r
wavy brown hair seemed touched with gold.

"I am so glad to meet you!" exclaimed the pretty girl. "You are
freshmen, of course. If you will tell me your names I'll introduce you
to some of the girls. Then we will see about escorting you safely to
your boarding place. Have you taken your examinations yet?"

"No," replied Miriam. "We have that ordeal before us." Her face relaxed
under the friendly courtesy accorded to them by this attractive
stranger. She then introduced Grace and Anne. Their new acquaintance
shook hands with the two girls, then said gayly, "Now tell me your
name."

Miriam complied with the request, then stated that through a friend of
her mother's they had engaged a suite of rooms at the Tourraine, an
apartment hotel in Overton, until their fate should be decided.

"The Tourraine is the nicest hotel in Overton," stated Mabel. "I am
always in the seventh heaven of delight whenever I am fortunate enough
to be invited to dine there."

"Then come and dine with us to-night," invited Miriam.

Mabel Ashe shook her head. "It's very nice in you," she said gravely,
"but not to-night. Really, I am awfully stupid. I haven't told you my
name. It is Mabel Ashe. I am a junior and pledged to pilot bewildered
freshmen to havens of rest and safety."

"Do you consider freshmen impossible creatures?" asked Anne Pierson, her
eyes twinkling.

The young woman laughed merrily. "Oh, no," she replied. "You must
remember that they are the raw material that makes good upper classmen.
It takes a whole year to mould them into shape--that is, some of them.
Now, come with me and I'll see that you meet some of the upper class
girls."

As they were about to accompany their new acquaintance down the
platform, a tall, fair-haired girl walked toward them followed by the
others upon whom Miriam had commented. "Wait a minute, Mabel," she
called. "I've been trying to get hold of you all afternoon."

"You're just in time, Beatrice," returned Mabel Ashe. "I wish you to
meet Miss Harlowe, Miss Nesbit, and Miss Pierson, all of Oakdale. Girls,
this is Miss Alden, also of the junior class."

Beatrice Alden smiled condescendingly, and shook hands in a somewhat
bored fashion with the three girls. "Pleased to meet you," she drawled.
"Hope you'll be good little freshmen this year and make no trouble for
your elders."

"We shall try to mind our own affairs, and trust to other people to do
the same," flashed Miriam, eyeing the other girl