he first link in a chain of petty
difficulties with which Grace was obliged to contend as a junior. The
carnival given by the Semper Fidelis Club in which the Alice in
Wonderland Circus was enacted, the important part which Jean, the old
hunter of Oakdale fame, played in one Overton girl's life, the message
Emma Dean forgot to deliver, and countless other absorbing incidents
served to fill their junior year with ceaseless interest.

"Grace Harlowe's Fourth Year at Overton College" found Grace
and her friends on the homeward stretch with commencement at the end of
their college trail. The record of Grace's senior year was filled with
happenings grave and gay. It ended in a blaze of honor and glory, and it
was on Commencement day that she made her decision to return to Overton
and look after Harlowe House, lately completed and endowed by Mrs. Gray
in honor of her young friends and dedicated to the use of poor girls who
were making valiant efforts to obtain an education.

It was in reference to Harlowe House, her future home, that Grace and
Mrs. Gray had made this midsummer pilgrimage, as Grace had laughingly
styled it, to Overton. As their car glided through the shady streets of
the dignified college town Grace wondered if it were really eight years
since her freshman days in Oakdale High School. It certainly couldn't be
four years since Mabel Ashe had conducted her and Anne and Miriam to the
Tourraine on that first eventful afternoon. She remembered just how
beautiful Mabel had looked in her white linen frock, with her white
embroidered parasol tilted over one shoulder, an effective frame for her
lovely face and wavy, golden-brown hair.

"Dreaming, Grace?" Mrs. Gray's voice dispelled the vision. "I can't
blame you. I suppose this ride brings up hosts of memories."

Grace nodded. She could not trust her voice to answer. A sudden mist
filled her eyes, a silent tribute to those whose feet had once kept pace
with hers through these beloved ways. Commencement had scattered them
broadcast. She, alone, was coming back again to take up life at the
college. How she would miss them all. The dry irresistible humor of Emma
Dean, the sturdy independence of J. Elfreda Briggs, the daintiness of
Arline Thayer and the steadfast loyalty of Ruth Denton. Last of all
there were Anne and Miriam. Anne, her devoted little comrade of years,
and Miriam, whose faith and good fellowship had never failed her.

A sob rose in Grace's throat, but s