to leave the house. In her inmost heart she
knew that it was because she did not wish to leave the three girls she
had repudiated, but not for worlds would she have acknowledged this to
be the case.

Several times she had been on the point of throwing her pride to the
winds and apologizing to Grace, Miriam and Anne for her childish
behavior. Then she would scoff at her own weakness and go doggedly on.
Her new roommate, Emma Dean, was a cheery sort of girl who lived every
day as it came and refused to borrow trouble. She never criticized other
girls, nor did she gossip, and she was extremely thoughtful of the
comfort of her roommate. After several days of dubious speculation the
stout girl decided she liked Emma, and Emma decided that Elfreda was
rather an agreeable disappointment.

There were two young women, however, who had suddenly appeared to take a
great interest in Elfreda. Alberta Wicks and Mary Hampton had met
Elfreda in Vinton's late one afternoon, and had made distinctly
friendly overtures to her. At any other time she would have passed them
by in disdain, but on that particular occasion, feeling gloomy and
downcast, she decided to forget her grievance against them. Then, too,
she did not know them to be the girls who had sent her the anonymous
letter. Grace had never told her the truth of the affair, so she played
unsuspectingly into their hands. They had invited her to have ice cream
with them, and she had insisted that they be her guests at dinner. After
that they had invited her to Stuart Hall to dinner and she had
entertained them at Wayne Hall one evening, greatly to the surprise of
Grace, who suddenly remembered that, after all, Elfreda was not so much
to blame as she did not know the truth. But why should these two girls
accept the hospitality of the very girl they had tried to drive away
from Overton? It was a puzzle that Grace could not solve. She discussed
it with Anne and Miriam but they could throw no light on the mystery.

The coming of the Easter vacation gave the three girls more pleasant
matters of which to think. This time Ruth Denton accompanied them to
Oakdale as Grace's guest, while Miriam invited Arline Thayer also, as a
surprise to Ruth. When Arline serenely joined them at the station the
morning of their departure, Ruth could hardly believe the evidence of
her own eyes.

The two weeks in Oakdale flew by on wings. With the boys and the other
members of the Phi Sigma Tau at home, too,