ll auburn-haired
girl and a short dark one. A moment later she saw the three walk off
together.

"J. Elfreda found friends quickly," remarked Anne, who had also noticed
the stout girl's warm reception by the two girls. "I wonder what we had
better do first. What is the name of the hotel where we are to stop?"

"The Tourraine," replied Miriam.

The newcomers looked eagerly about them at the groups of daintily gowned
girls who were joyously greeting their friends as they stepped from the
train.

"I had no idea there were so many Overton girls on the train," remarked
Grace in surprise. "The majority of them seem to have friends here, too.
I wonder which way we'd better go."

"By the nods and becks and wreathed smiles with which those girls over
there are favoring us, I imagine that we have been discovered,"
announced Miriam, rather sarcastically.

Grace and Anne glanced quickly toward the girls indicated by Miriam. A
tall, thin, fair-haired girl with cold gray-blue eyes and a generally
supercilious air occupied the center of the group. She was talking
rapidly and her remarks were eliciting considerable laughter. Amused
glances, half friendly, half critical, were being leveled at the Oakdale
trio of chums.

Grace flushed in half angry embarrassment, Anne merely smiled to
herself, while Miriam's most forbidding scowl wrinkled her smooth
forehead.

"I think we had better inquire the way to our hotel and leave here as
soon as possible," Grace said slowly. A sudden feeling of disappointment
had suddenly taken possession of her. She had always supposed that in
every college new girls were met and welcomed by the upper classes of
students. Yet now that they had actually arrived no one had come forward
to exchange even a friendly greeting with them.

"Well, if this is an exhibition of the true college spirit, deliver me
from college," grumbled Miriam. "I must say----"

Miriam's denunciation against college was never finished, for at that
juncture a soft voice said, "Welcome to Overton." Turning simultaneously
the three girls saw standing before them a young woman of medium height.
Her hand was extended, and she was smiling in a sweet, friendly fashion
that warmed the hearts of the disappointed freshmen. She wore a
tailored frock of white linen, white buckskin walking shoes that
revealed a glimpse of silken ankles, and carried a white linen parasol
that matched her gown. She was bareheaded, and in the late afternoon he