replied Miriam, with a positive shake of her head. +"Elfreda and I were talking of that very thing while you were in your +room. Elfreda said she didn't believe that Mabel had known Miss West +long." + +"What is the matter with us?" asked Grace, a trifle impatiently. "Here +we are prowling about the bush, trying to conceal under polite inquiry +the fact that we don't quite approve of Miss West. We would actually +like to dig up something to criticize." + +"There is nothing like absolute freedom of speech, is there?" said +Elfreda, with a short laugh. + +"It is true, though," said Grace stoutly. "It isn't fair, either. She +has done nothing to deserve it. Besides, Mabel likes her." + +"Mabel doesn't say in her letter that she likes her," reminded Anne. +"She says Miss West is clever and that she admires her spirit." + +"You, too, Anne?" said Grace reproachfully. + +"I don't like her," declared Elfreda belligerently. "If it weren't for +Mabel's letter I'd leave her strictly to her own devices." + +"We ought to be ashamed of ourselves!" exclaimed Grace. "We have met +Miss West with smiles, and here we are discussing her behind her back." + +"I didn't meet her with smiles," contradicted Elfreda. "I was as sober +as a judge all the time we stood talking to her. She is too flippant to +suit me. She doesn't take college very seriously. I could see that." + +"There goes the dinner bell!" exclaimed Grace, with sudden irrelevance +to the subject of the newspaper girl. "Let us stop gossiping and go to +dinner." + +At dinner Grace was not sorry to note that Kathleen West had been placed +at the end of the table farthest from her. Through the meal she found +her eyes straying often toward the erect little figure of the newcomer, +who, exhibiting not a particle of reserve, chatted with the girls +nearest to her with the utmost unconcern. "I suppose her newspaper +training has made her self-possessed and not afraid of strangers," +reflected Grace. But she could not refrain from secretly wondering a +little just how strong a friendship existed between Kathleen West and +Mabel. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH THE NEWSPAPER GIRL + + +"It was just this way," began Kathleen West, setting down her tea cup +and looking impressively from one girl to the other, "Long before I +graduated from high school I had made up my mind to go to college. Now +that I have passed my exams and have become a really truly freshman, +I'll tell you all about it." + +Elfreda and Miriam were giving a tea party with Grace, Anne and Kathleen +West as their guests. It was a strictly informal tea and both hostesses +and guests sat on the floor in true Chinese fashion, kimono-clad and +comfortable. A week had passed since Kathleen's advent among them. She +had spent the greater part of that time either in study or in valiant +wrestling with the dreaded entrance examinations, but she had managed, +nevertheless, to drop into the girls' rooms at least once a day. In +spite of the almost unfavorable impression she had at first created, it +was impossible not to acknowledge that the newspaper girl possessed a +vividly interesting personality. As she sat wrapped in the folds of her +gray kimono, arms folded over her chest, she looked not unlike a +feminine Napoleon. Elfreda's quick eyes traced the resemblance. + +"You look for all the world like Napoleon," she observed bluntly. + +"Thank you," returned Kathleen with mock gratitude. "I can't imagine +Napoleon in a gray kimono at a tea party, but I feel imbued with a +certain amount of his ambition. By the way, would any of you like to +hear the rest of my story?" she asked impudently. "I'm rather fond of +telling it." + +"Excuse me for interrupting," apologized Elfreda. "Go on, please." + +"Where was I?" asked Kathleen. "Oh, yes, I remember. Well, as soon as I +had fully determined to go to college, I began to save every penny on +which I could honestly lay hands. I went without most of the school-girl +luxuries that count for so much just at that time. You girls know what I +mean. Mother and Father didn't wish me to go to college. They planned a +course in stenography and typewriting for me after I should finish high +school, and when I pleaded for college they were angry and disappointed. +They argued, too, that they couldn't possibly afford to send me there. +As soon as I saw that I was going to have trouble with them, I kept my +own counsel, but I was more determined than ever to do as I pleased. At +the beginning of the vacation before my senior year in high school I +went to the only daily paper in our town and asked for work. The editor, +who had known me since I was a baby, gave me a chance. Father and Mother +made no objection to that. They thought it was merely a whim on my part. +But it wasn't a whim, as they found out later, for I wrote stuff for the +paper during my senior year, too, and when I did graduate I turned the +house upside down by getting a position on a newspaper in a big city. +Father and Mother forgave me after awhile, but not until I had been at +work on the other paper for a year. + +"At first I did society, then clubs, went back to society again, and at +last my opportunity came to do general reporting. I was the only woman +on the staff who had a chance to go after the big stories. I have been +doing that only the last two years, though. + +"Naturally, I made more money on the paper than I would as a +stenographer. I saved it, too. It was ever so much harder to hang on to +it in the city. There were so many more ways to spend it. But I kept on +putting it away, and, now, by going back on the paper every summer, I +will have enough to see me through college." + +"But why do you wish so much for a college education when you are +already successful as a newspaper woman?" asked Elfreda. + +"Because I want to be an author, or an editor, or somebody of importance +in the literary world, and I need these four years at college. Besides, +it's a good thing to bear the college stamp if one expects always to be +before the public," was the prompt retort. + +"Suppose you were to find afterward that you weren't going to be before +the public," said Elfreda almost mischievously. + +"But I shall be," persisted Kathleen, setting her jaws with a little +snap. "I always accomplish whatever I set out to do. On the paper they +used to say, 'Kathleen would sacrifice her best friend if by doing it +she could scoop the other papers.'" + +"What do you mean by 'scoop the other papers'?" queried Elfreda +interestedly. + +"Why, to get ahead of them with a story," explained Kathleen. "Suppose I +found out an important piece of news that no one else knew. If I gave it +to my paper and it appeared in it before any other newspaper got hold of +it then that would be a scoop." + +"Oh, yes, I see," returned Elfreda. "Then a scoop might be news about +anything." + +"Exactly," nodded Kathleen. "The harder the news is to get, the better +story it makes. People won't tell one anything, and when one does find +out something startling, then there are always a few persons who make a +fuss and try to keep the story out of the paper. They generally have +such splendid excuses for not wanting a story published. I never paid +any attention to them, though. I turned in every story I ever ran down," +she concluded, her small face setting in harsh lines. + +"But didn't that make some of the people about whom the stories were +written very unhappy?" asked Miriam pointedly. + +"I suppose so," answered Kathleen. "But I never stopped to bother about +them. I had to think of myself and of my paper." + +"How long have you known Mabel Ashe?" asked Grace, abruptly changing the +subject. Something in the cold indifference of Kathleen's voice jarred +on her. + +"Just since she appeared on the paper," returned Kathleen unconcernedly. +"She is very pretty, isn't she? But prettiness alone doesn't count for +much on a newspaper. Can she make good? That is the question. She +imagines that journalism is her vocation, but I am afraid she is going +to be sadly disillusioned. She seems to be a clever girl, though." + +"Clever," repeated Grace with peculiar emphasis. "She is the cleverest +girl we know. While she was at Overton, she was the life of the college. +Everyone loved her. I can't begin to tell you how much we miss her." + +"It's very nice to be missed, I am sure," said Kathleen hastily, +retreating from what appeared to be dangerous ground. "I hope I shall be +eulogized when I have graduated from Overton." + +"That will depend largely on your behavior as a freshman," drawled +Elfreda. + +"What do you mean?" asked Kathleen sharply. "I thought freshmen were of +the least importance in college." + +"So they are to the other classes," returned Elfreda. "They are of the +greatest importance to themselves, however, and if they make false +starts during their freshman year it is likely to handicap them through +the other three." + +"Much obliged for the information," declared Kathleen flippantly. "I'll +try not to make any false starts. Good gracious! It is half-past ten. I +had no idea it was so late. I've had a lovely time at your tea party. +I'm going to send out invitations for a social gathering before long." +She rose lazily to her feet, and carefully set her cup on the table. "I +suppose Miss Ainslee will be sound asleep," she remarked, yawning. +"Lighting the gas will awaken her and she will be cross. She goes to bed +with the chickens." + +"Don't light it, then," suggested Grace. "You can see to undress with +the blind up. There is full moon to-night." + +"Why shouldn't I light it?" asked Kathleen. "Half of the room is mine. I +wouldn't grumble if the case were reversed. She will soon grow used to +the light. I intend occasionally to read or study after hours. Don't +tell me it is against the rules. I know it. But circumstances, etc. I'll +see you to-morrow. I wish I were a junior. The freshmen I have met so +far are regular babies. I'm going to study hard next summer and see if I +can't pass up the sophomore year. There is nothing like having a modest +ambition, you know." + +With this satirical comment the newspaper girl nodded a pert good night +and left the room. + +No one spoke after she had gone. + +"I must go to bed," said Grace, breaking the significant silence that +had fallen on the quartette. "Come, Anne, it's twenty minutes to eleven. +Good night, girls." + +"What do you think of Miss West, Anne?" asked Grace a little later as +they were preparing to retire. + +"I don't like to say," returned Anne slowly. "She's remarkably +bright--" Anne paused. Her eyes met Grace's. + +"I know," nodded Grace understandingly. "We will try to keep a starboard +eye on her. She is going to find college very different from being a +newspaper woman." Grace smiled faintly. The word "woman," as applied to +Kathleen West, seemed wholly amusing. + +"I don't think she showed particularly good taste in speaking as she did +of Mabel Ashe," criticized Anne, a moment later. "I didn't intend to say +that, but I might as well be perfectly frank with you, Grace." + +"I was sorry she spoke as she did, too," agreed Grace. She did not add +that the newspaper girl's half slighting remarks about Mabel Ashe still +rankled in her loyal soul. It was chiefly to please Mabel that she and +her friends had hospitably received this stranger into their midst, +prepared to do whatever lay within their power to make her feel at home +with them. And she had dared to speak almost disparagingly of the girl +who was beloved by every student in Overton who knew her. In spite of +her resolution to keep a "starboard eye" on the freshman, Grace felt +infinitely more like leaving the ungrateful freshman to shift for +herself. + +"Well, what about her?" Elfreda asked bluntly of Miriam, as she piled +the tea cups one inside the other. + +"What about who?" returned Miriam tantalizingly. + +"You know very well" declared Elfreda; "but, if I must be explicit, what +do you think of Miss West now?" + +"What do you think?" counter-questioned Miriam. + +"I think she has more to learn than I had when I came here," said +Elfreda speculatively, "and unless I am very much mistaken it will take +her longer to learn it." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +TWO IS A COMPANY + + +"Grace! Grace Harlowe!" called a clear, high voice. On hearing her name, +Grace, who was on the point of entering the library, turned to greet +Arline Thayer, who came running up the walk, flushed and laughing. + +"Did you say you had won prizes as a champion fast walker?" she inquired +laughingly. "I saw you clear across the campus, and I've been running at +top speed ever since. I had just breath enough left to call to you. +Where have you been hiding? I haven't seen you for ages. Ruth thinks you +have deserted her. Don't bother going to the library now. Suppose we go +down to Vinton's and have luncheon. Have you eaten yours? I never eat +luncheon at Morton Hall on Saturday afternoon." + +"I'll answer your questions in the order they were asked," laughed +Grace. "No, I am not a champion fast walker. I haven't been hiding, and +I still live at Wayne Hall, though a certain young person I know has +evidently forgotten it. Ruth owes me a visit, and I haven't had my +luncheon. You mustn't tempt me from my duty, for I am on the trail of +knowledge. I must spend at least two hours this afternoon looking up a +multitude of references." + +"Come and have luncheon first and look up your references afterward," +coaxed Arline. "Then, perhaps, I can help you," she added artfully. + +"Perhaps you can," returned Grace dubiously. Their eyes meeting, both +girls laughed. + +"Come with me, at any rate, then," declared Arline. + +"All right. Remember, I must not stay away from work over an hour. I +really have a great deal to do. Isn't it a glorious day, though? Elfreda +and Miriam went for a five-mile tramp. Elfreda is determined to play +basketball in spite of her junior responsibilities, therefore she is +obliged to train religiously." + +"Who is going to play on the junior team this year?" asked Arline. + +"Elizabeth Wade, and that little Tenbrook girl, Marian Cummings, Elfreda +and Violet Darby make the team. Neither Miriam nor I intend to play. +Elfreda begged hard, but we thought it better to stay out of the team +this year. We have played basketball so long, and having been in two big +games, it is time we resigned gracefully; besides, I want to see Elfreda +reap the benefit of her faithful practice and distinguish herself. She +has tried so hard to make the team." + +"I am glad Elfreda is to have her chance," smiled Arline. "We are sure +to see her make the most of it. I'm sorry now that I never went in for +basketball." + +"It is a wonderful old game!" exclaimed Grace with enthusiasm. "Last +year was my sixth year on a team. I was captain of our freshman +basketball team at home. That reminds me, Arline, aren't you and Ruth +coming home with me for the Easter vacation? I am asking you early so no +one else will have a chance. I know it is useless to ask you to come for +Christmas." + +"I think I can come for Easter," replied Arline, "and I don't know of +any reason why Ruth can't. I shall write to Father at once and ask him +if we can go. I want to tell you something, Grace--confidentially, of +course. Father is very fond of Ruth. He and I had a talk this summer, +and he wishes to adopt her. Just think of having Ruth for my very own +sister!" Arline paused, her eyes shining. + +Grace nodded understandingly. "What does Ruth say?" she asked. + +Arline's face clouded. "She doesn't say anything except that she thinks +it better for her to go on in her own way. She is the queerest girl. She +seems to think that it wouldn't be right to allow Father to adopt her +and take care of her. She says she has everything she needs now, and +that I have been far too good to her. Father and I simply made her spend +the summer with us." + +"Wouldn't it be wonderful if Ruth should find her father?" said Grace +musingly. + +"I don't believe she ever will," returned Arline. "It's too bad." Her +flower-like face looked very solemn for a moment, then brightened as she +exclaimed: "Oh, I almost forgot my principal reason for wishing to see +you. The Semper Fidelis Club hasn't held a meeting this year, and we +must begin to busy ourselves. I have heard of five different girls who +need help, but are too proud to ask for it. I am sure there are dozens +of others, too. We must find some way to reach and help them. We have +plenty of money in our treasury now, and we can afford to be generous. +Here we are at Vinton's. Shall we sit in the mission alcove for +luncheon? I love it. It is so convenient when one wishes to indulge in +strictly confidential conversation." + +Once seated opposite each other in the cunning little alcove furnished +in mission oak, Arline continued animatedly: + +"Last spring, when we talked about giving an entertainment, you proposed +giving a carnival in the fall. Well, it is fall now, so why not begin +making plans for our carnival! What shall we have, and what do we do to +draw a crowd?" + +"We held a bazaar in Oakdale that was very successful," commented Grace. +"We held it on Thanksgiving night and half the town attended it. We made +over five hundred dollars. I think a bazaar would be better than a +carnival." Grace did not add that the money had been stolen while the +bazaar was at its height and not recovered until the following spring, +by no other person than herself. + +Those who have read "Grace Harlowe's Senior Year at High +School" will remember the mysterious disappearance of the bazaar +money and the untiring zeal with which Grace worked until she found a +clew to the robbery, which led to the astonishing discovery that she +made in an isolated house on the outskirts of Oakdale. + +During the progress of the luncheon Grace gave Arline a detailed account +of the various attractions of which their bazaar had boasted. + +"We can ask some girl who sings to preside at the Shamrock booth and +sing Irish songs as Nora O'Malley did," planned Grace. "We can't have +the Mystery Auction, because we don't care to ask the girls for +packages, and we can't have the Italian booth, either, it would be too +hard to arrange, but we can have a gypsy camp and a Japanese booth and +an English tea shop and two or three funny little shows. The best thing +to do is to call a meeting of the club and put the matter before them. +Almost every girl will know of some feature we can have." + +"I suppose the dean will allow us to use the gymnasium," mused Arline. +"We had better get permission first of all. Then we can call our +meeting." + +Grace looked at her watch. "I've stayed ten minutes over my hour, +Arline," she reminded the little curly-haired girl. + +"Never mind," was the calm reply, "you can stay ten minutes longer in +the library. Oh, Grace, don't look at her now, but who is that girl just +sitting down at that end table? I am sure she lives at Wayne Hall. Some +one told me she was a freshman." + +"If you had been calling faithfully on the Wayne Hall girls, you +wouldn't need to be told the names of the new ones," flung back Grace. +Then, allowing her gaze to slowly travel about the room, her eyes rested +as though by chance on the girl designated by Arline. An instant later +she had bowed to the newcomer in friendly fashion. + +"Who is she?" murmured Arline, her eyes fixed upon Grace. + +"Her name is Kathleen West," returned Grace in a low tone. "Don't say +anything more. Here she comes." + +Kathleen was approaching their table, a bored look on her small, sharp +face. "How are you?" she said nonchalantly. "I thought I'd come over +here. Having tea alone is dull. Don't you think so?" + +Arline's blue eyes rested on the intruder for the fraction of a second. +She resented the intrusion. + +"Miss West, this is Miss Thayer, of the junior class," introduced Grace +good-naturedly. Both girls bowed. There was an awkward silence, broken +by Kathleen's abrupt, "I knew I had seen you before, Miss Thayer," to +Arline. + +"That is quite possible," said Arline, rather stiffly. "I believe I +remember passing you on the campus." + +"Oh, I don't mean here at Overton," drawled Kathleen. "I saw you in New +York with your father last summer." + +"With my father?" was Arline's surprised interrogation. + +"Yes. Isn't Leonard B. Thayer your father?" + +"Why, how did you know? Have you met my father?" Arline's blue eyes +opened wider. + +"I've seen him," said Kathleen laconically. "I tried to interview him +once, but couldn't get past his secretary." + +"Miss West is a newspaper woman, Arline," explained Grace. "That is, she +was one. She has deserted her paper for Overton, however." + +"How interesting," responded Arline courteously. "Do you like college, +Miss West?" + +"Fairly well," answered Kathleen. "It doesn't really matter whether I +like it or not. I am here for business, not pleasure. Perhaps Miss +Harlowe has told you how I happened to be here." + +"Miss Thayer and I had some weighty class matters to discuss," said +Grace, smiling a little. "We weren't talking of any one in particular. +Miss Thayer did inquire your name when she saw me bow to you. I answered +just as you came toward us," added Grace honestly. + +"I knew you were talking about me," declared Kathleen flippantly. "One +can always feel when one is being discussed." + +A quick flush rose to Grace's cheeks. Usually tolerant toward everyone, +she felt a decided resentment stir within her at this cold-blooded +assertion that she and Arline had been gossiping. + +Arline's blue eyes sent forth a distinctly hostile glance. "You were +mistaken, Miss West," she said coldly. "What was said of you was +entirely impersonal." + +"Oh, I don't doubt that in the least," Kathleen hastened to say. She had +decided that the daughter of Leonard B. Thayer was worth cultivating. "I +am sorry you misunderstood me; but do you know, when you made that last +remark you looked as your father did the day he wouldn't tell me a thing +I wanted to know." Kathleen's sharp features were alive with the +interest of discovery. + +Despite their brief annoyance Grace and Arline both laughed. Kathleen +took instant advantage of the situation. "Suppose we order another pot +of tea," she said hospitably. + +It was fully half an hour later when the three girls left Vinton's. + +"Oh, my neglected references," sighed Grace. "I must not lose another +minute of the afternoon. Which way are you girls going?" + +"I think I'll go as far as the library with you, Grace," decided Arline. +The interruption by Kathleen had greatly interfered with her plans. + +"I might as well go with you," remarked Kathleen innocently. "I have +nothing to do this afternoon." + +A little frown wrinkled Arline's smooth forehead. Grace, equally +disappointed, managed to conceal her annoyance. Then, accepting the +situation in the best possible spirit, she slipped her hand through +Arline's arm, at the same time giving it a warning pressure. During the +walk to the library Kathleen endeavored to make herself particularly +agreeable to Arline, a method of procedure that was not lost upon Grace. +Later as she delved industriously among half a dozen dignified volumes +for the material of which she stood in need, Kathleen's pale, sharp +face, with its thin lips and alert eyes, rose before her, and, for the +first time, she admitted reluctantly to herself that her dislike for the +ambitious little newspaper girl was very real indeed. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +AN UNSUSPECTED LISTENER + + +"Those in favor of giving a bazaar on the Saturday afternoon and evening +of November fifteenth say 'aye,'" directed Arline Thayer. + +A chorus of ayes immediately resounded. + +"Contrary, 'no,'" continued Arline. + +There was a dead silence. + +"Carried," declared the energetic little president. "Please, everyone +think hard and try to advance an idea for a feature inside of the next +ten minutes." + +The twelve young women known as the Semper Fidelis Club were holding a +business meeting in Grace Harlowe's and Anne Pierson's, room. The two +couch beds had been placed in a kind of semicircle and eight members of +the club were seated on them. The other three young women sat on +cushions on the floor, while Arline presided at the center table, which +had been placed several feet in front of the members. + +"The meeting is open for suggestions," repeated Arline after two minutes +had elapsed and not a word had been said. "If any one has a suggestion, +she may tell us without addressing the chair. We will dispense with +formality," she added encouragingly. "Of course, we know we are going to +have the gypsy encampment and the Irish booth and the Japanese tea room, +but we want some really startling features." + +"We might have an 'Alice in Wonderland' booth," suggested Elfreda. +"'Alice' stunts always go in colleges. The girls are never tired of +them." + +"What on earth is an 'Alice in Wonderland booth'?" asked Gertrude Wells +curiously. + +"I don't know what it is yet," grinned Elfreda. "The idea just came to +me. I suppose," she continued reflectively, "we could have all the +animals, like the March Hare, for instance, and the Dormouse. Then +there's the Mock Turtle and the Jabberwock. No, that's been done to +death. Besides, it's in 'Through the Looking Glass.' We could have the +Griffon, though, and then, there's the Duchess, the King, the Queen, and +the Mad Hatter. I'd love to do the Mad Hatter." Elfreda paused, eyeing +the little group quizzically. + +"I think that's a brilliant idea, Elfreda!" exclaimed Grace warmly. + +"Great!" exulted three or four girls, in lively chorus. + +"I'll tell you what we could have," cried one of the Emerson twins. "Why +not make it an 'Alice in Wonderland Circus,' and have all the animals +perform?" + +"We are growing more brilliant with every minute," laughed Arline. "That +is a positive inspiration, Sara." + +"A circus will exactly fill the bill. It is sure to be the biggest +feature the Overton girls have ever spent their money to see," predicted +Elfreda gleefully. "Ruth Denton, you will have to be the Dormouse." + +"Oh, I can't," blushed Ruth. + +"Oh, you can," mimicked Elfreda. "I'll help you plan your costume." + +"Will the club please come to order," called Arline, for a general buzz +of conversation had begun. "We shall have to choose part of our animals +from outside the club. We can't all be in the circus. Grace and Miriam +are going to dress as gypsies. Julia and Sara," smiling at the +black-eyed twins, who looked precisely alike and were continually being +mistaken for each other, "are going to be Japanese ladies, aren't you, +girls?" + +The twins nodded emphatically. + +"Those in favor of an Alice in Wonderland Circus please say 'aye,'" +dutifully stated Arline. The motion was quickly carried. "That is only +one feature," she reminded. "This meeting is open for further +suggestions. Let us have the suggestions first, then we can discuss them +in detail afterward." + +After considerable hard thinking, a "bauble shop," a postcard booth, and +a doll shop were added. The latter idea was Ruth Denton's. "Now that it +is fall, Christmas isn't so very far off. Almost every girl has a little +sister or a niece or a friend to whom she intends to give a doll," she +said almost wistfully. "We could pledge ourselves to contribute one doll +at least, and as many more as we please. Then we could draw on the +treasury for a certain sum and invest it in dolls. We could dress a few +of them as college girls, too. I'm willing to use part of my spare time +to help the good work along. Perhaps it wouldn't be a success," she +faltered. + +"Success!" exclaimed Arline, stumbling over Gertrude Wells's feet and +treating Ruth to an affectionate hug. "I think it's perfectly lovely. We +can have a live doll, too. Do any of you know that exquisite little +freshman with the big blue eyes who rooms at Mortimer Hall?" + +"I do. Her name is Myra Stone," responded Julia Emerson. "She looks like +a big doll, doesn't she!" + +"She does," commented Arline. "That is precisely what I was thinking. +Dressed as a live doll and placed on exhibition in the middle of the +booth, she would prove a drawing card. Will you ask her to meet us at +the gymnasium on Monday at five o'clock? We will try to see the others +we want for the bazaar before Monday. We had better decide now just who +is going to be left over for the circus." + +"There is only one objection to little Miss Stone," said Gertrude Wells +thoughtfully. "She is a freshman. I am afraid this mark of upper class +favor may cause jealousy." + +"The freshmen ought to be glad one of their class is to have the honor +of being chosen," retorted Grace, opening her gray eyes in surprise. + +"They ought to, but they won't be," predicted Gertrude dryly. "There are +a number of revolutionary spirits among the freshmen this year. That +queer little West girl, who styles herself a 'newspaper woman' and looks +like a wicked little elf, is the ringleader." + +"She is very bright, Gertrude, and she deserves a great deal of credit +for the way she has worked and studied to fit herself for college," +defended Grace, her old love of fair play coming to the surface. + +"That may all be so. I believe it is, if you say so, Grace, but why +doesn't she display common sense enough to settle down and obey the +rules of the college? She doesn't transgress the study rules, but she is +lawless when it comes to the others. Besides, she runs roughshod over +traditions, and all that they imply. She--well--" Gertrude hesitated, +then, flushing slightly, stopped. + +"You mean she is tricky, don't you?" asked Elfreda promptly. "I could +see that before I talked with her five minutes." + +Grace shook her head disapprovingly at Elfreda. Something in her glance +caused Elfreda to subside suddenly. + +"If there is no further business of which to dispose, will some one make +a motion that we adjourn!" asked Arline quietly. + +The motion was made and seconded, but before any one had time to step +into the hall, a slight figure flitted from her position before the +almost closed door, and disappeared into the room at the end of the +hall. + +"We must be sure and see the dean as soon as we can, Arline," called +Grace after Arline, who was hurrying down the hall to overtake Ruth. + +"I'll see her to-morrow afternoon," assured Arline, with a parting wave +of her hand as she disappeared down the stairs. + +"And I'll make it my business to see her to-morrow morning," muttered +Kathleen West vindictively, who, standing well within the shadow of her +own door at the end of the hall, had heard the remark and the reply. +"Who knows but that the Semper Fidelis Club may not be able to give +their great bazaar after all. They certainly won't if I can prevent +them. I'll never forgive them for discussing me as they have this +afternoon." There was an unpleasant light in the newspaper girl's eyes, +as, closing the door of her room, she went to her desk and opening it, +sat down before it, picking up her pen. After a little thought she began +to write, and when she had finished what seemed to be an extremely short +letter, she slipped it into the envelope with a smile of malicious +satisfaction. She had found a way to retaliate. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +AN UNPLEASANT SUMMONS + + +"Here's a letter for you, Grace," called Elfreda, who had run downstairs +ahead of Grace to survey the contents of the house bulletin board before +going in to breakfast. + +Grace surveyed the envelope critically, tore it open and unfolded the +sheet of paper inside. In another moment a little cry of consternation +escaped her. + +"What's the matter?" asked Elfreda curiously, trying to peer over her +shoulder. + +"It--it's a summons from the dean," said Grace a trifle unsteadily. +"What do you suppose it means?" + +"Nothing very serious," declared Elfreda confidently. "How can it? Think +over your past misdeeds and see if you can discover any reason for a +summons." + +Grace shook her head. "No," she said slowly. "I can't think of a single, +solitary thing." + +"Then don't worry about it," was Elfreda's comforting advice. "Whatever +it is, you are ready for it." + +As Grace entered the dean's office that morning a vague feeling of +apprehension rose within her. The dean, a stately, dark-haired woman +with a rather forbidding expression, which disappeared the moment she +smiled, glanced up with a flash of approval at the fine, resolute face +of the gray-eyed girl who walked straight to her and said firmly, "Good +morning, Miss Wilder." + +"Good morning, Miss Harlowe," returned the dean quietly. Then picking up +a letter that lay on the middle of her desk, she said gravely: "I +received a very peculiar letter this morning, Miss Harlowe, and as it +concerns not only you, but a number of your friends as well, I thought +it better to send for you. You may throw light upon what at present +seems obscure." + +Grace mechanically stretched forth her hand for the open letter and +read:-- + + "When giving an entertainment in any of the halls or in the + gymnasium, is it not usually customary, not to say courteous, to + ask permission of the president of the college or the dean + beforehand? The young women whose names appear on the enclosed + list evidently do not consider any such permission necessary. + For the past week preparations for a bazaar have been going + briskly forward, to be held in the gymnasium on the evening of + November ----. For inside information inquire of Miss Harlowe. + + "A WELL WISHER." + +Grace read the note through twice, then, looking squarely at the dean, +she said: "May I see the enclosed list?" The dean handed her a smaller +slip of paper on which appeared the names of the girls who had been +present at the meeting in her room. Grace scanned the slip earnestly. +Her color rose slightly as she returned it to Miss Wilder. + +"The names on this list are the names of the young women who belong to +the Semper Fidelis Club. After the concert last spring it was partly +decided to give a bazaar the following autumn. The other day the club +met in my room to talk over the matter. As we were all in favor of +giving one, the meeting was open for the discussion of ideas for +attractive features. Finally something was proposed that was so very +clever we couldn't help adopting it. I assure you, Miss Wilder, we had +no thought of doing anything definite about the bazaar without first +obtaining proper permission to give it and to use the gymnasium as our +field of operation. In fact, Miss Thayer promised me on the afternoon of +the meeting that she would see you the following afternoon. She is the +president of the club. I haven't seen her since then." Grace paused, +looking worried. + +"Miss Thayer has not been here," returned Miss Wilder kindly. "However, +your explanation is sufficient, Miss Harlowe. I am reasonably sure that +the writer of this letter has either misunderstood the situation, or has +been misinformed. To be candid, very little credence can be placed on +the information contained in an anonymous letter. In fact, my reason for +sending for you had to do with that, rather than the implied charge the +letter makes. I wish you to examine this handwriting," she touched the +letter which Grace still held in hand. "Do you recognize it?" + +There was a slight interval of silence. Grace devoted herself to the +examination of the letter and the slip of paper. Then, handing it to the +dean, she said frankly: "I have no recollection of having seen this +handwriting before to-day." + +The dean folded the letter, placed the list of names inside its folds +and returned it to the envelope. "This is the first anonymous letter +that has ever been brought to my notice," she said gravely. "I trust it +will be the last. It is hard to believe that a student of Overton would +resort to such petty spite, for that seems to be its keynote. It is +practically impossible, however, to find the writer among so many +girls." + +Grace would have liked to say that this was not the first anonymous +letter that had been brought to her notice. The ghost of a disturbing, +unsigned note that had almost wrecked Elfreda's freshman happiness rose +and walked before her. Could it be possible that the same hand had +written the second note? Grace was startled at her own thought. + +"May I see the note again, Miss Wilder?" she asked soberly. This time +she scrutinized the writing even more closely. There was something +familiar, yet unfamiliar, about the formation of the letters. Finally +she handed it back. "It is a mystery to me," she said, with a little +sigh. "I am so glad you understood about the bazaar." + +Before the dean could reply the click of approaching heels was heard. A +moment later a light knock sounded on the door. At a nod from the dean, +Grace opened it, and stood face to face with Arline Thayer. + +"Why, Grace Harlowe!" she exclaimed in her sweet, high voice. "I didn't +know you were here. Did you get my message? Good afternoon, Miss +Wilder," she added, following Grace inside the office. + +"Good afternoon, Miss Thayer," smiled Miss Wilder, indicating a chair, +which Arline accepted. + +"I owe you and the Semper Fidelis Club an apology for not having +delivered their message. I spent yesterday nursing a headache and was +not able to attend any of my classes. Miss Harlowe has already asked +your permission to hold a bazaar in the gymnasium, I believe." + +"Yes," returned Miss Wilder pleasantly. "I am willing to allow the +Semper Fidelis Club carte blanche for one night. I approve warmly of +both the club and its object. I shall, of course, ask formal permission +of the president, but that need not necessarily delay your plans. The +concert given by your club last year was a most enjoyable affair and +proved very profitable to the club, did it not?" + +Grace answered in the affirmative. "We were fortunate in being able to +secure Savelli, the virtuoso," she replied. "It was by the merest chance +that he happened to have that one evening free. His daughter, Eleanor, +who is one of my dear friends, and I telephoned to New York City to ask +him to play for us. We saved him until last as a surprise number." + +"The audience fully appreciated his playing," returned Miss Wilder. "To +hear the great Savelli was an unexpected privilege. I shall look forward +to your bazaar with pleasurable anticipation and I wish you success." + +Grace looked searchingly into the smiling, dark eyes of the dean. + +"Thank you so much, Miss Wilder," she said earnestly. "I felt sure you +would understand." + +"We should like Professor Morton to open the bazaar, and would +appreciate a speech from you also," added Arline. + +"I shall be pleased to help the club in any way I can," assured Miss +Wilder graciously as the two girls were about to leave the office. "I am +certain that Professor Morton will echo my sentiments." Something in the +older woman's quiet tones made Grace feel that the anonymous letter had +entirely failed in its object. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +ELFREDA PROPHESIES TROUBLE + + +Not until the two girls were well outside did either venture to speak. +Then their eyes met. "Did you receive my message?" asked Arline +abruptly. + +"Your message," repeated Grace. "No, I didn't receive any message. By +whom did you send it?" + +"Emma Dean," declared Arline. "She was at Morton House yesterday for +luncheon, and I ran across her in the hall. I asked her to ask you if +you would see Miss Wilder after classes yesterday afternoon." + +"Emma Dean again," laughed Grace. "Didn't you know, Arline, that the +Dean messenger service is absolutely unreliable? Emma is always +perfectly willing to deliver a message, but never remembers to deliver +it. Only last week Elfreda made an engagement with a dressmaker who sews +for Emma. In the meantime Emma went to the dressmaker's house for a +fitting, and the woman asked her to tell Elfreda to come for her fitting +on Thursday instead of Friday night. Emma forgot it before she was a +block from the dressmaker's, and poor Elfreda dutifully trudged off to +her fitting instead of accepting an invitation to a theatre party that +the girls got up on Friday afternoon. The dressmaker wasn't in and +Elfreda went home angry. Emma delivered the message the next day." + +"No wonder you didn't receive mine then," laughed Arline. + +"How did you happen to find me?" asked Grace. + +"Oh, I wasn't looking for you," replied Arline. "I thought as long as I +felt better, I had better call on Miss Wilder, too. But," said Arline, a +puzzled look creeping into her eyes, "if you didn't receive my message, +how did you happen to be in the dean's office?" + +"I received a summons," answered Grace quietly. "The dean wished to see +me about--well--" Grace hesitated. "I should like to tell you about it," +she went on. "Miss Wilder did not ask me to keep the matter a secret. +That was understood, I suppose. But, Arline, I think it would be better +to ask her permission before telling even you." + +"Is it anything about me or about the club?" asked Arline curiously. + +"It is something about the club," replied Grace enigmatically. + +"Then suppose we go back and ask her now," proposed Arline. + +"No," negatived Grace wisely, "it wouldn't do. Wait a little. I shall +see her again in a day or two. Then I may have a chance to ask her." + +"All right," sighed Arline disappointedly. "Now that we have permission +we must go to work with a will. The 'Circus' must meet and plan the +costumes. Each girl will have to furnish her own. Ruth said she thought +she could design them all, and cut them out if the girls could do their +own sewing." + +"Ruth is doing too much," demurred Grace. "Remember she is going to help +dress dolls for the doll shop." + +"I know it," responded Arline, "but, thanks to the Semper Fidelis Club, +she doesn't have to burden herself with mending. Besides, I keep her so +busy with my clothes she doesn't have time to do anything for outsiders. +Some of the girls were so provoking. They used to give her their work at +the eleventh hour, and then send for it before she had half a chance to +finish it. They didn't exert themselves to pay her, however. It was +weeks, sometimes, before they gave her the money. They usually forgot +about it and spent their allowance money for something else. I think I +have already told you that Father would adopt Ruth if she would consent +to it. But she is a most stiff-necked young person. She says she must +work out her own salvation, and that too much comfort might spoil her +for doing good work in the world." + +"Do you suppose her father is really dead?" asked Grace thoughtfully. + +"Oh, I think he must be," returned Arline quickly. "Even if he isn't +dead, there is only one chance in a thousand of her finding him. When I +went home last June I had one of my famous talks with Father. We decided +that I needed a competent person to look after me in college, and Father +asked Ruth to accept the position of companion. Then she could room with +me and be free from this hateful sewing. But she wouldn't do it, the +proud little thing! I like her all the better for her pride, though," +concluded Arline in a burst of confidence. + +"I think she is right about making her own way," declared Grace. "If I +were placed in her circumstances I imagine I should look at the matter +in the same light. Really, Arline, I often think that girls as happily +situated as you and I do not half appreciate our benefits." + +"I know it," agreed Arline. "Still, I am wide awake to the fact that a +single room, pretty clothes and a generous allowance are not to be +despised. I have grown so used to my way of living that to adopt Ruth's +wouldn't be easy. I'd be worse off than she, for I don't know how to +mend or sew or do anything else that is useful. I wonder if the girls +would like me as well poor as rich," she said almost wistfully. + +"Goose!" scoffed Grace. "Of course they would. How could any one help +liking you? To change the subject, when shall we call a meeting of the +bazaar specialists? We might as well post a notice on the big bulletin +board. It will do more to advertise the bazaar than anything else." + +"Grace, you are a born advertiser," cried Arline. "There will be a crowd +around that bulletin board all day. Will you write the notice to-night? +Oh, did I tell you? I'm going to have my horse here this year. Father +wants me to ride." + +"How lovely!" exclaimed Grace with a little sigh. "How I wish I had a +horse. I'd willingly use all my allowance to feed one, if Father could +afford to buy him for me." + +"Mabel Ashe has the handsomest horse I ever saw," said Arline. "He is +black as jet. You know I often see her in New York during vacations. We +have ridden together several times." + +"You mean Elixir," returned Grace. "I have never seen him, but I have +heard of him. That reminds me, Mabel is coming down here for +Thanksgiving. I received a letter from her yesterday." + +"I wish she could come down for the bazaar," sighed Arline regretfully. + +"So do I," responded Grace heartily. + +At the corner above Wayne Hall Arline left Grace with a warning, "Don't +forget to post that notice." As Grace reached the steps of the Hall the +front door opened and two girls stepped out on the porch, followed by an +alert little figure whose small face wore an expression of malicious +amusement. "Do come again," she was saying in clear, high tones. "I've +heard some very interesting things this afternoon." Looking down, +simultaneously, three pairs of eyes were leveled on Grace and +conversation instantly ceased. Grace walked quietly up the steps and, +with a courteous "good afternoon," passed into the house and up the +stairs to her room. Her face was unusually sober as she slowly pulled +the hatpins from her hat. "How did Miss West happen to meet them?" she +said half aloud. + +"Meet whom?" asked Elfreda, who had come into the room in time to hear +Grace's half musing question. + +"Oh, Elfreda. How you startled me!" exclaimed Grace. + +"How did Miss West meet whom? That's what I am curious to know," +returned Elfreda, regarding Grace with lively interest. + +"Alberta Wicks and Mary Hampton, Inquisitive," answered Grace. + +"Where did you see them?" asked Elfreda, exhibiting considerable +excitement. + +"On the front porch. They had evidently been making a call on Kathleen." + +"Then look out," predicted Elfreda. "They began back in the freshman +year with me. Last year it was Laura Atkins and Mildred Taylor. This +year it will be Kathleen West, and you mark my word, she won't reform at +the end of the year as the rest of us did." + +"'Quoth the raven, "nevermore",'" laughed Grace. + +"Well, you'll see," declared Elfreda gloomily. "I'm sorry Kathleen West +lives here. I thought we were going to have a peaceful year. But every +fall apparently brings its problem. Really, Grace, I can't help feeling +terribly remorseful to think that it is I who have caused all this +trouble. If I hadn't been such an idiot when I first came here, you and +Alberta Wicks and Mary Hampton might at least be on speaking terms." + +"You mustn't think about such ancient history, Elfreda," admonished +Grace. "We all do things for which we are afterward sorry. I daresay I +should have offended those two girls in some other way before my +freshman year was over. Both sides were to blame. I suppose we were +naturally antagonistic." + +"That is one way of putting it," muttered Elfreda, scowling over her +past misdeeds. + +"Come, come, Elfreda, don't glower over what has been forgotten," smiled +Grace, patting Elfreda's plump shoulder. + +"You may forget," declared the stout girl solemnly, "but I never shall." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +OPENING THE BAZAAR + + +It was Saturday afternoon, and the Semper Fidelis bazaar had just been +opened. Grace Harlowe, attired in her gypsy costume, for which she had +sent home, stood watching the gay scene, her eyes glowing with interest +and pleasure. Professor Morton, the president of the college, had set +his seal of approval on the bazaar by making a short speech. Then the +dean had added a word or two, and the applause had died away in a +pleasant hum of conversation that arose from the throng of students and +visitors that more than comfortably filled the gymnasium. + +"I don't see how those girls managed to accomplish so much in so short a +time," remarked the dean to Miss Duncan. "I understand Miss Harlowe was +a prime mover in the work." + +"Yes," replied Miss Duncan. "Miss Harlowe seems to have plenty of +initiative. She is one of the most active members of this new club, who +have taken upon themselves the responsibility of helping needy students +through college. I understand their treasury is already in a flourishing +condition, thanks to their own efforts and a timely contribution they +received after their concert last spring. I consider Miss Harlowe the +finest type of young woman I have encountered during all my years of +teaching," replied Miss Duncan warmly, which was a remarkable statement +from this rather austere teacher. + +"The junior class is particularly rich in good material," replied the +dean. "I could name at least a dozen young women whom I consider +splendid types of the ideal Overton girl." + +Utterly unaware of the approval of the faculty, Grace had paused for a +moment outside the gypsy encampment to cast a speculative eye over the +crowd, which seemed to be steadily increasing. + +"It is a brilliant success," she said to Arline gleefully, who had come +up and now stood beside her. "I am so glad, but so tired. I do hope +everyone will like the bazaar, and have a good time this afternoon and +to-night. Everything has gone so beautifully. There hasn't been a sign +of a hitch. Oh, yes, there was one." Her face clouded for a second. Then +she looked at Arline brightly. "I'm not going to think of it. There are +so many nice things to remember that one little unpleasantness doesn't +count, does it?" + +"I think it counts," declared Arline stubbornly. "I shall never forget +it as long as I live. Why, it nearly spoiled our bazaar. It was dreadful +to have some one spread the story of our circus, and just what we +intended to have, when we wanted the whole thing to be a surprise." + +"Really, I think the person who told the tales did us a good turn after +all," laughed Grace. "The girls were ever so much more anxious to attend +the bazaar after they heard of the circus. Every girl loves 'Alice in +Wonderland,' I think. And then the Sphinx is a first-class surprise." + +"Isn't it funny?" chuckled Arline, who, in her short, white, embroidered +dress, pale blue sash, blue silk stockings and heelless blue kid +slippers, her golden hair hanging in curls, tied up on one side with a +blue ribbon, looked exactly as Lewis Carroll's immortal Alice might have +looked if she had been inspired with life. + +"Alice" was allowed to show herself to the public before the +performance, and on catching sight of Grace had run across the gymnasium +to her in true little girl fashion. + +Never before had Overton's big gymnasium been so peculiarly and gayly +arrayed. At one end a numerous band of gypsies had pitched their tents +and here Grace and Miriam, garbed in the many-colored raiment of the +Zingari, jingled their tambourines in their familiar but ever-popular +Spanish dance, and read curious pink palms itching to know the future. + +Adjoining the gypsy encampment was a doll shop, over which the cunning +freshman, Myra Stone, dressed as a sailor doll, presided. Then came the +Japanese tea shop, with the Emerson twins as proprietors, looking so +realistically Japanese that Arline declared she didn't believe they were +the Emerson twins, but two geisha girls straight from Japan. At +intervals, when their patrons had all been served, they sidled up to the +center of the shop and performed a quaint Oriental dance for the +entertainment of their guests. + +[Illustration: The Emerson Twins Looked Realistically Japanese.] + +Violet Darby had been asked to preside at the Shamrock booth instead of +Arline, as had first been suggested, Arline having been elected to +portray the world-renowned Alice. As an Irish colleen, Violet, however, +proved a distinct success, and thrilled her hearers with "Kathleen +Mavourneen" and "The Harp that Once Through Tara's Halls." Her voice +held that peculiarly sweet, plaintive quality so necessary to bring out +the beauty of the old Irish melodies, and Grace and Anne both agreed +that there was only one who could surpass her. There was only one Nora +O'Malley. + +Farther on four pretty sophomores, dressed as Norman peasant girls, were +dispensing cakes and ices to a steadily increasing patronage. There was +a postcard and souvenir booth, around which a crowd seemed perpetually +stationed. The souvenirs consisted mainly of small black and white or +water color sketches contributed by the artistic element of Overton. + +Occupying one entire end of the room was the circus ring, and on this +public attention was centered. A gayly decorated poster at the door bore +the pleasing information that there would be four performances, at +two-thirty, four-thirty, eight-thirty, and nine-thirty, respectively, in +which would appear the "Celebrated Alice in Wonderland Animals." + +The club had originally planned to keep the matter of the circus as a +surprise until the patrons of the bazaar should enter the gymnasium, but +in some mysterious manner the secret had leaked out. Even the identity +of certain animals was known, and when this unpleasant news had reached +the ears of the "animals" themselves a meeting was called, which almost +put an end to the circus then and there. After due consideration the +performers agreed to go on with the spectacle, but many and indignant +were the theories advanced as to the manner in which the news had +traveled abroad. That the information had gone forth through a member of +the club or any one taking part in the circus no one of them believed. +Complete ostracism threatened the offender or offenders provided she or +they, as the case might be, were discovered. Later the members of the +club were forced to admit that, although the principle of the act was +reprehensible, the act itself had served only as a means of advertising, +and had aroused the curiosity and interest of the public. + +After several earnest discussions on the part of the club, the admission +fee had been fixed at twenty-five cents, and the public had been +invited. As a college town Overton's "public" was largely made up of the +classes rather than the masses, and many of the visitors claimed Overton +as their Alma Mater. The students, however, were the hope on which the +club based its dreams of profit. "No girl could walk around the +gymnasium without spending money. She couldn't resist those darling +shops. They are all too fascinating for words," Arline had declared +rapturously as she and Grace were taking a last walk around the great, +gayly decorated room before going to luncheon that day. + +Now, as they stood side by side anxiously watching the steadily +increasing tide of visitors, they agreed that their efforts were about +to be rewarded. + +"Isn't it splendid!" exulted Arline. "And, oh, have you seen the Sphinx, +and isn't she great! How did Emma happen to think of her, let alone +getting her up?" + +"S-h-h!" cautioned Grace in a warning tone. "Some one might hear you." + +"Oh, I forgot. Sphinxes are supposed to be shrouded in mystery, aren't +they?" + +"This one is," smiled Grace. Then her face sobered instantly. "I hope no +one else besides ourselves finds out. We ought to keep her identity a +secret. I think the idea is simply great, don't you?" + +Arline nodded. "Come on over and see her," she coaxed. + +A moment later they stood before the entrance to a small tent, hung with +a heavy curtain. Pushing the curtain aside, Arline stepped into the +tent. A burnoosed, turbaned Arab standing inside salaamed profoundly. +The two girls giggled, and there was a stifled, most un-Arab-like echo +from the bronzed son of the desert. Then they paused before a platform +about four feet in height on which reposed what appeared to be a +gigantic Sphinx, her paws stiffly folded in front of her. + +"Ask me a question." This sudden, mysterious croak that issued from +inside the great head caused Arline to start and step back. "Ask me a +question. I am as old as the world. I am the world's great riddle, the +one which has never been solved. Ask me a question, only one, one only." +The eerie voice died away into yards of drapery that extended in huge +folds from the back of the head and far out on the platform. + +"How on earth did you ever get into that affair, and who made it?" asked +Arline curiously. + +"Mystery, all is mystery," croaked the Sphinx. + +"But you said you would answer my question!" persisted Arline. + +"Which one?" plaintively inquired the voice. + +"Both," declared Arline boldly. + +"Only one, only one," was the provoking reply. + +"Then, who made it?" asked Arline. + +"It was made ages ago." Emma Dean's familiar drawl startled both Grace +and Arline. "My brother had it made for a college play called 'Sphinx.' +When we began to plan for the bazaar I sent home for it. I was so afraid +it wouldn't arrive on time. My brother hired an old man who does this +wonderful papier mache work to make it. I made the paws. Rather +realistic, aren't they? All this drapery came with the head. I am inside +the head, sitting on a stool. It's rather dark and stuffy, but it's lots +of fun, too. I can appear before the audience at any moment. The head is +built over a light frame. There is an arrangement inside the head that +makes promenading possible. In fact, I had practiced an attractive +little dance--" + +"Hurrah!" cried Arline. "Another feature. When shall we have it! Won't +that be splendid?" + +"Not this afternoon. Late in the evening," counseled Emma. "I don't wish +to dance more than once, and you know what a college girl audience +means. Now, is there anything else you want to know?" + +There was a sudden murmur of voices outside which silenced Emma +immediately. Then Alberta Wicks, Mary Hampton and Kathleen West were +ushered into the tent. + +"I am the Sphinx," began the far-away voice again in the mammoth head. +"Ask me a question." + +Bowing to the newcomers rather coldly, Grace and Arline turned to leave +the tent. But Grace reflected grimly as she lifted the tent flap that if +any one of the trio had been the all-wise Sphinx, instead of her friend +Emma Dean, there were several questions she might have asked that would +have been disconcerting to say the least. + +A little later she strolled back to the Sphinx's tent, only to find that +amiable riddle besieged by an impatient throng of girls who were eager +to spend their money for the mere sake of hearing the Sphinx's +ridiculous answers to their questions, and incidentally to try if +possible to discover her identity. Emma had succeeded in changing her +voice so completely that the far-away, almost wailing tones of the +Egyptian wonder had little in common with her usual drawl. She and her +faithful Arab had thoroughly enjoyed the attempts of the various girls +to discover who was inside the great head and voluminous drapery. + +"I would never have known who was in there if Emma herself had not told +me. I don't believe any one outside the club knows either," was Grace's +conclusion as she returned to her own booth. But in this she was +mistaken. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE ALICE IN WONDERLAND CIRCUS + + +The Alice in Wonderland Circus went down in the annals of Overton as the +most original "stunt" ever attempted by any particular class. 