o the dignity of the main building.
The faculty occupied the north end of it.

Beverly had arrived the previous afternoon and, owing to the fact that
she had never been at school before in all her fifteen years, nor
journeyed very far afield from dear old Woodbine, she did not know a soul
at Leslie Manor so far as she now knew.

The parting of the ways when Athol and Archie bade her good-by at Front
Royal and, accompanied by Admiral Seldon, went on to Kilton Hall gave
Beverly an entirely new sensation. She then fully realized that she was
growing up and that the old happy-go-lucky days of boy and girl frolicking
were slipping into the background. That from that very spot where the
roads branched she must begin her journey toward young-ladyhood, as the
boys must begin theirs toward manhood, and the thought hurt like a
physical pain. She didn't want to grow up and leave those happy days
behind.

She had been met at Front Royal by one of the teachers who was returning
to the school. Beverly had tried to talk to her as she would have talked
with any one at home. But Miss Baylis did not encourage familiarity upon
the part of the pupils, and promptly decided that Beverly was one of
those irresponsible, impulsive Southern girls who always proved such
trials to her and Miss Woodhull before they could be brought to
understand strict conventions. Consequently, she had met Beverly's
warm-hearted, spontaneous manner with frigid politeness and had relieved
herself of the young girl's society the moment the school was reached.

Luckily, Beverly had fallen into Mrs. Bonnell's hands directly she
reached Leslie Manor, so some of the ice coating in which she had made
the five-mile drive from the railway station had been thawed by that
lovable lady. But she had passed a desperately lonely evening in her room
unpacking and getting settled, and had gone to bed in a frame of mind
rarely experienced by Beverly Ashby.

Her room-mate, like many other tardy ones, would not arrive until the
next day, and the whole atmosphere of the place spelled desolation for
Beverly.

Her first Waterloo had been encountered early that morning when, feeling
lonelier than she ever had felt in all her life, she dressed early and
ran out to the stable to visit Apache. He seemed as lonely and forlorn as
his little mistress and thinking to cheer him as well as herself, she had
led him forth by his halter and together they had enjoyed one grand
prance down the