Mrs. Smith got the girls up in season in the morning to reach the dining hall at Briarwood by breakfast-time; and she saw to it, likewise, that their light went out at ten o’clock in the evening.  These were her instructions from Mrs. Tellingham, and Mrs. Sadoc Smith was rather a grim person, who did her duty and obeyed the law.

There being an extra couch, Ruth persuaded her friends to agree to the coming of a fourth girl into the lodging.  And this fourth girl, oddly enough, was not one of the graduating class, or even one of the girls whom they had chummed with before.

It was the new girl, Amy Gregg!  Amy Gregg, whom nobody seemed to want, and who seemed to be the loneliest figure and the most sullen girl who had ever come to Briarwood Hall!

“Of course, you’d pick up some sore-eyed kitten,” complained Ann Hicks.  “That child has a fully-developed grouch against the whole world, I verily believe.  What do you want her for, Ruthie?”

“I don’t want her,” said Ruth promptly.

“Well! of all the girls!” gasped Helen.  “Then why ask Mrs. Tellingham to let her come here?”

“Because she ought to be with somebody who will look out for her,” Ruth said.

She did not tell her mates about it, but Ruth had heard some whispers regarding the origin of the fire that had burned down the West Dormitory, and she was afraid Amy would be suspected.

The older girl had reason to know that Mrs. Tellingham had questioned Amy regarding the candle she had obtained from Miss Scrimp’s store.  The girl had emphatically denied having left the candle burning on leaving her room to go to supper on the fatal evening.

The girls had begun, after a time, to ask questions about the origin of the fire.  They knew it had started on the side of the corridor where Amy Gregg had roomed.  They might soon suspect the truth.

“If they do, good-bye to all little Gregg’s peace of mind!” Ruth thought, for she knew just how cruel girls can be, and Amy did not readily make friends.

Although Ruth and her room-mates tried to make the flaxen-haired girl feel at home at Mrs. Sadoc Smith’s, Amy remained sullen, and seemed afraid of the older girls.  She was particularly unpopular, too, because she was the only girl who had refused to write home to tell of the fire and ask for a contribution to the dormitory fund.

Amy Gregg seemed to be afraid to talk of the fire and refused to give even a dollar toward the rebuilding of the dormitory.  “It isn’t my fault that the old thing burned down.  I lost all my clothes and books,” she announced.  “I think the school ought to pay me some money, instead.”

After saying this before her room-mates at Mrs. Smith’s, all but Ruth dropped her.

“Sullen little thing,” said Helen, with disgust.

“Not worth bothering with,” rejoined Ann.

The only person to whom Amy Gregg seemed to take a fancy was Mrs. Smith’s scapegrace grandson, Henry.  Henry was the wildest boy there was anywhere about Briarwood Hall.  He was always getting into trouble, and his grandmother was forever chastising him in one way or another.