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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hester's Counterpart, by Jean K. Baird
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Hester's Counterpart
+       A Story of Boarding School Life
+
+Author: Jean K. Baird
+
+Illustrator: Adele W. Jones
+
+Release Date: October 20, 2008 [EBook #26973]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HESTER'S COUNTERPART ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Josephine Paolucci
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+HESTER'S COUNTERPART
+
+[Illustration: THE WATER CREPT UP.--_Page 284._]
+
+THE HESTER BOOKS
+
+
+HESTER'S COUNTERPART
+
+A STORY OF BOARDING SCHOOL LIFE
+
+BY
+JEAN K. BAIRD
+Author of "The Coming of Hester"
+
+_ILLUSTRATED BY ADELE W. JONES_
+
+[Illustration]
+
+BOSTON
+LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.
+
+Published, August, 1910
+
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.
+_All Rights Reserved_
+
+HESTER'S COUNTERPART
+
+NORWOOD PRESS
+BERWICK & SMITH CO.
+NORWOOD, MASS.
+U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+The water crept up (Page 284)                        _Frontispiece_
+
+                                                       FACING PAGE
+
+"I am Helen Loraine"                                         68
+
+Again Hester deftly returned it                              92
+
+"Oh, girls, do you happen to have any cold cream?"          122
+
+"You remember me, I see, Miss Alden"                        150
+
+They held their breath                                      290
+
+
+
+
+HESTER'S COUNTERPART
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+Debby Alden, to use her own adjective in regard to herself, was not
+"slack." To this her friends added another term. Debby was "set." There
+could be no doubt of that.
+
+When Hester was but twelve years old, Debby had decided that the girl
+should have at least one year at the best boarding-school. Four years
+had passed, during which time, Debby's purpose had remained firm,
+although not yet ripe for perfecting.
+
+After the experience with Mary Bowerman's taunts and Abner Stout's
+guile, Debby decided that the time had come for Hester to have a change
+of environment. Miss Richards's advice was again sought. But that old
+friend no longer held the full power in her hands. Debby had grown
+alive and alert. She knew the standing of the schools throughout the
+State, and in what particular line of study or discipline each one
+excelled.
+
+For months, she studied catalogues and estimated expenses. She had never
+made a study of psychology; but she understood that Hester had reached
+the most impressionable age of her life. Each thought and word would
+leave its marks upon her. Debby, who believed firmly that tendencies are
+inherited, had always with her the fear that Hester would show the
+tendencies of an alien race. Her one consolation was that much may be
+overcome by training, and too, perhaps, there was in Hester's veins only
+a drop of darker blood.
+
+No one understood the position in which Debby Alden was placed. She
+always held herself responsible for the death of Hester's mother. Duty
+had compelled her to take care of the child, until love had come to her
+as a reward for the fulfillment of duty.
+
+There was no one to whom she could speak concerning Hester and her fears
+in regard to her. One thing she had done and would do; she would keep
+the child far removed from any influence which would tend to the
+strengthening of those traits which are supposed rightfully to belong to
+the race of slaves.
+
+Debby consulted principals and teachers and read and re-read catalogues.
+At length, she decided upon Dickinson Seminary as the school which came
+nearest to fulfilling her desires for Hester.
+
+Hester had always been sweet and submissive to Debby Alden. The girl had
+more than love for the woman who was mother and father both to her.
+Mingled with Hester's love for Debby was an inexpressible gratitude.
+Hester realized how much Debby had done and was doing for her. But it
+was not the dainty dresses and good home that touched her most. Debby
+Alden had given the waif her mother's name, and Hester never wrote in
+her big angular hand, Hester Palmer Alden, without feeling a glow of
+pride. She had a name of which to be proud, a name which Debby Alden had
+always held dear.
+
+"It was the very kindest thing Aunt Debby could do," was a thought which
+came often to Hester. "She must have loved me even from the first, or
+she would have never given me her own name. She's so proud of being an
+Alden. Their name has never had a bit of shame or disgrace touch it."
+Then she added an afterthought, "and it never will through me."
+
+One day she brought up the subject of the Alden name while in
+conversation with her aunt. Hester expressed herself warmly on the
+subject and the elder woman listened with a lightening heart. The pride
+of the Alden name and family which Hester showed, pleased her. To Debby
+came the thought that only those who had such birthrights could
+comprehend and appreciate the honor of possessing them. For a moment,
+she believed that she might have been mistaken in regard to Hester's
+parentage; but just for a moment. She could not close her eyes to facts.
+She, herself, had seen the purple tinge about the finger nails of the
+woman and had observed the lips and eyes which were peculiar to another
+race.
+
+"It was beautiful of you, Aunt Debby, to give me your name, and I'll
+never, never bring shame to it."
+
+"Let us talk no more of the subject," was the curt rejoinder. "We have
+much to do before you are ready to go to Dickinson, and we must not
+spend our time in telling what is to be done or not to be done a dozen
+years from now."
+
+Hester was drying the dishes. At the mention of going to school, she
+stopped. Regardless of consequences, she raised her tea-towel in one
+hand like a banner, and Aunt Debby's blue cream jug, a relic of the
+Alden family, high in the other.
+
+"Dickinson Seminary!" she exclaimed in a voice pitched high with
+nervousness. "I'll tell you right this minute, Aunt Debby, I will not
+go."
+
+Had the ceiling fallen down upon her, Debby Alden could not have been
+more surprised. Hester, the obedient, now in the guise of an insurgent.
+
+"_Will_ not, Hester Palmer Alden, is not the word to use to me. I am the
+one to decide what is best for you to do or not to do, and I've decided
+upon your going to Dickinson."
+
+The voice of the speaker was strong with the Alden firmness and
+decision. Perhaps, she forced herself to unusual firmness lest her
+great love for the girl should make her weak in discipline. She expected
+that Hester, having once made so strong an affirmation, would cling to
+it and perhaps be inclined to disputation. On the contrary, Hester began
+to sob.
+
+Debby turned to look at the girl, down whose cheeks the tears were
+streaming. Then she said with a show of gentleness: "It's only natural
+that you feel bad about leaving home. Everyone does that. I really
+should not feel pleased if you did not feel bad. You can not give up to
+that feeling. I do not mean to permit you to do so. School is the best
+place for you, and you must go. You'll enjoy it after a while."
+
+"I was not thinking about myself, Aunt Debby. I was thinking of you. Do
+you think that I can ever enjoy being away and having a good time while
+you are here alone?"
+
+"I was used to being alone before you--"
+
+"But you are not used to it now. I'll think of you sitting here alone in
+the evening. Every time you leave the house you'll be alone and you'll
+come into a lonely house when you come back. I will not go and leave
+you here, Aunt Debby, and you cannot make me."
+
+"Hester Alden--." Debby Alden meant to be firm. It was scandalous to
+have a child so express herself to her elder, and that elder as a mother
+to her. Debby Alden would not be weak. She would be firm, and not so
+much as allow Hester to express an opinion.
+
+"Hester Alden," she began, but could say no more because of a queer
+little catch in her voice. She turned back to her dish-pan and fell with
+great vigor to her dishwashing. After a few moments, she felt that she
+could control herself, and turning to Hester, said, "Now, Hester Alden,
+we'll have done with this nonsense right here. I've been alone and stood
+it fairly well and I can stand it again. What does it matter if I am
+alone? I'm no longer a young girl who demands company. I'm just a plain
+old--"
+
+"Why, Aunt Debby--you are not. Doesn't everyone say you're beautiful,
+and you're not old--and you're never going to get old." Hester turned
+and brought her foot down with some vigor, as though she would frighten
+old age and gray hair and loneliness from the house.
+
+"Why, Aunt Debby, everyone says you're beautiful. The girls at
+school--."
+
+Debby's cheeks flushed. There was something very sweet in the assertion,
+although she did not believe it even for a moment. But in all her forty
+years, no one had ever used that word in speaking of Debby. Although she
+felt that even now love, and not facts, was making use of it, she was
+touched. She was a woman after all, and it was sweet to find herself
+beautiful in someone's eyes.
+
+But discipline must be maintained. She turned toward Hester. The girl
+threw her arms about Debby Alden's neck and sobbed, and Debby held up
+her kitchen apron before her eyes and wept silently.
+
+"There, Hester, there!" she said at last. "We're both very silly, very
+silly. You must go to school and that's an end to it."
+
+"No, Aunt Debby. I'll never go and leave you here alone. If I go, you
+must go with me."
+
+"Go with you! That is the veriest nonsense, Hester. Debby Alden in a
+seminary. I'm not in my second childhood yet."
+
+"But you could live in town. Mame Thomas has a cousin who lives in a
+little flat. She's a widow and keeps her girls in school. Couldn't you
+go and live there. We could see each other--."
+
+"The dish-water is getting cold. Really, Hester, you and I are getting
+slack. I believe that is the first time in my life that I ever stood
+talking and let my dish-water get cold. It isn't a good way of doing.
+Mother never allowed us to be slack about such things. I was not brought
+up to talk first and work afterward. Think of me, a woman my age, doing
+such a thing!"
+
+Taking up the dish-pan, she left the kitchen to empty the water. Hester
+dried her tears. Her heart grew light. She understood Aunt Debby well
+and she knew that the talk about letting the work stand was only a
+chastisement Debby was giving herself, when she felt herself yielding.
+
+The subject was again discussed during the evening. No decision was
+reached. Debby, however, conceded enough to say that she would think the
+matter over and would ask Miss Richards's opinion concerning it.
+
+Hester was fully satisfied with this. She knew that her Aunt Debby never
+forgot a promise. Hester knew also that Miss Richards would advise Debby
+Alden to spend a winter in the city.
