he waitresses, and
with old Tony Foyle, and with Miss Scrimp, the matron of their house,
and to bow respectfully to Miss Picolet, Miss Kennedy, the English
teacher; Miss O'Hara, before whom Ruth and Helen would come in
mathematics, and the other teachers as they learned their names.

Dr. Tellingham, although affording some little amusement for the pupils
because of his personal peculiarities, was really considered by the
girls in general a deeply learned man, and when he chanced to trot by a
group of the students on the campus, in his stoop-shouldered, purblind
way, their voices became hushed and they looked after him as though he
really was all he pretended to be--or all he thought he was. He delved
in histories--ate, slept, and seemed to draw the breath of his nostrils
from histories. That the pamphlets and books he wrote were of trivial
importance, and seldom if ever saw the light of print, was not made
manifest to the Briarwood girls in general.

Ruth and Helen were not unpopular from the start. Helen was so pretty
and so vivacious, that she was bound to gather around her almost at
once those girls who were the more easily attracted by such a nature;
while for Ruth's part, the little Primes found that she was both kind
and loving. She did not snub the smaller girls who came to her for any
help, and before this day was over (which was Friday) they began to
steal into the chums' duet, in twos and threes, to talk with Ruth
Fielding. It had been so at the school near the Red Mill, and Ruth was
glad the little folk took to her.

Late in the afternoon the two friends from Cheslow went out to the main
entrance of the grounds to meet Old Dolliver's stage from Seven Oaks.
It had been noised abroad that a whole _nursery_ of Infants was
expected by that conveyance, and Mary Cox and Madge Steele, each with
her respective committee, were in waiting to greet the new-comers on
behalf of their separate societies.

"And we'll welcome them as fellow-infants," whispered Ruth to Helen.
"Let's hold a reception in our room this evening to all the newcomers.
What say, Helen?"

Her chum was a little doubtful as to the wisdom of this course. She
did not like to offend their friends in the Upedes. Yet the suggestion
attracted Helen, too.

"I suppose if we freshmen stick together we'll have a better time,
after all," she agreed.

As the time for the appearance of the stage drew near, approximately
half the school was gathered