ar
girl! If ever I come to mean half as much to lonely freshmen as you
meant to me, I shall feel that I have succeeded gloriously."

Wrapped in recollections of the past, which she realized were bound to
haunt her at every turn until time and work had banished her sense of
loss, Grace did not hear the light footsteps of the tall young woman who
bore noiselessly down upon her like an avenging fate. Suddenly Grace
felt two soft, cool hands close over her eyes.

"Oh!" she gasped. Then she laughed. "I know it's some one I'm anxious to
see. Is it Kathleen?"

The hands did not relax their pressure.

"Is it Laura Atkins?" guessed Grace again.

The pressure tightened a little.

"I know now," cried Grace. "Why didn't I guess you first of all? It's
Patience."

The hands fell away from her eyes. Grace wheeled about into a pair of
encircling arms. A very tall, fair-haired young woman stood looking down
on her with a face full of lively affection. "I wonder if you are as
glad to see me as I am to see you, Grace," was her first speech.

"Every bit as glad," responded Grace with emphasis. "Emma and I have
been looking forward to your coming every day since we came."

"Emma?" interrogated Patience. "Do you mean to tell me that Emma Dean is
here?"

"Yes," replied Grace happily. "She's come back to be Miss Duncan's
assistant. Isn't that splendid?"

"I've been mourning Emma among the rest of the bright departed spirits,"
smiled Patience, "and thinking of how dull Wayne Hall will be this year
without her. Emma is Emma, you know, and cannot be duplicated, imitated
nor replaced. I suppose, as a teacher, she'll live in one of the faculty
houses, instead of Wayne Hall."

"She is going to have part of my suite at Harlowe House," said Grace.
"But, before I say another word, where are you going?"

"To Overton Hall to see Miss Wilder."

"Can't you put off going until to-morrow morning?" asked Grace.

"Yes, if you and Emma will go with me to the six-thirty train to meet
Kathleen and then to dinner at Vinton's afterward."

"Will we?" cried Grace. "I should say--I'm afraid we can't, Patience."
Her jubilant tone changed to one of disappointment. "I forgot all about
Mary Reynolds."

"Who is Mary Reynolds and what did I ever do to her that causes her to
conspire to cheat me of the society of my friends?" inquired Patience
humorously.

"Not a single thing," assured Grace brightening again. "She's the
thirty-second applicant for ad