"To begin with, I found that Mrs. Blythe, who
is comparatively a young woman, although she
has two sons away at school, is one of the old
Warwick Hall girls. She wears the alumni pin,
with Edryn's crest on it and the motto 'I keep
tryste.' And she adores Madam Chartley and
everything connected with the school. After I
discovered that I knew everything would be all
right no matter what she set me to doing.

"She had a dressmaker there fitting a gown for
her, when I was ushered into her room, and
there wasn't a thing in it to suggest her need
of a secretary except a frivolous looking
little desk in one corner. She talked to me
about Warwick Hall all the time she was being
fitted until a neighbor dropped in to ask her
to pour tea for her at an informal reception
next day. I 'sized her up,' as the boys say, as
a pretty little woman fond of dainty clothes
and good times, one who would always shine at a
social function and be popular because she is
such a winsome, sweet little thing, but not
much more than that.

"When the dressmaker left, Mrs. Blythe crossed
over to the desk and opened it, and it was so
chuck full of papers and letters and
business-like looking legal documents, that
they began to pour out all over the floor.

"She said in a laughing way that that was the
reason she needed another pair of hands, and
then turned and gave me a searching look with
those dark eyes of her, as if she were taking
_my_ measure, and said:

"'I hope that Madam Chartley was not mistaken
and that you will prove equal to the task, for
it is a big undertaking I've called you to help
me with--_The awakening of a State!_'

"I was as astonished as if a fluffy little
kitten had opened its mouth, and instead of
gently mewing, had roared out, 'Cry havoc and
let slip the dogs of war!' Luckily she was so
busy sorting the papers and stuffing them back
into pigeon-holes that she didn't see my face,
or she couldn't have gone on in such a matter
of course way to explain what she wanted me to
do. She said I must become so thoroughly
familiar with the situation that I coul