Mrs. Benjamin as it was to hate Mr.
Benjamin. And the warm big room was nice. But no--she wasn't going to
give in. She was a rebel and they should find her such!

Just then a girl came into the room. She was younger than Isabelle--ten
years old, perhaps. She was fair and frail with a discontented little
face.

"Peggy, this is Isabelle Bryce. This is Peggy Starr, Isabelle. I thought
thee might show Isabelle her room, Peggy."

The two girls looked at each other.

"All right; come on," said the younger girl, ungraciously.

They mounted the wide stairs to the corridor above, with bedrooms
opening off on each side. Peggy led the way into a huge room, with many
windows. It had two beds, two bureaus, two closets.

"I s'pose you're my room mate," Peggy remarked, staring at her.

"Do you sleep here?"

"I slept in another girl's room last night, but I belong here."

"When did you come?"

"Yesterday."

"Like it?"

"No, hate it!"

"So do I," said Isabelle, firmly.

"I cried all night," boasted Peggy.

"I never cry," said Isabelle.

The other girl stared.

"Are there many girls here?"

"You make ten. The rest are raking for a bonfire. Sillies!"

"Didn't they invite you?"

"I can't do rough things like that. I'm delicate."

Isabelle heard shouts of laughter, and hurried to the window. Down below
in the twilight a crowd of laughing girls was burying a prostrate victim
under the leaves. They shrieked and cavorted about her. A yellow moon
hung low over the hills. All at once, clear and high, a bugle call
arose, and echoed far and near. It was a scene and impression she was
never to forget.

"What is that?" she demanded of Peggy.

"Time to dress. Mr. Benjamin bugles whenever we have to do anything,"
complained Peggy.

There was a rush on the stairs, more laughter, questions called and
answered, doors slammed. A poignant sense of loneliness, of homesickness,
swept over Isabelle. She turned to Peggy, who sat by.

"I hate it!" she said fiercely.

"So do I. Going to change?"--languidly. "You needn't. Girls don't have
to, their first night. Just wash and come on."

Isabelle followed her suggestion and presently the two girls went
downstairs together. Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin sat together on a high backed
settle by the fire. They were enjoying each other's conversation. Mrs.
Benjamin's face shone as she listened to her husband. It was rather a
plain face, surmounted by hair parted smoothly in the middle and d