Grace Harlowes Second Year at Overton College | Page 4

for her?" Grace asked anxiously.
"Hardly," said Anne, picking up her bag, which she had deposited on
the floor.
"Come on, I'll lead the way," volunteered Elfreda, starting up the stairs.

"Won't Mrs. Elwood be surprised when she comes home? She'll find us
not only here, but settled," laughed Grace.
But it was Grace rather than Mrs. Elwood who was destined to receive
the surprise.
CHAPTER II
THE UNFORESEEN
Following Elfreda, the girls ran upstairs as fast as their weight of bags
and suit cases would permit. Miriam pushed open her door, which
stood slightly ajar, with the end of her suit case. "Any one at home?"
she inquired saucily as she stepped inside.
"Looks like the same old room," remarked Elfreda. "No, it isn't, either.
We have a new chair. We needed it, too. You may sit in it occasionally,
if you're good, Miriam."
"Thank you," replied Miriam. "For that gracious permission you shall
have one piece of candy out of a five-pound box I have in my trunk."
"Not even that," declared Elfreda positively. "I said good-bye to candy
last July. I've lost ten pounds since I went home from school, and I'm
going to haunt the gymnasium every spare moment that I have. I hope I
shall lose ten more; then I'll be down to one hundred and forty pounds
and--" Elfreda stopped.
"And what?" queried Miriam.
"I can make the basketball team," finished Elfreda. "What is going on
in the hall, I wonder?" Stepping to the door she called, "What's the
matter, Grace? Can't you get into your room?"
"Evidently not," laughed Grace. "It is locked. I suppose Mrs. Elwood
locked it to prevent the new girls from straying in and taking
possession."

"H-m-m!" ejaculated Elfreda, walking over to the door and examining
the keyhole. "Your supposition is all wrong, Grace. The door is locked
from the inside. The key is in it."
"Then what--" began Grace.
"Yes, what?" quizzed Elfreda dryly.
"'There was a door to which I had no key,'" quoted Miriam, as she
joined the group.
"Don't tease, Miriam," returned Grace, "even through the medium of
Omar Khayyam. The key is a reality, but there is some one on the other
side of that door who doesn't belong there. Whether she is not aware
that she is a trespasser I do not know. However, we shall soon learn."
Grace rapped determinedly on one of the upper panels of the door.
"I'll help you," volunteered Elfreda.
"And I," agreed Anne.
"My services are needed, too," said Miriam Nesbit.
Four fists pounded energetically on the door. There was an exclamation,
the sound of hasty steps, the turning of a key in the lock, and the door
was flung open. Facing them stood a young woman no taller than Anne,
whose heavy eyebrows met in a straight line, and who looked ready for
battle at the first word.
"Will you kindly explain the reason for this tumult?" she asked in a
freezing voice.
"We were rather noisy," admitted Grace, "but we did not understand
why the door should be locked from the inside."
"Is it necessary that you should know?" asked the black-browed girl
severely.
Grace's clear-cut face flushed. "I think we are talking at cross

purposes," she said quietly. "The room you are using belongs to my
friend Anne Pierson and to me. During our freshman year it was ours,
and when we left here last June it was with the understanding that we
should have it again on our return to Overton."
"I know nothing of any such arrangement," returned the other girl
crossly. "The room pleases me, consequently I shall retain it. Kindly
refrain from disturbing me further." With this significant remark the
door was slammed in the faces of the astonished girls. A second later
the click of the key in the lock told them that force alone could effect
an entrance to the room.
"Open that door at once," stormed Elfreda, beating an angry tattoo on
the panel with her clenched fist.
From the other side of the door came no sound,
"Never mind, Elfreda," said Grace, fighting down her anger. "Mrs.
Elwood will be here soon. There is some misunderstanding about the
rooms. I am sure of it."
"See here, Grace Harlowe, you are not going to give up your room to
that beetle-browed anarchist, are you?" demanded Elfreda wrathfully.
A peal of laughter went up from three young throats.
"You are the funniest girl I ever knew, J. Elfreda Briggs," remarked
Miriam Nesbit between laughs. "That new girl looks exactly like an
anarchist--that is, like pictures of them I've seen in the newspapers."
"That's why I thought of it, too," grinned Elfreda. "I once saw a picture
of an anarchist who blew up a public building and he might have been
this