er arms were
full of small packages. Ruth knew that she had walked all the way to the
grocery store on the edge of Greenburg, which the college girls often
patronized.

It had been a long, cold walk, and Rebecca's fingers were numb. She
dropped a paper bag--and it contained eggs!

Now, it is quite impossible to hide the fact of a dropped egg. At
another time Ruth might have laughed; but now she soberly retrieved the
paper bag before the broken eggs could do much damage, and stepped into
the room after the nervous Rebecca.

"Oh, thank you!" gasped the girl. "Put--put them down anywhere. Thank
you!"

"My goodness!" said Ruth, laughing, "you can't put broken eggs down
_anywhere_. Don't you see they are runny?"

"Never mind, Miss Fielding----"

"Oh! you've a regular kitchenette here, haven't you?" said Ruth,
emboldened to look behind a curtain. "How cunning. I'll put these eggs
in this clean dish. Mercy, but they are scrambled!"

"Don't trouble, Miss Fielding. You are very kind."

"But scrambled eggs are pretty good, at that," Ruth went on, unheeding
the other girl's nervousness. "If you can only get the broken shells out
of them," and she began coolly to do this with a fork. "I should think
you would not like eating alone, Rebecca."

The other girl stared at her. "How can I help it?" she asked harshly.

"Just by getting a proper tam and stop being stubborn," Ruth told her.

"Miss Fielding!" cried Rebecca, her face flushing. "Do you think I do
this for--for fun?"

"You must. It isn't a disease, is it?" and Ruth laughed aloud,
determined to refuse to take the other's tragic words seriously.

"You--you are unbearable!" gasped Rebecca.

"No, I'm not. I want to be your friend," Ruth declared boldly. "I want
you to have other friends, too. No use flocking by one's self at
college. Why, my dear girl! you are missing all that is best in college
life."

"I'd like to know what _is_ best in college life!" burst out Rebecca
Frayne, sullenly.

"Friendship. Companionship. The rubbing of one mind against another,"
Ruth said promptly.

"Pooh!" returned the startled Rebecca. "I wouldn't want to rub my mind
against some of these girls' minds. All I ever hear them talk about is
dress or amusements."

"I don't think you know many of the other girls well enough to judge the
calibre of their minds," said Ruth, gently.

"And why don't I?" demanded Rebecca, still with a sort of suppressed
fury.

"We all judge more or l