+
+The following day, after the housework had been finished and the dinner
+dishes put away, Debby Alden dressed and went to call upon her friend.
+
+Hester went with her, as far as Jane Orr's home. "I'll be back shortly,
+Hester. You may stay with Jane until I call for you."
+
+She made her way down the main street of the little country town.
+
+Hester paused as she was about to mount the steps, and turned to look at
+the retreating figure. She could not restrain a smile. "It's certainly
+odd, but Aunt Debby doesn't seem to know how pretty she is."
+
+Hester's adjective was not strong enough to describe Aunt Debby. There
+was something infinitely greater and finer in the woman than mere
+prettiness.
+
+Debby Alden at twenty-five had been scrawny, hard-featured and severe.
+She then had the appearance of one who knew only the hard things of
+life, and was giving expression to them in her features and carriage.
+But this new Debby Alden was wholly different. Hester had brought love
+and interest with her. Debby Alden was alive to the world about her, and
+her active interests had given brilliance to her eyes and lightness to
+her steps. The angles of twenty-five years had been softened into
+curves. Debby was no longer hard-featured and scrawny. She had grown
+plump and round.
+
+Some old wise man declares that it is woman's fault if she be not
+handsome at forty years; for then the body is but the reflection of life
+itself. Debby had been so true and faithful and so big-hearted and
+generous, that at forty, beautiful was the only word worthy to describe
+her.
+
+Debby's call upon Miss Richards was short. To-day was one day when all
+things were working toward favoring Hester's project.
+
+Miss Richards was growing old. She did not wish to travel alone or to be
+far from her friends. She was dainty, gracious, and smiling as ever,
+but age had laid its finger lightly upon her.
+
+She listened to Debby Alden's plans.
+
+"You are young yet, Debby," she said. "No woman should be content to sit
+at home and not improve her time. With Hester gone, there will be
+nothing to keep you here. The school is but a short distance from town.
+Why not rent a small flat?"
+
+"But what would I do with no responsibilities? Keeping two or three
+rooms in order will not employ my time."
+
+"Lockport is famed for lectures and recitals. Study-clubs are plentiful.
+You could read and study and you might practise your music, Debby. A few
+lessons will do you worlds of good."
+
+"Lessons when I am almost forty years old!"
+
+"Forty years young, my dear girl. Lessons, why not? Life is one long
+school term. The pupil who expects a hundred-mark must be learning and
+moving onward all the time. I am more than twenty years your senior,
+and yet I feel as though I was but beginning to learn how to live."
+
+She paused a moment. Her mind dwelt on the things which were past. Then
+with a radiant smile, she turned to her companion. "Be very much alive
+while you are alive, Debby. The interests you have outside yourself will
+add to your own happiness. If you wish to find perfect happiness, fill
+your life with vital interests. Go to Lockport, study, read and work;
+see Hester when your heart longs for her. I--" she paused, wondering if
+Debby would accept her suggestion.
+
+"I should like to be with you, Debby. I need something new. Each winter
+I have been south for so many years that it is a story oft told. Do you
+think that you and I could be happy together in a little flat? Hester
+then could have two hearts to fill with interest."
+
+She looked wistfully toward Debby. For the first time Debby realized
+that her old friend was alone--very much alone as far as hearth-ties and
+love were concerned. It was not with thoughts of her own enjoyment that
+Debby's heart bounded. As an inspiration, it came to her that she held
+within her hands that which would fill the void in her friend's life.
+
+"I am sure we could," said Debby. "We might as well settle the matter
+here, and we'll go to town this very week, attend to selecting Hester's
+room and we'll look up a nice little place for ourselves. We'll not have
+it too far from the school."
+
+Then observing Miss Richards smiling, she added, "I presume you think
+I'm a little hasty; but I don't see it in just that way. Anyone with
+judgment can readily see that it is just the thing for us to do. When
+our minds are made up, there's no use in being slack. We'll go Thursday.
+Hester may stay with Jane Orr. Mrs. Orr will be glad to have her. And
+now, I must go and tell Hester. I don't understand how that child came
+to be so foolishly sentimental. She has taken the notion that she cannot
+be happy anywhere without me. Utter nonsense, of course! I've tried to
+train her to believe that one's happiness never depends on another."
+
+She went her way, leaving her friend smiling at the speech. When Debby
+had gone, Miss Richards spoke aloud: "Debby, Debby Alden, how fearfully
+blind you are about yourself and your girl! How could Hester ever think
+other than she does when every bit of happiness in the child's life has
+emanated from you. Hester has sound judgment for one of her years, and
+she knows how much she owes to you."
+
+But Hester did not know the full amount of her debt to her foster aunt
+nor did Miss Richards; for Debby kept her own secret in regard to
+Hester's parentage and no one but herself knew the fearful weight it was
+upon her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+Thursday morning, Miss Richards and Debby Alden started for Lockport.
+This was a small city and the county seat. Its situation made it a
+pleasant place to spend the summer and the population increased and
+diminished with the change of seasons.
+
+The town lay between two ridges of high mountains. On one side the river
+flowed; on the opposite side Beech Creek, the conjunction of the streams
+being at the eastern edge of town. On the brow of the lower hills were
+the summer homes of the city folk. There were acres of lawn and grove
+with natural ravines through which ran little streams and over whose
+banks the laurels grew in wild profusion. Back of these hills, the
+mountains towered like great green giants. On foggy days, their peaks
+were hidden in clouds. They were awe-inspiring, for fog-covered brows
+spoke of mysteries beyond the comprehension of those who dwelt below.
+
+The valley grew narrow toward the western end. Here, nestled close
+between hills, was Dickinson Seminary, one of the most exclusive and
+rigidly-disciplined schools of the State. The campus and grove beyond
+were extensive. Beech Creek lay to the south and was used for bathing
+and boating and skating in their seasons. It was a deep, narrow stream.
+Being fed only by a few short mountain brooks, it was little affected by
+floods.
+
+To the north lay the river. It was serene and powerful, except when its
+waters were swollen. Then it made its way over the banks and encroached
+upon the campus. The seminary folk were pleased than otherwise at this,
+for on the river-soaked campus edge the willows and water birches
+thrived, and made a beautiful protection for the campus. The river was
+at a distance from the building; yet at flood time on a quiet night as
+the girls lay in bed listening, they could hear the noise of its waters.
+
+Debby Alden and Miss Richards reached Lockport just at noon Thursday.
+Debby's first thought was of Hester and her accommodations at school.
+She visited the seminary, attended to matters there, and returned to the
+city. The expenses connected with Hester's education would not be light,
+and Debby knew that she would be compelled eventually to use the little
+money which her father had put by for a rainy day; the interest of which
+had met her living expenses. The woman looked forward and saw the time
+when her money would be gone. But, strange to say, contrary as her
+present mode of action was to all her inheritance and previous training,
+she anticipated no day when she would be reduced to poverty. She
+calculated closely, knowing almost to a dime what the three following
+years would cost her and Hester.
+
+By that time, perhaps, Hester would be prepared for some life-work and
+as for Debby--. She smiled grimly when she thought of coming to a place
+where she could not take care of herself. "It's not the Alden way to get
+stuck," she repeated to herself.
+
+She mentally reviewed all these conditions before she set out with Miss
+Richards in search of a flat suited to their needs. In her look into the
+future, Debby believed herself able to see her way clear for three full
+years.
+
+"And then, if the worst comes to the worst, I can sell the timber land.
+It's never brought in anything."
+
+She put this last thought into words. "Does that mean that you are
+pressed for money, Debby?"
+
+"Not yet; but I may be before three years are gone, and Hester is
+through with school. I can see my way clear for three years."
+
+"You are fortunate indeed if that be so. A score of things may happen
+that you know nothing of now. I have learned to anticipate neither joy
+nor sorrow but to take each day as it comes."
+
+"But surely one must look ahead. Money matters do not take care of
+themselves. Hester's schooling will cost me almost every cent of my
+ready money. I'll have only my little place and the timber tracts
+beyond."
+
+"You are not scattering your money in sending Hester to school, Debby.
+You are placing it where it will draw the greatest interest. Sometime
+you'll draw a big dividend." She smiled reassuringly.
+
+"I hope so; but I wasn't thinking of that now. All I want is to have
+Hester prepared for some work--to take care of herself and be a happy
+useful woman when I'm gone."
+
+"Meanwhile, we'll stop in here and look at this little place. I think,
+Debby, you and I will never be content to shut ourselves up in little
+boxes on a second or third floor."
+
+"No, I want room to breathe and some place outside where I can set my
+foot on the soil. I'm not one who likes the click of my own heels on the
+pavement. There's something about putting your feet on the earth that
+makes you feel that you belong."
+
+The place into which they now turned was a little cottage at the extreme
+east of town near the conjunction of creek and river, yet high on the
+brow of a hill. It was a simple little place, weather-beaten and faded;
+but a strip of sod ran about the front and side. The little low porch
+was shaded with a Virginia creeper, and an old gnarled tree at the
+corner leaned over the roof as though about to rest itself against it.
+
+Its being at the extreme end of town from the seminary was to Debby
+Alden the one thing against it.
+
+"If we were at the west end, Hester could slip in each day. The pupils
+are allowed an hour 'off campus' you know."
+
+"And she would come to you with every thought that troubled her. You
+would be bearing her childish burdens just as you have always done. If
+you live where Hester can talk with you each day, she will lose the
+greatest benefit a year in school can give her."
+
+"I think you are right," said Debby Alden.
+
+"I like the house. I'm used to low ceilings and big porches and vines.
+I'm satisfied with it if you are; and we'll have Hester home but once a
+month."
