ll of my chums recite English this first
hour. You needn't stop at Miss Merton's desk. It'll be all right."

Marjorie walked down the aisle behind Muriel, looking rather worried.
Then she touched Muriel's arm. "I think I'd rather stop and speak to
Miss Merton," she said with soft decision.

"All right," the response came indifferently as Muriel, a bored look on
her youthful face, walked on ahead.

Marjorie walked bravely up to the teacher. "Miss Merton, I have arranged
my studies and recitation hours. Miss Harding is going to show me the
way to the English composition class."

Miss Merton stared coldly at the girl's vivid, colorless face, framed in
its soft brown curls. Her own youth had been prim and narrow, and she
felt that she almost hated this girl whose expressive features gave
promise of remarkable personality and abundant joy of living.

"Very well." The disagreeable note of dismissal in the teacher's voice
angered Marjorie.

"I'll never again speak to her unless it's positively necessary," she
resolved resentfully. "I wish I'd taken Miss Harding's advice."

"Well, did she snap your head off?" inquired Muriel as Marjorie joined
her.

"No," was the brief answer.

"It's a wonder. There goes the third bell. It's on to English comp for
us. I won't have time to introduce you to the girls. We'll have to wait
until noon. Miss Flint teaches English. She's a dear, and everyone likes
her."

Muriel's voice dropped on her last speech, for they were now entering
the classroom. At the first flat-topped desk in one corner of the room
sat a small, fair woman with a sweet, sunshiny face that quite won
Marjorie to her.

"Miss Flint, this is Miss Dean," began Muriel, as they stopped before
the desk. "She is a freshman and has just been registered in the study
hall by Miss Merton."

A long, earnest glance passed between teacher and pupil, then Marjorie
felt her hand taken between two small, warm palms. "I am sure Miss Dean
and I are going to be friends," said a sweet, reassuring voice that
amply made up for Miss Merton's stiffness. "Are you a stranger in
Sanford, my dear? I am sure I have never seen you before."

"We have lived here a week," smiled Marjorie. "We moved here from
B----."

"How interesting. Were you a student of Franklin High School? I have a
dear friend who teaches English there."

"Oh!" exclaimed Marjorie, her eyes sparkling, "do you mean Miss
Fielding?"

"Yes," returned Miss Flint. "We were be