came to me with a long face and confessed. I suppose his
conscience troubled him. He told me that he had made a terrible mistake
in thinking himself in love with me. I humbly agreed with him that he
had. He assured me that he now knew that he could never have been happy
with me. Before he got through explaining, it struck me as being so
funny that I laughed in his face. Now he doesn't speak to me. Neither
does the girl. She evidently believes that she snatched away my last
chance."

The cheerful smile Elfreda turned on her amused listeners as she ended
her recital was hardly an indication of deep sorrow for her double loss.

"That reminds me of Emma Dean's one romance," smiled Grace. "I shan't
tell you about it. Wait until we have the reunion and I'll ask her to
dig up her sentimental past for your benefit."

"I hope I can arrange my vacation so that I can attend the reunion,
too," sighed Kathleen. "As Patience Eliot and I have been invited to be
the Sempers' guests of honor, naturally I don't care to miss it."

"Can you get away from the paper at any time during August?" asked Anne
thoughtfully.

"Yes; but only for a week," Kathleen spoke regretfully.

"Then let us decide upon the time now," proposed Miriam. "I am sorry to
be a kill-joy, but one week will have to be my limit this year. I wish I
could spare two, but it's impossible."

"I intended to speak of that," nodded Elfreda. "I'd love to have you
girls with me longer but I know that most of you are cramped for time.
So I'll be magnanimous and say, 'thank you for small favors.'"

The subject of the reunion thus renewed, it was decided to hold it
during the second week in August, and the six friends began an avid
planning for it. From that the conversation drifted back to Overton
College, always a fruitful topic for discussion. It was truly a
heart-to-heart talk. Because of the perfect fellowship that existed
among them, they could look back and speak frankly not only of their
lighter hours, but also of the graver moments when the struggle to reach
their aims had seemed well-nigh impossible.

Half-past eleven o'clock found them still lingering on the veranda, the
incessant murmur of their busy voices proclaiming their mutual
satisfaction in being together once more. When at last a voluble
procession wended its way upstairs to bed, the usual amount of visiting
between rooms was carried on with the old-time fervor of college days.

"It's exactly like old t