Grace Harlowes Junior Year at High School | Page 4

to her when he died. She has always kept it in repair. Even the
furniture has not been changed. I have been there with her, and I love
every bit of it. I am glad to know that it has a tenant at last."
"Mrs. Gray knew my aunt years ago. They have kept up a
correspondence for ever so long. It was due to her that we came here,"
said Eleanor.
"Is your aunt Miss Margaret Nevin?" asked Anne quietly.
"Why, how did you know her name?" cried Eleanor, apparently
mystified. "'This is getting curiouser and curiouser.'"
The four girls laughed merrily.
"Anne is Mrs. Gray's private secretary," explained Jessica. "She tends
to all her correspondence. I suppose you have written more than one
letter to Miss Savell's aunt, haven't you, Anne!"
"Yes, indeed," replied Anne. "Her name is very familiar to me."
"What class are you girls in?" said Eleanor, abruptly changing the
subject. "Or aren't you all in the same class?"
"We are all juniors," laughed Nora, "and proud of it. Our green and
callow days are over, and we have entered into the realm of the upper
classes."
"Then I shall enter the junior class, too, for I choose to hob-nob with
you girls. Don't say you don't want me, for I have made up my mind;
and it is like the laws of the Medes and Persians, unchangeable."
"We shall be glad to welcome a new classmate, of course," responded
Grace. "I hope you will soon be one of us. Did Miss Thompson say that

you would have to take examinations?"
"She did, she did," answered Eleanor ruefully. "Still I'm not much
afraid. I've studied with a tutor, so I'm pretty well up in mathematics
and English. I can speak French, German, Italian and Spanish almost as
well as English. You know I've lived most of my life abroad. I'll
manage to pass somehow."
"I should think you would," exclaimed Anne admiringly. "I hope you
pass, I'm sure. Perhaps you'll be too far advanced for our class."
"Never fear, my dear," said Eleanor. "My heart is with the juniors, and
leave it to me not to land in any other class. But, really, I've bothered
you long enough. I must go back to your principal and announce
myself ready to meet my fate. I hope to know you better when
examinations have ceased to be a burden and the weary are at rest. That
is, if I survive."
With a gay little nod, and a dazzling smile that revealed almost perfect
teeth, she walked quickly down the long room and out the door, leaving
the girl chums staring after her.
"What an extraordinary girl!" said Jessica. "She acts as though she'd
known us all her life, and we never set eyes on her until she marched in
and calmly interrupted us ten minutes ago."
"It doesn't seem to make much difference whether or not we like her.
She has decided she likes us, and that settles it," said Grace, smiling.
"What do you think of her, Anne? You are a pretty good judge of
character."
"I don't know yet," replied Anne slowly. "She seems charming. She
must be awfully clever, too, to know so many languages, but----"
"But what?" queried Nora.
"Oh, I don't know just what I want to say, only let's proceed slowly
with her, then we'll never have anything to regret."

"Come on, girls," said Jessica impatiently. "Let's hurry. You know we
promised to meet the boys as soon as school was over."
The girl chums walked out of the study hall, each with her mind so full
of the new girl, who had so suddenly appeared in their midst, that the
proposed call upon Miss Thompson was entirely forgotten.
CHAPTER II
CONFIDENCES
"I am the bearer of an invitation," announced Anne Pierson as the four
girls collected in one corner of the locker-room during the brief recess
allowed each morning.
"Mrs. Gray wishes to see us all at four o'clock this afternoon. We are to
dine with her and spend the evening, and the boys are invited for the
evening, too. So we will have just time enough after school to go home
and dress."
"You had better meet at my house, then," said Grace, "for it's on the
way to Mrs. Gray's. Good-bye. Be sure and be there at a quarter of four
at the latest."
Promptly at the appointed time the girls hurried up the Harlowe walk.
They were met at the door by Grace, who had been standing at the
window for the last ten minutes with hat and gloves on, impatiently
waiting their arrival.
As they neared Mrs. Gray's beautiful home, Anne said in a low tone to
Grace, who was walking with her, "I suppose Mrs. Gray has