+
+It was best for Hester to be away and to learn to depend upon herself.
+That fact settled matters for Debby Alden. If it were good for Hester,
+then it should be done and Debby Alden would give no thought to herself
+in this matter.
+
+Miss Richards was pleased with the house and the two friends made
+arrangements with the care-taker to have it ready for them a few days
+before the opening of school. There were papering and painting to be
+done. Had it been within her own home, Debby Alden would have done the
+work herself. Every bit of woodwork in her own home had been done over
+with her own brush, and her paper-hanging had won the admiration of the
+country-side.
+
+The next in the course of events was selecting the articles of furniture
+which might be spared from home. Debby had no idea of dismantling her
+old home. The house had been built and furnished for a large family.
+There were furnished bedrooms which Debby and Hester never entered
+except at cleaning time; below there were the old-fashioned parlor, the
+living-room with its air of comfort, the dining-room, kitchen and what
+in that locality was termed the shanty-kitchen. This last was a great
+room between the woodshed and kitchen proper. It was provided with every
+article for laundry use, and during the canning season was the scene of
+most of the household activities.
+
+Since the early spring days when going away to school had first been
+mentioned, Hester had viewed the event with dread. She knew nothing of
+meeting strangers and imagined there could be nothing pleasant about it.
+During the summer while Debby had talked and planned, Hester had shown
+little interest and had never of herself, brought up the subject. But
+since she had influenced her Aunt Debby to go to the city with her, she
+was almost satisfied to go. Her joy would have been unbounded had it
+been possible for Debby to be with her within the school. That could not
+be. Hester was wise enough to know that. There was one other course that
+could be followed, however. She could live in town with Aunt Debby and
+Miss Richards and be but a parlor student at the seminary. To Hester's
+mind, this would be a very satisfactory arrangement, and she meant to
+bring it to pass. Having been successful in persuading her Aunt Debby to
+live in town, Hester was confident that it would be no difficult matter
+to persuade her to this second course. Hester was naturally a diplomat.
+There was nothing deceptive about her; but, young as she was, she
+intuitively knew that some times are ripe and some are not for
+discussion. The time propitious for bringing up the question of her
+being but a parlor student was not until Debby and Miss Richards were
+established in their little cottage at the east end of Lockport.
+
+Satisfied that she could bring matters to pass in the fashion she
+desired, Hester grew enthusiastic over the preparation for quitting the
+old home. There was much to be done in spite of the fact that Debby was
+never "slack" in the ways of her household. Every cupboard and closet
+was gone over. Bed clothes were aired and laid away where neither mice,
+rust, nor mildew could touch them. China and silver were sorted and
+again sorted before Debby was able to decide what pieces were best to
+take and what best to leave. The flowers were to be potted and put away
+to keep for spring planting. When it came to this, Debby began to
+realize what leaving home meant.
+
+"I can take the spotted-leaved geranium," she said to Hester while they
+were making the rounds of the garden. "I always do pot that for a
+house-plant. I suppose it will grow as well at Lockport as here, if I
+see that it is attended to. Fortunately for plants, they have no
+feelings."
+
+The words showed sentiment enough, but the tones of Debby's voice made
+them seem harsh and unfeeling. Hester was not deceived. Debby Alden came
+from a race who had for generations looked upon the expression of love
+and sentiment as a weakness. Whenever Debby felt her emotions conquering
+her, she unconsciously resorted to the ways of her forbears; she lashed
+herself into a semblance of sternness in an endeavor to conceal her real
+feelings.
+
+"I suppose I'll not get a look at the asters when they bloom. It would
+be a shame to let them die on the stalk without a soul pulling one. I
+think I'll ask Kate Bowerman to see to them. She might pack up a few and
+send to me. I'm curious to see how that new royal purple turns out. I've
+been suspicious all summer that it would turn out a scrub. It looks
+like a scrub."
+
+She was bending over the plants growing along the fence which divided
+her yard-proper from the garden and wood-yards beyond. Debby was proud
+of her collection of asters which were of every variety known throughout
+the country.
+
+"They certainly are scrubs," she repeated as she bent for a closer
+inspection.
+
+"How do you know, Aunt Debby? To me, they look like the other plants."
+
+"I just know," said Debby. "I don't know how I know, but I just do.
+Plants show their breed just like people and animals. I've no need when
+I look at old Jim Ramsey's horse to be told it's mighty common stock.
+Yes; it has the same number of legs and hoofs and its eyes are in the
+right place, but it isn't a thoroughbred. Anyone can see that at a
+glance. It is just the same with plants. There's a wide difference.
+Though I suppose it is only ones who work about them and love them that
+see the difference. And with people! Some people are born common stock
+and stay common stock all their lives, even if they've lived in
+mansions and hold a dozen diplomas."
+
+She paused suddenly. "Run and get some more crocks, Hester," she added.
+Debby was annoyed at herself in talking of family in the child's
+presence. With Debby's knowledge of Hester's parentage, it was as though
+she had thrown a taunt in the child's face. When Hester returned,
+bearing in her arms the two, large flower-pots, Debby made a point of
+showing her unusual consideration, asking her opinion as to the best
+flowers to be potted and whether she did not wish a plant for her window
+in school.
+
+From the beginning of these preparations, one duty had been firmly fixed
+in Debby's mind. It was not a pleasant one, yet she did not mean to
+shirk it; but she did put it off to the very last morning when she and
+Hester had brought down the trunks and were preparing to pack their own
+personal belongings.
+
+"There are some things in the attic, Hester, which rightfully belong to
+you. I've never mentioned them to you before, because you were yet such
+a child. But now you are leaving and Providence alone knows what may be
+in store for us. I may not come back. Now, don't begin to cry. I expect
+to live a good many years yet; but there's no telling. I believe in
+doing what Grandmother Alden always said, 'Hope for the best, but be
+prepared for the worst.'
+
+"If anything should happen to me, it is only fair that you should have
+what is yours by rights. Just let your packing go this morning. We'll
+have time to finish this afternoon and not be rushed. I want you to go
+with me and look over the clothes that were yours and your mother's.
+
+"I laid your mother out in the best things I could buy; and I kept every
+stitch she wore when the accident befell her. Somewhere or sometime,
+some of her friends will appear and they may be able to recognize these
+clothes."
+
+Debby lead the way to the attic, climbing up the narrow dark stairway
+which lead from the kitchen bedroom and Hester followed at her heels.
+
+The attic was low and narrow. Except in the middle, one could not walk
+without stooping to escape the rafters. Along one side was a long row of
+boxes and trunks in which the Aldens, for generations, had kept their
+heirlooms. So far as money value was considered, there was nothing here
+worth while. A surveyor's compass and staff, a spinning wheel; old blue
+dishes covered with hair-like lines. There was no real lace, and there
+were no handsome gowns. Nevertheless, they meant much to Debby Alden.
+They were family to her.
+
+A little low trunk was at the extreme end of the attic. It was to this
+that Debby directed her steps.
+
+"Everything in this trunk belongs to you, Hester. When I packed it away,
+I put a card inside so that you might know that they were your mother's.
+There's nothing at all of value. Sit down here and we'll go over them."
+
+She knelt before the trunk and opened it. Hester, obedient to Miss
+Debby's wishes, sat down on the floor near the window while the woman
+took out each article and passed it to her companion.
+
+"This is the dress your mother wore. I thought from the material that
+she must have been well-to-do. She had a gentle, nice way of speaking.
+She looked like a woman who had never worked hard and was used to having
+things comfortable. That's why I can't understand how she could
+disappear and no one search for her. We sent notices to all the papers
+for miles about."
+
+Debby Alden paused. She could not justify herself even in her own
+thoughts. By withholding what she knew of Hester's parentage, the
+newspaper accounts of the death of the French woman, had been
+misleading. This was one act of her life that gave her no satisfaction
+in thinking over. She put it from her mind and in nervous haste, passed
+the other articles of clothing to Hester.
+
+"I've saved even her shoes. You see what a little foot she had. Your
+mother was a very pretty woman, Hester. Of course, I saw her only that
+hour at dinner when she sat in the kitchen. She had dark eyes and hair
+and a plump, round figure. You look like her, only there is a
+difference. Your eyes are dark but they don't look as your mother's
+did, and your mouth and expression are not as I remember hers to be."
+
+Hester made no comment as she looked over the clothes. She was not at
+all moved by the sight of these things. She was sixteen, and had come to
+the place where she was able to understand much that Debby did not tell
+her.
+
+She knew that something lay back of all this. Why had none of these
+people come for her? What were they that they would leave a little child
+in the world without ever making an effort to find her? They could not
+have been fine people. Hester was confident of that. She had picked up
+Debby's word and mentally set down the people from which she had sprung
+as "poor stock."
+
+"If I ever am anything at all, it will be because of Aunt Debby's
+training," she concluded as the last article of her mother's clothes lay
+in her hands.
+
+"It seems strange that they never came for you."
+
+"I'm glad they didn't," responded Hester. Her pride was in arms. If her
+own people cared so little for her, she would never grieve for them.
+
+"I am glad--very glad that they didn't," she repeated. "I belong to you.
+I'd rather be your girl than anyone's else and I couldn't be that if
+they had taken me away when I was a baby."
+
+According to tradition, Hester's sentiment was not at all proper. One
+should cherish one's family above all else.
+
+"It isn't right to say such things, Hester. Of course, you and I are
+very near to each other; but you cannot feel toward me as though I was
+your mother."
+
+"Of course not. I feel a great deal more." She arose to her feet,
+dropping on the floor, the articles of clothing which had been in her
+lap. "Why, Aunt Debby, I'd treasure an old shoe-lace of yours more than
+those things." She pointed to the heap of clothes on the floor.