19-- bore +its honors modestly, but was inordinately proud of the achievement of +the Semper Fidelis Club. + +The animals' costumes had been designed by Ruth and Elfreda. After much +poring over half a dozen editions of "Alice," the original illustrations +by "John Tenniel" had appealed most strongly to them, and these had been +copied as faithfully as possible in style and color. The only important +dry goods store in Overton had been ransacked for colored cambrics, +denim and khaki, and under the clever fingers of Ruth, who seemed to +know the exact shape and proportion of every one of the Wonderland +"animals," the Dormouse, the Griffon and the Rabbit had been fitted with +"skins." Elfreda had skilfully designed and made the Mock Turtle's huge +shell and flappers, the Griffon's wings, not to mention ears for at +least half the circus, and Gertrude Wells, whose clever posters were +always in demand, obligingly painted bars, dots, stripes or whatever +touch was needed to make the particular animal a triumph of realism. The +King and Queen looked as though they might have stepped from the pages +of the book, and the Duchess, as played by Anne, was a masterpiece of +acting. + +The circus opened with a grand march of the animals. Then followed the +"Mad Hatter Quadrille," called by the Mad Hatter and danced by the March +Hare, the Dormouse, the Rabbit, the Griffon, the Mock Turtle, the Dodo, +the Duchess and Alice. Then the Mad Hatter stepped to the center of the +ring, flourished his high hat, bowed profoundly, and made a funny little +speech about the accomplishments of the animals, each one walking +solemnly into the middle of the ring as his name was called and clumsily +saluting the audience. + +Then the real circus began. The Dormouse skipped the rope, the Rabbit +balanced a plate on his nose, the Griffon, with a great flapping of +wings, laboriously climbed a ladder and jumped from the top rung to the +ground, a matter of about six feet, where he bowed pompously and waved +his long claws to the audience. Then the Mock Turtle sang "Beautiful +Soup," and wept so profusely he toppled over at the end of the song and +lay flopping on his back. The Mad Hatter and the Griffon hastily raised +him only to find he had made a dreadful dent in his shell. This did not +hinder him from joining his friend, the Griffon, in "Won't You Join the +Dance?" which stately caper they performed around Alice, while the other +animals stood in a circle and marked time with their feet, solemnly +waving their paws and wagging their heads in unison. + +The Cheshire Cat, who had a real Chessy Cat head which Gertrude Wells +had manufactured and painted, and who wore Arline's long squirrel coat +with a squirrel scarf trailing behind for a tail, executed a dance of +quaint steps and low bows. The Dodo jumped or rather walked through +three paper hoops, which had to be lowered to admit his chubby person. +The King and Queen gave a dialogue, every other line of which was "Off +with her head," and the Mad Hatter performed an eccentric dance +consisting of marvelous leaps and bounds that took him from one side of +the ring to the other with amazing rapidity. When he made his bow the +audience shouted with laughter and encored wildly, but with a last +nimble skip the panting Hatter made for the Griffon's ladder and, +seating himself upon it, refused to respond beyond a nod and a careless +wave of his hand. Later he left his perch and proceeded to convulse his +audience by sitting on his tall hat and taking a bite from his teacup, +the three-cornered bite having been carefully removed beforehand and +held temporarily in place with library paste until the proper moment. + +As the Mad Hatter, Elfreda was entirely in her element. Her unusually +keen sense of humor prompted her to make her impersonation of the +immortal Hatter one long to be remembered by those who witnessed the +performance given by the famous animals. She was without doubt the +feature of the circus and the spectators were quick to note and applaud +her slightest movement. + +The circus ended with an all-around acrobatic exhibition. The Dodo +performed on the trapeze. The Mock Turtle and the Cheshire Cat took +turns on a diminutive springboard. The March Hare and the Dormouse +energetically jumped over a small barrel. The Queen and the Duchess had +a fencing match, the Queen using her sceptre, the Duchess the rag baby +she carried, and to which she had sung the "Pepper Song" at intervals +during the performance. The King tossed four colored balls into the air, +keeping them in motion at once. The Rabbit went on balancing his plate +until it slid off his nose, but being tin it struck the ring without +breaking. The Griffon lumbered up and down his ladder, while the King +and Alice, stepping down to the front of the ring, sang their great +duet, "Come, Learn the Way to Wonderland," while, one by one, the +animals left off performing their stunts and, surrounding Alice and the +King, came out strongly on the chorus: + + "Come, learn the way to Wonderland. + None of the grown folks understand + Just where it lies, + Hid from their eyes. + 'Tis an enchanted strand + Where the Hare and the Hatter dance in glee, + Where curious beasts sit down to tea, + Where the Mock Turtle sings + And the Griffon has wings, + In curious Wonderland." + +After the animals had romped out of the ring, and romped in again to +take an encore, the audience, who had occupied every reserved seat in +the gallery opposite the ring, and packed every available inch of +standing room there, came downstairs, while those who had stayed +downstairs and peered over one another's shoulders, made a rush for the +reserved seat ticket window. Mr. Redfield, the old gentleman who had +contributed so liberally to the Semper Fidelis Club, chuckled gleefully +over the circus and put in a request that it be given again at the next +public entertainment under the auspices of the club. + +The second performance was given toward the close of the afternoon, and +was even more enthusiastically received. None of the performers left the +gymnasium for dinner that night. They preferred to satisfy their hunger +at the various booths. + +"Oh, there goes Emma," laughed Grace, as late that evening she caught a +glimpse of the Egyptian mystery parading majestically down the room +ahead of her, then stopping at the Japanese booth to exchange a word +with the giggling Emerson twins, who thought the Sphinx the greatest +joke imaginable. + +A little later as Grace was about to return to the gypsy camp she heard +a sudden swish of draperies behind her. Glancing hastily about, she +laughed as she saw the Sphinx's unwieldy head towering above her. + +"Oh, Great and Wonderful Mystery--" began Grace. + +But Emma answered almost crossly: "Don't 'Great and Wonderful Mystery' +me. This head is becoming a dead weight, and I'm thirsty and tired, and, +besides, something disagreeable just happened." + +"What was it?" asked Grace unthinkingly. Then, "I beg your pardon, Emma, +I didn't realize the rudeness of my question. Pretend you didn't hear +what I said." + +"Oh, that is all right," responded Emma laconically. "I don't mind +telling you if you will promise on your honor as a junior not to tell a +soul." + +"I promise," agreed Grace. + +"It's about that West person," began Emma disgustedly. "I overheard a +conversation between her and her two friends to-night. How did she +become so friendly with Alberta Wicks and Mary Hampton? They addressed +one another by their first names as though on terms of greatest +familiarity." + +"I don't know, I am sure," answered Grace slowly. "I seldom see either +Miss Wicks or Miss Hampton. When they lived at Stuart Hall I used +frequently to pass them on the campus, but since they have been living +at Wellington House I rarely, if ever, see either of them. It is just as +well, I suppose." + +"Thank goodness, this is their last year here," muttered Emma. "We shall +have peace during our senior year at least, unless some other disturber +appears on the scene." + +"Why, Emma Dean!" exclaimed Grace, "what is the matter with you +to-night? You aren't a bit like your usual self." + +"Then, I'm a successful Sphinx," retorted Emma satirically. + +"Of course you are," smiled Grace. "But you can be a successful Sphinx +and be yourself, too. But you haven't yet told me anything." + +"I'm coming to the information part now," went on Emma. "About an hour +ago, while the circus was in full swing, I slipped out of my Sphinx rig +and, asking Helen to watch it,--she is made up as the Arab, you know,--I +went for a walk around the bazaar. I was sure no one knew that I was the +Sphinx, and the Sphinx was I, for I hadn't told a soul except the club +girls and Helen. You know I've been purposely taking occasional walks +about the gymnasium as Emma Dean. I went over to the Japanese booth for +some tea, and while I was drinking it the circus ended and the girls +began to pile into the garden for tea. All of a sudden I heard some one +say, 'Why didn't you bring your Sphinx costume along, Miss Dean?' It was +that horrid little West girl who spoke. Her voice carried, too, for +every one in the garden heard her, and they all pounced upon me at once. +It made me so angry I rushed out without waiting for my tea, and inside +of five minutes the news had circled the gym, and the Sphinx had ceased +to be the world's great mystery. I got into the costume again, but the +fun was gone. I didn't answer any more questions and I didn't do my +dance. I was looking for you to tell you that the Sphinx was about to +give up the ghost." + +"How could Miss West be so spiteful?" asked Grace vexedly. "Where do you +suppose she heard the news, and who told her? You don't suppose--" Grace +stopped abruptly. A sudden suspicion had seized her. + +"Don't suppose what?" interrogated Emma sharply. + +"Nothing," finished Grace shortly. + +"Yes, you do suppose something," declared Emma. "I know just what you +are thinking. You believe as I do, that Miss West listened--" + +"Don't say it, Emma!" exclaimed Grace. "We may both be wrong." + +"Then you do believe----" + +"I don't know," said Grace bravely. "I admit that suspicion points +toward Miss West, but until we know definitely, we must try to be +fair-minded. I have seen too much unhappiness result from misplaced +suspicion. I know of an instance where a girl was sent to Coventry by +her class for almost a year on the merest suspicion." + +"Not here?" questioned Emma, her eyes expressing the surprise she felt +at this announcement. + +"No," returned Grace soberly. There was finality in her "no." + +"And the moral is, don't jump at conclusions," smiled Emma. "Come on +down to my lair while I remove my Sphinx-like garments and step forth as +plain Emma Dean. Don't look so sober, Grace. I've put my suspicions to +sleep. I'll give even Miss West the benefit of my doubt. I will even go +so far as to forgive her for spoiling my fun to-night. Now smile and +say, 'Emma, I always knew you to be the soul of magnanimity.'" + +Grace laughed outright at this modest assertion, and obligingly repeated +the required words. + +"Now that my reputation has been once more established, and because I +don't feel half so wrathful as I did ten minutes ago," declared Emma, +"let us lay the Sphinx peacefully to rest and do the bazaar arm in arm." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +GRACE MEETS WITH A REBUFF + + +It was several days before the pleasant buzz of excitement created by +the bazaar had subsided. With a few exceptions the Overton girls who had +turned out, almost in a body, to patronize it, were loud in their +praises of the booths, and spent their money with commendable +recklessness. Outside the circus it was difficult to say which booth had +proved the greatest attraction. But late that evening, after the crowd +had gone home and the proceeds of the entertainment were counted, the +club discovered to their joy that they were nearly six hundred dollars +richer. Arline had laughingly proclaimed the Semper Fidelis Club as a +regular get-rich-quick organization with honest motives. + +By the time the last bit of frivolous decoration had been removed from +the gymnasium, and the big room had recovered its usual business-like +air, the bazaar had become a bit of 19--'s history, and Thanksgiving +plans were in full swing. There had been two meetings of the club, but +to Grace's surprise no mention had been made of Kathleen West's +intentional betrayal of Emma Dean's identity. Grace felt certain that +the majority of the club had heard the story, and with a thrill of pride +she paid tribute to her friends, who, in ignoring the thrust evidently +intended for the club itself, had shown themselves as possessors of the +true Overton spirit. After Emma's one outburst to Grace against Kathleen +she said no more on the subject. Even Elfreda, who usually had something +to say about everything when alone with her three friends, was +discreetly silent on the subject of the newspaper girl. Long ago she had +delivered her ultimatum. To be sure, she went about looking owlishly +wise, but she offered no comment concerning Kathleen's unpleasant +attitude. + +For the time being Grace had put aside all disturbing thoughts and +suspicions, and was preparing to make the most of the four days' +vacation. Mabel Ashe was to be her guest on Thanksgiving Day, and this +in itself was sufficient to banish everything save pleasurable +anticipations from her mind. Then, too, there was so much to be done. +The Monday evening preceding Thanksgiving Grace hurried through her +lessons and, closing her books before she was at all sure that she could +make a creditable recitation in any of her subjects, settled herself to +the important task of letter-writing. + +"There," she announced with satisfaction, after half an hour's steady +work, "Father and Mother can't say I forgot them. Let me see, there are +Nora and Jessica, Mrs. Gray and Mabel Allison. Eleanor owes me a letter, +and, oh, I nearly forgot the Southards, and there is Mrs. Gibson. I +shall have to devote two nights to letter-writing," she added ruefully. +"I do love to receive letters, but it is so hard to answer them." + +"Isn't it, though?" sighed Anne, who was seated at the table opposite +Grace, engaged in a similar task. "Now I wish we were going home, don't +you, Grace?" + +"Yes," returned Grace simply. "But we can't, so there is no use in +wishing. However," she continued, her face brightening, "we are going to +have Mabel with us, and that means a whole lot. All Overton will be glad +to see her--that is, all the juniors and seniors and the faculty and a +few others." + +"There is only one Mabel Ashe," said Anne softly. "Won't it be splendid +to have her with us?" + +Grace nodded. Then, after writing busily for a moment, she looked up and +said abruptly: "There is just one thing that bothers me, Anne, and that +is the way Miss West is behaving. What shall I tell Mabel when she asks +me about her? In my letters I haven't made the slightest allusion to +anything." + +"Tell Mabel the truth," advised Anne calmly. "By that I don't mean that +you need mention the Sphinx affair, but if you say to her frankly that +we have tried to be friendly with Miss West and that she appears +especially to dislike us, she will understand, and nine chances to one +she will be able to point out the reason, which so far no one seems to +know." + +"I suppose I had better tell her," sighed Grace. "I hate to begin a +holiday by gossiping, but something will have to be done, or Mabel will +find herself in an embarrassing position, for I have a curious +presentiment that Miss Kathleen West will pounce upon her the moment she +sees her, just to annoy us." + +Since the evening of the bazaar, when Kathleen had nodded curtly to +Grace at the entrance to the Sphinx's tent, she had neither spoken to +nor noticed the four girls who had in the beginning received her so +hospitably. No one of them quite understood the newspaper girl's +attitude, but as she was often seen in company with Alberta Wicks and +Mary Hampton, they were forced to draw their own conclusions. Grace +fought against harboring the slightest resemblance to suspicion against +the two seniors and their new friend. + +"Does Miss West know that Mabel is coming to Overton for Thanksgiving?" +asked Anne. + +"No," returned Grace, looking rather worried. "I suppose some one ought +to tell her." + +"I'll tell her, if you like," proposed Anne quietly. "I think she is in +her room this evening. I heard her say to one of the girls at dinner +that she intended to study hard until late to-night." + +"No," decided Grace, "it wouldn't be fair for me to shirk my +responsibility. Mabel wrote me about Kathleen West in the first place, +and I promised to look out for her. If she doesn't yearn for my society, +it isn't my fault. I'm not going to be a coward, at any rate. I'll go at +once, while my resolution is at its height. She can't do more than order +me from her room, and having been through a similar experience several +times in my life I shan't mind it so very much," concluded Grace grimly, +closing her fountain pen and laying it beside her half-finished letter. +"I'm going now, Anne. I hope she won't be too difficult." + +Grace walked resolutely down the hall to the door at the end. It was +slightly ajar. Rapping gently, she stood waiting, bravely stifling the +strong inclination to turn and walk away without delivering her message. +She heard a quick step; then she and Kathleen West confronted each +other. Without hesitating, Grace said frankly: "Miss West, Miss Ashe is +to be my guest on Thanksgiving Day. Of late you have avoided me, and my +friends as well. But Mabel is our mutual friend. So I think, at least +while she is here, we ought to put all personal differences aside and +unite in making the day pleasant for her." + +"Nothing like being disinterested, is there?" broke in the other girl +sneeringly, her sharp face looking sharper than ever. "I can quite +understand your anxiety regarding not letting Miss Ashe know how +shabbily you have treated me. Your promises to her didn't hold water, +did they? And now you are afraid she will find you out, aren't you? +Don't worry, I shan't tell her. She'll learn the truth about you and +your three friends soon enough." + +"You know very well I had no such motive," cried Grace, surprised to +indignation. "Besides, I know of no instance in which either my friends +or I have failed in courtesy to you." + +"How innocent you are!" mimicked Kathleen insolently. "You must think me +very blind. Remember, I haven't worked for four years on a newspaper +without having learned a few things." + +Grace felt her color rising. The retort that rose to her lips found its +way into speech. "No doubt your newspaper work has taught you a great +deal, Miss West," she said evenly, "but I have not been in college for +over two years without having learned a few things, also, of which, if I +am not mistaken, you have never acquired even the first rudiments. I am +sorry to have troubled you. Good night." + +With a proud little inclination of the head, Grace turned and walked +down the hall to her own room, leaving the self-centered Kathleen with +an angry color in her thin face and the unpleasant knowledge that though +she might be in college, she was not of it. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THANKSGIVING AT OVERTON + + +In spite of the awkwardness of the situation precipitated by the +belligerent newspaper girl, Thanksgiving Day passed off with remarkable +smoothness. Greatly to Grace's surprise, in the morning after Mabel's +arrival at Wayne Hall Kathleen West had appeared in the living-room +where Mabel was holding triumphant court, greeted her with apparent +cordiality, and after remaining in the room for a short time had pleaded +an engagement for the day, and said good-bye. + +"Too bad she couldn't stay with us and go to the game, isn't it?" Mabel +had declared regretfully. "I suppose she is obliged to divide her time. +Miss West is so clever. She must be very popular?" she added +inquiringly. + +At that moment Elfreda purposely began an account of the latest practice +game in which her team had played, and Mabel, who was an ardent +basketball fan, failed to notice that her questioning comment had been +neither answered nor echoed. To the relief of the four friends the +subject of Kathleen West was not renewed during Mabel's stay, and when, +that night, she went to the station surrounded by a large and faithful +bodyguard, all adverse criticism against the girl for whom she had +spoken was locked within the breasts of the four who knew. + +On the Friday after Thanksgiving the first real game between the +freshmen and the sophomore teams took place in the gymnasium. The +freshmen won the game, much to Elfreda's disgust, as she had pinned her +faith on the sophomores. The triumphant team marched around the +gymnasium, lustily singing a ridiculously funny basketball song which it +afterward developed had been composed by none other than Kathleen West. + +"Too bad she isn't up to her song," had been Elfreda's dry comment, with +which the other three girls privately agreed. + +The Morton House girls issued tickets for a play, which had to be +postponed because the leading man (Gertrude Wells) spent Thanksgiving in +the country and missed the afternoon train to Overton. Nothing daunted, +Arline descended upon Grace, Miriam and Anne, pressed them into service +and sent them scurrying about to the houses and boarding places of the +girls they knew to be at home, with eleventh-hour invitations to a fancy +dress party to be held at Morton Hall in lieu of the play, which had to +be postponed until the following week. Arline had stipulated that the +costumes must be strictly original. Wonderland costumes were to be +tabooed. "If we present the circus again later on we don't want to run +the risk of giving any one the slightest chance to grow tired of seeing +the animals," had been her wise edict. + +That night a mixed company of gay and gallant folks danced to the music +of the living-room piano at Morton House. Those receiving invitations +had immediately planned their costumes and by eight o'clock that +evening, resplendent in their own and borrowed finery, were on their way +to the ball. At ten o'clock there had been a brief intermission, when +cakes and ices were served. This had been an unlooked-for courtesy on +the part of Arline, who had plunged recklessly into her month's +allowance for the purchase of the little spread. The ball had lasted +until half-past eleven o'clock, and the participants, after singing to +Arline and rendering her a noisy vote of thanks, had gone home tired and +happy. + +Saturday had been devoted to the "odds and ends" of vacation. The +majority of the girls, having stayed in Overton, paid long-deferred +calls, gave luncheons or dinners at Vinton's or Martell's, or, the day +being unusually clear, went for long walks. Guest House was the +destination of a party of girls of whom Grace made one, and which also +included Miriam, Elfreda, Laura Atkins, Violet Darby and half a dozen +other young women who had elected the five-mile walk, supper, and a +return by moonlight. Arline, Anne and Ruth had at the last moment +decided to attend an illustrated lecture on Paris, to be held in the +Overton Theatre that afternoon, with the gleeful prospect of cooking +their supper at Ruth's that evening, an occasion invariably attended +with at least one laughable mishap, as neither Arline's nor Anne's +knowledge of cooking extended beyond the art of boiling water. + +On the way back from Guest House the pedestrians had stopped at Vinton's +for a rest and ices. As they trooped in the door, they passed Kathleen +West, accompanied by Alberta Wicks, Mary Hampton, and a freshman whom +Grace had frequently noticed in company with the newspaper girl. Several +of the girls with her bowed to the passing trio, but Grace fancied there +was a lack of cordiality in their salutations. She also imagined she +noticed a fleeting gleam of malice in Alberta Wicks's face as the senior +passed their table. Inwardly censuring herself for allowing any such +impression to creep into her mind, Grace dismissed it with an impatient +little shake of the head. + +The walking party indulged in a second round of ices before leaving +Vinton's. Everyone seemed to be in a particularly happy mood, and long +afterward Grace looked back on this night as one of the particular +occasions of her junior year, when everyone and everything seemed to be +in absolute harmony. + +All the way home this exalted, elated mood remained with her. She smiled +to herself as she leisurely prepared for bed at the recollection of her +happy evening. Elfreda's sharp, familiar knock on the door caused her to +start slightly, then she called, "Come in!" + +"Hasn't Anne come home yet?" asked Elfreda, glancing about her, then, +shuffling across the room in her satin mules, she curled herself +comfortably on the end of Grace's couch, and, surveying Grace with +friendly, half-quizzical eyes, said shrewdly, "Well, what's the latest +on the bulletin board?" + +"I don't know," smiled Grace. "I didn't look at the one in the hall and +as for the one over at the college, I haven't paid any attention to it +for the last two days. My letters usually come to Wayne Hall." + +Elfreda sniffed disdainfully. "I don't mean either of those bulletin +boards, and you know it, too, Grace Harlowe. I could see danger signals +flying to-night, even if you couldn't. I don't see how you could have +missed them." She eyed Grace searchingly, then said, with conviction, "I +don't believe you did miss them. They were too plain to be missed." + +Grace hesitated, then said frankly: "To tell you the truth, Elfreda, I +did fancy for a moment that Miss Wicks favored me with a very peculiar +look. Then I decided it to be a case of imagination on my part. Those +girls haven't troubled us this year. I don't know----" she began slowly. + +Elfreda interrupted her with an emphatic: "That is just what I've been +telling you. That's what I mean by danger signals. Those two girls will +never forgive you for making them ridiculous the night they locked me in +the haunted house. Last year they had to content themselves with simply +being disagreeable, because they could find no particularly weak spot in +our sophomore armor. They accomplished very little with Laura Atkins and +Mildred Taylor. This year it's different." Elfreda paused to give full +effect to her words. Then she ended slowly and impressively: "Don't +think I'm trying to court calamity, but I am certain that perky little +newspaper woman, as she styles herself, is going to prove a thorn in +your side. You had better write to Mabel and explain matters, then leave +Miss Kathleen West alone. She hasn't spoken to you since the day of the +bazaar, so I can't see that your junior counsel is of any particular use +to her." + +"Still, it seems a shame to give up; besides, it is the first thing +Mabel ever asked me to do," demurred Grace. + +"I know, I've thought of that," continued Elfreda a little impatiently. +"But I don't think you are justified in wasting your whole year's fun +worrying about some one who isn't worth it. If Mabel knew, she would be +the first one to indorse what I have just said." + +"I'm not wasting my year, Elfreda mine," contradicted Grace +good-naturedly. "Just think what a nice time we had to-night! And I'm +getting along splendidly with all my subjects. I belong to the Semper +Fidelis Club, and am having the jolliest kind of times with you girls. +That doesn't sound much like wasting my year, does it?" + +"I didn't say you had wasted it," retorted Elfreda gruffly. "I said, or +rather intended to say, that you would be likely to waste it. You are +the sort of girl who ought to have the best Overton can offer, +because--well--because you deserve it. You think too much about other +people, and not enough about yourself," she concluded shortly. + +"What a selfish Elfreda," laughed Grace, walking across the room and +sitting down beside the stout girl, whose round face looked unusually +severe. "One might think Elfreda Briggs never did an unselfish act in +all her twenty-two years. Now I am going to give you a piece of your own +advice. Stop worrying--about me. Whatever my just desserts are, they'll +overtake me fast enough. Hurrah! Here is our little Anne. Did you have a +nice time, dear, and what did you cook for supper?" + +"I always have a nice time at Ruth's," smiled Anne, "but, if you had +seen the three cooks all trying to spoil the broth and succeeding beyond +their wildest expectations, you would have been greatly edified." + +"I can imagine Arline Thayer gravely bending over that little gas stove +of Ruth's," said Grace. + +"She had all sorts of splendid ideas about what we might make, but no +one had the slightest idea as to how to make anything she proposed." + +"I am afraid none of us would ever set the world on fire as cooks," +observed Elfreda with sarcasm. + +"Where's Miriam?" asked Anne, slipping out of her coat and unpinning her +hat. + +"Writing to her mother," returned Elfreda. "Now tell us what you +cooked." + +Frequent bursts of laughter arose as Anne described Arline's valiant +attempt at making a Spanish omelet from a recipe in a cook-book she had +purchased that very day for twenty-five cents at the little book store +just below the campus. "It was called the 'Model Housewife,' but the +omelet was really a dreadful affair," continued Anne. "Then I let the +potatoes boil dry and they scorched on the bottom, and no one knew how +to make a cream dressing for the peas. + +"Ruth made a Waldorf salad. We had a bottle of dressing, thank goodness. +And Arline made coffee, which she really does know how to make. We had +olives and pickles and cakes, and two dozen of those cunning little +rolls from that German bakery down the street. So we really managed to +get enough to eat after all. There wasn't much left except the omelet, +and no one wanted that." + +"I don't suppose it would be of the least use to propose tea," said +Grace innocently. + +"Well, of course, if you insist," declared Elfreda politely. + +At this juncture Miriam appeared in the door. "I thought I'd drop in for +a minute. You were making so much noise I suspected that a tea party was +in progress," she said significantly. + +"We were just talking about making tea," declared Anne. "In fact, I was +on the point of remarking that tea was really the one thing needed to +complete our happiness." + +A little gust of laughter greeted this pointed remark. It echoed down +the hall, and was carried through the half-opened door of the room at +the end, where a girl sat busily engaged in writing a theme. She lay +down her pen, listened for a moment, then went on writing, a sarcastic +little smile playing about her lips. But in her eyes flashed two danger +signals. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +ARLINE MAKES THE BEST OF A BAD MATTER + + +"What shall we do for our eight girls this year?" asked Grace +reflectively of Arline Thayer. It was barely two weeks until Christmas +and the two girls had decided to spend their half holiday in doing the +Overton stores. + +"I know the stock better than the saleswomen themselves do," chuckled +Arline, "but it is great fun to go on exploring expeditions and watch +other people buy the things. Of course, I always buy something, too, +unless I am deep in that state of temporary poverty that lies in wait +for me at the end of every month." + +"Of course you do," agreed Grace, with an answering chuckle. "Even +though it is a hat and you feel obliged to dispose of it before going +home, so that the Morton House girls won't laugh at you." + +"Who told you about it?" asked Arline in a half-vexed tone. + +"You told me, don't you remember?" asked Grace. + +"Oh, yes, of course. Wasn't I a goose?" + +"Thank you," bowed Grace mockingly. + +"Oh, I don't mean because I told you," apologized Arline hastily. "I +mean, wasn't I a goose to buy it? It was in this very store. It looked +so pretty. I was determined to have it. Outside the store it looked +quite different. It was a perfectly honest dollar-and-a-half hat. But in +the store under the electric lights it was really a pretentious affair. +Ruth was with me at the time, and, wise little pilot that she is, tried +to steer me past it. But I was determined to have it. After I left Ruth, +I opened the box and looked at it in broad daylight, and then I happened +to meet my washerwoman's daughter, and I gave it to her. It was so +fortunate I met her, wasn't it?" finished Arline plaintively. + +"For the washerwoman's daughter, yes," returned Grace. + +"It served me right for buying it. I spend too much money foolishly," +said Arline self-accusingly. "I'm going to stop being so reckless. +Suppose my father were to lose all his money and I couldn't even come +back to college next year? I would, though. I'd go and live with Ruth +and borrow enough money of the Semper Fidelis Club to see me through my +senior year. Then, I suppose, I'd have to teach or something afterward. +I think it would be 'or something.' I don't believe teaching is my +vocation." + +Grace listened in smiling silence to Arline's remarks. A vision of the +little blue-eyed golden-haired girl who always did exactly as she +pleased in the prim guise of a teacher was infinitely diverting. + +"You haven't answered my question about our girls yet," reminded Grace, +as they walked down the center aisle of the larger of the two Overton +stores, stopping frequently at the various counters to examine the +display of holiday wares. + +"Haven't you any suggestions?" counter-questioned Arline. "I have been +depending on you for inspiration." + +"Nothing new or original," answered Grace doubtfully. "Last year's stunt +was beautifully carried out, but we can't repeat it this year without +running the risk of some one finding out just who our eight girls are +and all about them. Then, too, what we did last year was on the spur of +the moment. If we tried to do the same thing this year it might fall +flat, on account of being too carefully planned. Besides, these girls +have the privilege of borrowing from the Semper Fidelis fund now, and I +imagine most of them have done so. Of course, only the treasurer knows +that." + +"It looks to me as though there were more real need of a little +Christmas cheer," declared Arline thoughtfully. "Couldn't we arrange +some kind of entertainment to take place before we all go?" + +"But that wouldn't seem much like Christmas unless it happened on +Christmas Day," objected Grace. "We'll all be at home then." + +"Why not have a talk with Miss Barlow?" proposed Arline eagerly. "You +are the one to do it. You know her better than I do. Suppose we call +upon her within the next few days. Then you can find out what she and +her friends intend to do. If she says they are all going to stay here, +then ask her if she wouldn't like to--" Arline paused and looked rather +helplessly at Grace. "That's as far as I can go," she confessed. "I +haven't the least idea of what I should ask her." + +"I am equally destitute of ideas," agreed Grace. "Perhaps the +inspiration is yet to come." + +"It will have to come soon then, or we won't have the time to carry it +out," commented Arline dryly. "Keep it in mind, and if you think of +anything let me know instantly, won't you?" + +Grace gave the desired promise and thought no more of it until she and +Arline almost came into violent collision just outside the library the +following Monday evening. + +"Grace Harlowe!" exclaimed the little girl. "I was coming to Wayne Hall +to see you the instant I finished here. It has come, Grace! The great +inspiration! But it is a dreadful disappointment to me." Several big +tears chased each other down Arline's rosy cheeks. Her lip quivered, and +with a little, choking sob she sat down on the lowest step of the +library and began to cry