Grace Harlowes Fourth Year at Overton College | Page 5

you and Elfreda call on her, Miriam?" proposed Arline. "You
two are very valiant."
"Excuse me," said Elfreda so promptly that everyone laughed. "I may
look valiant, but to every woman her own fear, you know."
"Oh, look, girls!" The sudden exclamation came from Gertrude Wells,
who was sitting near the open window. "There's the automobile bus
from the station. It's stopping in front of Wayne Hall, too."
There was a concerted rush for the two windows.
"I wonder who it can be!" cried Emma Dean. "Wouldn't it be funny if it
were the greatly desired freshman, Miss West's other half?"
The watchers saw the bus door open. Then out of it stepped the tallest
girl they had ever seen.
"I believe she is seven feet tall," muttered Emma Dean. "I am sure of
it."
"Nonsense," laughed Miriam. "But she is not far from six. I wish it
were daylight, then we could see her face."

"I wonder who she can be," mused Arline.
"There is only one answer," smiled Miriam Nesbit. "As Emma just
stated, she must be Miss West's other half. However, we shall know
before long."
A moment later they heard the bell ring, then up from the hall came the
sound of Mrs. Elwood's voice speaking in surprised but pleased tones.
A voice almost masculine in its depth answered. There was a tramp of
feet up the stairs and down the hall. In the next instant the door of the
end room had opened and closed upon the newcomer.
"Girls, you are saved," proclaimed Gertrude Wells dramatically. "We
have been wasting our valuable time to-night trying to solve Miss
West's problem, while all the time the queen of the giants was hurrying
as fast as ever she could to the rescue."
There was a faint general laugh at the remark, then Elfreda said
severely, "Young women, do you consider making uncomplimentary
remarks about new students in the line of true Overton spirit?"
"But she did look seven feet tall," persisted Emma Dean.
"Think how deceitful appearances sometimes are," reminded Miriam.
"Never judge a person by moonlight," added Ruth Denton.
"Never judge them at all," smiled Grace. "Let the poor freshman rest in
peace. I have a last sweet surprise for you. Name it and you can have
it."
"Caramels," guessed Julia Emerson.
"Marshmallows," said Gertrude Wells.
"Oh, I know," cried Arline. "Nut chocolates; the delicious kind that old
candy man in Oakdale makes."
"Some one must have told you," said Grace, going to the closet and

returning with a huge box. "You are all to stay here until the last
chocolate is eaten."
It was on the ragged edge of half-past ten when the Semper Fidelis
Club trooped happily across the campus to their various houses, but,
faithful to their duty, the big candy box reposed in Grace's waste basket,
quite empty.
"I wonder how Kathleen West received her roommate," observed
Miriam. She and Elfreda had lingered for a moment in Grace's room
after the others had gone.
"It is fortunate for her that a belated freshman happened along," was
Grace's serious reply.
"But most unfortunate for the freshman," added Elfreda. "However, this
one looks perfectly capable of fighting her own battles."
CHAPTER III
AN ACCIDENT AND A SURPRISE
"Well, what do you think of her?" inquired Elfreda Briggs the
following morning, poking her head in at Grace's door, a quizzical
smile on her round face. Grace and Anne had left the breakfast table a
few minutes before Elfreda, who had foregone finishing her breakfast
and rushed upstairs to hear her friends' opinion of the tall freshman,
who had seemed taller than ever as she stalked uncompromisingly into
the dining room that morning in Kathleen West's wake. The newspaper
girl looked anything but in a happy frame of mind, and after several
covert glances in her direction, Grace decided that the new arrival had
not been met with open arms on the part of Kathleen.
"What do I think of her?" repeated Grace. "A good many things, I
should say. What do you think?"
"I think she is the most interesting and entertaining person I've seen in
years," declared Elfreda exaggeratingly.

"Then her entertaining powers do not lie in speech," laughed Anne. "I
heard her say three things this morning at the table. They were, 'yes,'
'thank you' and 'I believe so.'"
"She didn't talk, that's a fact," admitted Elfreda, "but she looked as
though she was keeping up an awful thinking. Does any one know from
whence she came, and why?"
"I don't know anything about her," said Grace, shaking her head, "but I
am sure that you will find out everything worth knowing before night.
You will be able to see a great deal, you know."
"Don't flatter me," grinned Elfreda. "That's no joke, though," she added