+
+Debby meant to be firm. She had intended from the first that
+Hester should be rigidly disciplined. She believed in "the
+speak-when-spoken-to" child. But there are some arguments that cannot be
+questioned. She wanted Hester to love her above anyone else. She could
+not chide her for doing that. Debby's discipline went to the winds.
+
+"How very foolish you talk, Hester!" she said reprovingly; but she
+looked up at the girl with such a tender light in her eyes, that Hester
+laughed aloud.
+
+"But you like my foolishness, Aunt Debby. I know you do." She was down
+beside Debby Alden with her hand laid caressingly on the woman's arm.
+
+"Now, Hester, you are--"
+
+"But you like me to be foolish. You know you do, Aunt Debby."
+
+"I surely do not--"
+
+Hester laughed again. Aunt Debby was blushing like a young school-girl.
+
+"You cannot say that you do not like it," cried Hester. "You turn the
+question every time and do not answer directly."
+
+"We'll finish this work and go back to our packing," was the firm
+rejoinder. "Your little baby-clothes are here. Your mother must have
+been a fine needle-woman, for the rolled hems and hemstitching are
+perfect."
+
+The little dresses and petticoats were yellow with age. There was no
+distinguishing mark about them. They were of fine sheer linen, and
+exquisitely made. But thousands of babies over the land might have worn
+just such garments.
+
+"You had a little handkerchief about your neck like a bib," continued
+Debby. "This is it. It was pinned down in front with an odd pin. It's
+rather peculiar and not worth much as far as money goes."
+
+She handed the pin to Hester. It was of yellow metal--gold, perhaps--of
+oval shape and about the size of a dime. Inside the outer gold edge was
+woven a narrow strand of hair, and within this was imbedded a peculiar
+yellow stone.
+
+"Isn't it pretty!" cried Hester. She held it in her hands and examined
+it eagerly. It was the first interest she had evinced in anything which
+belonged to that time before she entered the Alden home.
+
+"I fancy it isn't gold," continued Debby Alden. "I never knew gold to
+have that peculiar tinge. It was that way when I unpinned it from your
+bib. I tried to brighten it a little, but I couldn't. It looks now just
+as it did when I laid it away. That stone, of course, is nothing more
+than a bit of yellow glass of small value."
+
+"Yes," said Hester slowly. Her eyes were fixed upon the queer stone. "I
+never saw a bit of glass look so. When I hold it one way, it looks like
+a spark of fire. It looks as deep as a well, when you look directly into
+the center."
+
+"Cut glass," said Debby. "All cut glass reflects light like that."
+
+Cut glass or something more, it appealed to Hester. Turning it about in
+her hand, she examined it critically.
+
+"There's a little hook here at the end," said Hester. "Did you notice
+that, Aunt Debby?" Debby took the pin in her hand to examine it. "I
+didn't notice that before. It has been an old fashioned earring made
+into a pin. Earrings used to be fashionable. No lady ever dressed
+without them, I've heard my mother say. The breast-pin that I wear with
+my gray silk was made from an earring of Grandmother Palmer's. Dear,
+dear, I wonder who wore these."
+
+"I'm going to keep this and wear it, Aunt Debby."
+
+"I don't believe I would, Hester. Someone might ask you where you got
+it."
+
+"And I shall tell them it was my mother's, and that I wore it when I was
+a little baby. That is true. Isn't it, Aunt Debby?"
+
+"You might lose it--" Debby began.
+
+"If I do, no one will care except me. I'd dearly love to have it, Aunt
+Debby. Isn't it my own to do with as I please?"
+
+There was no argument to bring against this, and Debby remained silent.
+Hester, pleased with the bauble, pinned it on her dress and then set
+about replacing the other articles in the trunk.
+
+The pin might be cut glass or something better. Neither Debby nor Hester
+knew, nor could they know that it would bring to Hester loss of friends
+and--but neither the girl or woman could anticipate that. At present,
+all they could do was to admire the glitter of the stone and watch the
+changing lights play upon it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+I was the last week in August when Debby Alden and Miss Richards moved
+into the cottage at the east end of Lockport. The seminary was not to
+open until a week later and Hester was with her friends, assisting in
+every way she could in putting the place to rights.
+
+Thursday evening, the house was immaculate. There was neither fad nor
+fancy about its equipment. Debby had brought down some great
+four-posters, old blue china, and solid silver. Miss Richards had
+several black walnut armchairs that were old enough to have been
+Mayflower Pilgrims, but which were not. There was a rug which Miss
+Richards had picked up in Europe twenty years before and a gay screen
+which Lieutenant Richards had bought a century before in an old junk
+shop in China.
+
+"We look as though we had stepped from a previous century," said Miss
+Richards. "We haven't a modern article about us--" She glanced toward
+Hester and then added--"except Hester."
+
+"You really need me," responded the girl. "I'm the only piece of
+twentieth-century furniture you and auntie have. I think I shall remain
+with you. I could study just as well here as shut up in that old stone
+building. I really think I could get my lessons better."
+
+"I think so, too," said Miss Richards, "that is if you refer but to book
+lessons."
+
+"What other kind could there be?"
+
+"The kind that people teach you. They are all sorts of lessons, as
+varied in kind as there are people. The girls at Dickinson will teach
+you many a good lesson."
+
+"I should think you and Aunt Debby could do it better. I've quite made
+up my mind to be but a parlor student."
+
+"There are some things Debby and I cannot teach you. We love you too
+much to give you the very lessons which we know would prove best for
+you. The girls at school will do that for us."
+
+"I do not always quite understand," said Hester. "Mr. Sanderson used to
+declare that I was neither philosophical nor mathematical. I do not see
+deeply into matters. I do know, though, which I like. Just now there is
+nothing I should like better than being at home with you and Aunt Debby,
+and I have quite made up my mind to that."
+
+"You had better unmake it, Hester," said Debby who, coming into the
+house at that moment, had overheard their words.
+
+"You will remain at the seminary even over Saturday and Sunday, except
+once each month. Miss Weldon does not approve of pupils coming back and
+forth. I think she is quite right. This flitting about gives a most
+unsettled feeling. You will not know where you belong, and we'll have
+none of it for you."
+
+Hester sighed and turned aside. She was disappointed, only for the time.
+Had she been Debby Alden's own daughter, she could not have partaken
+more strongly of some of Debby's characteristics. When Hester once made
+up her mind, she was quite "set." She had no thought of giving up her
+plans.
+
+"About the time that I'm ready to leave them, they'll both realize how
+much they'll miss me. Then I'll be able to persuade Aunt Debby to allow
+me to board at home."
+
+Confident in her power of persuasion, Hester went about her work as
+happy as though the matter had been adjusted to her satisfaction.
+
+There was yet some shopping to be done before Hester's outfit would be
+complete. Miss Debby had purposely delayed buying until she came to
+Lockport where she believed a better selection might be made.
+
+Miss Richards had friends in town and had gone off to spend the day with
+them. After the household duties had been disposed of, Debby and Hester
+set out on their shopping expedition.
+
+The morning was delightful and Debby, who took pleasure in the exercise
+of her muscles, decided to walk. With the exception of the summer homes
+which lay on the outskirts, Lockport was compact. The shopping district
+lay within a few squares. The store windows were tastefully decorated
+and Hester to whom all this was new, lingered to gaze and comment.
+
+"I never knew hats could be so pretty. Did you, Aunt Debby? Why the
+window is a dream--a poem!" She paused to study the millinery display.
+
+She had grown tall. Her shirt-waist suit of white linen was dainty and
+simple. She had pushed back her hat. When she was interested in
+anything, she was wholly unconscious of herself and what was going on
+about her. Now with bright eyes, and flushed cheeks, she stood before
+the window. She was a very pleasing sight to passers-by. More than one
+person stopped for a backward glance and smiled, well pleased, and
+passed on. Someone in particular found her pleasing. A young man
+hurrying from the store adjoining, paused a moment to look at Hester.
+Her face was in profile. All he could see was the cheek and chin, the
+tall, slender figure and the long braid of hair.
+
+He paused but a moment. Then he smiled with delight and advancing, came
+up beside her. "Hello, honey. I did not know you were in town. Are you
+picking your fall chapeau?"
+
+Hester was startled. She looked about her. Debby Alden had moved on and
+unconscious of what was taking place, was studying the display in
+windows several yards distant.
+
+At Hester's alarm, a flush came to the young man's face.
+
+"I humbly crave your pardon," he said, lifting his hat. "I mistook you
+for my cousin Helen. Believe me, I regret exceedingly--"
+
+Debby Alden had turned at this moment. She came hurrying up. Hester had
+been alarmed and turned to lay her hand on Debby's arm.
+
+"He thought I was his cousin," said Hester.
+
+Debby turned toward the young man who would have explained had she
+allowed him to do so; but she gave him such a glance that words failed
+him.
+
+"Come, Hester, an apology is merely an insult." Hester walked meekly
+along. She was not able to grasp the situation.
+
+"He said he thought I was his cousin, Aunt Debby. He seemed so sorry--"
+
+"Nonsense. He had no idea that you were his cousin or anyone else that
+he knew. He is just a smart, ill-bred young man, Hester, who, thinking
+you a stranger and not used to the ways of a city, did what he could to
+annoy you. Never pay any attention to such folk, Hester. Hurry away from
+them as fast as you can. They are never desirable people to know."
+
+"But he looked very nice, Aunt Debby. Did you notice his eyes? I liked
+the way he spoke. I really do believe that he thought that I was his
+cousin."
+
+"It matters little what you think on such matters. Hereafter never give
+anyone time to apologize for speaking to you."
