Elfreda kept up a brisk monologue as she opened one of her suit cases and began hauling out its contents.  Miriam made a gesture of hopeless resignation behind the stout girl’s back.

“I must go to my room and get ready for dinner,” said Grace, her eyes dancing.  “Coming, Anne?”

Anne nodded and the two girls beat a hasty retreat.  Elfreda’s calm manner of appropriating things and Miriam’s resigned air were too much for them.  Once inside their room they gave way to uncontrolled merriment.

“I knew I’d laugh if I stayed there another second,” confessed Anne.  “Poor Miriam.  I heartily agree with Ma, don’t you?”

“Yes,” smiled Grace.  Then, her face sobering, she added, “I am afraid she is laying up trouble for herself.  I wish she hadn’t told.”

CHAPTER V

AN INTERRUPTED STUDY HOUR

The first two weeks at Overton glided by with amazing swiftness.  There was so much to be done in the way of arranging one’s recitations, buying or renting one’s books and accustoming one’s self to the routine of college life that Grace and her friends could scarcely spare the time to write their home letters.  There were twenty-four girls at Wayne Hall.  With the exception of four sophomores the house was given up to freshmen.  Grace thought them all delightful, and in her whole-souled, generous fashion made capital of their virtues and remained blind to their shortcomings.  There had been a number of jolly gatherings in Mrs. Elwood’s living room, at which quantities of fudge and penuchi were made and eaten and mere acquaintances became fast friends.

The week following their arrival a dance had been given in the gymnasium in honor of the freshmen.  The whole college had turned out at this strictly informal affair, and the upper class girls had taken particular pains to see that the freshmen were provided with partners and had a good time generally.  At this dance the three Oakdale friends had felt more at home than at any other time since entering Overton.  In the first place, Mabel Ashe, Frances Marlton and Constance King had come over to Wayne Hall in a body on the evening before the dance and offered themselves as escorts.  Furthermore, the scores of happy, laughing girls gliding over the gymnasium floor to the music of a three-piece orchestra reminded Grace of the school dances in her own home town.  J. Elfreda had also been escorted to the hop by Virginia Gaines, one of the sophomores at Wayne Hall, who had a great respect for the stout girl’s money, and it was a secret relief to Grace that she had not been left out.