Winona had taken up her residence there with somewhat the feeling of a novice entering a nunnery.  She was not quite sure how she and Aunt Harriet were going to get on.  To her great relief, however, things turned out better than she expected.  Miss Beach received her with unusual complacency, and the two settled down quite harmoniously together.  The fact was that Winona, a visitor with nothing to do, and Winona a busy High School girl, were utterly different persons.  It is one thing to wander round somebody else’s house and feel bored, and quite another to hang up your hat, realize you are part and parcel of the establishment, and occupy yourself with your own business.  Once she had fallen into the swing of work at school Winona began to appreciate the orderliness of her aunt’s arrangements.  It had never seemed to matter at home if the breakfast were late and she arrived at Miss Harmon’s when the clock had struck nine, but at “The High” it was an affair of vital importance to be in her seat before call-over, and she daily blessed the punctuality of Aunt Harriet’s cook.  It was also a great boon to be able to prepare her lessons in quiet.  Her family had never realized the necessity of silence during study hours, and she had been used to learn French vocabularies or translate her Latin exercises to a distracting accompaniment of Ernie’s trumpet, Dorrie’s and Mamie’s quarrels, Godfrey’s mouth organ, and Letty’s strumming upon the piano.

“It would have been utterly impossible to do my prep. at home!” she thought sometimes.  “I’d no idea what work was like before I came to Seaton ‘High’!  It would do those youngsters good to have a drilling!  I wish they could have been in the Preparatory.  No, I don’t!  Because then I should have had them here, and it would have been good-by to all peace.  On the whole things are much better as they are.”

Miss Beach was so extremely busy with her own multifarious occupations that she had not time to see very much of her great-niece.  She made every arrangement for her comfort, however, and caused the piano to be moved into the dining-room for the convenience of her practicing.  She had always had a tender spot for Winona, whom she regarded as the one hopeful character in a family of noodles.  She talked to her at meal times about a variety of subjects, some of them within her intelligence, but others completely—­so far—­above her head.  She even tried to draw her out upon school matters.  This, however, was a dead failure.  Winona, most unfortunately, could not overcome her awe for her aunt, and refused to expand.  To all the questions about her Form, her companions, teachers, lessons or new experiences, she replied in monosyllables.  It was a sad pity, for Miss Beach had really hoped to win the girl’s confidence and prove a temporary mother to her, but finding her advances repulsed she also shrank back into her shell, and the intimacy which might have existed between them was postponed to future years.