+
+Smith and Winter's was the largest store in Lockport. It was on Pine,
+between Third and Fourth Streets. It was here that Debby Alden intended
+making her purchases.
+
+"Do you think you would like a tan jacket better than a blue one,
+Hester?" she asked as the floor-walker was conducting them toward the
+coat department.
+
+"I think so, Auntie. But you select what you think is best."
+
+Debby made known her wants to the sales-woman. Jackets of tan and blue,
+of many sizes and shades were brought forth and tried on Hester. They
+were interrupted in their selection, by one of the girls from the
+alteration department, claiming the attention of the clerk.
+
+"Miss Herman, did Mrs. Vail say when she wished her dress?"
+
+"It was to be sent out to-morrow, but she telephoned last evening saying
+that she was called away. We are to send the dress on. She may not come
+back here. Her cottage will close this week."
+
+"That's odd. She promised to come back for another fitting."
+
+"She often does that; but she's not erratic. She always has a reason for
+going off in that way. When you get to know her as I do, you will think
+she's the sweetest woman in the world."
+
+"I wasn't thinking of that--nor did I mean to criticise her. I wanted to
+know whether or not I should finish her work without another fitting."
+
+"No, I'd wait." The clerk who had been addressed as Miss Herman turned
+to Debby Alden and waited her orders.
+
+"Hester thinks the tan will please her best," said Debby. "If you can
+send it out to this address," she gave the woman her card. Miss Herman
+read it and smiled. "I have mistaken you all along for someone else. I
+thought you were Mrs. Loraine. I never met her, but her daughter is a
+seminary student here and often comes into my department. I was sure
+that this young lady was a younger sister of Helen Loraine's."
+
+"No, we are not related. I know nothing of the people," said Debby
+stiffly.
+
+"They are a fine family," said the clerk. "We are always pleased to
+serve them."
+
+Hester would have spoken had not Debby silenced her with a look.
+
+"Auntie, did you not hear that name?" she said as they moved away.
+"Helen Loraine. Isn't that the name of the girl who is to room with me,
+and that young man said his Cousin Helen."
+
+"That young man's cousin exists only in his mind, and as your
+roommate--she may be a wholly different person. The name Loraine is
+common throughout this section."
+
+"But, Aunt Debby, the clerk thought I looked like--"
+
+"Nonsense. Some people never see further than their own nose. If the
+clerk noticed that your hair and eyes were black, she decided that you
+looked like every one else she knew who had the same coloring. I fancy
+she said that but to make conversation."
+
+The following day when Debby Alden suggested that they make ready to go
+to the seminary, Hester brought up again the question of remaining at
+home. Debby listened patiently until the girl had expressed herself and
+had presented every argument in favor of attending the seminary for
+recitations merely. When Hester had finished, Debby Alden said quietly:
+"Please put on your hat and gloves, Hester. We must take the next car if
+I wish to be back home in time to get supper."
+
+Hester felt that the decision was final and nothing could be gained by
+argument. Leaving the room, she soon returned with hat and gloves. These
+last articles she swung in her hands as they went down the walk.
+
+"Hester, when at home we were a little lax about certain customs. Here
+in Lockport and among strangers, we must be more careful. Put on your
+gloves before we leave the house. My mother taught me that a lady must
+finish her toilet before she leaves her home."
+
+She waited until Hester had put on and buttoned the gloves. "It seems a
+trifle," continued Debby, "but it is trifles which mark the difference
+between a cultivated and an uncultivated woman."
+
+When the street car took siding at Williams Street to give right of way
+to the east-bound car, a carriage drew up close to the curb. The
+coachman was in livery. Hester noticed that at once, for at her home no
+distinction in dress was made between the man who drove and he who
+employed him.
+
+Servants in livery were not new to Debby Alden. Her attention was
+attracted to the sweet-faced woman in the carriage. This woman who was
+richly gowned was scarcely older than Debby herself; but her hair was
+white. There was some quality in the face which attracted and held.
+Perhaps it was the power of self-control. The power to smile sweetly
+when the person had cause only for tears. This woman was bending from
+the carriage in conversation with a man and woman on the sidewalk. As
+the car moved, the nervous horses jerked suddenly. The woman in the
+carriage turned her head and met Debby Alden's direct glance. Just for a
+moment, these two women looked into each other's eyes. Then the car
+moved on; the carriage bowled along. With each woman an impression of
+the unusual lingered.
+
+Debby really was troubled. The face of the strange woman was as the face
+of a half-forgotten friend.
+
+"That woman in the carriage made me think of someone," she said to
+Hester. "But I cannot think who. There was something about the turn of
+her head and the way she looked up at me that made me think I have met
+her somewhere."
+
+"I did not see her," said Hester. "I was looking at the coachman. I hope
+that some day I may have matched horses and a man in livery." Then she
+turned toward Debby Alden. "Hasn't this been a peculiar day, Auntie.
+Every one thinks I am someone else, and you think every one is some one
+you know."
+
+"Every one? You are putting it a trifle too strong, Hester. I have come
+in contact with a great many people, but I remember but one who made me
+think of someone else. You exaggerate, Hester."
+
+"I'd really rather call it hyperbole," said Hester. "You are a classical
+scholar when you use hyperbole and a 'fibber' when you exaggerate."
+
+Debby smiled at the sally. She and Hester were good friends, with a
+perfect understanding between them.
+
+"Put your effects toward the classical into working order. I catch a
+glimpse of the seminary walls, Hester."
+
+This was the first glimpse Hester had of her new home. There was a long
+stretch of grass, old trees and then the low, long, gray wall of stone.
+The campus crossed the end of the street. It seemed to the occupants of
+the car that they would be carried across the campus and through the
+building. But the line turned suddenly and ran along the edge of the
+grounds.
+
+"We get off here, Hester," said Debby leading the way out.
+
+Hester's gay spirits ebbed. Silently, she followed Debby Alden to the
+entrance. The office-boy swung open the great hall door for them to
+enter and escorted them down the long hall to the office.
+
+Hester's eyes grew big. She had not dreamed that any place could be as
+beautiful as this. Her feet sank in the soft, thick carpet. She followed
+Miss Debby's footsteps as silent as a mouse.
+
+Doctor Weldon was in her private office. Into this, Marshall conducted
+the callers. Hester shook hands in silence, and then sank into the
+nearest chair. For the first time in her life, her tongue refused to
+work as it should. It felt now as though it were glued to the roof of
+her mouth. She listened to the conversation between Doctor Weldon and
+Debby, but was not able to grasp what it meant.
+
+Then Debby arose to depart. Marshall was sent in search of a hall-girl
+to conduct Miss Hester Palmer Alden to Room Sixty-two. Then Hester
+realized that she and Debby must part.
+
+"I'll go with you to the door, Aunt Debby," she said. No further word
+was said until they stood on the steps and Debby turned for a farewell
+embrace. The tears were very close to Hester's eyes; but she forced them
+back, determined that she would not vex her Aunt Debby by a show of
+feeling.
+
+Debby put her arms about Hester, kissed her warmly and said, "Be a good
+girl, Hester and do as the teachers tell you."
+
+Such had been her words ten years before when she had taken her into the
+primary grade and left her in Miss Carns's care. Hester answered meekly
+now as then, "Yes, Aunt Debby."
+
+Debby went down the winding path. Once she glanced back. Hester was
+standing erect with her head thrown proudly back. It was as though she
+were declaring, "You may kill me, but I shall not cry."
+
+The haughty proud turn of the head! Where had Debby seen that before?
+The experiences of the day rushed over her like a flood. Hester's poise
+and turn of the head were like that of the sweet-faced woman in the
+carriage.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+Miss Loraine, so the hall-teacher informed Hester, would be her
+roommate. Miss Loraine, however, was not at the seminary at present. She
+had come the previous day and attended to business matters, put her room
+in order and had then gone out to the home of her aunt who lived at a
+country place called Valehurst.
+
+This information was given to Hester while she was being conducted to
+her room. The seminary and living-rooms were under one roof. The main
+building was a great rectangular block, containing offices, class rooms,
+dining-hall and chapel. From this extended an east dormitory, and one on
+the west. Each suite of rooms consisted of a bedroom and a small study
+or sitting-room. This was occupied by two students. Number Sixty-two
+which Hester was to occupy with Helen Loraine was on the second floor
+just where the dormitory joined the main building. It overlooked the
+front campus and was considered one of the most desirable rooms in the
+school.
+
+Hester, being new to the ways of boarding-school life did not realize
+how fortunate she was in securing so fine a location. Helen Loraine had
+been a seminary girl for two years and knew the "ropes." The previous
+spring, she had put in an application for Number Sixty-two. She had come
+down several days before the opening of school to take possession,
+feeling sure that if she was once placed there, no misunderstanding
+would arise. There had been several instances at Dickinson, where girls
+had moved in their trunks and took possession before the rightful
+occupant of the room appeared.
+
+The hall-teacher escorted Hester to the door and then left her. She
+found that the sitting-room lacked the bareness of dormitory rooms.
+Helen had unpacked her trunk and converted it, by means of a gay cover
+and cushions into a cosy corner. The study table held a few books and a
+candle with a shade. Across one end of the room, gay ribbons had been
+stretched across the wall. These were filled with photographs. The
+second study table held a great number of posters. On top of these,
+Hester found a note addressed to herself.
+
+     "DEAR ROOMMATE-TO-BE: I have put up enough belongings to
+     hold the fort until you arrive. I did not like to do more
+     until you came. I was afraid you might not like my style of
+     decoration. I shall be back within a day or so. Meanwhile
+     make yourself comfortable and do not get homesick.
+
+     "HELEN VAIL LORAINE."
