returning calls; the
conventions which were observed when one had a spread, and the social
distinction between that and a fudge party. Fudge-making was always
informal, and often surreptitious. Anyone might be invited to it; but a
spread and chafing-dish party observed a difference.

"It had been known," Sara said, "in that very dormitory that
freshmen--girls who had not been in school a month--had had the audacity
to invite a senior to their parties. But they never did it a second
time."

Thus having put Hester on the right track socially, Sara took up her
tray and departed.

"The first bell rings at nine forty-five," so Sara had informed her.
This gave the girls a half-hour to prepare for bed and for Bible
reading.

Hester looked at the time. It was fully an hour before the retiring bell
would ring. She had a feeling that after the first night, she would not
mind being alone. She felt like an alien now. Perhaps, she would soon
become part. She hoped so at least; for there is nothing quite as
lonesome as being alone among many people. Sara had offered to escort
her to breakfast and to introduce her to the other girls. Had Helen
Loraine been in school, the courtesy would have been hers to fulfill.

To sit idle was impossible to Hester. The little box in which she had
placed her pin, lay on the table. Without thinking, she placed it in the
corner of her wardrobe, where it fitted snugly. In the shadow, it was
hardly distinguishable from the woodwork. She put it safely away and
then, perhaps because it was a new possession, straightway forgot about
it for months.

Helen's photographs were many. The seminary girls had the habit of
exchanging pictures each commencement. So it followed that students who
had gone through their spring semesters, were well provided for in the
line of pictures. Hester looked them over. There were girls and girls
and yet more girls. Some wore evening dresses and hair in party style;
others were in cap and gown. There were gymnasium costumes and bathing
suits--all utilized for the picturing of girls.

Among the hundred or more were but one or two which were not those of
students. There was one, old and fingermarked. It was that of a mother
and children. The mother was young and beautiful. A boy leaned against
her knee and a baby nestled in her arms. The boy was a handsome, manly
little fellow; the baby was dimpled and smiling; its head was covered
with soft dark curls, and its eyes were la