a girl by the name of Agnes Olive Miggs, and was calling her A.O. as
every one else did. In five minutes Mary was calling her A.O. too, and
wishing a little enviously that either one of these bright friendly
girls could have fallen to her lot instead of the polite iceberg she had
run away from.

"But I won't complain of her to them," she thought loyally. "Maybe
she'll improve on acquaintance and be so nice that I'd be sorry some day
that I said anything against her."

Several other girls came in while she sat there, and a box of candy was
passed around. Finding herself in the company of congenial young spirits
was a new experience for Mary.

"Now I know what it means to be 'in the swim,'" she thought exultantly.
"I feel like a duck who has found a whole lake to swim in, when it has
never had anything bigger than a puddle before."

The sensation was so exhilarating that it prompted her to exert herself
to keep on saying funny things and send her audience off into gales of
laughter. And all the time the consciousness deepened that they really
liked her, that she was really entertaining them.

After lunch the day went by in a rush. Each teacher met her classes,
programmes were arranged and lessons assigned. By night Mary had made
the acquaintance of every girl in the Freshman class and many of the
others. She started to her room all aglow with the new experiences,
thinking that if she could only find Ethelinda responsive it would put
the finishing touch to a perfect day. Betty was in the upper hall
surrounded by an admiring circle, for all the old girls who remembered
her as the star of her class, and all the new ones who had been
attracted to her from the moment they saw her were crowding around her
as if she were holding some kind of court. It was a moment of triumph
for Mary when Betty laughingly excused herself from them all and drew
her aside.

"Come into my room a few minutes," she said. "I've something to show
you," While she was looking through her desk to find it she asked,
"Well, how goes it, little girl? Is school all you dreamed it would be?"

"Betty, she won't thaw out a bit."

"Who, dear?"

"That Miss Ethelinda Hurst. When I went up stairs to dress for dinner I
tried my best to be sociable, and brought up every subject that I
thought would interest her. She barely answered till she found that I
had come out to Warwick Hall from the city alone. That horrified her, to
think I'd taken a step without