+
+Hester read the note several times. It was a thoughtful, kind act for
+Miss Loraine to leave the note. Hester was already experiencing the
+first tinge of homesickness; but she had no intention of giving way to
+her feelings. She could do just as Helen had done. She would keep so
+busy that she could not even think of Aunt Debby and Miss Richards
+sitting down together at their evening meal.
+
+She unpacked her trunk and put her clothes in order in the closet and
+drawers. Helen had rigidly observed the old time custom of the hall and
+had stretched a blue ribbon from hook to hook, this portioning off equal
+space for herself and roommate.
+
+Hester heard the ten-minute bell ring, but being unused to the ways of
+school, did not know its meaning. She opened the door leading from the
+sitting-room into the hall. She paused a moment to ascertain the reason
+for the bell's ringing. A murmur of voices came from the several rooms
+below. They were beautifully modulated with the intonation of those who
+have been trained to speak carefully.
+
+"Really, I think you are mistaken, Mame. The Fraulein told me that Helen
+had gone to her aunt and would not return until Monday."
+
+"I am not mistaken. Do you think that I do not know Helen Loraine when I
+roomed with her two terms?" This voice had in it a touch of petulant
+decision, as though the speaker was vexed because the responsibility of
+settling all pertinent matters devolved upon her.
+
+"I saw her come across the campus," the speaker continued. "A lady was
+with her; but they went into the private office and remained ever so
+long. I would have waited had not Miss Burkham come along and informed
+me that a public hallway was not the proper place for a young lady."
+
+Hester heard the words and felt the sudden touch of ironical humor in
+them; but she did not know of the smile which passed over the group in
+the room below; neither did she know Miss Burkham.
+
+"I saw her," a third voice took up the conversation. It was a ringing,
+clear, happy voice as though the speaker had always lived in the
+sunshine, and her voice had partaken of its rippling notes. "I saw her
+when she crossed the campus, and was sure it was Helen. I was just about
+to run out and give her a hug--Helen is the dearest girl in the
+world--when I saw I was mistaken. She isn't nearly so tall as Helen and
+she doesn't wear her hair in a bun as Helen does. She was an awfully
+sweet-looking thing, though, and looked for all the world like Helen."
+
+"There's a new girl in Sixty-two. She went in there." The voice was
+deliberately low and steady. It was as though the owner had grown weary
+of life, but meant to live it down if she could. "Perhaps she may be
+Helen's sister, who knows?" The tone of voice would have influenced a
+stranger to believe that being sister to Helen Loraine, was a dire
+calamity.
+
+A murmur of amusement rippled over the group. "Sara Summerson, do arouse
+yourself. Life is worth living, and examinations are months away."
+
+"It will be all the same to me. It will be this term as it was last. I
+shall not have time to get out my lessons. When I wasn't getting a drink
+for Erma, I was driving my roommate in from the corridor and getting her
+down to work. When I thought I could get out my 'Unter Linden,' Miss
+Laird would call me to button her waist. If I ever am principal of a
+seminary, I'll have a law passed making it criminal for a teacher to
+wear a dress buttoned in the back. It's bound to distract the attention
+of the pupils from their books." The slow, sad monotone never varied.
+The hearers laughed. A bell rang and there was a sound of a general
+uprising.
+
+Hester, conscious for the first time that she had been listening,
+turned into her room and closed the door. She heard the sound of passing
+footsteps, the murmur of voices, and then all grew still.
+
+Alone in the dormitory! It sounded to her as fearful as alone in the
+desert. But Hester had not been trained by Debby Alden without effect.
+She had not the least intention of sitting down and giving way to her
+homesick feeling. The fear that she might give way, aroused her. She
+grew antagonistic with herself. There was some unpacking yet to be done
+and Hester flew at it as though her life depended on having it done a
+certain time and in regular fashion.
+
+The little old-fashioned brooch which her Aunt Debby had given her was
+in a tiny box by itself. Hester took it out and examined it carefully.
+The little bit of cut glass in the center attracted her strongly. In the
+sunlight it gleamed like fire. In the shadow it showed a pale yellow
+tinge like the petal of a faded yellow rose.
+
+Hester had no desire to wear it. It was pleasant, however, to have
+something which belonged to one's own people. The Alden home was rich
+in bits of china, linen, and silverware which had been handed down from
+generation to generation; but this little circle of gold, the mat of
+hair and bit of glass, was all that Hester had of which she could say,
+"This belonged to my family."
+
+Helen's note had bade her make herself comfortable. Hester felt
+privileged to inspect the posters, take up the books and to examine the
+photographs.
+
+She was growing hungry. The dinner hour must have passed. Perhaps, the
+bells which she had heard ringing earlier in the evening were to call
+the students to the dining-room. Hester had not understood that, but it
+really made little difference. She would not have ventured alone into
+the dining-hall though she were starving.
+
+The hall-girl from the west dormitory had evidently forgotten her. It
+was the duty of hall-girls to play the part of hostess to new students.
+Fortunately for Hester, there were other persons more thoughtful than
+the hall-girls.
+
+Hester had reached the stage where a good healthy appetite would have
+looked with favor upon crackers and cheese, when a knock came at the
+door. She opened to admit a round-faced, dimple-cheeked girl of sixteen,
+bearing a tray in her hand.
+
+"I hope I am not intruding," she said. It was the same slow droll voice
+which Hester had overheard an hour before in the room below. "I am Sara
+Summerson, one of last year's girls. I did not know until after dinner
+was over that you were here,--a stranger and starving. The servants are
+in the dining-hall, so I asked Mrs. Hopkins if I might bring your dinner
+here."
+
+"I am so glad!" cried Hester. "Will you come in?"
+
+The invitation was not necessary. The caller was evidently a lady of
+resources, despite the slowness of her speech and movement. She had
+entered, moved back the books from the nearest study table and had set
+down her tray. "I brought you some tea," she said. "Will you not please
+sit down and eat while I fill your cup. We did have cocoa. I did not
+know which you like best; but I did know that if one does not like
+cocoa, one cannot bear to taste it."
+
+Hester took her place at the table. Her new acquaintance sat opposite.
+Hester studied her now and came to the conclusion that she could like
+Sara Summerson. She was of Hester's age and physique, but of wholly
+different coloring. Her eyes were gray and calm; while Hester's were
+black and at times snapping. She wore a simple white gown with a Dutch
+neck. She was not at all pretty; but she was good to look at. There was
+a repose and calmness about her that had a good effect on Hester. Her
+droll slow smile gave an expression of humor to her slightest word.
+
+While Hester was eating, the caller made no attempt to converse. When
+Hester had finished her meal, Sara looked across at her, viewed her
+slowly and serenely and said, "I saw you to-day when you came from the
+car. I thought you were Helen Loraine."
+
+"I have heard that several times to-day," said Hester. "Is Helen Loraine
+beautiful?" It was a guileless question and Hester saw no compliment to
+herself in the asking. Sara scanned her slowly, deliberately. "If she
+were, I should not tell you. I never spoil people by complimenting
+them--even though it be over someone's else shoulder. No, she is not
+beautiful. She's more than that. She's distingué." She smiled blandly at
+Hester.
+
+"I'm afraid I do not know what you mean. That word is new to me."
+
+"It would not be if you could see it printed. It is no doubt, one of
+your most intimate words. I've given it the French pronunciation. Miss
+Webster declares my French is startling in its originality. You wish to
+know of Helen? She is one of those people that you need to glance at but
+once to know that she is something. She is tall and fine-looking; but
+that is not all. She has an 'air' you know."
+
+Yes; Hester did know. An "air" in this sense meant the same as Debby
+Alden's "stock."
+
+"And I look like her? I was mistaken to-day for her while in a store."
+
+"You look much alike, yet there is a difference. Are you related to
+her?"
+
+"No, indeed. I never heard the name until to-day."
+
+The subject ended there. Sara sat for some time. She told Hester of the
+customs of the hall, the manner of calling and 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 large and dark.
+
+"Isn't she sweet?" said Hester to herself. "She looks as though she
+could eat those children up. She seems so fond of them. Mothers are
+always that way. Mrs. Bowerman looks at Mary as though she was the
+prettiest thing in the world and Mary is homely--just ordinarily homely,
+and Jane Orr's mother--." The thought was too much for Hester. Her lips
+quivered, her eyes filled with tears so that she could scarcely
+distinguish the features of the picture which she held in her hand.
+"It's just a way that mothers have," she said again. "I do wish I had
+had a mother!"
+
+Then, as though the thought were unjust to the woman who had taken a
+mother's place to her, she added quickly. "But I wouldn't give up Aunt
+Debby for any mother--not even Jane Orr's."
+
+She did not realize how long she sat with the picture in her hand,
+studying the mother and children. She was awakened from her reverie by
+the half-hour bell. She was relieved at the sound of it. Now she could
+sleep and forget that she was alone and under a strange roof.
+
+She was very tired and soon fell asleep. An hour passed and in a
+half-conscious way she was aware that the light was on in the
+sitting-room and someone was moving softly about as though not to
+disturb her. She was too far gone in slumber to realize where she was.
+She thought that she was back home and Aunt Debby had slipped in to see
+that she was properly covered. Satisfied that this was so, she fell
+sound asleep. It was broad day when she was awakened by someone bending
+over her. She felt the touch of lips on her forehead and the sound of a
+sweet musical voice.
+
+"Wake up, little roommate. The rising-bell rang long ago. You will miss
+breakfast."
+
+Then as Hester opened her eyes wide, she saw bending over her, a tall,
+slender girl enveloped in a soft kimona, and with her dark hair
+streaming like waves over her shoulders.
