n.

"Of course!" exclaimed Miriam, laughing a little at the recollection.
"Wasn't she formidable, though, when she slammed the door in our faces?"

Elfreda nodded. "She is all right now. At least she was when she visited
me. I never saw a girl blossom and expand as she did. Pa liked her. He
thought she was smart. She is, too. She has lived so entirely with that
scientific father of hers that she has absorbed all sorts of odds and
ends of knowledge from him. That is why college and girls and the whole
thing terrified her."

"Terrified her," said Miriam incredulously. "I thought matters quite the
reverse."

"That was precisely what I thought until she told me that, no matter how
vengeful she looked, she was always afraid of the girls. She never
seemed to be able to say the right thing at the right moment. That was
why she used to scowl so fiercely when any one spoke or looked at her."

"I don't think it was altogether fear of the girls that caused her to
lock us out that day," observed Miriam, a gleam of laughter appearing in
her black eyes.

"I don't suppose it was," retorted Elfreda good-humoredly. "She says she
knows her disposition to be anything but angelic. But she is trying,
Miriam. You wait and see for yourself how the new Laura Atkins behaves."

"But to go back to the subject of the door, what makes you think Grace
locked it on account of last year?" persisted Miriam.

"Oh, I don't know," answered Elfreda vaguely. "I just thought so, that's
all."

"We'll ask her when she comes, just for fun," declared Miriam. "Why not
go downstairs and sit on the back veranda with Mrs. Elwood? We can hear
the girls as soon as they come into the yard."

"All right," agreed Elfreda. "Do you care if I take my magazine along? I
am not quite through with an article I began this morning."

"I object seriously," smiled Miriam. "I shall expect you to entertain
me. You can finish reading your article later."

Elfreda glanced up quickly from the magazine she held in her hand. Then,
catching sight of her friend's smiling face, she tucked her magazine
under one arm, linked her free arm through Miriam's and marched her
toward the stairs. They had reached the foot of the stairs and were half
way down the hall when the sound of voices caused both girls to stand
still, listening intently.

"That sounds like Grace's voice!" exclaimed Elfreda. With one accord
they turned about, hurrying to the veranda at the front of the house in
t