Mary was so bubbling over with the pleasure these things gave her that it was impossible not to feel some share of it when one looked at her.  As Madam Chartley led the way to the office she felt a desire to add still more to her pleasure.  It was refreshing to see some one who could enjoy even little things so thoroughly.  She bent over the ledger a moment, scanning the page containing the list of Freshmen who had passed the strict entrance requirements.

“I had already assigned you to a room,” she said, “but from what you tell me I fancy you would count it a privilege to be given Lloyd’s old room.  If that is so I’ll gladly make the change, although I do not know whether the other girl assigned to that room will prove as congenial a companion to you as the first selection.  Her mother asked for that particular room, so I cannot well change.”

Mary’s face grew radiant.  “Oh, Madam Chartley!” she cried.  “I’d room with a Hottentot for a chance to stay inside the four walls that held the Princess all her school-days.  You don’t know how much it means to me!  You’ve made me the happiest girl on the face of the globe.”

“It’s a far cry from Ethelinda Hurst to a Hottentot,” laughed Madam Chartley.  “She comes from one of the wealthiest homes in the suburbs of Chicago, and has had every advantage that civilization can offer.  She’s been abroad eight times, I believe, and has always studied at home under private tutors.  She’s an only daughter.”

“How interesting!  That will be lots more diverting than a room-mate who has always done the same common-place things that I have.  Oh, you’ve no idea how hard I’m going to work to deserve all this!  I wrote to Jack last night that I intend to tackle school this year just the way I used to kill snakes—­with all my might and main!”

An amused expression crossed Madam Chartley’s face again.  She was thinking of Ethelinda and the possible effect the two girls might have on each other.  At any rate it was an experiment worth trying.  It might prove beneficial to them both.  She turned to Mary with a smile, and pressed a button beside her desk.

“Your trunk shall be sent up as soon as the men find time to attend to it.  In the meantime you may take possession of your room as soon as you please.”

CHAPTER II

“THE KING’S CALL”

Left to herself in the room which she was to occupy for the year, Mary stood looking around with the keen interest of an explorer.  It was a pleasant room, with two windows looking out over the river and two over the garden.  To an ordinary observer it had no claim to superiority over the other apartments, but to Mary it was a sort of shrine.  Here in the low chair by the window her Princess Winsome had sat to read and study and dream all through her school days.

Here was the mirror that had caught her passing reflection so often, that it still seemed to hold a thousand shadowy semblances of her in its shining depths.  Only the June before (three short months ago) she had stood in front of it in all the glory of her Commencement gown.