+
+Beautiful! Hester decided at that instant that she had never seen a
+sweeter face.
+
+"I slipped in last night so that I might not waken you. I am Helen
+Loraine. I hope we shall be good friends, little roommate."
+
+[Illustration: "I AM HELEN LORAINE."--_Page 68._]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+After a few days' acquaintance with Helen Loraine, Hester understood
+what Sara meant by saying that Helen had an "air" about her. She was
+always friendly, but never intimate or familiar. The sweep-women in the
+hall were accorded the same courtesy as a teacher. She was sympathetic
+without being gushing. She was just in her treatment of others, generous
+and kind, yet she never allowed herself to be imposed upon. With Hester,
+she divided all things equally; neither giving nor keeping a larger
+part. She was as just to herself as to others. She would have battled
+royally before she would have given up one of her rights. Yet no one
+imposed upon her; for there was that about her which instinctively fixed
+the boundary line. It was not what she did or said, but what she _was_,
+which caused her to find favor among the students.
+
+During the first week, Helen and Hester spent their spare time in
+arranging their rooms. It was really marvelous what could be done with
+cretonne and dotted swiss. Hester had come prepared to do her part in
+the furnishings. Debby Alden, acting upon Miss Richards's suggestion,
+had selected for Hester, fancy covers, cushions and a few pictures.
+
+Hester had not realized the importance of the accessories until the
+"fixing up" fever was apparent. During the first week of school, the
+conversation of the entire dormitory was concerning the arrangement of
+their rooms. There were no calls made. The conventions of the hall
+frowned upon one student calling upon another until that other had time
+to put her rooms in livable condition.
+
+Working together, Helen and Hester soon grew friendly. Before the week
+had ended, Helen knew that Debby Alden was the most remarkable article
+in the aunt line that the age had produced. She knew also that Hester
+had neither sister nor brother; but she did not know that the name Alden
+had been given her by courtesy rather than by right, or that Hester and
+the beloved Aunt Debby held no ties of blood in common.
+
+On the other hand, Hester learned that Helen was an only child; that she
+had a cousin Robert Vail who was almost as a brother to her; that Robert
+had neither brother nor sister, and that his mother, who was Helen's
+Aunt Harriet, loved Helen and kept her at the Vail home as much as
+possible.
+
+"You would like Aunt Harriet," said Helen in one of the confidences. It
+was Friday evening. The study hour had been short. The girls in kimonas
+and with their hair in braids, sat in their sitting-room. As they
+talked, they gave satisfied admiring glances about the room.
+
+"Aunt Harriet is only forty, yet her hair is white. She had nervous
+trouble and brain fever that caused her to become gray; but in other
+ways she is like a girl. She is most unselfish. The girls in school love
+her. She understands what girls like and is always doing something nice
+for them. I cannot explain to you in what way she is so attractive. When
+you meet her, you'll understand just how she is."
+
+"I may never meet her," said practical Hester.
+
+"You will if you remain at Dickinson. When she is at her home, she comes
+to see me very often. Her country home, Valehurst, is back on the hills,
+about three miles from here. It is a charming place. You have noticed
+how the road gradually rises from Susquehanna Avenue. It ends in a
+little plateau and there Aunt Harriet's home stands."
+
+"Her country home? Doesn't she always live there?"
+
+"No, uncle has business which keeps him in the city a great part of the
+time. He must be there during the winter. Generally, the family stay at
+Valehurst until the last of September. Then Aunt Harriet drives or
+motors in each week to see me. She likes her horses best, because they
+are alive. She is very fond of animals and was a fine horsewoman when
+she was younger. She always takes me for a ride, and best of all, takes
+my roommate with me."
+
+"But she does not know me," Hester was tremblingly expectant. At home,
+automobiles were rare, and Hester knew no more of them than the smell of
+the gasoline. To ride in an automobile would be a joy unspeakable. If
+it should chance that Mrs. Vail would take her, she would write and
+tell Jane Orr about it and describe the sensations that went with the
+ride.
+
+"But she will know you. She makes a point of knowing all my friends. I
+know just what she will say the instant she comes into this room. She
+has a proud way with her. She carries herself very straight and holds
+her head high." Helen arose and moving toward the door, showed to Hester
+the grand manner of her Aunt Harriet.
+
+"She will say," continued Helen, "'I am very glad to see you, Helen. I
+miss you very much. Have you everything you need for your room and your
+wardrobe? If you haven't, make out a list and I shall see that you are
+provided for, and your roommate, dear. I hope you like her. I should
+like to meet her.'"
+
+Helen came back to her easy chair. She laughed softly as she leaned
+back. "And then you'll be brought in and her heart will warm to you. It
+always does to every girl she meets, and it will to you. Do you know
+what you will do, Hester Palmer Alden?"
+
+"No, about that time, I'll be so embarrassed that I shall not be able
+to say a word. If your aunt is haughty and proud, I shall be afraid."
+
+"But she is not that kind of proud. I know what you'll do. You'll do
+just what every girl has done. You'll fall heels over head in love with
+her and before she goes, you'll be ready to declare that she's the
+dearest woman in the world."
+
+"Except Aunt Debby," said Hester with dignity.
+
+"Hester, will you light the alchohol lamp. Let us have a cup of cocoa
+before we go to bed. You set the chafing-dish boiling while I look for
+Aunt Harriet's picture."
+
+Helen began her search among the pictures which had been heaped in a
+basket; for after grave consideration, she and Hester had decided that
+photographs ranged about the wall were out-of-date and not at all in
+harmony with the other fittings of their rooms.
+
+Hester lighted the alchohol burner; suspended the kettle and brought
+forth the cups. This was one of the side-issues of school life on which
+she had not counted. She had been anticipating successive days of hard
+study and recitations. Having never experienced it, she could not dream
+of the little social bits which crept in as easy and naturally as they
+did at home; the half hour of confidential chat, the lunches, the visits
+into the rooms of the other girls, the walks and rides; the gymnasium
+stunts and the dances where the tall girls lead.
+
+The kettle was boiling before Helen found the picture.
+
+"Here it is!" she cried triumphantly. "It is really soiled for I have
+kept it out for two or three years. This does not look as Aunt Harriet
+does now. It was taken a long time ago." As she talked she held out the
+card to Hester.
+
+"Why, that is the picture I liked so well. When you were not here--that
+first evening I was alone, I looked over your pictures. What a sweet
+face she has and what dear little children! Is that little boy your
+cousin Robert?"
+
+"Yes, but he does not look like that now. When I wish to tease him, I
+show him this picture. He thinks it is horrid--perfectly horrid--though
+the word he uses is 'beastly.' He declares if he could find the man who
+took such a picture he'd have him in jail--or have his life."
+
+"What for?" asked Hester.
+
+"Simply for putting out such a picture. Rob says it is libel--pure and
+simple, to say he ever looked like that."
+
+"I think it is lovely," said Hester. "Is the baby you?"
+
+"No; that is Aunt Harriet's little girl. I am a year older than she."
+
+Hester studied the picture attentively. While she did so, her mind
+reviewed the remarks Helen had made in regard to the Vail family. There
+were statements at variance.
+
+"You said Robert had no sisters or brothers," she said.
+
+"He hasn't," was the reply. "They did--that is--" Helen was visibly
+embarrassed. She could not equivocate, neither could she go into details
+of a family history. She hesitated a moment and said, "Little Dorothy
+was not with them long--just a year."
+
+"Poor little baby. It must be dreadful to die when you are little. You
+miss so much. If I had died when I was little, I should have been sorry
+all the time thinking about what I had missed."
+
+Hester's new logic caused her not to notice that Helen had made no
+affirmation in regard to the death of the child.
+
+"Little Dorothy," was what Hester called her. From that time on, at odd
+moments, Hester introduced the subject of "little Dorothy," yet never
+became aware that the subject was not a pleasing one to Helen who never
+encouraged or took part in it.
+
+Taking the card, Helen slipped it into the basket.
+
+"Is your cocoa ready, Hester? I am almost famished. I never eat veal, so
+Friday evenings I go hungry. Friday is always veal day at school."
+
+"I was so interested in the picture that I forgot about the cocoa." She
+hurried to the alcohol lamp.
+
+"It is burnt out. It really did not have much in it. I should have
+filled it, I suppose. But I am not accustomed to cooking in this way.
+The water is boiling."
+
+She measured the cocoa and cream into the cups and poured the boiling
+water from the kettle upon it.
+
+"I wish your Aunt Harriet would come to see you to-morrow," continued
+Hester. "I liked her picture when I first saw it. I know that I should
+like her almost as much as I do Aunt Debby. Do you think that she will
+come to-morrow?"
+
+"No, not to-morrow. She went away last week. She did not expect to go,
+but she heard something which caused her to go to Canada. Poor Aunt
+Harriet!"
+
+The last words surprised Hester. She could see no just cause for the use
+of that word "poor," in connection with Mrs. Vail. To Hester's mind, a
+woman with a city and country home, automobiles, horses, and servants in
+livery was far from being poor.
+
+The week had been so filled with new experiences that Hester had been
+from her room only for recitations, meals and the required walk about
+the campus. She had met a number of the girls, but with the exception of
+Helen and Sara, could not remember the name of any.
+
+"I'll never know one girl from another. They all look alike to me," she
+said to Sara one day.
+
+"Not when you know them. You'll know Renee--" She stopped in time. She
+was not naturally critical. To express her opinion to Hester concerning
+the girls, was not fair.
+
+"We are all different," she continued slowly. "All with different
+virtues and faults. To be perfectly candid, I'm the only really fine one
+in the set."
+
+They had been walking arm in arm up and down the corridor. As they came
+to the rear door of the dormitory, Sara paused. "More notices, I see.