softly. + +"Arline, dear child, whatever is the matter?" cried Grace in quick +alarm. A moment later she had slipped to the step beside Arline, passing +one arm about her friend's shoulder. She could scarcely believe this +weeping, disconsolate little creature to be the smiling, self-assured +Arline Thayer, who was forever receiving flowers from admiring freshmen +crushes. + +"Father's going to--Europe--on--important business," quavered Arline +brokenly. "He--he sails to-morrow morning and he can't possibly return +before the middle of January." She raised her sad little face to Grace's +sympathetic one, then, straightening up, she went on bravely, "We had so +many lovely Christmas plans." + +"Come home with me, Arline," begged Grace. "I'd love to have you." + +Arline shook her blonde head, at the same time slipping her hand into +Grace's. "I thought of that, too," she returned softly. "I was going to +ask you if I might go home with you for Christmas. Then Ruth and I had a +talk. I had asked her to go home with me, and she had refused because +she is so afraid of outwearing her welcome. Then came Father's letter. +Ruth was a dear about that. She said at once that if I wished to go home +and felt that I needed her she would go, but I couldn't bear to think of +spending Christmas in that big, lonely house. It is Father that makes it +seem so wonderful to go home." Arline's lip quivered piteously. "He and +I could be happy if we were the poorest of the poor. You must visit me +some time, Grace. Perhaps we could have an Easter house party. Wouldn't +that be splendid?" Arline's woe-be-gone face brightened. Grace patted +her hand. + +"Get up, Arline, before some one sees you," she advised. "Whoever heard +of proud little Daffydowndilly Thayer crying like an ordinary mortal?" +Grace went on soothing Arline in this half-serious fashion, which +presently had its effect. + +"You are so comforting, Grace," sighed Arline, as she rose from the +steps, an expression of gratitude in her pretty blue eyes. "Can't you +walk over to the house with me? I want you to hear my plan and tell me +what you think of it." + +"I could put off my library business until to-morrow," reflected Grace, +smiling a little. "It will be a case of doing as I please instead of +doing as I ought. Still, as a loyal member of Semper Fidelis it is my +duty to comfort my sorrowing comrades. Don't you think so?" + +Arline laughed an almost happy response to Grace's question. + +"But I mustn't stay long," warned Grace a little later, as, seated +opposite Arline in the latter's room, she awaited the unfolding of +Arline's "inspiration." + +"I'm going to stay here for Christmas," announced Arline with the +finality of one who knows her own mind. "Ruth is coming up to live with +me for the whole vacation, too. That isn't the inspiration, though. That +is only the first part of it. The second part is that Ruth and I are +going to see to the eight girls, and all the others who aren't going +away from Overton. What do you think of that?" + +"I think it is dear in you, Arline," responded Grace very earnestly. "I +only wish I might stay to help you. However, Father and Mother have +first claim on my vacation. But let me help you plan and get things +ready before I go. I'll be here until a week from next Thursday, you +know." + +"Oh, I shall need you," Arline assured Grace. "I thought we might have +Christmas dinner at Vinton's and Martell's, too. I've thought it all +out. Both restaurants depend largely on the Overton girls' patronage. +Naturally, they are very dull at Christmas time. My idea was to +interview both proprietors and see if for once they wouldn't combine and +furnish the same menu at the same price per plate, the price to be not +more than fifty cents. It must be just an old-fashioned turkey dinner +with plenty of dressing and vegetables. We must have plum pudding, too, +and all the things that go with a real Christmas dinner." + +"But neither Vinton's nor Martell's would serve that sort of Christmas +dinner for fifty cents," said Grace slowly. "I don't wish to discourage +you, but--" + +"I know that, too," broke in Arline eagerly, "but no one else need know. +I'm going to take my check that Father always gives me for theatres and +things when I'm at home, and spend it to make up the difference. It will +more than cover the extra expense of the dinner. I'd like to give the +dinner to the girls, but of course that is out of the question. They +wouldn't like it. However, if they are allowed to pay fifty cents for it +they will feel independent, and, nine chances out of ten, won't trouble +themselves about the actual cost of the dinner, as have some persons I +might mention," ended Arline meaningly. + +Both girls laughed. Then Grace said admiringly: "It is a splendidly +unselfish idea, and you and Ruth are the very ones to carry it out. +Shall you have a play or anything afterward?" + +"Yes, if we can find a good one. I thought we might have a New Year's +masquerade party here. It will be an innovation for these girls. I am +not very sure of anything yet, except that I am not going to New York +and that I must do something to amuse myself while the rest of my +friends are reposing in the bosoms of their families. After all, mine is +really a selfish motive," said the little girl whimsically. + +"Hush!" exclaimed Grace, laying her hand lightly against Arline's lips. +"I shall not allow you to say slighting things of yourself. I have just +one remark to make. Be very diplomatic, Arline. If any of these girls +who can't afford to go home for the holidays were even to imagine +themselves objects of charity, your dinner plan would be a failure. +Don't tell a soul about it except Ruth." + +"I know," nodded Arline wisely. "I had thought of that, too. Never fear, +I won't breathe it to another soul." + +"My half hour is more than up," exclaimed Grace ruefully, glancing +toward the little French clock on Arline's chiffonier. "I must hurry +away this instant. I'll see you again in a day or two. I am so sorry for +your disappointment. You're the bravest little Daffydowndilly. If my +prospects of going home were suddenly swept away, I'm afraid I'd be too +busy with my own woes to think about making other people happy." + +"You would do just what I am planning to do, Grace Harlowe," declared +Arline emphatically. "After all, perhaps it is just as well I can't +always have my own way. I might become a monument of selfishness." + +"There doesn't seem to be much danger of it," laughed Grace, as she put +on her hat and slipped into her long coat. "There is a strong +possibility, however, that 'not prepared' will be my watchword +to-morrow. I think I shall write a theme on the decline of the art of +study and use personal illustrations. It seems such a shame that +mid-years had to come skulking along on the very heels of Christmas, +doesn't it?" + +Arline nodded. "I haven't looked at my French for to-morrow, either," +she confessed, "and I've been saying 'not prepared' for the last two +recitations. Ruth and I have planned a systematic study campaign during +vacation, so you see the ill wind will blow some little good," she +concluded wistfully. + +Grace smiled very tenderly at the little, golden-haired girl who was +bearing her cross bravely, almost gayly. "Good-night, little +Daffydowndilly," she said impulsively, bending to kiss Arline's rosy +cheek. "I think you can teach all of us a lesson in real unselfishness." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +PLANNING THE CHRISTMAS DINNER + + +The ensuing days before Christmas were filled to the brim with business +for Grace and Arline, who had been making secret tours of investigation +about Overton with regard to the girls who were not going to their homes +or to friends for the vacation. The managers at Martell's and Vinton's +had been interviewed, and both proprietors had agreed to furnish +practically the same dinner at the same price, which was considerably +more than fifty cents, and was to be paid privately from Arline's own +pocket money. + +"I feel like a conspirator," confided Arline to Grace as the two girls +sat at the library table in the living room at Wayne Hall late one +afternoon going over a long list of names and addresses which they had +obtained by dint of much walking and inquiring. + +"But it is such a delightful conspiracy," reminded Grace. "One doesn't +often conspire to make other people happy. I hope the girls will fall in +readily with your plan." + +"I shall have to be as wise as a serpent," smiled Arline, "and as +diplomatic as--as--Miriam Nesbit. She is the most diplomatic person I +ever knew." + +"Isn't she, though?" agreed Grace smilingly. "Yes, my dear +Daffydowndilly, you have a delicate task before you. Playing Lady +Bountiful to the girls who are left behind without them suspecting you +won't be easy. There are certain girls who would languish in their rooms +all day, rather than accept a mouthful of food that savored of charity. +I don't believe our eight girls ever suspected us of playing Santa Claus +to them last year." + +"Oh, I am certain they never knew," returned Arline quickly. "Of course, +there was a remote chance that they and the various girls, who +contributed might compare notes. But those who gave presents and money +were in honor bound not to ask questions or even discuss the matter +among themselves. I know the Morton House girls never said a word, too." + +"Neither did the Wayne Hallites," rejoined Grace. "Even Miriam, Anne and +Elfreda asked no questions." + +"Doesn't it seem wonderful to think that girls can be so splendidly +impersonal and honorable?" commented Arline admiringly. "College is the +very place to cultivate that attitude. Living up to college traditions +means being honorable in the highest sense of the word. There are plenty +of girls who come here without realizing what being an Overton girl +means, until they find themselves face to face with the fact that their +standards are not high enough. That is why one hears so much about +finding one's self. College is like a great mirror. When one first +enters it, one takes a quick glance at one's self and is pleased with +the effect. Later, when one stops for a more comprehensive survey, one +discovers all sorts of imperfections, and it takes four years of +constant striving with one's self as well as one's studies to make a +satisfactory reflection." + +"What a quaint idea!" exclaimed Grace. "We might evolve a play from that +and call it 'The Magic Mirror.' That would be a stunt for a show. Miriam +Nesbit could do a college girl. She looks the part. But here, I am miles +off my subject. Suppose we go back to our girls. How are you going to +propose the dinner plan, Arline?" + +"I'm going to wait until every last girl that is going home has +departed, bag and baggage; then I shall post a bulletin on the big +board, asking all the stay-heres to meet me in the gymnasium," planned +Arline. "I shall say that as I am going to stay over and didn't fancy +eating my Christmas dinner alone I thought perhaps the girls who had no +particular plans for the day would like to join me at either Martell's +or Vinton's. Then I'll explain about the price of the dinner, etc., all +in a perfectly offhand manner, and let them do the rest. There are +anywhere from one to two hundred girls who live at the various rooming +and boarding houses who will be glad to come. Many of them have never +been inside either Vinton's or Martell's. You would hardly believe it, +but it's true." + +"I do believe it," said Grace soberly. "It seems a shame, too, when I +think of the amount of time and money we spend there." + +"Well, I haven't grown philanthropic enough to give up going to either +one," declared Arline. "They are my havens of refuge when Morton House +cooking deteriorates, as it frequently does. Ask me for my cloak or even +my best new pumps, but don't tear me away from my favorite haunts." + +"I won't," promised Grace. "I am afraid I feel the same. No chance for +reformation along that line. Shall we send the eight girls gifts or a +present of money this year, or both?" + +"I suspect they have all borrowed from the Semper Fidelis fund this +year," was Arline's quick answer. "Suppose we send presents, and ask our +club girls alone to contribute toward them. If every one we asked gave +two dollars apiece, that would mean twenty-four dollars. We could invest +it in gloves, neckwear and pretty things that most poor girls are +obliged to do without. We gave money last year because those girls had +no one to help them. This year Semper Fidelis stands behind them. +Besides, some one might find it out this time. I said I was certain they +never knew, but I always had a curious idea that Miss Barlow suspected +you, Grace. Whenever I meet her she always speaks of you with positive +reverence." + +A flush rose to Grace's face. "How ridiculous," she murmured. "You are +the real heroine of that adventure. Have you decided on your programme +for the week yet?" + +"Only the costume party and a basketball game, if we can scare up two +teams, and a winter picnic at Hunter's Rock, if it isn't too cold. A +play, if we can gather up enough actors, and a dance in the gymnasium. +I'm going to give an afternoon tea, and that's all, I think. They will +have to amuse themselves the rest of the time," finished Arline with a +sigh. "There are so many ifs attached to my plans." + +"I predict a busy two weeks for you," said Grace, "but then--" + +From the room adjoining, which opened into the living room and was used +as a parlor, came the sound of a slight cough. Grace was on her feet in +an instant. With a bound she sprang toward the curtained archway and, +pushing it aside, peered sharply into the room. It was empty. + +"Did you hear some one cough, Arline?" she asked anxiously. + +"Yes," replied Arline, who had joined her. "The sound came from in here, +didn't it?" + +"So I imagined," declared Grace in a puzzled tone. "Perhaps it came from +the hall. No one could have escaped from here before I reached the door +without my hearing them. It startled me, because we had been talking so +confidentially. I glanced in as we passed the door when we went into the +living room and there wasn't a soul in sight. Whoever coughed a few +moments ago must have slipped into the room and slipped out again." + +"Then, whoever it is has heard the very things we didn't wish known!" +exclaimed Arline in consternation. "Now I can't carry out any of my +plans. How perfectly dreadful!" + +"Perhaps it was Mrs. Elwood," said Grace hopefully. + +"Mrs. Elwood is far too stout to walk so lightly and vanish so rapidly," +discouraged Arline. "I--it--must have been some one who was trying to +hear." + +"If that is the case, the person is in this house and must be found and +sworn to secrecy," said Grace sternly. "I am afraid we were talking too +loudly. However, the person may have only come as far as the door, then +passed on upstairs. Suppose we go up and ask all the girls. We shall +feel better satisfied, and they won't object to being interviewed." + +But all efforts to locate the accidental or intentional listener failed. +Many of the girls had not yet come in from their classes, and those whom +Grace found in their rooms had evidently been there for some time. +Kathleen West was among those still out. Miss Ainslee informed her +visitors of this fact with an unmistakable sigh of relief that Grace +interpreted with a slight smile. As she went slowly down the stairs to +the living room, followed by Arline, whose baby face wore an expression +of deepest gloom, the door bell rang and the maid admitted the newspaper +girl. She swept past the two juniors who stood at the foot of the stairs +without the slightest sign of recognition, and neither girl saw the look +of triumph that animated her face the instant she had turned her back +upon them and hurried up the stairs. + +"What shall we do?" asked Arline as once more they seated themselves at +the library table opposite each other. + +"We can't do anything until we find the girl who listened, and the +question is how are we to find her?" Grace made a little gesture of +despair. + +Arline shrugged her dainty shoulders. "I don't know. Perhaps she will +never repeat what she has heard. Curiosity alone may have prompted her +to listen. We may be agreeably disappointed." + +Grace shook her head. "I wish I could believe that," she said. "I don't +wish to croak, but I have a curious conviction that the person who +listened had a motive deeper than mere curiosity." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A TISSUE PAPER TEA + + +"What in the name of all mysterious is going on between you and +Alice-In-Wonderland Daffydowndilly Thayer?" demanded Elfreda Briggs as +she lovingly wrapped a large pasteboard box in white tissue paper and +tied it with a huge bow of scarlet satin ribbon. "This is Miriam's +present," she drawled calmly. "You will observe that she has obligingly +turned her back while I am engaged in wrestling with wrapping it. I +never could tie a bow. I have had this box in the closet for a week, and +it has fallen out every time we opened the door, but Miriam, beloved +angel, hasn't shown the slightest curiosity. You may look, my dear, the +big box is all put away," she declared, as though addressing a very +small child. + +"What a ridiculous person you are, J. Elfreda Briggs," laughed Miriam. +"One might think me at the kindergarten age, instead of your guardian +and keeper." + +"Tell me what it is, Elfreda," teased Grace. + +"On one condition," answered Elfreda, reaching for a small square box +and beginning to wrap it in holly paper. "Tell me what you and Arline +are planning!" + +"It's a secret," returned Grace. "I'd love to tell you, but I am pledged +until the day we go home. When we are all in the train and it has +started on the home stretch then you shall know." + +"There is no time like the present," invited Elfreda. + +"No," laughed Grace, shaking her head. "Not now. I have given my promise +to Arline." + +"She won't tell even me," smiled Anne Pierson, who, with Grace, had +carried her Christmas gifts to Miriam's and Elfreda's room, in answer to +Elfreda's invitation to a tissue paper tea. "Bring all your stuff," +Elfreda directed. "There will be plenty of paper and ribbon and twine +and tea and cakes if I have time to go for them." Cheered with the +prospect of tea and cakes, which were a certainty in spite of Elfreda's +provisional promise, the two guests had come, their arms full of +bundles. + +"Well, if she won't tell _you_, the rest of us might as well save our +breath," declared Elfreda. "Never mind, we have only two more days to +wait. Oh, aren't you glad you're going home? I have been homesick for +the last three days. I'm glad we are going to stay in Fairview and have +an old-fashioned Christmas. I am going to drive to the woods and cut +down my own Christmas tree, too." + +"That reminds me, Miriam, we must make up a party and go to Upton Wood +to see old Jean. We didn't see him last summer on account of his being +away up in northwestern Canada. He went as a guide. Don't you remember? +In Mother's last letter she wrote that he had been seen in Oakdale. That +means that he has come back to his cabin in Upton Wood." + +"Hurrah!" exclaimed Miriam, waving a long, narrow package over her head. +"That means a winter picnic, and supper at old Jean's cabin." + +"Who is old Jean?" asked Elfreda curiously. + +"Come down to Oakdale between Christmas and New Year and go with us on +the picnic," teased Miriam. "You can see old Jean for yourself." + +"Can't do it," responded Elfreda. "I am strictly Pa's and Ma's girl this +time. I've promised." + +"Then I suppose I shall have to enlighten you," smiled Grace. "Jean is +an old Frenchman, a hunter who drifted down to Oakdale from somewhere in +Canada. He has a log cabin in Upton Wood, a forest just east of Oakdale. +To him I owe the beautiful set of fox furs, you have so often admired. +He had the skins dressed for me, and Mother sent them to a furrier's in +New York and had them made into a muff and scarf for me. I have known +him since I was a little girl." + +"Lucky you," commented Elfreda. "There, I've finished my packages. I'm +going out to buy cakes. You have worked nobly. This Saturday afternoon, +at least, has been well spent, thanks to my tissue paper tea. Now we'll +have real tea." Piling her smaller packages into a neat heap, she made a +dive for her long brown coat and fur cap. "Don't dare to touch one of +those packages. You might guess what is in them. Good-bye. I'll be back +before you know it." + +As the door closed after her with a resounding bang, Miriam remarked +affectionately: "Elfreda is in her element. She loves to play hostess +and give tea parties." + +"She is becoming one of the important girls in college, isn't she?" +observed Anne. "I was so glad to see her rushed by the Phi Beta Gammas." + +"She was more moved than she would admit over being asked to join them," +returned Miriam. "She used to make ridiculous remarks about them and +call them the P. B. Gammas, but in her heart she looked upon them with +positive awe. Wasn't it nice to think we were all asked?" + +"I should say so," agreed Grace. "It would have been dreadful if one of +us had been left out." She patted her sorority pin with intense +satisfaction. "In spite of belonging to the most important sorority in +college, there never will be another sorority like the Phi Sigma Tau, +will there, girls?" + +"No," said Miriam, smiling with a reminiscent tenderness at sound of the +familiar name. + +"Dear old P. S. T.," murmured Anne. "How I wish we might call a meeting +now and have every member present." + +"There is bound to be one vacant place when we gather home next week," +said Grace a trifle sadly. + +"The Lady Eleanor," sighed Miriam. "I hope we'll see her some time next +year." + +The arrival of Elfreda, her arms filled with bundles, cut short Miriam's +reflections. One by one Elfreda calmly laid down her packages and began +preparations for her tissue paper tea. The stout girl's mood seemed to +have changed, however. She answered her companions' gay sallies rather +abstractedly, with the air of one whose thoughts were anywhere but on +her guests. Several times Grace glanced up to find Elfreda's eyes fixed +reflectively upon her. + +When, at five o'clock, she announced her intention of going for a walk +before dinner, Elfreda gave her another peculiar look and announced her +intention of accompanying her. Anne and Miriam, who had elected to +occupy the time before dinner in writing to the Southards, declined +Grace's invitation, and as the two girls walked briskly down the street, +Elfreda breathed a deep sigh of relief. "With all due respect to Miriam +and Anne, I am glad they didn't join us," she said coolly. + +"What is on your mind now?" asked Grace shrewdly. + +"So you realize at last that there is something on my mind, do you!" +retorted Elfreda grimly. "I began to think you never could. I made all +kinds of signals to you with my eyes." + +"I thought they were signals, but wasn't sure," said Grace quickly. + +"Well, you can be sure now. I don't want you to think me a Paul Pry, but +I know all about that Christmas business last year." + +"What 'Christmas business'?" asked Grace sharply. + +"You know very well what I mean, the eight girls and all that." + +"Why--who----" began Grace in displeased astonishment. + +"No, I didn't try to find out," interrupted Elfreda. "You know me better +than that. No one told me, either. I just put two and two together. I +could see last year that----" + +"Is there anything you can't see?" exclaimed Grace. + +"Not much," responded Elfreda modestly. "I knew, of course, you would do +something for those girls this year." + +"You could see that, I suppose," said Grace satirically. + +"Exactly," nodded Elfreda with an irresistible grin. Their eyes meeting, +both girls laughed. Elfreda's face sobered first. "My news isn't +pleasant, Grace. Read this." Slipping her hand into her coat pocket she +drew forth a half sheet of paper partly covered with writing. Grace +received it wonderingly: + +"Two Overton College Girls Play Lady Bountiful to Their Needy +Classmates," she read. The words were arranged to form headlines, and +below was written: "The latest whim of two wealthy students of Overton +College has taken the form of Sweet Charity, and impecunious students of +Overton whose finances will not permit of their making long railway +journeys home for Christmas are to be the object of these young women's +solicitude. Their less fortunate classmates will be their guests at a +dinner on Christmas which by special arrangement will be served +at----" The writing ended with the bottom of the sheet. + +"What do you think of that?" demanded Elfreda laconically. + +A tide of crimson rose to Grace's face. "I think it is contemptible," +she cried. "When and where did you find it, Elfreda?" + +"Just outside the door of the room at the end of the hall," replied +Elfreda. "I picked it up as I was coming back from the delicatessen +shop." + +Grace's eyes flashed. "I suspected as much," she said shortly. "What +does this look like to you, Elfreda?" + +"Newspaper copy," replied Elfreda promptly. "It isn't the first, either. +I happen to know she writes college stuff and sends it to her paper +every week. I knew that long ago. I subscribed to the Sunday edition of +her paper on purpose. I know her articles, too. She signs them +'Elizabeth Vassar.' I have been quietly censoring them all along, ready +to object if she once overstepped the line. So far she hasn't. I didn't +know this was her copy until I had read it. Then it dawned upon me what +the whole thing meant. This is the beginning of an article designed +purely for spite. It is a direct stab at you and Arline. I suppose +certain other people have influenced her against you, Grace. These very +people will see to the circulation of the paper here at Overton, too, +when the article appears, or I'm no prophet." + +"I suppose so," assented Grace almost wearily. "I am sure I can't think +of any reason other than spite for this." She took a few steps in +silence, her eyes bent on the sheet of paper. + +"You had better hurry and do something about this," advised Elfreda, +lightly touching the paper with her forefinger, "or it will be too +late." + +Grace glanced up with a slight start. + +"Once she finds the first of her copy missing it won't take her long to +rewrite it," reminded Elfreda. "She may have mailed it by this time, +although I hardly think so. I am afraid you will have trouble with her. +She looks like one of the do-as-I-please-in-spite-of-you kind. What's +the matter, Grace? What makes you look so funny?" + +"I know where I saw it!" exclaimed Grace enigmatically, apparently deaf +to Elfreda's questions. "It was in the note. She wrote it. Strange I +never thought of that." + +"Grace Harlowe," demanded Elfreda with asperity, "have you suddenly +taken leave of your senses?" + +"No," returned Grace, her gray eyes gleaming wrathfully, her lips set in +a determined line as she faced about. "I've just found them. Yes, +Elfreda, I shall certainly call on Miss West, and at once." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +A DOUBTFUL VICTORY + + +During the walk to Wayne Hall, Elfreda could scarcely keep pace with +Grace's flying feet. She made no complaint, however, but kept sturdily +at her companion's side, holding her breath and closing her lips tightly +to keep from panting. Grace ran into her own room for a moment, then +back to Elfreda, who stood waiting in the upstairs hall. + +"Shall I leave you here?" she asked in a low tone as Grace returned, a +second folded paper in her hand. + +"No," replied Grace. "I think it would be well for you to go with me. I +don't know any one else I'd rather have," she added honestly. + +"Thank you," bowed Elfreda, flushing and looking embarrassed at the +compliment. "I'll never desert Micawber--Harlowe, I mean." + +"Look serious. I am ready," said Grace softly. Then she knocked +imperatively upon the door. There was a tense moment of waiting, then +the door was opened by Kathleen West herself. Her sharp face looked +still sharper as she eyed her visitors with ill-concealed disapproval. + +"Good evening, Miss West," said Grace with distant politeness. "If you +are not too busy, can you spare Miss Briggs and me a few moments? We +have something of grave importance to say to you." + +"Please make your business as brief as possible," snapped Kathleen, +holding the door as though ready to close it in their faces the instant +they stated their errand. + +"Thank you," said Grace with unruffled calm. "We had better step inside +your room, for a moment, at least. The hall is hardly the place for what +I have to say." + +The newspaper girl darted a swift, appraising glance at Grace. Her +shrewd eyes fell before the steady light of Grace's gray ones. "Come +in," she said shortly, then in a sarcastic tone, "Shall I close the +door?" + +"It would be better, I think," returned Grace in quietly significant +tones. + +The color flooded Kathleen West's sallow face. Her eyes began to flash +ominously. "Your tone is insulting, Miss Harlowe!" she exclaimed. + +"I answered your question, Miss West," returned Grace evenly. "However, +I did not come here to quarrel with you. My errand has to do with the +articles you write for the Sunday edition of your paper which you sign +'Elizabeth Vassar.' Miss Briggs has been following them for some time +with a great deal of interest. This afternoon she found a part of what +is evidently copy for an article." + +Before Grace could go on Kathleen West had turned imperatively toward +Elfreda. "Give it to me at once," she commanded. "I have hunted high and +low for it. Your finding it is very strange, I must say. I am sure it +was never off my desk." + +Elfreda half closed her eyes and regarded the newspaper girl with the +air of one viewing a rare curiosity for the first time. "Then your desk +must be on the hall floor just outside the door," was her dry retort. +"At least that is where I found this paper." A certain significant ring +in the girl's voice admitted of no contradiction. For a brief interval +no one spoke. Then Elfreda said smoothly, "As we appear to understand +that point, go on, Grace." + +"Give me my copy," reiterated Kathleen sullenly, before Grace had a +chance to continue. + +"Miss West," returned Grace very quietly, "Miss Briggs and I have read +the copy which Miss Briggs found, and I have come here to say that you +will be doing not only yourself but a great many other girls an +injustice if you make public Miss Thayer's plans for the girls who +remain at Overton for the holidays. Miss Thayer wishes the girls to feel +perfectly independent in this matter, and whatever she contributes +privately toward it is strictly her own affair. If this article appears +on the school and college page, some of these girls are sure to hear of +it and feel humiliated and resentful, particularly if the rest of the +article is as callously cruel as its beginning." + +Kathleen West laughed disagreeably. "That is not my affair. I have +agreed to furnish my paper with snappy college news. This makes a good +story. To supply my paper with good stories is my first business." + +"Pardon me," retorted Grace scornfully, "I should imagine that loyalty +to one's self and one's college constituted an Overton girl's first +business." + +"I can't see that this particular story has anything to do with being +loyal to Overton," sneered Kathleen. "As for being loyal to myself, that +is for me to judge. Who dares say I am disloyal?" + +"Nothing very daring about that," drawled Elfreda. "I say so." + +"You," stormed Kathleen. "Who are you?" + +"J. Elfreda Briggs," murmured the stout girl sweetly. + +"Yes," continued Kathleen sneeringly, "I have heard of the jumble you +made of your freshman year. It took a number of influential friends to +pull you into favor again, I believe." + +"Not half such a jumble as you are making of yours," smiled Elfreda. +Then she went on gravely: "I am glad you mentioned that freshman year. I +did behave like an imbecile. Thanks to a number of girls who believed I +was worth bothering with, I have learned to know what Overton requires +of me. If you are wise, you'll face about, too. You will find it pays, +and there are all sorts of pleasant compensations for what one expends +in effort. That's all. I've said my say." + +A curious, half-admiring expression flitted across Kathleen's thin +little face. Then, turning to Grace, she said defiantly: "Give me my +copy. I don't wish to rewrite it and I am going to send it to-night." + +"I'm sorry you won't be fair about this, Miss West," said Grace +regretfully, "but perhaps I can induce you to change your mind." + +"I don't understand you," said Kathleen West stiffly. + +Grace held a folded paper before the newspaper girl's eyes. + +"Here is the letter you wrote the dean regarding our bazaar. The dean +gave it to me. She does not nor never will know who wrote it, unless +you, yourself, tell her. That is something, however, that you and your +conscience must decide. Here also is your page of copy. Under the +circumstances, don't you think you might destroy this page and the +others?" + +[Illustration: "Here is the Letter You Wrote the Dean."] + +Kathleen took the proffered papers with a set, enigmatic expression on +her pointed features. Slowly she walked to her desk, picked up several +sheets of copy and placing them with the sheet in her hand offered them +to Grace. + +Grace shook her head. "I will take your word," she said. + +With a shrug of her shoulders the newspaper girl tore the papers across, +then into bits, tossing them into her waste basket. "You win," she said +with slangy effectiveness, then she added--"this time." + +"Thank you," responded Grace gravely. "Good night, Miss West." + +Kathleen did not respond. + +Grace's hand was on the doorknob when the newspaper girl said harshly: +"Wait. Don't think your lofty sentiments about college honor and all +that nonsense impressed me to the point of destroying that copy. Once +and for all I want you to understand that college ideals and traditions +are not worrying me. I did not come to Overton to moon. I am only using +college as a means to the end. What you offered me was a fair exchange. +As you know a great deal too much about certain things, it is just as +well to be on the safe side. I dare say I shall stumble on something +else in the news line just as good as the charity dinner stunt." With a +shrug of her shoulders that conveyed far more than words, she walked +over to the window, turning her back directly upon her callers, nor did +she change her position until an instant later the sound of the closing +door announced to her that her unwelcome visitors had departed. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +HIPPY LOOKS MYSTERIOUS + + +"Merry, Merry Christmas everywhere, Cheerily it ringeth through the +air," sang Grace Harlowe joyously as she twined a long spray of ground +pine about the chandelier in the hall, then stepping down from the stool +on which she had been standing, backed off, viewing it critically. + +"Oh, but it's good to be home!" she trilled, making a rush for her +mother, who had just appeared in the door, and winding both arms tightly +about her. + +"My own little girl," returned her mother fondly. "How Father and I have +missed you!" + +"That's my greatest drawback to perfect happiness," sighed Grace, +rubbing her soft cheek against her mother's: "Not to be able to be in +two places at once. Now, if you were with me at Overton I wouldn't have +a thing left to sigh for. You don't know how much I miss you, Mother, +and Father, too. Sometimes I grow so homesick that I can't read or study +or do anything but just think of you. Anne says she can always tell when +I am extra blue." + +"Your college life is only the beginning of our parting of ways, dear +child. Mother would like to keep you safe and sheltered at home, but you +are too active, too progressive, to be content as a home girl," said +Mrs. Harlowe rather sadly. "You are likely to discover that your work +lies far from Oakdale, but you know that whatever or wherever it may be +your father and I will wish you Godspeed. You are to be perfectly free +in the matter of choosing your future business of life." + +"Don't I know that, you dearest, best mother a girl ever had!" exclaimed +Grace, a quick mist clouding her gray eyes. "But never fear, I shan't +ever stay away from you long at a time. I couldn't." Unwinding her arms +from about her mother's neck, Grace linked one arm through Mrs. +Harlowe's and marched her into the adjoining living room. + +"Doesn't it look exactly like Christmas?" she asked proudly. "See the +tree. Isn't it a beauty? We have loads of presents, too. Isn't Miriam a +goose and a dear all rolled into one? She won't come to my Christmas +tree because she isn't one of the Eight Originals. I asked her to be a +Ninth Original, but she said 'No.' She is coming, though, only she +doesn't know it. David received a telegram from Arnold Evans yesterday. +He is expected to-night on the six o'clock train. Miriam doesn't know +that, either. She thinks he was unable to come, and won't she be +surprised when he appears to escort her to our house?" Grace laughed +gleefully in anticipation of Miriam's astonishment at sight of Arnold +Evans, who was always a welcome addition to their little company. + +Two immeasurably happy days had passed since the train from the east had +steamed away from Oakdale, leaving three eager girls on the platform of +the station. The evening train had brought Eva Allen, Marian Barber, +Jessica Bright and Nora O'Malley. Grace, Miriam and Anne, accompanied by +a slender, brown-eyed young woman, whom they addressed as Mabel, had met +the train. Jessica Bright's radiant delight at beholding the face of her +foster sister, Mabel Allison, can be better imagined than described. +Mabel and her mother had arrived three days before, and were to divide +their month's stay in Oakdale between the Gibsons of Hawk's Nest, an +estate several miles from Oakdale, and the Brights. Jessica's aunt, Mr. +Bright's only sister, who had never married, now presided over the +Bright household, with a grace and hospitality that gained for her not +only the reputation of a delightful hostess, but the adoration of +Jessica's friends as well. + +It was now the day before Christmas, and that evening Grace had invited +her dearest friends to help her keep Christmas Eve. + +"Just as though we could get along without Miriam!" she exclaimed +enthusiastically. "You haven't any idea, Mother, what a power for good +she is at Overton. It isn't half so much what she says as the way she +says it. She has so much tact. Elfreda worships her." + +"I am sorry Elfreda could not come home with you," commented Mrs. +Harlowe. + +"We were all sorry," returned Grace regretfully. "She may run down for a +day before we go back to college. We have promised her a winter picnic +in Upton Wood and a supper at old Jean's if she comes. That ought to +tempt her. Oh, there's the bell. I know that is Anne! She promised to be +here early. The Eight Originals are going to trim the tree, you know." + +Grace rushed to the front door to open it for Anne, who staggered into +the hall, her arms full of packages. "Oh, catch them," she gasped. "I'm +going to drop them all and two of them are breakable." + +Grace sprang forward to relieve Anne of her load. One fat package fell +to the floor and rolled under the living-room sofa. Grace made a +laughing dive after it. Then, dropping to her knees, peered under the +sofa, dragged it forth in triumph and presented it to Anne. + +Anne thanked her. "It is for Hippy," she smiled. "You might know that it +would behave in an extraordinary manner. I've been so busy this morning. +I was up before seven, helped Mother with the breakfast, went on a +shopping expedition, and now I'm here. It isn't eleven o'clock yet, +either." + +"Imagine Everett Southard's leading woman washing dishes," smiled Grace. + +"She did, though," rejoined Anne cheerfully, "and swept the dining room +and kitchen, too. I have an invitation to deliver. I am going to +entertain the Eight Originals and Mrs. Gray at my house next Tuesday +evening. You'll receive a real summons to my party by mail." + +"How formal," said Grace gayly. "However, Miss Harlowe accepts with +pleasure Miss Pierson's kind invitation, etc." + +"Miss Pierson is duly honored by Miss Harlowe's prompt acceptance," +laughed Anne. "Do the boys know about bringing their presents here?" + +"Oh, yes," returned Grace. "There goes the door bell!" She hurried to +the door, flinging it wide open to admit three stalwart young men whose +clean-cut, boyish faces shone with good humor. + +"Hurrah for old Kris Kringle!" cried Hippy, who was in the lead, as he +skipped nimbly into the living-room, and set down the heavy suit case he +carried with a flourish. Then backing into David Nesbit, who stood +directly behind him, he said apologetically: "I beg your pardon, David, +but if you will insist in taking up so much space you must expect to +have your toes trampled upon." + +"I don't take up one half as much space as you do," flung back David. + +"True; I hadn't looked at the matter in that light," Hippy agreed +hastily. "Let us change the subject. I am so pleased, Grace, to know +that you are giving this little affair in my honor. I really didn't +expect to----" + +"Be put out of the house," finished Reddy with a menacing step toward +Hippy. + +"Exactly," agreed Hippy. "No, I don't mean that at all. I was about to +say that I really didn't expect to be obliged to put Reddy Brooks out of +the house for threatened assault. It seems too bad to mar the gentle +peace of Christmas by such deeds of violence." Hippy sighed loudly, then +with a gesture of finality warily sidled toward Reddy, an expression of +deadly determination on his round face. The sound of a ringing laugh +from the doorway caused him to forget his grievance and make for the +door as fast as his legs would carry him. "Reddy, you are saved," he +announced, leading Nora O'Malley into the room. "Thank your gentle +preserver, Miss O'Malley." + +"You mean you are saved," corrected Reddy with a derisive grin. + +"All the same, all the same," retorted Hippy airily. "I am saved because +you are saved, and you are saved because I am saved. We are both saved +this time, aren't we, Grace?" + +"Yes, I forbid either one of you to usher the other out," laughed Grace. + +"There, Reddy, you heard!" exclaimed Hippy. "Now heed." + +"Have you seen Jessica this morning, Nora?" asked Reddy, answering +Hippy's admonition with a withering look. + +"She will be here later," replied Nora. "She has gone shopping with +Mabel, who is going to Hawk's Nest for Christmas Eve." + +"We are all booked for Christmas Day with our families," smiled David. + +"Thank goodness we have them," said Hippy with a seriousness that +surprised even himself. + +"Same here, Hippy," agreed David gravely. + +"And here," was the united response from the others. + +Jessica, who had seen Mabel Allison into the car Mrs. Gibson had sent to +convey her to Hawk's Nest, was the next arrival. Later Tom Gray appeared +with a grip and a suit case. When the real work of trimming the tree +began, Hippy retired to the library table with the plea that he had not +yet tagged his gifts. To that end he wrote what seemed to Nora O'Malley, +who eyed him suspiciously, a surprising amount of cards, chuckling +softly to himself as he wrote. Happening to catch her eye he looked +rather guilty, then, cocking his head to one side, simpered +languishingly, "What shall I say to thee, heart of my heart?" Nora's +tip-tilted little nose was promptly elevated still higher, and she +walked away without observing the triumphant gleam in Hippy's blue eyes. + +At one o'clock the Eight Originals halted for luncheon, which proved to +be a merry meal. By half-past two o'clock the tall balsam tree, heavy +with its weight of decorations and strange Christmas fruit, was +pronounced finished, and the party of jubilant young people reluctantly +separated to assemble after dinner for one of their old-time frolics. + +The evening train brought Arnold Evans, and Miriam found herself whisked +down Chapel Hill toward Grace's home by David and Arnold despite her +protests that neither she nor Arnold really belonged. "You and Arnold +are the honorary members," David reminded her, "and are, therefore, +eligible to all our revels." + +When, at eight o'clock, the little group of guests, which included Mrs. +Gray, had gathered in the Harlowe's cozy living room and to Mr. Harlowe +had fallen the honor of playing Santa Claus, something peculiar +happened. Nearly all the gifts fell to Hippy, who rose with every +repetition of his name, bowed profoundly, grinned significantly in his +best Chessy-cat manner and, swooping down upon the gifts, gathered them +unto himself. As he was about to take smiling possession of a large, +flat package an indignant, "Let me see that package, Mr. Harlowe," from +Nora O'Malley caused all eyes to be focused upon it. + +"Just as I suspected," sputtered Nora, glaring at the offending Hippy, +whose grin appeared to grow wider with every second. Taking the package +from Mr. Harlowe, she triumphantly held up a holly-wreathed card that +had been deftly concealed beneath a fold of tissue paper, and read, "To +Grace, with love from Nora." + +"Discovered!" exclaimed Hippy in hollow tones, making a dive for the +package and failing to secure it. + +Nora held it above her head. "Here, Grace, it's yours," she explained. +"Don't pay any attention to that other card." + +Grace had turned her attention to a large tag that was fastened to the +holly ribbon with which the package was tied. She read aloud, "To my +esteemed friend, Hippy, from his humble little admirer, Nora O'Malley." + +The instant of silence was followed by a shout of laughter, in which +Nora joined. "You rascal!" she exclaimed, shaking her finger at Hippy. +"I knew you were planning mischief when you sat over there writing those +cards. Take all those presents, girls. I am sure they don't belong to +this deceitful reprobate." + +Hippy at once set up a dismal wail, and clutched his packages to his +breast, dropping all but two in the process. These were snapped up by +Reddy and Nora almost before they touched the floor. + +"Here's the umbrella I thought I bought for Tom," growled Reddy, as he +ripped off the simple inscription, "To Hippy, with love, Reddy." + +"Yes, and here is the monogrammed stationery I ordered made for +Jessica," added Nora, glaring at the stout young man, who smiled +blithely in return as one who had received an especial favor. + +"You are holding on to two of my presents, though," he reminded. + +Nora made a hasty inspection of the packages, then shoved the two +presents toward him. "There they are," she said severely. "If I had +known how badly you were going to behave, I wouldn't have given you a +thing." + +"Take your scarf pin, Indian giver," jeered Hippy, holding out a small +package, then jerking it back again. + +"How do you know it's a scarf pin?" inquired Nora. + +"My intuition tells me, my child," returned Hippy gently. + +"Then your intuition is all wrong," declared Nora O'Malley disdainfully. + +"Always ready to argue," sighed Hippy. + +"Mrs. Gray, I appeal to you, don't allow Hippy and Nora to start an +argument. There won't be either time or chance for anything else." + +"Hippy and Nora, be good children," laughingly admonished the sprightly +old lady. + +"Look out for Hippy's cards," David cautioned Mr. Harlowe. + +The rest of the gifts were distributed without accident, and then by +common consent a great unwrapping began, accompanied by rapturous "ohs," +and plenty of "thank yous." + +It was almost one o'clock on Christmas morning before any of the guests +even thought of home. After the tree had been despoiled of its bloom, an +impromptu show followed in which the young folks performed the stunts +for which they were famous. Then came supper, dancing, and the usual +Virginia Reel, led by Mr. Harlowe and Mrs. Gray, in which Hippy +distinguished himself by a series of quaint and marvelous steps. + +"One more good time to add to our dozens of others," said Miriam Nesbit +softly as she kissed Grace good night. "I feel to-night as though I +could say with particular emphasis: 'Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward +Men.'" + +"And I feel," said Hippy, who had overheard Miriam's low-toned remark, +"as though I had been unjustly and unkindly treated. I was cheated of +over half my Christmas gifts by those unblushing miscreants known as +David Nesbit, Reddy Brooks and Tom Gray. Nora O'Malley helped them, +too." + +"Jessica and Reddy, will you take me home to-night?" asked Nora sweetly, +edging away from the complaining Hippy. + +"We shall be only too pleased to be your escort," Reddy answered with +alacrity, casting a sidelong glance of triumph at Hippy. + +"And I shall be only too pleased to annihilate Reddy Brooks for daring +to suggest any such thing," retorted Hippy, striding toward the +offending Reddy. + +"Come, come, Hippy," laughed Mrs. Harlowe, who enjoyed Hippy's pranks as +much as did his companions, "this is Christmas, you know. Why not let +Reddy live?" + +"Very well, I will," agreed Hippy, "but only to please you, Mrs. +Harlowe. Once we leave here, the annihilation process is likely to begin +at the first disrespectful word on the part of a certain crimson-haired +individual whose name I won't mention. It will be a painful process." + +"There isn't the slightest doubt about it being painful to you," was +Reddy's grim retort. + +"I wonder if I had better wait until after Christmas to do the deed," +mused Hippy. "There's Reddy's family to consider. Perhaps I had +better--" + +"--behave yourself in future and not refer to your friends as +'miscreants' after appropriating their Christmas presents," lectured +David Nesbit. + +"All right, I agree to your proposition on one condition," stipulated +Hippy. + +"Something to eat, I suppose," said David wearily. + +"No; you are a wild guesser as well as a slanderer. If Nora O'Malley +will withdraw the cruel request she just made I will forgive even +Reddy." + +And when the little party of young folks started on their homeward way +the forgiving Hippy with Nora O'Malley on his arm marched gayly along +behind the forgiven, but wholly unappreciative Reddy. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +OLD JEAN'S STORY + + +"It's 'Ho for the forest!'" sang Tom Gray jubilantly, as he waved his +stout walking stick over the low stone wall that separated the party of +picnickers from Upton Wood. + +"Isn't it magnificent?" asked Grace of Anne, her gray eyes glowing as +she looked ahead at the snowy road that stretched like a great white +ribbon between the deep green rows of pine and fir trees. + +"Perfect," agreed Anne dreamily, who was drinking in the solemn beauty +of the snow-wrapped forest, an expression of reverence on her small +face. + +"I wonder if the snow in the road is very deep?" soliloquized Jessica +unsentimentally. + +"How can you break in upon our rapt musings with such commonplaces?" +laughed Grace. "To return to earth; I don't imagine the snow is deep. +This road is much traveled, and the snow looks fairly well packed. What +do you say, Huntsman Gray?" She turned to Tom with a smile. + +"It isn't deep. All aboard for Upton Wood!" called Tom cheerily. "Come +on, Grace." He extended a helping hand to her. + +But Grace needed no assistance. With a laughing shake of her head she +vaulted the low wall as easily as Tom himself could have cleared it. +Nora followed her, then Miriam, while Anne and Jessica were content to +allow themselves to be assisted by David and Reddy. Then the picnickers +swung into the wide snow-packed road that wound its way to the other end +of Upton Wood, a matter of perhaps ten miles. Being a part of the road +to the state capital and a famous automobile route it was sedulously +looked after and kept in good condition, and was therefore not difficult +to travel. + +The cabin of old Jean, the hunter, was situated some distance from the +main road in the thickest part of the forest. The day before, the five +young men, with a bobsled filled with grocers' supplies, had driven to +the point of the road nearest the cabin and a brisk unloading had +followed. After their first trip to the cottage old Jean had returned to +the sleigh with them, his fur cap awry, gesticulating delightedly and +chattering volubly as he walked. Of a surety Mamselle Grace and her +friends were welcome. He deplored the fact that they had insisted upon +bringing their own provisions, but David, who suspected the old hunter's +larder to be none too well stocked with eatables, had quieted Jean's +remonstrances with the diplomatic assertion that the affair having been +planned by the "Eight Originals Plus Two," as they had now agreed to +call themselves, and given in honor of the old hunter himself, it was +their privilege to pay the piper. Jean had shaken his head rather +dubiously over the miscellaneous heap of groceries that spread over at +least a quarter of his floor, but his first protest had been laughingly +silenced by the five sturdy foresters, who threatened to turn him out of +house and home if he did not allow his friends to celebrate in peace. + +On this particular morning Jean had been up and doing since five +o'clock. He had decorated his cabin walls with ground pine and +evergreen, and as a last touch had, with many chuckles, suspended from +the ceiling an unusually perfect piece of mistletoe, which he had +tramped into Oakdale early that morning to secure. He had cleaned his +rifle first, then swept and scrubbed his cabin floor, and the pine table +off which he ate, until the most critical housekeeper could have found +no fault with the shining cleanliness of the place. The rousing fire +that he built in the big fireplace soon dried the floor, and after +arranging his few household effects to the best advantage, Jean busied +himself with getting in a good supply of wood before his young guests, +who had set the hour of three o'clock for their arrival, should appear +upon the scene. + +It was precisely ten minutes to three when the little company reached +the top of the hill at the foot of which nestled old Jean's cottage, and +halted for a moment before descending. + +"Sound the call of the Elf's Horn, Tom," demanded Grace. "I only wish I +could sound it. I've tried over and over again, but I can't do it." + +"It is a gift which the fairies reserve for only a few favored mortals," +teased Tom. + +"Then I am not one of them," declared Grace. "I have watched for fairies +since I was a little girl and never met with one yet. I know every +individual fairy in Grimms', Andersen's and Lang's by reputation, too." + +"What about your fairy prince?" was Tom's quick question. The two pairs +of gray eyes met. Grace smiled with frank amusement. + +"I have never looked for a fairy prince," she said lightly. "I never +cared half so much about the fairy princes and the clothes and weddings +as I did about giants, witches and spells, mysterious happenings and +magic mirrors. I loved 'The Brave Little Tailor' and 'The Youth Who +Could Not Shiver and Shake.'" + +"I always liked the 'False Bride' and 'Rapunzel,'" remarked Jessica +sentimentally, who had come up beside Grace and Tom. + +"Of what are you talking?" asked Nora, who had caught Jessica's last +word. + +"We were naming the fairy tales we always liked best." + +"I always liked the 'Magic Fiddle,'" said Nora, with a reminiscent +chuckle. "I used to keep a copy of Grimms' Fairy Tales in my desk at +school, just for that story. It always made me giggle. I could fairly +see all those poor people dancing whether they wished to dance or not. +Ask Hippy what his favorite fairy tale is," she dimpled, lowering her +voice. + +"Say, Hippopotamus," called Tom, "what's your favorite fairy tale?" +Hippy, who stood a little to one side, appeared to think deeply, then +said with a sentimental smile: "The 'Table Prepare Thyself' story. Oh, +if I might have had such a table!" Hippy sighed dolefully. "Then I would +never have been obliged when out on these excursions to humbly beg for +crumbs to sustain my failing strength till such time as you slow-pokes +saw fit to eat." + +"Don't I always give you things to eat when everyone else laughs at +you?" demanded Nora belligerently. + +"Yes, my noble benefactor," whined Hippy, "but you didn't to-day." + +"I don't intend to, either," was Nora's unfeeling response. "I purposely +told Tom to ask you that. I knew you'd name one that had a good deal +about eating in it." + +"Stop squabbling," commanded Reddy, his fingers fastened in the back of +Hippy's collar, "or down the hill you go. Keep quiet, now, Tom is going +to perform." + +Tom placed his hands to his mouth. His friends listened intently. Then +came the peculiar whistle that sounded like the note of a trumpet. Tom +whistled repeatedly, and two minutes later they saw old Jean come racing +up the steep path toward them. He had heard the mysterious Elf's Horn. + +"Never forgot it, did you, Jean?" laughed Tom, seizing the old man's +hand and shaking it warmly. + +"No, Monsieur Tom; once I hear, it is impossible that I should forget," +replied Jean in his quaint English. "An' now that you have honor me this +afternoon, it is well that you come to my cabin where the fire burn for +you an' the coffee wait, an' all is ready for my frien's who mak' so +long walk for the sake of ol' Jean." + +"Of course we did, Jean," smiled Grace as they started for the cabin. +"Don't we always come to see you when we are home from college?" + +"It is true, Mamselle Grace," returned Jean solemnly. "I am lucky man to +have such fren's." + +"Don't look so sad over it, Jean!" exclaimed Hippy. "Be merry, and gayly +dance as I do." He essayed several fantastic steps over the frozen +ground, stubbed his toe on a projecting root and lunged forward, falling +heavily into a huge snowdrift, his hands and face plowing into the snow. + +"Ha, ha!" jeered Reddy. "'Be merry, and gayly dance as I do.' No, thank +you. I prefer to walk along like an ordinary human being." + +"That is exactly what you are," was Hippy's calm retort from the +snowdrift, "'an ordinary human being.'" Floundering out of the drift he +shook himself free of snow and, undaunted by his fall, went on skipping +and pirouetting toward the cabin, while his companions shrieked mirthful +comments into his apparently unhearing ears. + +How fast the afternoon and evening slipped away! The girls insisted on +helping Jean with the dinner, and at half-past five the whole party sat +down at the rude table that had been improvised by the boys the day +before. Eating in the heart of the forest made things taste infinitely +better than at home. Never before had there been such coffee, or steak, +or baked potatoes! There was dessert, too--Mrs. Nesbit's famous fruit +cake and Mrs. Harlowe's equally prized mince pie, besides fruit and +nuts, Jean adding the latter to the feast. Then everyone's health was +drunk in grape juice, and it was almost seven o'clock before Jean and +his guests rose from the table. + +"Ten minutes to seven," declared David, consulting his watch. "We must +leave here at eight o'clock. We ought to be home by nine. I feel very +responsible for these youngsters, Jean. It was I who agreed to play +chaperon." + +"Youngsters, indeed," growled Reddy scornfully. "Listen to Methuselah." + +"Tell us a story before we go, Jean," begged Grace. She loved to hear +the old hunter tell in his quaint way of his many perilous adventures in +the great northwestern woods of Canada, where he had spent so many years +of his life. + +"If Mamselle Grace like I will tell of w'en I track the fierce panther +who have kill my lambs, an' what happen to me." + +"Oh, splendid!" cried Grace. "We should love to hear it." + +The glow from the big back log reflected the interested faces of the +others. Jean's stories were always well received. Settling himself +cross-legged on the floor, his back against the wall, he related how, +after tracking a panther all day, he had slipped while going down a +steep bank and losing his footing had plunged to the bottom. How he had +lain there bruised and helpless with a broken leg, expecting at any time +to see the beast he had been tracking bear down upon him. How at last, +after hours of unspeakable agony, help had come in the shape of a tall, +strongly built young man, whose cabin was not far off and who had +carried Jean to it, then, after roughly setting the injured leg, and +making his patient as comfortable as might be expected under the +circumstances, he had ridden thirty miles for a doctor, then tended the +old hunter until his leg healed. + +"Ten week I stay in bed an' this good frien' take care of me. He inten' +to go to Alaska for gold. He say he have wife once an' baby but they die +in railroad wreck. He never see their bodies. He very sad. The fire in +the train burn everybody, all t'ings." Jean waved his arms +comprehensively. "He stay by me until I am well. Then he say, 'Jean, +come along to Alaska.' But I say, 'No. I am too ol'. I wish live all my +days in Canada woods.' So he go on. After many years he write. Only last +summer I have receive his letter. He have found plenty gold, an' is +rich. He say when he come back, then he will buy for me a new rifle an' +give me much money. But what does Jean care for money? Rather I would +see my frien' whose letter I have always keep." + +The old man ceased speaking and looked retrospectively into the fire. +Then, without speaking, he rose, shuffled to a small table in one corner +of the room, and opening the drawer took from it a well-thumbed +envelope. Returning to the group he handed it to Grace, saying proudly: +"This is the letter my frien' write. Will Mamselle Grace read?" + +Grace obediently took the letter from the envelope. + +"My dear Jean:" she read. "How can I ever forgive myself for neglecting +you so long? I can only say that though I have failed to make good my +promise to write, you have never been forgotten by me. Jean, I am sorry +you didn't come here with me. I found gold, more than I can spend in a +lifetime, and I have made you a stockholder in my mine. I am coming back +to the States next spring and will look you up first of all. I am +sending this to the old address, trusting that if you are not there it +will be forwarded to you. I used to think it would be glorious to be +rich, but now that I am alone in the world, money seems a poor +substitute for my lost happiness. + +"Let me hear from you soon, Jean, and address your letter, Post Office +Box 462, Nome, Alaska. I hope you are well and happy. You always were a +sunshiny old chap. Here's hoping. + + "Your old friend, + "DENTON." + +"Is it not a very gran' letter?" asked old Jean with anxious pride. "My +frien' Denton have study in college, too." + +"Indeed it is, Jean," agreed Anne warmly. + +"Your friend seems to be the right sort of comrade, even if he is a bad +correspondent," remarked David Nesbit. + +"Something like me," murmured Hippy gently. + +No one appeared to notice this modest assertion. + +"Sounds like a page from a best seller, doesn't it, Grace?" asked Tom +laughingly. + +Grace did not answer. She was gazing at the signature of the letter with +perplexed eyes. She was wondering why the name Denton seemed so +familiar. Remembrance came suddenly--Ruth, of course. With that +recollection came a sudden startling train of thought. Ruth's father had +gone west, had been heard from in Nevada, then disappeared. Jean's +friend had lost his wife and child on a westbound train. Here, however, +Grace's supposition proved weak. Both wife and child had been burned to +death in the railroad wreck. Still, mistakes in identification were +frequently made on such painful occasions. Grace went back to her first +supposition. "It is the only shred of a clew that I have run across +yet," she reflected. "I am going to hang to it and see where it leads. +And to think that perhaps old Jean once knew Ruth's father. It's +unbelievable." + +"We must start in ten minutes." David's crisp, business-like tones +brought her to a realization of her immediate surroundings. + +"Ten minutes is long enough for me to say what is on my mind," Grace +said eagerly. Then she began to tell of Ruth, her poverty, and her great +wish to know whether her father were dead or alive. Knowing Grace as +they did, her friends guessed that she had something of real importance +to impart. When she came to the part about Ruth's father going west +after promising to send for his little family, a light began to dawn +upon them, and Jessica exclaimed: "Why, they must have been killed while +on their way to join him!" + +"It is so. Mamselle speak the truth!" almost shouted Jean. "It was then +they die. He have tol' me so many times." + +"Then the man who saved Jean must have been Ruth's father!" exclaimed +Miriam, "and a dreadful mistake was made in telling him his child was +dead, too. The packet fastened by a cord about Ruth's neck ought easily +to have proved her identity. Perhaps the packet was stolen." + +"Then how did Ruth come by the watch and letter?" asked Grace. + +"I give it up," replied Miriam. "It certainly is a tangled web." + +"But we shall straighten it," said Grace resolutely. "The next thing to +do is to find Mr. Denton. Tell me, Jean, how many years since you first +met Mr. Denton?" + +Jean counted laboriously on his fingers. "Twelve years," he finally +announced, "an' say his family have died six years then." + +"Eighteen years," mused Grace, "and Ruth is twenty-two. The years seem +to tally with the rest of the story, too. Will you give me Mr. Denton's +address and allow me to write to him, Jean?" + +"Whatever Mamselle Grace wishes shall be hers," averred Jean. + +"Then I'll write the letter to-morrow. The sooner it is written and +sent, the sooner we shall receive an answer to it," declared Grace. +"That is unless he is dead. But I have a strange presentiment that he is +alive. What do you think, Jean?" she turned to the old hunter, who +nodded sagely. + +"I think my frien', he alive, too," agreed Jean, "an' I hope, mebbe I +shall see again." + +"You shall see him and so shall Ruth, if letters can accomplish your +wish, Jean," promised Grace. + +"Eight o'clock," announced David judicially. + +No one paid the slightest attention to him, however, Ruth Denton's +affairs being altogether too engrossing a matter for discussion. It was +half-past eight when, after a hearty vote of thanks and three cheers for +old Jean, the picnickers climbed the little hill and took the moonlit +homeward trail. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +TELLING RUTH THE NEWS + + +"Yes, it was a busy two weeks," declared Arline Thayer, "and yet, oh, +Grace, you can't possibly know how slowly the time has gone. I am sure I +could live all the rest of my life on a desert island if I had the +Semper Fidelis crowd with me. Of course, Ruth helped a whole lot, but +you know Ruth isn't a butterfly like I am. She has had so many cares and +disappointments that she isn't as gay in her wildest moments as I am in +my ordinary ones. Besides, it was so hard to be sure that I was doing +and saying the right thing. I was so afraid of hurting some one's +feelings, or of being accused of trying to patronize those girls. + +"The dinner passed off beautifully. Every girl who stayed over was +there. It cost me most of my check." Here Arline smiled rather ruefully. +"But you never saw so many happy girls. Many of them had never been to +either Martell's or Vinton's for dinner. I was at Vinton's and Ruth was +at Martell's. No one had the slightest idea that there was anything cut +and dried. We did all the other stunts; the play and the masquerade, and +I am so tired." Arline curled herself up on Grace's couch, looking like +an exhausted kitten. "I wonder if Elfreda has any tea," she said +plaintively. + +"Of course she has," smiled Grace. "So have I. I'll make you some at +once. Then I have something perfectly amazing to tell you. You won't +remember whether you are tired or not after you hear my news." + +Taking the little copper tea-kettle, Grace went for water, leaving +Arline considerably mystified and mildly excited. When at last the tea +was ready, and Grace had placed crackers, nabisco wafers and a plate of +home-made nut cookies on the table between them, Arline said +impatiently, "Do begin." + +"Daffydowndilly, this is the strangest news you ever heard. Ready?" + +"Ready," echoed Arline. + +"We believe Ruth's father is still living and in Alaska." + +There was a little cry of rapture from Arline as she hastily set down +her cup and caught Grace's hand in hers. "Congratulations," she trilled. +"I knew you'd find him. I've seen it in your eye for months." + +"Nonsense," laughed Grace, "I don't deserve a particle of credit. It was +quite by accident that I learned what I know of him." There-upon an +account of their visit to old Jean followed, and Arline was soon in full +possession of the details. + +"Shall you tell Ruth?" was her first question after Grace had finished. + +"What would you do?" Grace asked. + +"I don't think it would be best to tell her yet," returned Arline +slowly. "Suppose we were to find that he had died or disappeared again +since your old hunter received his letter. Think how dreadful that would +be after telling her that he was alive and well. We must not arouse her +hopes until we know." + +Grace nodded gravely. "That is what I thought. I am glad you are of the +same mind. No one here except yourself and Elfreda have been told. Of +course, Anne and Miriam heard it at the same time I did. I wrote to Mr. +Denton at once, but I suppose my letter isn't more than half way to Nome +yet." + +"Oh, it is the greatest thing that ever happened," exulted Arline. +"Ruth's father found at last, away up in old, cold Alaska. Hurrah!" + +"Stop making so much noise," cautioned Grace, "while I tell you what I +propose doing. It is two weeks since I wrote to Mr. Denton. I am going +to write another letter to him before long. If he doesn't answer that, I +shall stop for a while, then write again. If he is not in Nome I shall +request the post-master to forward the letters, if possible." + +At this juncture a knock sounded on the almost closed door, then Elfreda +came hurrying in, her cheeks glowing from her walk in the January wind. +"Were you talking secrets?" she demanded, without stopping to greet +Arline. + +"No,--that is--yes," replied Arline. "Grace was telling me about Ruth's +father and--" + +Elfreda dropped on the couch beside Arline with a groan of dismay. "Why +didn't you close the door?" she asked gloomily. + +"Why? What has happened?" questioned Grace anxiously. + +"Nothing much," retorted Elfreda, "only that West person was standing as +close to your door as she could possibly stand without attracting marked +attention. She was listening, too. I saw her when I reached the first +landing. At first I thought I would walk up to her and call her to +account for eavesdropping. But before I could make up my mind just what +to do she went on down the hall to her room. I suppose you will hear +about this affair of Ruth finding her father from a dozen different +sources to-morrow. She will go directly to the Wicks-Hampton faction +with the news. She may have gone already." + +[Illustration: "She was Standing Close to the Door."] + +"This is dreadful," gasped Grace in consternation, "but our own fault. +Will I ever learn to keep my door closed and either whisper my secrets +or else lock them behind my lips?" + +"It was my fault," declared Arline contritely. "I was shouting, 'Ruth's +father found at last!' at the top of my voice. Grace told me to +subside." + +"Perhaps she only heard that much," comforted Elfreda, trying to be a +little more hopeful. + +"Suppose she tells Ruth," suggested Arline nervously. + +Grace's eyes met those of her friend's in genuine alarm. Without a word +she went to the closet and reaching for her coat and furs slipped them +on. Jamming her fur cap down on her head, she pinned it securely, thrust +her hands into her muff and walked to the door. "Elfreda, you will take +care of Arline, won't you? She is going to stay with me for dinner. I am +going to Ruth's and I think perhaps I had better go alone. I'll be back +as soon as possible, and bring Ruth with me, if I can. Tell Mrs. Elwood +that Ruth will be here. I must be off. I will see you at dinner." + +Grace was out of the room and down the stairs in a twinkling. As she set +off toward Ruth's at a rapid pace she wondered if there was not some way +in which she might capitulate with this strange girl who seemed so +determined to blot the pages of her freshman year with unworthy deeds. +"I am so disappointed," Grace reflected. "I did wish to like her because +she was Mabel's friend, but she is so--so--different." It cost Grace an +effort to end her sentence mildly. "But I'm not going to gossip about +her, even to myself." + +After ringing three times Ruth's tired-eyed landlady opened the door to +Grace with a mumbled apology about being in the attic when the bell +rang. Grace hurried up the two flights of stairs and down the long, bare +hall to Ruth's room. She paused an instant before knocking, half +expecting to hear the sound of voices inside. All was still. Grace +knocked twice, pausing between knocks. It was a signal Ruth and her +intimate friends had adopted. + +Ruth answered the signal, a book in her hand. She gave a little cry of +delight at seeing Grace. "How funny! I was just thinking of you. Come in +and take off your wraps. Did you come to help me cook supper? You +promised me you would some day." + +"No; I came to take you back to Wayne Hall with me. But, first of all, +has Kathleen West been here to see you within the past half hour?" said +Grace, stepping into the room and closing the door after her. + +"No," replied Ruth wonderingly. "Why do you ask? But do sit down, +Grace." + +"I'm so glad," sighed Grace, sitting on the edge of the chair, "because +she overheard something that I wish to tell you first." + +"I don't understand," was Ruth's perplexed answer. + +"I don't blame you for not understanding," smiled Grace. Then she rose, +and, crossing the room, put her hands on her friend's shoulder. "Ruth," +she said gently, "if you might have one wish granted to you, what would +you wish?" + +"To find my father," was the instant reply. + +"That is what I thought you would say," returned Grace quietly. "Can you +bear good news?" + +"Yes." Ruth's face had turned very white. She pulled one of Grace's +hands from her shoulder, holding it in hers. "Tell me," she whispered +tensely. + +Grace's gray eyes filled with tears. The hungry look in Ruth's eyes told +its own story. "He is alive, Ruth," she said, steadying her voice. "At +least he was alive less than six months ago. I'll begin at the very +first and tell you everything." + +It was half an hour later when the two friends set out for Wayne Hall. + +"I am so happy; it seems as though I must be with you girls to-night," +declared Ruth. "I am so anxious to see Arline. My Daffydowndilly will be +happy, too, for my sake. And Grace, I have a strange presentiment that I +shall see him before long. I can't think of him as anything but alive. +I'm so glad that you told me. It would have been a dreadful shock to +have had the news come through Miss West or her friends." + +"She hasn't the slightest idea that we know she was in the hall," said +Grace. "I imagine you will hear of your father through half a dozen +different sources in the morning. I don't believe she intended to tell +you to-day. I think it was part of her plan to take you by surprise and +completely unnerve you. Alberta Wicks and Mary Hampton are efficient +town criers," Grace added bitterly. "She depended on them to spread the +news in the cruelest way." + +"Why, Grace, I never heard you speak so bitterly of any one before!" +exclaimed Ruth. + +"Ruth, to tell the honest truth, I am thoroughly disgusted with those +two girls," confessed Grace wearily. "They have been at the bottom of +every annoyance I have had since I came to Overton. It may not be +charitable to say so, but I shall certainly not regret seeing them +graduated and gone from Overton. I know it sounds selfish, but I can't +help it. I mean it. And now we are going to talk only of delightful +things. I think we ought to give a spread to-night in honor of you. It +isn't every day one finds a long-lost father. Arline is going to stay to +dinner, and, of course, she'll stay afterward." + +Grace's proposal of a spread met with gleeful approval, and in spite of +a hearty six-o'clock dinner, there was no lack of appetite when at ten +o'clock Elfreda, who insisted on taking the labor of the spread upon her +own shoulders, appeared in the door announcing that it was ready. By +borrowing Grace's table and using it in conjunction with her own, +employing the bureau scarf for a centerpiece, and filling up the bare +spaces with paper napkins, the table assumed the dignity of a banqueting +board. There were even glasses and plates and spoons enough to go round +and one could have either grape juice or tea, Elfreda informed them. +"You'd better take tea first, though, because there are only two bottles +of grape juice, and we need that for the toast to Ruth's father. Of +course if you insist upon having grape juice----" + +"Tea," was the judiciously lowered chorus from the obliging guests. + +"Thank you," bowed Elfreda. "I wouldn't have given you the grape juice, +at any rate." + +By half-past ten nothing remained of the feast but the grape juice, and +the guests began clamoring insistently for that. + +"We are breaking the ten-thirty rule into microscopic pieces," declared +Elfreda as she dropped slices of orange and pineapple on the ice in the +bottom of the glasses, added orange juice, sugar and grape juice. "If it +isn't sweet enough, help yourself to sugar. The bowl is on the table. +And you can only have one straw apiece. The commissary department is +short on straws. A word of warning, don't drink the toast to Ruth's +father through a straw," she ended with a giggle. + +The giggle proved infectious and went the round of the table. Grace was +the first to remember the toast to be drunk. Elfreda had just poured the +sixth, her own glass of grape juice, and slipped into her place at the +table. Rising to her feet Grace said simply, "To Ruth's father. May she +see him soon." The toast was drunk standing. Ruth still looked rather +dazed. She could not yet think of her father as a reality. + +"I thank you all," she said tremulously, her eyes misty. "Of course you +know I am not quite certain of my great happiness, but I am going to +write to Father to-morrow, and perhaps before long I'll have a letter to +show you." + +"If Ruth is to be surprised now, some one will have to get up early in +the morning," declared Elfreda with satisfaction, as she collected the +dishes for washing after the guests had departed. + +"And that some one will be doomed to feel foolish," added Miriam. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +ELFREDA REALIZES HER AMBITION + + +Midyears, a season of terror to freshmen, a still alarming period to +sophomores, but no very great bugbear to the two upper classes, came and +went. During that strenuous week the usual amount of midnight oil was +burnt, the usual amount of feverish reviewing done, and the usual amount +of celebrating indulged in when the ordeal was passed. + +"Don't forget the game to-morrow," said J. Elfreda Briggs to the girls +at her end of the breakfast table one morning in early March. "The only +one this year in which the celebrated center, Miss Josephine Elfreda +Briggs, will take part. Sounds like a grand opera announcement, doesn't +it? Maybe it hasn't taken endless energy to keep that team together and +up to the mark. But our captain is a hustler and we are marvels," she +added modestly. + +"I need no bard to sing my praises," began Miriam mischievously. + +"I didn't say 'I,'" retorted Elfreda. "I said 'we.'" + +"Meaning 'I'," interposed Emma Dean wickedly. + +"As you like," flung back Elfreda sweetly. "You needn't come to the +game, you know, if you think it is to be a one-player affair." + +"Oh, I'll be there, never fear," Emma assured her. "I have a special +banner of junior blue to wear." + +Only one color had been chosen by 19-- for their junior year, one of the +new shades of blue which Gertrude Wells had at once renamed "junior" +blue. It was greatly affected by the juniors for ties, belts, hat +trimmings and girdles. + +"Doesn't it seem strange not to be on the team this year, Miriam?" asked +Grace. "That is, when one stops to think about it. It never occurred to +me until this moment how much I have missed basketball. Mabel Ashe said +that we'd just simply drift away from it this year, and so we have. Now +we are going to cheer Elfreda on to victory." + +"Elfreda is an artist in making baskets," commended Miriam. + +"Much obliged," rejoined Elfreda, "but your praise doesn't turn my head +in the least. You can judge better of my artistic qualities after the +game." + +"We hope to secure seats in the gallery," said Anne. "The front ones, of +course, are reserved for the faculty, but if we go to the gym very early +we may get good seats." + +"I am not going to wait for you, if you don't mind, Miriam," remarked +Elfreda, rising. "I must see our captain before going to chapel this +morning." + +"Run along," said Miriam. "I am not going to chapel this morning. I must +have that extra time for my biology. I can use it to good advantage, +too. There won't be any noise or disturbance in the room," she added +slyly. + +Elfreda gave Miriam a reproachful glance over her shoulder as she left +the dining room. "You'll be sorry for 'them cruel words' some day," she +declared. "For instance, the next time my services as a chef are +desired," and was gone. + +Miriam left the dining room a little later, going directly upstairs. +Grace and Anne lingered to talk with the girls still at breakfast, half +expecting to hear the news of Ruth's father brought up. Nothing was said +on the subject, however, and Grace wondered if Alberta Wicks and Mary +Hampton could possibly have come to their senses and refused to take +part in whatever mischief Kathleen had planned. How glad she would be, +she reflected, if the two seniors, who had caused her so many unpleasant +thoughts and moments turned out well after all. + +After the service that morning she waited for Ruth, who was one of the +last of the long procession of girls who filed out of the chapel. Arline +was with her and made a rush for Grace the moment she caught sight of +her. "I have been watching for you," she said eagerly. "I haven't heard +a word, and neither has Ruth. Perhaps they were more honorable than we +believed them to be." + +"I thought that, too," rejoined Grace. "It has been almost a week since +I told Ruth. We may never hear a word concerning it." + +"It wouldn't make much difference now," said Arline. "Ruth knows, and +there isn't really anything to be said except that after many years' +separation she may find her father. She need not care who knows that." + +"It was the cruel shock to her that I thought of, and so did Kathleen +West," explained Grace. "She seems determined to hurt some one's +feelings by 'notoriety' methods. Her newspaper work has made her hard +and unfeeling. She is always trying to dig up some one's private affairs +and make them public property. I imagine our two seniors have placed a +restraining hand on this last affair. I hope Mabel Ashe will never grow +cruel and unfeeling--and dishonorable." + +"She won't," predicted Arline. "Father knows many delightful newspaper +women who are above reproach. Besides, Mabel will never remain on a +newspaper long enough to change. There is a certain young lawyer in New +York City who adores her, and I think she cares for him. There is no +engagement yet, but there will be inside of a year or my name is not +Arline Thayer." + +"Really?" asked Grace, her eyes widening with interest. "She has never +so much as intimated it to me." + +"I know a little about it, for we have mutual friends in New York. +Besides, Father knows the man. I've met him. He's a dear, and awfully +handsome." + +Having lingered to talk until the last moment the two girls were obliged +to part abruptly and scurry off to their recitation rooms, which lay in +different directions. They met late in the afternoon in the gymnasium to +watch Elfreda's last practice playing before the game, but in their +momentary basketball enthusiasm the topic of the morning's conversation +was not touched upon. + +The game between the sophomore and junior teams was looked upon as an +event of extreme importance. Elfreda's love for the game and the story +of her persistent effort to reduce her weight in order to glitter as a +prominent basketball star had become familiar to not only her upper +class friends, but throughout the college as well. She had several +freshmen adorers, who sent her violets and vied with one another in +entertaining her whenever she had an hour or two to spare them. In fact, +J. Elfreda Briggs was becoming an important factor in the social life of +Overton, with the satisfaction of knowing that she had won a place in +the hearts of her admirers through her own merit. + +Considerable preparation in the way of decorations had been made. About +the balcony railing green and yellow bunting mingled with that of junior +blue. The two front rows were well filled with members of the faculty, +who wore ribbon rosettes with long ends and carried banners of blue, or +green and yellow, as the case might be. The Semper Fidelis Club, +resplendent in cocked hats of junior blue and wide blue crepe paper +sashes fastened in the back with immense butterfly bows, occupied places +directly behind the faculty. They had gone to the gymnasium an hour and +a half before the game in order to secure these seats, and were now +ranged in an eager, exultant row, impatiently awaiting the entrance of +the two teams. + +With the shrill notes of the whistle began one of the most stubborn +conflicts ever waged between two Overton teams. From the instant the +ball was put in play and the players leaped into action the interest of +the spectators never wavered. During the first half of the game the +sophomores valiantly contested every foot of the ground, and it was only +at the very end of the half that the juniors succeeded in making the +score six to four in their favor. + +In the last half the doughty sophomores rose to the occasion and tied +the score with their first play. Then Elfreda, with unerring aim, made a +long overhand throw to basket that brought forth deafening applause from +the spectators. The sophomores managed to gain two more points, but the +juniors again managed not only to gain two points, but to pile up their +score until a particularly brilliant play to basket on the part of +Elfreda closed the last half with the glorious reckoning of seventeen to +twelve in favor of the juniors. + +Immediately a hubbub arose from the gallery. The Semper Fidelis Club +burst forth into a victorious song they had been practising for the +occasion, while another delegation of juniors also rent the air with +their chant of triumph over their sophomore sisters. + +After Elfreda had experienced the satisfaction of being escorted round +the room by her classmates, who continued to sing spiritedly at least +three different songs at the top of their lungs, she was hurried into +the dressing room by the Semper Fidelis Club. The moment she was dressed +she was seized by friendly hands and marched off to Vinton's to a dinner +given by the club in honor of her. For the present, at least, she was +the most important girl in college, and feeling the weight of her +new-born fame, she was unusually silent, almost shy. + +"Elfreda can't accustom herself to being a celebrity," laughed Miriam. +"She is terribly embarrassed." + +"That is really the truth," confessed Elfreda. "I've always wanted to be +a basketball star, but it seems funny to have the girls make such a fuss +over me." + +"You deserve it!" exclaimed Gertrude Wells. "You were the pride of the +team. I never want to see a better game. That last play of yours was a +record breaker." + +The other members of the club joined in Gertrude's praise of Elfreda's +playing. The stout girl's face shone with happiness. To her it was one +of the great moments of her college life. + +It was after seven o'clock when the diners left Vinton's. The club +gallantly escorted Elfreda to the very door of Wayne Hall and left her +after singing to her and giving three cheers. Grace, Anne, Miriam, +Arline, Ruth, Mildred Taylor and Laura Atkins were her body guard up the +stairs. At the landing Laura Atkins called a halt and invited every one +present to a jollification in her room that night in honor of Elfreda. + +While Elfreda was explaining that she didn't wish the girls to go to any +trouble for her, although her eyes shone with delight at being thus +honored, the door bell rang repeatedly, and the maid, grumbling under +her breath, admitted Emma Dean, who skipped up the stairs two at a time. + +"I'm always late," she announced cheerfully, "but hardly ever too late. +I stopped at the big bulletin board. I noticed a letter there addressed +to you, Grace. It was marked 'Important' in one corner. I had half a +mind to bring it with me, then--well--you know how one feels about +meddling with some one else's mail." + +"I'm sorry you didn't bring it with you. Don't hesitate to do so next +time," returned Grace regretfully. "However, it won't take long to run +across the campus for it. I'll go now before I take off my hat and coat. +Thank you for telling me about it, Emma." + +"You are welcome," called Emma after her as Grace ran to her room for +her wraps. Always on the alert for home letters, under no circumstances +could she have been content to wait quietly until the next day for the +coveted mail. If it were from her mother or father she could read it +over and over before bedtime and go to sleep happy in the possession of +it, and if it were from one of her numerous friends it would be joyfully +received. + +The handwriting on the envelope Grace took from the bulletin board +looked strangely familiar. Tearing it open, she glanced hastily over the +few lines of the letter, an expression of incredulity in her eyes, for +the note said:-- + + "MY DEAR MISS HARLOWE:-- + + "May I come to Wayne Hall to see you to-morrow evening at half-past + seven o'clock? Please leave note in the bulletin board stating + whether this will be convenient for you. + + "Yours sincerely, + "ALBERTA WICKS." + + +Grace read the note again, then mechanically folding it, returned it to +its envelope, and walked slowly back to Wayne Hall divided between her +disappointment in the letter, and speculation as to the purport of +Alberta Wicks's proposed call. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +ALBERTA KEEPS HER PROMISE + + +During the following day Grace pondered not a little over the possible +meaning of Alberta Wicks's note. She wrote an equally brief reply, +stating that she would be at Wayne Hall the following night at the +appointed time, and tried, unsuccessfully, to dismiss the matter from +her mind. It persisted in recurring to her at intervals, and when, at +exactly half-past seven o'clock, Alberta Wicks was ushered into the +living room, Grace's heart beat a trifle faster as she went forward to +greet her guest, who looked less haughty than usual, and who actually +smiled faintly as she returned Grace's greeting. + +"I know I am the last person you ever expected to see," began Alberta, +looking embarrassed, "but I simply felt as though I must come here +to-night. Are we likely to be interrupted?" she asked suddenly. + +"Perhaps we had better go upstairs to my room," suggested Grace. "My +roommate is away this evening." + +"Thank you," replied the other girl. She followed Grace upstairs with an +unaccustomed meekness that made Grace marvel as to what had suddenly +wrought so marked a change in this hitherto disagreeable senior. + +Once the two girls were seated opposite each other, Alberta leaned +forward and said earnestly: "I know that you must dislike me very, very +much, Miss Harlowe, and I always supposed that I disliked you even more, +but I have lately come to the conclusion that I admire you more than any +girl I know." + +Grace looked at her guest in uncomprehending wonder. Could this be the +sneering, insolent Miss Wicks who was speaking? There was no sign of a +sneer on her face now. She spoke with a simple directness that could not +fail to impress the most sceptical. "I have been hearing about you from +a source entirely outside Overton," she continued, "from a Smith College +senior who lives in Oakdale. She visited a friend of mine during the +holidays. I live in Boston, you know." + +"I didn't know," began Grace, then with a little exclamation: "It can't +be possible! You don't mean Julia Crosby?" + +"Yes," nodded Alberta. "I do mean Julia Crosby. Thanks to her, I have +had my eyes opened to a good many things. I--am--sorry--for everything, +Miss Harlowe." Her voice faltered. "I--never--saw--myself as I +was--until Miss Crosby made me see. Directly after meeting her she asked +me if I knew you, and I spoke slightingly of you. She said very +decidedly that you were one of her dearest friends, and defended you to +the skies. She told me about your saving her from drowning, and of how +badly she had once behaved toward you, and how brave and loyal you were. +Then we had a long talk and she made me promise to square things with +you the minute I came back, but I haven't had the courage until to-day." +She paused and looked appealingly at Grace. + +Without hesitation Grace held out her hand. "I am not a very formidable +person," she smiled. "I am so glad you know Julia Crosby, too. She must +have told you of the good times we used to have together in Oakdale." + +Alberta nodded. She could not yet trust her voice. + +"Julia wanted me to go to Smith with her," Grace went on rapidly in +order to give her guest a chance to recover herself. "At first I thought +seriously of it, but later Anne and Miriam and I decided on Overton. And +we haven't been disappointed, not for an hour! I wouldn't exchange +Overton for any other college in the United States," she ended with +loyal pride. "Don't you love Overton, Miss Wicks?" + +"No," returned the other girl shortly. "It is too late for that sort of +thing for me. I forfeited my right long ago. No one will miss me when I +leave. Other than Mary, I have no real friends, even in my own class, +and you know what most of the juniors think of us." Alberta's tone was +very bitter. "Of course, we have no one but ourselves to blame, but just +lately I've begun to wish that I had been different." + +There was an awkward silence. Grace made a vain effort to think of +something to say to this hitherto unapproachable senior who had suddenly +become so humble. Before she could frame a reply Alberta continued +almost sullenly: + +"I don't know why I should care so much. But after Julia Crosby told me +how you saved her life when she broke through the ice into the river and +what a splendid girl you were, I felt awfully ashamed of myself. She +talked to me and made me promise I would come to see you as soon as I +returned to Overton. I am afraid I would have stayed away, though, if it +hadn't been for something else." + +Grace's eyes were frankly questioning, but she still said nothing. + +"It is about that Miss West," said the senior, as though in answer to +Grace's mute inquiry. "I am sorry to say that I encouraged her to do all +sorts of revolutionary things when she first came here. I discovered she +disliked you and your friends, and I was glad of it. I never lost an +opportunity to fan the flame." + +"But why did she dislike us?" asked Grace. "That is the thing none of us +understand. We were prepared to like her because Mabel Ashe had written +me, asking me to look out for her. You know they worked on the same +newspaper. We did everything we could to make her feel at home, until +suddenly she began to cut our acquaintance. Later on something happened +that made her angry with me, but to this day none of us knows why she +cut us in the first place." + +"She never said a word to Mary or me about Mabel Ashe," declared Alberta +in frowning surprise. "We supposed she had come to Wayne Hall as a +stranger and had been snubbed by your crowd of girls. She was furiously +angry with you because she wasn't asked to help with the bazaar. She +wanted to be in the circus, and said you asked other freshmen and +slighted her." + +"And I never dreamed she would care," returned Grace wonderingly. "If we +had only asked her to take part, all these unpleasantnesses might have +been avoided. You see, we didn't intend to ask any freshmen, but we +finally asked Myra Stone because she made such a darling doll. Oh, I'm +so sorry." + +"I wouldn't be if I were you," declared Alberta dryly. "Judging from +what I know of her, I don't think she deserves much sympathy. I just +prevented her from publishing Miss Denton's private affairs broadcast +through the medium of her paper." + +"You don't mean she--" began Grace. + +Alberta nodded. "Yes, she wrote a story in a highly sensational style +and brought it to me to read. She was going to send it to her paper, +then mail copies of the edition in which the story appeared to a number +of girls here. She had a long list, which she showed me, and wanted me +to promise to help her address the papers and send them to the various +girls. But after I had that talk with Julia Crosby I vowed within myself +that the little time I had left at Overton should be devoted to some +better cause than planning petty, silly ways of 'getting even.' I can't +tell you how thankful I am that I have had this chance to live up to a +little of what I promised myself I would do. There is just one thing I'd +like to know, and that is the truth of the story concerning Miss +Denton's father." + +"I shall be glad to tell you all I know, which is really very little," +answered Grace, and once more repeated the story of what their holiday +visit to the old hunter had brought forth. "I wrote to Mr. Denton to the +address in Nome the very next day after we were out at Jean's and have +written once since then, and so has Ruth, but we have never received an +answer. Still, I believe that we shall yet hear from him. I feel certain +that he is still living. I really hated to tell Ruth, and raise her +hopes only to destroy them again by having to say that he had never +answered our letters, but we decided that it was best for her to know. +She has been so brave and dear. We told Miss Thayer, and my three +friends know it, too, but we don't want any one else to know unless Ruth +really finds her father. It is her own personal affair, you see." + +"But how did Miss West find it out?" was Alberta's question. + +Grace shook her head. "Don't ask me," she said, a hint of scorn in her +eyes. "I am so glad you prevailed upon her to give up the plan, for +Ruth's sake and for her own as well." + +"She was very determined at first, but she finally weakened and promised +to drop the whole idea after she found that we were opposed to her +plan," rejoined Alberta. + +"You did a good day's work for Ruth," smiled Grace, holding out her hand +to the other girl. + +Alberta leaned forward in her chair and took Grace's hand in both of +hers. "I wish I hadn't been so blind, Miss Harlowe. If I had only tried +to know you long ago. There is so little of my college life left I can't +hope to win your respect and liking." + +"Don't try," laughed Grace. "You have my respect already, as for my +liking, I'd be very glad to say 'Alberta Wicks is my friend.'" + +"Can you say that and really mean it?" asked Alberta almost +incredulously. + +"I would not say it unless I were quite certain that I meant it," Grace +assured her. "Your coming here to-night proved clearly that you were +ready to forget all past differences. Then, why should I hold spite or +nurse a grievance? Now, we are not going to say another word about it. I +should like to have you spend the evening with me. I am going to invite +Miriam and Elfreda to a conversation and tea party in honor of you." + +"Oh, no!" protested Alberta, half rising. "They wouldn't come. Elfreda +will never forgive me for causing her so much trouble." + +"Elfreda has forgotten all about what happened to her as a freshman. At +least she has forgiven you," added Grace. "She and Miriam will be glad +to know that we are friends." Grace spoke confidently, though she did +have a brief instant of doubt as to just how Elfreda would regard +Alberta's belated repentance. To her intense relief, however, when +leaving Alberta for a moment she ran down the hall to invite Miriam and +Elfreda, the one-time stout girl offered no other comment than a +grumbled, "Just like you, Grace Harlowe." + +"But will you come to my tea party?" persisted Grace. + +"Of course we will," accepted Miriam. + +"She knows about it all, she knows, she knows," droned Elfreda. "What's +the use in asking me anything when Miriam is here?" + +"All right." Grace turned to go. "I'll expect to see both of you within +the next ten minutes. Don't change your mind after I have gone." + +"See here, Grace Harlowe!" Elfreda rose from her chair and walked toward +Grace. "I should like to know--" + +"Don't say it, Elfreda," interrupted Grace. "Just say you'll come. If +you don't come Alberta will go back to Stuart Hall, disappointed and +resentful at having her friendly overtures rejected. She is at the +critical stage now, Elfreda, dear, and needs encouragement and cheering +up. She is a trifle bitter, and has the blues, too, although she is too +stiff-necked to admit it." + +"You needn't be afraid. I wasn't going to throw cold water on the tea +party. Of course we'll attend, and bring the whole two pounds of fruit +cake we bought to-day with us. You can take our new cups and saucers, +too, can't she, Miriam? What I should like to know is how it all +happened." + +"I can't stop to tell you now. Wait until Anne comes home to-night and +we'll congregate. I want to see Arline, too. I have a plan that just +came to me a little while ago, and I should like to hear what you think +of it. I must hurry back to my guest. Come to my room as soon as you +can." + +"Now I wonder what she has on her mind?" smiled Miriam. "I imagine it +has something to do with Alberta Wicks." + +"Do you know," remarked Elfreda, looking up with a sudden tender light +in her usually matter-of-fact face, "there's a line in 'Hamlet' that +always makes me think of Grace. It's the one in which Hamlet speaks of +his father. He says, 'I shall never look upon his like again.' +Substituting 'her' for 'his,' that is exactly what I think about Grace." + + * * * * * + +The next morning Grace awoke with the feeling of one who has had +something disagreeable suddenly disappear from her life. "What happened +last night?" she asked herself, then smiled as the memory of what had +passed the evening before returned. "I'm so glad," she said half under +her breath. + +"Glad of what?" asked Anne, who, wrapped in her kimono, sat sleepily on +the edge of her bed, trying to make up her mind to stay awake. + +"That Alberta Wicks came to see me," replied Grace. "I hate quarrels and +misunderstandings, Anne, yet I seem destined to become involved in them. +Do you suppose it is because I have a quarrelsome disposition?" Grace +had slipped out of bed, and, wrapping herself in her bath robe, trotted +across the room and seated herself beside Anne, one arm thrown across +her friend's shoulder. + +"Quarrelsome? You are a positive snapping turtle," Anne assured her +gravely. "I am so glad I have only one more year of your detestable +society before me. Now you know the truth. Kill me if you must," she +added in melodramatic tones. + +"I'll be merciful and let you live until after Easter," laughed Grace. +"That reminds me, Anne. I am going to ask Ruth to go home with us. I +know she is anxious to talk with Jean, although she wouldn't say so for +the world. She is always in mortal fear of intruding. Arline knows that +I am going to invite Ruth. I'm going there this very morning if I can +manage to hustle down to her room before my biology hour," concluded +Grace, rising from the couch with an energy that nearly precipitated +Anne to the floor. "We forgot to congregate last night after Alberta +went home, it was so late. I'll tell you my plan to-night. But we won't +try to carry it out until after Easter." + +Ruth cried a little on Grace's comforting shoulder when, an hour later, +she delivered her Easter invitation. To Grace's satisfaction, she +accepted without a protesting word. She remembered only that Jean, the +hunter, had known her father and she had a wistful desire to take old +Jean by the hand for her father's sake. Arline had promised to spend +Easter with Grace, but her father had planned a trip to the Bermudas for +her and Ruth. Realizing that it would be best for Ruth to go to Oakdale, +she cheerfully put aside her own personal desire for Ruth's +companionship and urged Ruth to go home with Grace. + +Elfreda had accepted Laura Atkins's invitation to spend Easter with her, +and was already convulsing the three Oakdale girls with excerpts from +conversations to take place, supposedly, between herself and Laura's +learned father. "I have been reading up a lot on the pterodactyl and +ichthyosaurus and other small, playful animals of the beginning of the +world variety," she confided to Miriam. "I expect to astonish him." + +"I am reasonably sure that you will," was Miriam's mirthful reply. "I +wish you were coming home with me, instead." + +"So do I." Elfreda's shrewd eyes grew wistful. "I know I'd have the best +time ever if I went home with you, but I feel as though I ought to go +with Laura. She would have been so disappointed if I had refused her +invitation. That sounds conceited, doesn't it? But you can see how +things are, can't you?" + +"I can, indeed," returned Miriam, and the significance of her tone left +no doubt in Elfreda's mind regarding her roommate's understanding of +things. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +GRACE'S PLAN + + +The Easter vacation slipped away at the same appalling rate of speed +that had marked the passing of all Grace's holidays at home. There were +so many pleasant things to do and so many old friends to welcome her +return to Oakdale that she sighed regretfully to think she could not +possibly accept one half of the invitations that poured in upon her from +all sides. + +Nora and Jessica had come from the conservatory to spend Easter at home, +so had the masculine half of the "Eight Originals Plus Two." Then, too, +the Phi Sigma Tau, with the exception of Eleanor Savelli, had renewed +their vows of unswerving loyalty, and their numerous sessions ate up the +time. There was one day set aside, however, on which the little clan had +paid a visit to Jean, the old hunter, and Ruth had experienced the +satisfaction of seeing and talking with a man who had been her father's +friend. The old woodsman had been equally delighted to take Arthur +Denton's child by the hand, and the tears had run down his brown, +weather-beaten cheeks as he looked into Ruth's face and exclaimed at the +resemblance to her father that he saw there. "You shall yet hear. You +shall yet see, Mamselle," he had prophesied with a fullness of belief +that made Grace resolve to keep on writing to the address Jean had given +her for a year at least, whether or not she received a line in return. +She, too, felt confident that Arthur Denton still lived. + +She was, therefore, more disappointed than she cared to admit when, on +returning to Overton, she failed to find an answer to the letters which +she had sent to Nome at stated intervals. Ruth, apprehensive and sick at +heart, by reason of hope deferred, was striving to be brave in spite of +the bitterness of her disappointment. From the beginning she had sternly +determined not to be buoyed by false hopes, then if she never heard from +the letters that she and Grace had sent speeding northward, she would +have nothing to disturb her peace of mind other than the regret that her +dream had never come true. Yet it was hard not to think of her father +and not to hope. + +A late Easter made a short April, and May was well upon them before the +students of Overton College awoke to the realization that it was only a +matter of days until the senior class would be graduated and gone; that +the juniors would be seniors, the sophomores juniors, and even the +humblest freshman would taste the sweetness of sophomoreship. + +To Grace the rapid passing of the last days of her junior year brought a +certain indefinable sadness. There were times when she wished herself a +freshman, that she were ending her first year of college life rather +than the third. Only one more year and it would all be over. Then what +lay beyond? Grace never went further than that. She had no idea as to +what life would mean to her when her college days were past. She had not +yet found her work. Anne would, no doubt, return to her profession. +Miriam intended to study music in Leipsig at the same conservatory where +Eleanor Savelli's father and mother had met. Elfreda had long since +announced her intention of becoming a lawyer. Ruth fully expected to +teach, and even dainty Arline had hinted that she might take up +settlement work. + +Grace was thinking rather soberly of all this, late on Saturday +afternoon as she walked slowly across the campus toward Wayne Hall. "I +really ought to begin to think seriously of my future work," she +thought. "Father and Mother would only be too glad to have me stay at +home with them, but I feel as though I ought to 'be up and doing with a +heart for any fate' instead of just being a home girl. Miss Duncan said +the last time I talked with her that I would some day hit upon my work +when I least expected it. I hope it will happen soon. Oh, there goes +Alberta Wicks!" she cried aloud. "I must see her at once. Alberta!" + +Alberta Wicks, who was within hailing distance, turned abruptly and +walked toward Grace. + +"Where have you been of late? I haven't seen you. Did you receive my +note?" asked Grace, holding out her hand to the other girl. + +"Yes," returned Alberta, a slow red creeping into her cheeks. "I meant +to come to Wayne Hall, but----" She paused, then said with a touch of +her old defiance, "I might as well tell you the truth, I am rather +afraid of the girls there." + +"'Afraid of the girls!'" repeated Grace. "Why are you afraid of them, +Alberta?" + +"Because I've been so disagreeable," was the low reply. "They were very +sweet with me the night of your tea party, but I felt as though they +bore with me for your sake." + +"On the contrary, they were pleased to entertain you," replied Grace +with a sincerity that even Alberta could not doubt. "I hope you will +come again soon, and I wish you would bring Miss Hampton with you." + +"Thank you," returned Alberta, but her hesitating reply was equivalent +to refusal. + +"She wants to come, but she still believes we don't like her," reflected +Grace, as Alberta said good-bye and walked away with an almost dejected +expression on her face. "Now is the time to put my plan into execution. +I had forgotten it until seeing Alberta brought it back to me. I must +propose it to the girls to-night." + +From the evening on which Alberta had kept her promise to Julia Crosby +and come to Wayne Hall to make peace, Grace had experienced a strong +desire to help her sweeten and brighten the last days of her college +life. With this thought in mind she had evolved the idea of giving +Alberta and Mary a surprise party at Wellington House and inviting the +Semper Fidelis girls as well as certain popular seniors and juniors who +would be sure to add to the gayety of the affair. But when after dinner +she broached the subject to her three friends, who had seated themselves +in an expectant row on her couch to hear her plan, she was wholly +unprepared for the amount of opposition with which it was received. + +"I can't see why we should exert ourselves to make things pleasant for +those two girls," grumbled Elfreda. "For almost three years they have +taken particular pains to make matters unpleasant for us. The other +night I treated Miss Wicks civilly for your sake, Grace, not because I +am fond of her." + +"I am afraid you will have considerable trouble in making the other +girls promise to help you," demurred Miriam. "Neither Miss Wicks nor +Miss Hampton have ever done anything to endear themselves to the girls +here at Overton. Personally, I believe in letting well-enough alone in +this case. If you wish to entertain them at Wayne Hall, of course we +will stand by you. But I don't believe it would be wise to attempt to +give a semi-public demonstration. It would be very humiliating for you +if the girls refused to help you." + +"But if they promise to help they are not likely to break their word," +argued Grace, "and I shall make a personal call upon every girl on my +list." + +"Aren't you afraid that a 'list' may cause jealousy and ill-feeling on +the part of certain girls who are not included in it?" was Anne's +apprehensive question. + +"And you, too, Anne!" exclaimed Grace in a hurt voice, looking her +reproach. "No, I don't see why it should cause any ill-feeling whatever. +We are not making it a class affair. There will be perhaps thirty girls +invited. Aside from the surety that we'll have a good time, I believe we +will be going far toward displaying the true Overton spirit. Of course, +if you girls feel that you don't wish to enter into this with me, then I +shall have to go on alone, for I am determined to do it. At least you +can't gracefully refuse to come to the surprise party," she ended, with +a little catch in her voice. + +"Grace Harlowe, you big goose!" exclaimed Elfreda, springing to Grace's +side and winding both arms about her. "Did you believe for one instant +that we wouldn't stand by you no matter what you planned to do? I am +ashamed of myself. If it hadn't been for me, you would never have had +any trouble with either Alberta Wicks or Mary Hampton. Plan whatever you +like, and I set my hand and seal upon it that I'll aid you and abet you +to the fullest extent of my powers." + +"And so will I," cried Miriam. "I am sorry I croaked." + +"And to think I was a wet blanket, too," murmured Anne, patting one of +Grace's hands. + +"You are perfect angels, all of you," declared Grace, her gray eyes +shining. "I know I am always dragging you into things, and making you +help me for friendship's sake." + +"But they are always the right sort of things," retorted Elfreda, with +an affectionate loyalty. + +"Let us atone for our defection by making ourselves useful," proposed +Anne, picking up paper and pencil from the writing table. "I'll write +the names of those eligible to the surprise party if you'll supply +them." + +After considerable discussion, erasing, crossing out and re-establishing +the list of names was finally declared to be satisfactory. + +"Is there any particular friend of either of these girls that we have +forgotten to include?" asked Anne, as she carefully scanned the list. + +"What of Kathleen West?" asked Elfreda. + +Grace shook her head. "I believe it would be better not to ask her," she +said. "She wouldn't come; besides, she might--" Grace stopped. She had +been tempted to say that Kathleen would be likely to tell tales and +spoil the surprise. + +"I know what you were going to say. You believe she would tell Alberta +our plans and spoil the party," was Elfreda's blunt comment. "Well, so +do I believe it. Any one can see that." + +Grace smiled at Elfreda's emphatic statement. + +"It is wiser not to ask her," she said again. "There are four of us, and +we can count on Arline and Ruth; that leaves twenty-four girls to be +invited. Divided, that is six girls to each one of us. You must each +choose the six girls you will agree to see and make it your business to +invite them to the party. Try to make them promise to come, for we don't +want to change the list." + +"What are we going to have to eat?" asked Elfreda. "That is an extremely +important feature of any jollification. I always think of things to eat, +even though I don't eat them. Just thinking of them can't make one +stout, and it is a world of satisfaction." + +"We had better have different kinds of sandwiches, olives and pickles, +and what else?" asked Grace. + +"Ice cream and cake. We might have salted nuts and lemonade, too," added +Miriam. + +"It sounds good to me," averred Elfreda, relapsing into slang. "But +don't rely on the girls to bring this stuff. Assess them fifty cents +apiece with the understanding that another tax will be levied if +necessary." + +"That is sound advice," laughed Miriam, "but it means that the duty of +making of the sandwiches must fall upon us." + +"I guess I can stand it," nodded Elfreda with a sudden generosity. "I'll +take the sandwich making upon myself, if you say so. You all know +perfectly well that I can neither be equalled nor surpassed when it +comes to the 'eats' problem. Candidly, I'm ashamed of myself because I +didn't respond when Grace first asked me to help, and this sandwich task +is going to be my act of atonement. So, Anne, you and Miriam had better +get busy, too, and decide what yours will be, for we've all been found +guilty of lacking college spirit, and we've got to make good." + +"I will pledge myself to collect the money for the refreshments as a +further act of atonement," volunteered Anne. + +"And I will do the shopping for you when the money is collected," +promised Miriam. "Thanks to the careful training of J. Elfreda Briggs, I +know what to buy and where to buy it." + +"But you are leaving nothing for me to do," protested Grace. + +"There will be plenty of things for you to do," declared Elfreda. "You +will have to keep an eye on us and see that we perform our tasks with +diplomacy and skill." + +"It requires a great deal of diplomacy to make sandwiches, doesn't it, +Elfreda?" was Anne's innocent observation. + +"You know very well I wasn't referring to the making of the sandwiches," +retorted Elfreda, with a good-natured grin. "It is the delivering of the +invitations that is going to require a wily, sugar-coated tongue. The +majority of the girls are not fond of either Alberta Wicks or Mary +Hampton. The very ones you believe will help you may prove to be the +most prejudiced." + +"I am well aware of that fact," flung back Grace laughingly. "I received +an unexpected demonstration of it a few moments ago." + +"So you did," responded Elfreda unabashed. "I hadn't forgotten it, +either. Therefore I repeat that you will have your hands full managing +the ethical side of this surprise party. You will have to interview the +girls we can't persuade to come, for there are sure to be some of them +who will raise the same objections that we did, and if they do accept, +it will be only to please Grace Harlowe." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +WHAT EMMA DEAN FORGOT + + +The surprise party did much toward placing Alberta Wicks and Mary +Hampton on a friendly footing with the members of their own class and +the juniors. Strange to relate, there had been little or no reluctance +exhibited by those invited in accepting their invitations, and as a +final satisfaction to Grace the night of the party was warm and moonlit. + +The astonishment of the two seniors can be better imagined than +described. Grace had purposely made an engagement to spend the evening +with them, and under pretense of having Alberta Wicks try over a new +song, had inveigled them to the living room, where the company of girls +had trooped in upon them, and a merry evening had ensued. + +Wholly unused to friendly attentions from their classmates, Alberta and +Mary, formerly self-assured even to arrogance, did the honors of the +occasion with a touch of diffidence that went far toward establishing +them on an entirely new basis at Overton, and they said good-night to +their guests with a delightful feeling of comradeship that had never +before been theirs. + +It had been agreed upon by the Semper Fidelis girls that they should +extend the right hand of fellowship as often as possible to the two +seniors during the short time left them at Overton. It was Grace who had +proposed this. "We must do all we can to help them fill the last of +their college days with good times. Then they can never forget what a +great honor it is to call Overton 'Alma Mater,'" she had argued with an +earnestness that could not be gainsaid. + +Now that this particular shadow had lifted, Grace was still concerned +over her utter failure to keep her word to Mabel Ashe regarding the +newspaper girl. When Kathleen had discovered that Alberta Wicks and Mary +Hampton now numbered themselves among Grace's friends, she religiously +avoided the two seniors as well as the Semper Fidelis girls. She became +sullen and moody, apparently lost all interest in breaking rules and +studied with an earnestness that evoked the commendation of the faculty, +and caused her to be classed with the "digs" by the more +frivolous-minded freshmen. Her reputation for dashing off clever bits of +verse also became established, and her themes were frequently read in +the freshman English classes and occasionally in sophomore English, too. +In spite of her literary achievements, however, she remained as +unpopular as ever. To the girls who knew her she was too changeable to +be relied upon, and her sarcastic manner discouraged those who ventured +to be friendly. + +"If I haven't been able to keep my word to Mabel it isn't because I have +not tried," Grace Harlowe murmured half aloud, as she walked toward her +favorite seat under a giant elm at the lower end of the campus, an +unopened letter in her hand. Grace tore open the envelope and +immediately became absorbed in the contents of the letter. "I wish she +could come up here for commencement," she sighed, "and I wish she knew +the truth about Kathleen West. I can't write it. It would seem so unfair +and contemptible to present my side of the story to Mabel without giving +Kathleen a chance to present hers. That is, if she really considers that +she has one." + +"I knew I'd find you here," called a disconsolate voice, and Emma Dean +appeared from behind a huge flowering bush. "I've a terrible confession +to make, and there's no time like the present for admitting my sins of +omission and commission. Please put a decided accent on omission." + +"Now what have you forgotten to do?" laughed Grace. "It can't be +anything very serious." + +"You won't laugh when I tell you," returned Emma, looking sober. "I +shall never be agreeable and promise to deliver a message or anything +else for any one again. I am not to be trusted. Here is the cause of all +my sorrow." She handed Grace a large, square envelope with the contrite +explanation: "Words can't tell you how sorry I am. It has been in the +pocket of my heavy coat since the week before I went home for the Easter +holidays. I went over to the big bulletin board the day before you went +home and saw this letter addressed to you. I wish I had left it there, +as I did last time. There was one for me, too, so I put them both in my +coat pocket, intending to give you yours the moment I reached Wayne +Hall. But before I was half way across the campus I met the Emerson +twins, and they literally dragged me into Vinton's for a sundae. By the +time I reached the hall, all remembrance of the letters had passed from +my mind. + +"I didn't take my heavy coat home with me, and when I came back to +Overton the weather had grown warm, so I did not wear it again. This +afternoon it fell on the floor of my closet, and when I picked it up I +noticed something white at the top of one of the pockets. There! Now +I've confessed and I shall not blame you if you are cross with me. My +letter didn't amount to much. It was from a cousin of mine, whose +letters always bore me to desperation. Now, say all the mean things to +me that you like. I'm resigned," invited Emma, closing her eyes and +folding her hands across her breast. + +"I'm not going to scold you, Emma," declared Grace, laughing a little. +"I wonder who this can be from? The postmark is almost obliterated. +However, I'll soon see." + +"Do you want me to go on about my business?" was Emma's pointed +question. + +"Certainly not. Pardon me while I read this. Then I'll walk to the Hall +with you. It is almost dinner time." As Grace unfolded the letter the +inside sheet fell from it to the ground. As she bent to pick it up her +eyes lingered upon the signature with an expression of unbelieving +amazement stamped upon her face. Then she glanced down the first page of +the letter. + +"Oh, it can't be true! It's too wonderful!" she gasped. "Oh, Emma, Emma, +if I had only received this the day it came!" + +"I knew it was something important," groaned Emma. "And I was trying to +be so helpful." + +Unmindful of Emma's remorseful utterance, Grace went on excitedly: "Only +think, Emma, it is from Ruth's father. He is alive and well and frantic +with joy over the news that Ruth did not die in that terrible wreck." +Grace sprang from her seat and seized Emma by the arm. "Come on," she +urged, "I must tell the girls at once." + +Grace ran all the way to Wayne Hall, and bursting into her room pounced +upon Anne and hustled her unceremoniously into Miriam's room, where +Elfreda and Miriam viewed their noisy entrance with tolerant eyes. A +moment afterward Emma Dean appeared, out of breath. In a series of +excited sentences, Grace told the glorious news. "But I must read you +what he says," she said, her eyes very bright. + + "MY DEAR MISS HARLOWE:-- + + "What can I say to you who have sent me the most welcome message I + ever received? It is as though the dead had come to life. To think + that my baby daughter, my little Ruth, still lives, and has fought + her way to friends and education. It is almost beyond belief. I + cannot fittingly express by letter the feeling of gratitude which + overwhelms me when I think of your generous and whole-souled + interest in me and my child. I have certain matters here in Nome to + which I must attend, then I shall start for the States, and once + there proceed east with all speed. It will not be advisable for you + to answer this letter, as I shall have started on my journey before + your answer could possibly reach me. I shall telegraph Ruth as soon + as I arrive in San Francisco. I have not written her as yet, + because you said in your letter to me that you did not wish her to + know until you had heard from me. I thank you for trying to shield + her from needless pain, and I am longing for the day when I can + look into Ruth's eyes and call her daughter. Believe me, my + appreciation of your kindness to me and to Ruth lies too deep for + words. With the hope that I shall be in Overton before many weeks + to claim my own, and thank you and your friends personally, + + "Yours in deep sincerity, + "ARTHUR NORTHRUP DENTON." + +"Well, if that isn't in the line of a sensation, then my name isn't +Josephine Elfreda Briggs! And to think Ruth's father has actually +materialized and is coming to Overton? When did you receive the letter, +Grace?" + +"It came just before the Easter vacation," interposed Emma Dean bravely, +without giving Grace a chance to answer. "I might as well tell you. I +took it from the big bulletin board, put it in my coat pocket to bring +to Grace and forgot it. Don't all speak at once." Emma bowed her head, +her hands over her ears. + +Then an immediate buzz of conversation arose, and Emma came in for a +deserved amount of good-natured teasing. + +"What is the date of the letter!" asked Elfreda. + +"The twenty-sixth of February," replied Grace. "It must have been on the +way for weeks." + +"And in Emma's pocket longer," was Miriam's sly comment. + +"But he should have arrived long before this," persisted Elfreda. "I +wonder if he received Ruth's letter." + +"Perhaps he didn't start as soon as he intended," said Anne. + +"That may be so. Nevertheless, he has had plenty of time to attend to +his affairs and come here, too," declared Elfreda. "I wouldn't be +surprised to see him almost any day." + +"Wouldn't it be splendid if he were to come here in time to see Ruth +usher at commencement?" smiled Grace. + +"He'd better hurry, then," broke in Emma Dean, "for commencement is only +two weeks off. Shall you tell Ruth? Who is going with you to tell her, +and when are you going?" + +"After dinner, all of us," announced Elfreda. "Aren't we, Grace?" + +Grace nodded. + +"Then I shall join the band," announced Emma. "Although I proved a +delinquent and untrustworthy messenger, still you must admit that at +last I delivered my message." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +CONCLUSION + + +The last of June, in addition to its reputed wealth of roses, brought +with it exceedingly hot weather, but to the members of the senior and +junior classes, whose eyes were fixed upon commencement, the warm +weather was a matter of minor importance. It was the first Overton +commencement in which the three Oakdale girls had taken part, and +greatly to their satisfaction they had been detailed to usher at the +commencement exercises. Arline, Ruth, Gertrude Wells, the Emersons and +Emma Dean had also acted as ushers, and on the evening of commencement +day the Emerson twins had given a porch party to the other "slaves of +the realm," as they had laughingly styled themselves. + +It had been a momentous week, and the morning after commencement day +Grace awoke with the disturbing thought that her trunk remained still +unpacked, that she had two errands to do, and that she had promised to +meet Arline Thayer at Vinton's at half-past nine o'clock that morning. + +"I am glad it isn't eight o'clock yet," she commented to Anne, as she +stood before the mirror looking very trim and dainty in her tailored +suit of dark blue. "I'm going to put on my hat now, then I won't have to +come upstairs again. I'll do my errands first, then it will be time to +meet Arline, and I'll be here in time for luncheon. After that I must +pack my trunk, and if I hurry I shall still have some time to spare. Our +train doesn't leave until four o'clock. Will you telephone for the +expressman, Anne?" + +Anne, who was busily engaged in trying to make room in the tray of her +trunk for a burned wood handkerchief box which she had overlooked, +looked up long enough to acquiesce. "There!" she exclaimed as the box +finally slipped into place, "that is something accomplished. Hereafter, +I shall leave this box at home. Every time I pack my trunk I am sure to +find it staring me in the face from some corner of the room when I +haven't a square inch of space left. I'll keep my handkerchiefs in the +top drawer of the chiffonier next year." + +"I wish I had no packing to do," sighed Grace. "You never seem to mind +it." + +"That is because I am a trouper, and troupers live in their trunks," +smiled Anne. "Packing and unpacking never dismay me." + +"Isn't it fortunate, Anne, that our commencement happened a week before +that of the boys? We can be at home for a day or two before we go to +M---- to attend their commencement." + +"I can't realize that our boys are men, and about to go out into the +world, each one to his own work," said Anne. "They will always seem just +boys to us, won't they?" + +"Yes, the spirit of youth will remain with them as long as they live," +prophesied Grace wisely, "because they will always be interested in +things. And if one lives every day for all it is worth and goes on to +the next day prepared to make the best of whatever it may bring forth, +one can never grow old in spirit. Look at Mrs. Gray. She never will be +'years old,' she will always be 'years young.' I am so anxious to see +Father and Mother and Mrs. Gray and the girls, but I hate saying +good-bye to Overton. Every year it seems to grow dearer." + +"That is because it has been our second home," was Anne's soft +rejoinder. + +A knock at the door, followed by a peremptory summons in Elfreda's +voice, "Come on down to breakfast," ended the little talk. + +By half-past eight o'clock Grace was on her way toward Main Street, bent +on disposing of her errands with all possible speed. The vision of her +yawning trunk, flanked by piles of clothing waiting patiently to be put +in it, loomed large before her. Later on, keeping her appointment with +Arline, she heroically tore herself from that fascinating young woman's +society and hurried toward Wayne Hall, filled with laudable intentions. +Anne had finished her packing and departed to pay a farewell visit to +Ruth Denton. + +"Oh, dear," sighed Grace, "I hate to begin. I suppose I had better put +these heavy things in first." She reached for her heavy blue coat and +sweater, slowly depositing them in the bottom of the trunk. Her raincoat +followed the sweater, and she was in the act of folding her blue serge +dress, when a knock sounded on the door, and the maid proclaimed in a +monotonous voice, "Telegram, Miss Harlowe." + +The blue serge dress was thrown into the trunk, and Grace dashed from +the room and down the stairs at the maid's heels. Her father and mother +were Grace's first thought. What if something dreadful had happened to +either of them! The bare idea of a telegram thrilled Grace with +apprehension. Her fingers trembled as she signed the messenger's book +and tore open the envelope. One glance at the telegram and with an +inarticulate cry Grace darted up the stairs and down the hall to her +room. Stopping only long enough to seize her hat, she made for the +stairs, the telegram clutched tightly in her hand. "Oh, if Anne or +Miriam were only here," she breathed, as she paused for an instant at +Mrs. Elwood's gate to look up and down the street, then set off in the +direction of the campus. At the edge of the campus she paused again, +glancing anxiously about her in the vain hope of spying Ruth or Miriam, +then she started across the campus toward Morton House. As she neared +her destination, the front door of the hall opened and a familiar figure +appeared. It was followed by another figure, and with a little +exclamation of satisfaction Grace redoubled her pace. "Ruth! Arline!" +she cried, her face alight: "Can't you guess? It has come at last. Here +it is. Read it, Ruth." + +Ruth had turned very pale, and was staring at Grace in mute, questioning +fashion. "You don't mean----" her voice died away in a startled gasp. + +"I do, I do," caroled Grace, tears of sheer happiness rising in her gray +eyes. "Read it, Ruth. Oh, I am so glad for your sake. Three more hours +and you will see him. It seems like a fairytale." + +Ruth stood still, reading the telegram over and over: "Arrive Overton +2:40. Will you and Ruth meet me? Arthur N. Denton." + +"And to think," said Arline, in awe-stricken tones, "that Ruth is +actually going to see her father!" + +"My very own father." The tenderness in Ruth's voice brought the tears +to Arline's blue eyes. Grace was making no effort to conceal the fact +that her own were running over. + +"You mustn't cry, girls," faltered Ruth. "It's the happiest day +of--my--life." Then she buried her face in her hands and ran into the +house. Grace and Arline followed, to find her huddled on the lowest step +of the stairs, her slender shoulders shaking. + +"I--I can't help it," she sobbed. "You would cry, too, if after being +driven from pillar to post ever since you were little, you'd suddenly +find that there was some one in the world who loved you and wanted to +take care of you." + +"Of course you can't help crying," soothed Grace, stroking the bowed +head. "Arline and I cried, too. This is one of the great moments of your +life." + +"Dear little chum," said Arline softly, sitting down beside Ruth and +putting her arms around the weeping girl, "your wish has been granted." + +An eloquent silence fell upon the trio for a moment, which was broken by +the sound of voices in the upstairs hall. Ruth and Arline rose +simultaneously from the stairs. "Come up to my room," urged Arline, "and +we will finish our cry in private." + +"I have no more tears to shed," smiled Grace, "and I dare not go to your +room." + +"Dare not?" inquired Arline. + +"I haven't finished my packing, and our train leaves at four-thirty. +Oh!" Grace sprang to her feet in sudden alarm. "I asked Anne to +telephone for the expressman. Perhaps he has called for my trunk, and +gone by this time. If he has, I shall have to reopen negotiations with +the express company at once in order that it shall reach the station in +time. Will you meet me at the station at a quarter-past two o'clock, or +can you stop for me at the Hall?" + +"I'll be at the Hall at two o'clock," promised Ruth. + +Filled with commendable determination to finish her packing as speedily +as possible, Grace hurried home and up the stairs, unpinning her hat as +she ran. Dashing into her room, she dropped her hat on her couch, then +stared about her in amazement. The piles of clothing she had left had +disappeared, and, yes, her trunk had also vanished. "Where--" she began, +when the door opened and three figures precipitated themselves upon her. + +"Don't say we never did anything for you," cried Elfreda. + +"We didn't overlook a single thing," assured Anne. + +"It isn't every one who can secure the services of professional trunk +packers." + + "'Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, + Come and join the dance?'" + +caroled Elfreda off the key, as she did a true mock turtle shuffle +around Grace. Joining hands, the three girls hemmed Grace in and pranced +about her. + +"What is going on in here?" demanded Emma Dean, appearing in the +doorway. "Is the mere idea of being seniors going to your heads?" + +"I ought to be the one to dance, Emma," laughed Grace. "I went out of +here with my room in chaos and my trunk unpacked, and came back to find +it not only packed but gone. Thank you, girls," she nodded +affectionately to her chums. + +"No one exhibited any such tender thoughtfulness for me," commented +Emma. "I had to wrestle with my packing unaided and alone. And how +things do pile up! I could hardly find a place for all my stuff." + +"Oh, I almost forgot my great news," cried Grace. Then she produced the +telegram, and a buzz of excited conversation began which lasted until +the luncheon bell rang. + +Ruth was punctual to the moment, and after receiving the affectionate +congratulations of the girls, she and Grace started for the station on +the, to Ruth, most eventful errand of her young life. + +"How shall I know him, Grace, and how will he know me?" she said +tremulously. + +"I don't know," returned Grace rather blankly. "That part of it hadn't +occurred to me. Still, Overton is only a small city, and there won't be +many incoming passengers. It's a case of outgoing passengers this week. +I have an idea that we shall know him," she concluded. + +When, at exactly 2:40, the train pulled into the station, two pairs of +eyes were fixed anxiously on the few travelers that left the train. +Suddenly Grace's hand caught Ruth's arm, "There he is! Oh, Ruth, isn't +he splendid? Come on. Don't be afraid. I feel certain he is Arthur +Northrup Denton." + +Seizing Ruth's hand, she led her, unresisting, to meet a tail, +broad-shouldered, smooth-faced man, whose piercing gray eyes constantly +scanned the various persons scattered along the platform. His brown hair +was touched with gray at the temples, and his keen, resolute face +bespoke unfaltering purpose and power. + +With Grace to think was to act. She took an impulsive step toward the +tall stranger, confronting him with, "I am Grace Harlowe. I am sure you +are Mr. Denton." + +"Yes, I am Arthur Denton, and----" + +"This is your daughter, Ruth," declared Grace hurriedly, pushing Ruth +gently forward. An instant later the few persons lingering on the +station platform saw the tall stranger fold the slender figure of Ruth +in a long embrace. + +"I was sure you were Ruth's father," declared Grace as, a little later, +they were speeding through the streets of Overton in the taxicab Mr. +Denton had engaged at the station. "The moment I saw you I felt that you +could be no one else." + +Ruth sat with her hand in her father's, an expression of ineffable +tenderness on her small face. She was content to listen to him and Grace +without joining in the conversation. Her greatest wish had been +fulfilled and she was experiencing a joy too deep for words. Mr. Denton +explained to them that his long silence had been due to a series of +misadventures that had befallen him on his way from Alaska to San +Francisco. He had received only one letter from Grace and none from +Ruth, as he had left Nome directly after receiving Grace's letter. The +others had evidently reached Nome after his departure and had not been +forwarded to him. The boat on which he had taken passage had been +wrecked and he had barely escaped drowning. He had been rescued by an +Indian fisherman from the icy waters of Bering Sea, and taken to his +hut, where for days he had lain ill from exposure to the elements. + +At the earliest possible moment he had embarked for San Francisco, then +journeyed east. He had purposely refrained from telegraphing until +within a day's journey from Overton, fearing that something might occur +to delay his meeting with his daughter. + +Ruth, who had already planned to remain in Overton during the summer and +work at dressmaking, smiled in rapture as she heard her father plan a +long sight-seeing trip through the west which would last until time for +her return to college in the fall. They drove with Grace to Wayne Hall, +promising to return to the station in time to meet her friends and say +good-bye to her, Mr. Denton assuring her that he hoped some day to repay +the debt of gratitude which he owed her. + +Three familiar figures ran downstairs to meet Grace as she stepped into +the hall. + +"We've been waiting patiently for you," announced Elfreda. + +"Did he materialize?" from Anne. + +"What do you think of him?" was Miriam's quick question. + +"Come into the living-room and I'll tell you," said Grace. "We won't +have much time to talk, though. It is after three o'clock now." + +"No; come upstairs to our room," invited Elfreda. "We have a special +reason for asking you." + +Grace obediently accompanied the three girls upstairs. The first thing +that attracted her eye was a tray containing a tall pitcher of fruit +lemonade and four glasses. Elfreda stepped to the table and began +pouring the lemonade. When she had filled the glasses she handed them, +in turn, to each girl. "To our senior year," she said solemnly, raising +her glass. "May it be the best of all. Drink her down." + +"What a nice idea," smiled Grace as she set down her glass. + +"It was Elfreda's proposal," said Miriam. "She made the lemonade, too." + +"Then let us drink to her." Grace reached for her glass and Miriam for +the pitcher. + +"I'll do the honors this time," declared Miriam. "Here's to the +Honorable Josephine Elfreda Briggs, expert brewer of lemonade, model +roommate and loyal friend." + +"Oh, now," protested Elfreda, "what made you spoil everything? I was +just beginning to enjoy myself." + +"The pleasure is all ours," retorted Anne. + +"Besides, you are getting nothing but your just deserts. We are only +glad to have a chance to demonstrate our deep appreciation of your many +lovely qualities, Miss Briggs," she ended mischievously. + +"Yes, Miss Briggs," laughed Grace, "you are indispensable to this happy +band, Miss Briggs. You must be blind if you can't see that." + +"Very blind indeed, Miss Briggs," agreed Miriam Nesbit. "But because you +are so blind, Miss Briggs, I shall endeavor, in a few well chosen words, +Miss Briggs, to make you see what is so plain to the rest of us." +Whereupon Miriam launched forth into a funny little eulogy of Elfreda +and her good works which caused the stout girl to exclaim in +embarrassment, "Oh, see here, Miriam, I'm not half so wonderful as I +might be. If you said all those nice things about yourself or Grace or +Anne it would be more to the point." + +"But it might not be true," interposed Grace. + +"And we quite agree with Miriam," added Anne. + +Elfreda surveyed them in silence, an unusually tender expression in her +shrewd blue eyes. "I can see that I have a whole lot to be thankful +for," she said after a moment. "Next year I am going to try harder than +ever to live up to your flattering opinion of me. Then I know that I +can't fail to be a good senior." + +Just how completely Elfreda carried out her resolution and what happened +to Grace Harlowe and her friends during their senior year in college +will be found in "Grace Harlowe's Fourth Year at Overton +College." + + +THE END. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY'S + + Best and Least Expensive Books for Boys and Girls + + + + + The Motor Boat Club Series + + By H. IRVING HANCOCK + + + The keynote of these books is manliness. The stories are + wonderfully entertaining, and they are at the same time sound + and wholesome. No boy will willingly lay down an unfinished + book in this series. + + THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB OF THE KENNEBEC; + Or, The Secret of Smugglers' Island. + + THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AT NANTUCKET; + Or, The Mystery of the Dunstan Heir. + + THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB OFF LONG ISLAND; + Or, A Daring Marine Game at Racing Speed. + + THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AND THE WIRELESS; + Or, The Dot, Dash and Dare Cruise. + + THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB IN FLORIDA; + Or, Laying the Ghost of Alligator Swamp. + + THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AT THE GOLDEN GATE; + Or, A Thrilling Capture in the Great Fog. + + THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB ON THE GREAT LAKES; + Or, The Flying Dutchman of the Big Fresh Water. + + + + + Battleship Boys Series + + By FRANK GEE PATCHIN + + + These stories throb with the life of young Americans on today's + huge drab Dreadnaughts. + + THE BATTLESHIP BOYS AT SEA; + Or, Two Apprentices in Uncle Sam's Navy. + + THE BATTLESHIP BOYS' FIRST STEP UPWARD; + Or, Winning Their Grades as Petty Officers. + + THE BATTLESHIP BOYS IN FOREIGN SERVICE; + Or, Earning New Ratings in European Seas. + + THE BATTLESHIP BOYS IN THE TROPICS; + Or, Upholding the American Flag in a Honduras Revolution. + + THE BATTLESHIP BOYS IN THE WARDROOM; + Or, Winning their Commissions as Line Officers. + + THE BATTLESHIP BOYS WITH THE ADRIATIC CHASERS; + Or, Blocking the Path of the Undersea Raiders. + + THE BATTLESHIP BOYS' SKY PATROL; + Or, Fighting the Hun from above the Clouds. + + + + + The Range and Grange Hustlers + + By FRANK GEE PATCHIN + + + Have you any idea of the excitements, the glories of life on + great ranches in the West? Any bright boy will "devour" the + books of this series, once he has made a start with the first + volume. + + THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS ON THE RANCH; + Or, The Boy Shepherds of the Great Divide. + + THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS' GREATEST ROUND-UP; + Or, Pitting Their Wits Against a Packers' Combine. + + THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS ON THE PLAINS; + Or, Following the Steam Plows Across the Prairie. + + THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS AT CHICAGO; + Or, The Conspiracy of the Wheat Pit. + + + + + Submarine Boys Series + + By VICTOR G. DURHAM + + + THE SUBMARINE BOYS ON DUTY; + Or, Life on a Diving Torpedo Boat. + + THE SUBMARINE BOYS' TRIAL TRIP; + Or, "Making Good" as Young Experts. + + THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE MIDDIES; + Or, The Prize Detail at Annapolis. + + THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SPIES; + Or, Dodging the Sharks of the Deep. + + THE SUBMARINE BOYS' LIGHTNING CRUISE; + Or, The Young Kings of the Deep. + + THE SUBMARINE BOYS FOR THE FLAG; + Or, Deeding Their Lives to Uncle Sam. + + THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SMUGGLERS; + Or, Breaking Up the New Jersey Customs Frauds. + + + + + Grace Harlowe Overseas Series + + + GRACE HARLOWE OVERSEAS. + + GRACE HARLOWE WITH THE RED CROSS IN FRANCE. + + GRACE HARLOWE WITH THE MARINES AT CHATEAU THIERRY. + + GRACE HARLOWE WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY IN THE ARGONNE. + + + + + The College Girls Series + + By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A.M. + + + GRACE HARLOWE'S FIRST YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE. + + GRACE HARLOWE'S SECOND YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE. + + GRACE HARLOWE'S THIRD YEAR AT OVERTON + COLLEGE. + + GRACE HARLOWE'S FOURTH YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE. + + GRACE HARLOWE'S RETURN TO OVERTON CAMPUS. + + GRACE HARLOWE'S PROBLEM. + + GRACE HARLOWE'S GOLDEN SUMMER. + + + + + Pony Rider Boys Series + + By FRANK GEE PATCHIN + + + These tales may be aptly described the best books for boys and girls. + + THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ROCKIES; + Or, The Secret of the Lost Claim. + + THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN TEXAS; + Or, The Veiled Riddle of the Plains. + + THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN MONTANA; + Or, The Mystery of the Old Custer Trail. + + THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE OZARKS; + Or, The Secret of Ruby Mountain. + + THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ALKALI; + Or, Finding a Key to the Desert Maze. + + THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN NEW MEXICO; + Or, The End of the Silver Trail. + + THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE GRAND CANYON; + Or, The Mystery of Bright Angel Gulch. + + + + + The Boys of Steel Series + + By JAMES R. MEARS + + + Each book presents vivid picture of this great industry. Each story + is full of adventure and fascination. + + THE IRON BOYS IN THE MINES; + Or, Starting at the Bottom of the Shaft. + + THE IRON BOYS AS FOREMEN; + Or, Heading the Diamond Drill Shift. + + THE IRON BOYS ON THE ORE BOATS; + Or, Roughing It on the Great Lakes. + + THE IRON BOYS IN THE STEEL MILLS; + Or, Beginning Anew in the Cinder Pits. + + + + + The Madge Morton Books + + By AMY D. V. CHALMERS + + + MADGE MORTON--CAPTAIN OF THE MERRY MAID. + + MADGE MORTON'S SECRET. + + MADGE MORTON'S TRUST. + + MADGE MORTON'S VICTORY. + + + + + West Point Series + + By H. IRVING HANCOCK + + + The principal characters in these narratives are manly, young + Americans whose doings will inspire all boy readers. + + DICK PRESCOTT'S FIRST YEAR AT WEST POINT; + Or, Two Chums in the Cadet Gray. + + DICK PRESCOTT'S SECOND YEAR AT WEST POINT; + Or, Finding the Glory of the Soldier's Life. + + DICK PRESCOTT'S THIRD YEAR AT WEST POINT; + Or, Standing Firm for Flag and Honor. + + DICK PRESCOTT'S FOURTH YEAR AT WEST POINT; + Or, Ready to Drop the Gray for Shoulder Straps. + + + + + Annapolis Series + + By H. IRVING HANCOCK + + + The Spirit of the new Navy is delightfully and truthfully depicted + in these volumes. + + DAVE DARRIN'S FIRST YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; + Or, Two Plebe Midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy. + + DAVE DARRIN'S SECOND YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; + Or, Two Midshipmen as Naval Academy "Youngsters." + + DAVE DARRIN'S THIRD YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; + Or, Leaders of the Second Class Midshipmen. + + DAVE DARRIN'S FOURTH YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; + Or, Headed for Graduation and the Big Cruise. + + + + + The Young Engineers Series + + By H. IRVING HANCOCK + + + The heroes of these stories are known to readers of the High + School Boys Series. In this new series Tom Reade and Harry + Hazelton prove worthy of all the traditions of Dick & Co. + + THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN COLORADO; + Or, At Railroad Building in Earnest. + + THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN ARIZONA; + Or, Laying Tracks on the "Man-Killer" Quicksand. + + THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN NEVADA; + Or, Seeking Fortune on the Turn of a Pick. + + THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN MEXICO; + Or, Fighting the Mine Swindlers. + + + + + Boys of the Army Series + + By H. IRVING HANCOCK + + + These books breathe the life and spirit of the United States + Army of to-day, and the life, just as it is, is described by a master + pen. + + UNCLE SAM'S BOYS IN THE RANKS; + Or, Two Recruits in the United States Army. + + UNCLE SAM'S BOYS ON FIELD DUTY; + Or, Winning Corporal's Chevrons. + + UNCLE SAM'S BOYS AS SERGEANTS; + Or, Handling Their First Real Commands. + + UNCLE SAM'S BOYS IN THE PHILIPPINES; + Or, Following the Flag Against the Moros. + + UNCLE SAM'S BOYS AS LIEUTENANTS; + Or, Serving Old Glory as Line Officers. + + UNCLE SAM'S BOYS WITH PERSHING; + Or, Dick Prescott at Grips with the Boche. + + UNCLE SAM'S BOYS SMASH THE GERMANS; + Or, Winding Up the Great War. + + + + + Dave Darrin Series + + By H. IRVING HANCOCK + + + DAVE DARRIN AT VERA CRUZ; + Or, Fighting With the U. S. Navy in Mexico. + + DAVE DARRIN ON MEDITERRANEAN SERVICE. + + DAVE DARRIN'S SOUTH AMERICAN CRUISE. + + DAVE DARRIN ON THE ASIATIC STATION. + + DAVE DARRIN AND THE GERMAN SUBMARINES. + + DAVE DARRIN AFTER THE MINE LAYERS; + Or, Hitting the Enemy a Hard Naval Blow. + + + + + The Meadow-Brook Girls Series + + By JANET ALDRIDGE + + + THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS UNDER CANVAS. + + THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ACROSS COUNTRY. + + THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS AFLOAT. + + THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS IN THE HILLS. + + THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS BY THE SEA. + + THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ON THE TENNIS + COURTS. + + + + + High School Boys Series + + By H. IRVING HANCOCK + + + In this series of bright, crisp books a new note has been struck. + Boys of every age under sixty will be interested in these fascinating + volumes. + + THE HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMEN; + Or, Dick & Co.'s First Year Pranks and Sports. + + THE HIGH SCHOOL PITCHER; + Or, Dick & Co. on the Gridley Diamond. + + THE HIGH SCHOOL LEFT END; + Or, Dick & Co. Grilling on the Football Gridiron. + + THE HIGH SCHOOL CAPTAIN OF THE TEAM; + Or, Dick & Co. Leading the Athletic Vanguard. + + + + + Grammar School Boys Series + + By H. IRVING HANCOCK + + + This series of stories, based on the actual doings of grammar + School boys, comes near to the heart of the average American boy. + + THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS OF GRIDLEY; + Or, Dick & Co. Start Things Moving. + + THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS SNOWBOUND; + Or, Dick & Co. at Winter Sports. + + THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS IN THE WOODS; + Or, Dick & Co. Trail Fun and Knowledge. + + THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS IN SUMMER ATHLETICS; + Or, Dick & Co. Make Their Fame Secure. + + + + + High School Boys' Vacation Series + + By H. IRVING HANCOCK + + + "Give us more Dick Prescott books!" + + This has been the burden of the cry from young readers of the + country over. Almost numberless letters have been received by the + publishers, making this eager demand; for Dick Prescott, Dave Darrin, + Tom Reade, and the other members of Dick & Co. are the most + popular high school boys in the land. Boys will alternately thrill + and chuckle when reading these splendid narratives. + + THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' CANOE CLUB; + Or, Dick & Co.'s Rivals on Lake Pleasant. + + THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS IN SUMMER CAMP; + Or, The Dick Prescott Six Training for the Gridley Eleven. + + THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' FISHING TRIP; + Or, Dick & Co. in the Wilderness. + + THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' TRAINING HIKE; + Or, Dick & Co. Making Themselves "Hard as Nails." + + + + + The Circus Boys Series + + By EDGAR B. P. DARLINGTON + + + Mr. Darlington's books breathe forth every phase of an intensely + interesting and exciting life + + THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE FLYING RINGS; + Or, Making the Start in the Sawdust Life. + + THE CIRCUS BOYS ACROSS THE CONTINENT; + Or, Winning New Laurels on the Tanbark. + + THE CIRCUS BOYS IN DIXIE LAND; + Or, Winning the Plaudits of the Sunny South. + + THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE MISSISSIPPI; + Or, Afloat with the Big Show on the Big River. + + + + + The High School Girls Series + + By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A.M. + + + These breezy stories of the American High School Girl take the + reader fairly by storm. + + GRACE HARLOWE'S PLEBE YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; + Or, The Merry Doings of the Oakdale Freshman Girls. + + GRACE HARLOWE'S SOPHOMORE YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; + Or, The Record of the Girl Chums in Work and Athletics. + + GRACE HARLOWE'S JUNIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; + Or, Fast Friends In the Sororities. + + GRACE HARLOWE'S SENIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; + Or, The Parting of the Ways. + + + + + The Automobile Girls Series + + By LAURA DENT CRANE + + + No girl's library--no family book-case can be considered at all + complete unless it contains these sparkling twentieth-century books. + + THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT NEWPORT; + Or, Watching the Summer Parade. + + THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS IN THE BERKSHIRES; + Or, The Ghost of Lost Man's Trail. + + THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS ALONG THE HUDSON; + Or, Fighting Fire in Sleepy Hollow. + + THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT CHICAGO; + Or, Winning Out Against Heavy Odds. + + THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT PALM BEACH; + Or, Proving Their Mettle Under Southern Skies. + + THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT WASHINGTON; + Or, Checkmating the Plots of Foreign Spies. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Grace Harlowe's Third Year at Overton +College, by Jessie Graham Flower + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRACE HARLOWE'S THIRD YEAR *** + +***** This file should be named 20473.txt or 20473.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/4/7/20473/ + +Produced by David Newman, Sigal Alon, Mary Meehan and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/20473.zip b/20473.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6d8528f --- /dev/null +++ b/20473.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e09411b --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #20473 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20473) |
