Grace Harlowes Return to Overton Campus | Page 6

hundreds of girls who proudly acknowledged Overton as
their Alma Mater.
"What's the use of gazing and mooning?" asked Elfreda, with sudden
brusqueness. "Please open that door, Mr. Symes. I shall certainly weep
and wail disconsolately out of pure sentiment if you don't distract my
attention with something else. Show me the furniture, or the boxes it
came in, or anything else that won't call forth tender reminiscences."
Grace's laugh sounded a trifle shaky, but it was a laugh nevertheless.
Something in Elfreda's brusque tones acted as an antidote to her
retrospection. She had been more or less ghost-ridden ever since her
return to Overton. She now resolved to shake off that pleasantly
melancholy sensation and "be up and doing with a heart for any fate."
The caretaker admitted them to a hall crowded with huge packing
boxes. In fact, the whole of the first floor was occupied by the large
shipments of furniture recently delivered into the care of Mr. Symes.
"It's worse than the cottage," announced Elfreda; "a regular howling
wilderness. I'd like to know how we can possibly guess what's what and
why. These boxes all look alike. If we have our minds set upon seeing
the parlor suite, we'll be sure to unpack the kitchen furniture instead."
"We'll let the men wrestle with the unpacking, girls," decided Mrs.
Gray. "I don't wish my body guard to nurse wholesale bruises and

smashed fingers. Mr. Symes, can you have two men besides yourself
here this afternoon to unpack these things?"
"I certainly can, Mrs. Gray," promised Mr. Symes with respectful
promptness.
"Then we'll have to possess our souls in patience until to-morrow,"
sighed Grace. "Isn't this a lovely, roomy house, Elfreda? I'm so glad,
too, that there isn't a prim, stiff parlor. I like this immense living-room
much better. The girls will surely like it. It will serve as a library too.
That little room just off the hall will make such a convenient office for
me. Imagine me as the head of a college house, with an office all my
own, Elfreda."
"It's a good thing for the house," commented Elfreda. "I hope the girls
that live here will appreciate you, Grace. I hope none of them will be as
silly as J. Elfreda Briggs was."
"Elfreda, how can you?" remonstrated Grace.
"How could I, you mean," flung back Elfreda. "Because I was a spoiled,
selfish ingrate who never stopped to think of any one else's rights."
"Now, now, Elfreda," protested Mrs. Gray.
"Well, I was," insisted Elfreda positively. "It took a whole year to
reduce me to order. I wasn't as hopeless as some of the others. It took
three years to make Alberta Wicks and Mary Hampton real Overton
girls, and two years to instil college spirit into Kathleen West. But
Grace never gave any of us up, even though we treated her so shabbily.
That's why I just said I hoped that the girls would appreciate Grace. I'd
hate to think that some stupid ill-natured freshman, it's more likely to
be a freshman than any one else, would behave like an idiot and spoil
her first year at Harlowe House." There was an expression of anxious
concern on Elfreda's round face.
"Don't worry, Elfreda," reassured Grace, "the students who come to
Harlowe House to live are sure to be nice. Girls who have their own

way to pay through college are usually cheerful and unselfish. They are
anxious to live and willing to let live."
"I don't know about that. Kathleen West wasn't a glaring pattern of
amiability when she entered Overton," reminded Elfreda. "Of course
she's now a brilliant example of what forbearance will accomplish, and
you know that I am very fond of her, but you and I remember what we
went through during the forbearing process."
"Don't croak, J. Elfreda Briggs," admonished Grace lightly, "I don't
imagine that everything will be plain sailing this year. That would be
asking too much. Still I hope I shall not have any serious
misunderstandings with my girls. I'm going to remember my motto,
'Blessed are they that have found their work,' and not shirk anything
that comes within the line of it."
"I guess there isn't the slightest danger of shirking on your part," was
Elfreda's dry retort. "I hope the men that do the unpacking of this stuff
will be imbued with the same spirit. You'd better bring out that motto
and hang it up where they can see it. To change the subject, we haven't
been upstairs yet."
"Come on, then."
"I think I'll wait for you on the veranda, children," said Mrs. Gray.
"Don't stay upstairs too long. I should like to go back to Mrs. Elwood's,
telephone for a taxicab, and make a call upon Dr. Morton this
morning."
"We'll hurry," promised