d not say to Mrs. Dayton the many
things she felt puzzled over, that even Mrs. Aldred could not have
understood, for Mrs. Aldred had never seen her home and knew so little
about her past life.

And, oh, the planning that went on, the different pursuits that were
discussed, the aims and hopes, yet it is true that most of them turned
on marriage. Nearly every girl was confident that this would be her
portion.

Daisy Bell owned Helen now. She was her chum, her comrade. They could
not always be together, of course, and Daisy was a great favorite with
other girls. Indeed, sometimes Helen wondered why she should have chosen
her so exclusively when there was a little world of adorers to pick
from. She could not have understood in her broad-minded nature that
occasionally Daisy longed to make her jealous by a show of fondness for
someone else.

Miss Craven would not come to her room unless it was the afternoon of
Miss Bell's music lessons. She was one of Mr. Griffin's pupils.

"But I am alone here and you can come to me. I am so glad to be alone. I
don't see how I could stand a girl about!" declared Miss Craven.
"Unless," smiling a little, which she did quite often now, to Helen,
"unless it was you."

"And I am not the most charming girl in the school," Helen replied in
her eager, wholehearted fashion. "If you only _would_ let yourself be
friendly with them."

"I'm satisfied with you and Miss Aldred. I like her very much, and most,
I think, because she is beyond twenty. You see I am not young, and that
makes the difference."

"Miss Reid will be nineteen in June, about the time she graduates, and
several of the girls are nearly eighteen or over."

"But they will have finished their education. I have only just begun
mine," protestingly.

"Then there will be the more years to study," with a bright joyous
emphasis. "It's like a climb up a mountain, perhaps the Alps or the
Andes, when you have to come back and try over the next day, and a good
many days, only it grows easier all the time."

"Do you know what I heard one of the girls call me?" and Miss Craven
flushed so deep a red it was almost brown.

Helen flushed, too, but she asked nonchalantly, "What?"

"An old maid! And she said she didn't know what I wanted to come to
school for. I would never know enough to teach. Do you suppose she would
dare call Miss Aldred an old maid?"

"Oh, the girls do call each other that, and they don't mean anything,"
said Helen li