Grace Harlowes Third Year at Overton College | Page 7

not been in the nature of a harvest. However, I am still
striving, still hoping for the day when I shall leave society far behind
and sally forth on the trail of a big story.
"But, I am diverging from one of the chief purposes of this letter. It is
to introduce to you Kathleen West, an ambitious and particularly clever
young woman, who is a 'star' reporter on this paper. It seems that she
and I have changed ambitions. I sigh for journalistic fame, and she
sighs for college. She has done more than sigh. She has been saving her
money for ever so long, determined to take unto herself a college
education. I admire her spirit and have praised Overton so
warmly--how could I help it?--that she has decided to cast her lot there.
Hence my telegram, also this letter. Please be as nice with her as you
know how to be, for I am sure she will prove herself a credit to
Overton.
"I shall hope to see you some time during the fall. I am going to try to

get a day or two off and run down to see you. Tell Anne the Press is
greater than the Stage, and tell Elfreda and Miriam that I am collecting
the autographs of famous people and that theirs would be greatly
appreciated, particularly if attached to letters. I must bring this epistle
to an abrupt close, and go out on the trail of an engagement, the rumor
of which was whispered to me last night. With love to you and the
girls.
"MABEL.
"P. S. Frances sails for home next week."
"What a nice letter," commented Elfreda. "It is just like her, isn't it!"
"Yes," replied Grace slowly. "Girls, do you suppose Mabel and Miss
West are really friends?"
"Not as we are," replied Miriam, with a positive shake of her head.
"Elfreda and I were talking of that very thing while you were in your
room. Elfreda said she didn't believe that Mabel had known Miss West
long."
"What is the matter with us?" asked Grace, a trifle impatiently. "Here
we are prowling about the bush, trying to conceal under polite inquiry
the fact that we don't quite approve of Miss West. We would actually
like to dig up something to criticize."
"There is nothing like absolute freedom of speech, is there?" said
Elfreda, with a short laugh.
"It is true, though," said Grace stoutly. "It isn't fair, either. She has done
nothing to deserve it. Besides, Mabel likes her."
"Mabel doesn't say in her letter that she likes her," reminded Anne.
"She says Miss West is clever and that she admires her spirit."
"You, too, Anne?" said Grace reproachfully.
"I don't like her," declared Elfreda belligerently. "If it weren't for

Mabel's letter I'd leave her strictly to her own devices."
"We ought to be ashamed of ourselves!" exclaimed Grace. "We have
met Miss West with smiles, and here we are discussing her behind her
back."
"I didn't meet her with smiles," contradicted Elfreda. "I was as sober as
a judge all the time we stood talking to her. She is too flippant to suit
me. She doesn't take college very seriously. I could see that."
"There goes the dinner bell!" exclaimed Grace, with sudden irrelevance
to the subject of the newspaper girl. "Let us stop gossiping and go to
dinner."
At dinner Grace was not sorry to note that Kathleen West had been
placed at the end of the table farthest from her. Through the meal she
found her eyes straying often toward the erect little figure of the
newcomer, who, exhibiting not a particle of reserve, chatted with the
girls nearest to her with the utmost unconcern. "I suppose her
newspaper training has made her self-possessed and not afraid of
strangers," reflected Grace. But she could not refrain from secretly
wondering a little just how strong a friendship existed between
Kathleen West and Mabel.
CHAPTER IV
GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH THE NEWSPAPER GIRL
"It was just this way," began Kathleen West, setting down her tea cup
and looking impressively from one girl to the other, "Long before I
graduated from high school I had made up my mind to go to college.
Now that I have passed my exams and have become a really truly
freshman, I'll tell you all about it."
Elfreda and Miriam were giving a tea party with Grace, Anne and
Kathleen West as their guests. It was a strictly informal tea and both
hostesses and guests sat on the floor in true Chinese fashion,
kimono-clad and comfortable. A week had passed since Kathleen's

advent among them. She had spent the greater part of that time either in
study or in valiant wrestling with the dreaded entrance examinations,
but she had managed, nevertheless, to drop