go on to Overton Hall to learn her fate," smiled Grace.
"Good-bye. You may expect me when you see me."

Grace swung across the campus toward Overton Hall at her usual brisk
pace. A few moments more and she would be fairly launched in her new
undertaking. She had no desire to run out to meet the future, yet she
could not refrain from wondering what her first year on the campus would
bring her. So far it had brought her Mary Reynolds, but somewhere in the
world there were thirty-one other girls whose faces were set toward
Overton and Harlowe House.

A peculiar wave of dismay swept over Grace at the thought of actually
being responsible for the welfare of so many persons. The old saying
concerning the rushing in of fools where angels walk warily came
involuntarily to her mind. Then she laughed and squaring her capable
shoulders murmured half aloud, "I'm neither a fool nor an angel. I'm
just Grace Harlowe, a 'mere ordinary human being,' as Hippy would put
it. I'm not going to be so silly as to expect to get along with a whole
houseful of girls without some friction. Like the gardens Anne and I
planted away back in our freshman year, there are sure to be a few weeds
among the flowers."

CHAPTER IX

MARY REYNOLDS MAKES A NEW FRIEND

"Twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one and Mary Reynolds makes thirty-two.
Isn't it fortunate that there was a place all ready for her?" Grace
Harlowe looked eagerly up from the list of names which she had been
intently scanning.

"Very fortunate," smiled Miss Wilder. "I am quite curious to see your
protege, Miss Harlowe."

Miss Wilder, the dean of Overton College, had been genuinely glad to
welcome Grace Harlowe back to the college fold. During Grace's four
years as a student at Overton she had greatly endeared herself to the
dignified, but kindly, dean, who had watched her pass from honor to
honor with the same sympathetic interest which Miss Thompson, the
principal of Oakdale High School, had ever exhibited in Grace's
progress.

It was now almost four o'clock in the afternoon. Grace had spent a busy
two hours in Miss Wilder's office going over the applications for
admittance to Harlowe House and discussing ways and means with her
superior.

"Do you know, Miss Wilder, that one of the very nicest things about you
is your interest in one's friends and plans?" Grace regarded the older
woman with sparkling eyes. "Away back in my freshman days I can remember
that I never came to you w