+Come, Hester, we must know the worst at once. Here is where our dear
+Miss Burkham makes known her by-laws."
+
+For the first time, Hester observed the white cards stuck along the edge
+of the door. Pausing before them, she read aloud.
+
+"The young ladies will not make use of this entrance except to gain
+admittance to the gymnasium. On all other occasions, the front dormitory
+door must be used."
+
+Then Sara explained. "Miss Burkham does not approve of visits at rear
+doors. When the girls have on the gym suits, they are not permitted to
+go to the front of the building. If you go out this door, you can enter
+the gymnasium without attracting undue attention."
+
+Sara smiled. Undue attention was Miss Burkham's bugbear. She was always
+endeavoring to instill into the minds of her charges, that a lady never
+attracts undue attention. The word had been in use so frequently that it
+had become a by-word among the students.
+
+"The next card is what makes my mouth water," continued Sara who had
+been reading silently.
+
+"Beginning with the first week of the fall term, the ice-cream man will
+keep to the front side of the east wing. Plates will be put in their
+usual place for Belva to take care of."
+
+"Basket-ball team Number one--known as the Invincibles will hold a
+business meeting at 10:30 Saturday morning in the gymnasium."
+
+This last notice was signed, "Helen Loraine, Captain."
+
+"She never told me," cried Hester. "I never suspected that she was
+interested."
+
+"Helen never tells anything about herself," said Sara. "Sometimes I
+grow quite exasperated about her reticence. She has been on the team
+ever since she was a student here. She played well before she came. Her
+cousin, Rob Vail, was a captain when he was in school and he taught her
+all the tricks of the game."
+
+Hester had no words to express herself. Basket-ball! It was enough to
+send the color to her cheeks. She had seen the boys in the high-school
+play. At home, girls did not indulge in such games. It might be that she
+herself, Hester Alden, could learn to play and be put on one of those
+teams. The thought brightened her cheeks and sent the blood through her
+veins with excitement.
+
+"Who teaches you? How many teams have you, and how can you get on one?
+Does it take long to learn to play?"
+
+Sara looked at her. Sara was deliberate. Her expression now was one of
+sad surprise.
+
+"Do you often talk as fast as that?" she asked. "And do you expect your
+friends to answer with the same velocity? If you do, Hester Alden, never
+come to me with your questions."
+
+Hester laughed. "I always talk fast when I get excited. The words pop
+from my mouth like pop-corn over a hot fire."
+
+"Give me time and I'll answer your questions. Our crack team is the
+Invincibles. They are the only one we allow to play the tournament games
+with outside teams. They play with the girls from the high school, the
+Normal Training School and, with some of the seminary teams. I really do
+not remember how many games were scheduled last year. They have never
+allowed me to play. I'm too--. Helen Loraine is good enough to say
+'_deliberate_.' The other girls call it '_slow_.'
+
+"Then of course there must be a scrub team for the Invincibles to battle
+against. You must play scrub before you can hope to become an
+Invincible. Then the freshies and juniors have substitute teams. They
+practice with each other and fill up on the other teams as they are
+needed."
+
+"I think I could learn to play," said Hester. "I am not--not very
+deliberate."
+
+"I should say not, if you fly at a ball in the same way you talk. You
+might get on a substitute team. Miss Watson, the physical-culture
+teacher, will hold a meeting soon. The first week of school is generally
+so busy that the gymnasium work is not begun.
+
+"But next week, she will meet the girls and make arrangements for the
+work on the teams and in the gym. If I were you and really wished to
+play, I'd speak to Helen Loraine. She'll get you on if anyone can. You
+need a friend at court, for there are always more applications than
+there are places or times for practice.
+
+"We must turn back. Miss Burkham would campus us, if we were to go out
+at this door." Sara turned and arm in arm, the girls moved toward the
+front entrance. "Listen, do you hear that melodious bell? That is
+Sykes's cow-bell. Come, and I'll treat you."
+
+Hester followed as Sara lead the way from the front dormitory door out
+on to the campus. As they passed the end room, the sound of voices in
+conversation came to them.
+
+"Can you let me have some perfume, Erma, and a fine handkerchief? I
+neglected to put mine in the laundry."
+
+"Help yourself," was the reply.
+
+Sara smiled. "Erma Thomas is easily worked. If she does not take a firm
+stand, she'll keep Renee in perfume and other extras for the entire
+year."
+
+Just then the door opened and Renee Loveland came out. She was a tall,
+handsome girl, with the bearing of a princess. She bore in her hands a
+bottle of perfume and two dainty handkerchiefs.
+
+The campus sloped naturally toward the public road; yet it was several
+feet higher. The boundary had been made definite by a low cement coping.
+On this, sat several girls, among which was Berenice Smith. Across the
+road was an ice-cream wagon, surrounded by a score of girls with their
+purses in their hands. The ice-cream man was measuring cream into small
+wooden butter-plates.
+
+"Here's the way we do," said Sara as Hester looked dubiously about in
+search of means with which she might dispose of her cream.
+
+"This is the way." Sara deftly broke off a bit of the dish where it
+curved upward. "These make the best spoons in the world, and one never
+need bother keeping them in order."
+
+Soon walking by two's and three's, across the campus, moved the girls,
+each bearing in her hand her wooden dish with ice-cream.
+
+Berenice sat alone on the coping. Hester Alden was not a reader of faces
+and could give no reasons for her pet likes and dislikes. She
+instinctively did not like Berenice, although the acquaintance had gone
+no further than a passing word. Berenice was dark, with coloring which
+inclined to swarthiness; her brow was low, and her eyes small and deeply
+set. She made an effort to be pleasant and invariably made flattering
+remarks to those with whom she conversed. As the girls approached, she
+held out her purse toward Sara.
+
+"Be good and bring me a chocolate and peach cream," she said. "I am as
+far as I am allowed to go."
+
+Taking the purse, Sara performed the commission and returned.
+
+"For how long?" she asked.
+
+"Two weeks. One week is almost over."
+
+This was all Greek to Hester. She looked from one to the other; but
+they, taking it for granted that all the school world understood,
+offered neither explanation nor information.
+
+As they crossed the tan-bark, Mame Cross met them. She looked like a
+fashion-plate in a tailored gown and handsome hat.
+
+"I've had permission to go down town," she said. "Do you want me to get
+anything for you?" The question was put to Sara.
+
+"We're out of alcohol. You'd better order some."
+
+"Did you know that Berenice is campused for two weeks? She made fudge
+Monday evening after the study bell rang. Miss Burkham discovered it at
+once. Anyone passing through the hall could smell fudge cooking."
+
+"It seems strange that Miss Burkham should campus her for that. We made
+fudge. It was the first night and no one is expected to observe study
+hours during the first evening."
+
+"But Berenice lied. You know Miss Burkham will not tolerate deception.
+It was not making fudge but the deception that caused the punishment."
+
+Mame moved away. She would have been a beautiful girl, had she not
+looked bored and unhappy.
+
+"You're new suit is beautiful, Mame," said Sara over her shoulder.
+
+"Do you think so? I simply cannot bear it. I never have anything like
+other girls."
+
+"That is Maine's old cry," said Sara when she was beyond hearing. "She
+is the best-dressed girl in school and she has a father who is devoted
+to her. She has everything in the world to make her happy, but she's
+always complaining. Now, Erma is different. She's perfectly satisfied.
+Every dress she owns is a perfect love of a dress."
+
+Hester had said very little during this hour with Sara; but she had
+learned a great deal. There had been no guile or envy in Sara's frank
+expression of the virtues and faults of her friends; and not for an
+instant did she think she was making an error or stepping over the
+border line of kindliness when she told Hester all she knew of those
+students.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+Hester was not a girl to condescend to subterfuge to gain a point. She
+was often frank to painfulness. To her mind when one wished a favor, the
+only way was to speak directly and ask for it. She was neither politic
+nor tactful. She had decided that basket-ball was the one game that was
+really worth playing. Tennis was old and did not appeal to her. She and
+Jane Orr had played tennis ever since they had been old enough to hold a
+racquet. But basket-ball! The thought of it sent the blood coursing
+through her veins.
+
+At the first opportunity, she spoke to Helen. She went to the subject
+directly like a bullet to the bull's eye.
+
+"Sara Summerson told me you were captain of the first team and that you
+had a good bit of influence in getting the girls on the other teams. I
+would like to play and I wish you would put me on. Will you?"
+
+"I cannot put you on the first or even the scrub. I must pick from the
+substitute teams to fill any vacancy. I have nothing at all to do with
+the sub. The physical instructor does that, and of course picks out the
+girls whom she thinks will be able to play the game. But I'll speak to
+her about you."
+
+"I wish you would," said Hester. "I'm _fairly_ aching to get into a
+game."
+
+"You'll be _completely_ aching after your first practice," said Helen.
+
+"I'll soon get over it. My muscles were sore for days when I tried to
+skate, but I didn't mind."
+
+The first gymnasium meeting for new students was held Monday afternoon
+and Hester was first girl in the room. Helen had promised to go with her
+to see that she met Miss Watson but Helen was deliberate and Hester
+impatient. So Hester sat alone in the gymnasium for half an hour before
+any one appeared.
+
+Miss Watson was a practical worker. Before many minutes had passed, she
+had the students enrolled, the classes organized and the time appointed
+for meetings. Having dispatched the regular routine work, she began the
+organization of squads for tennis and basket-ball. These were primarily
+to train the girls for work in the first teams which played the
+tournament games with other schools.
+
+Before she began her arrangements, Helen Loraine spoke with her. The
+conversation could not be heard, but Miss Watson looked toward Hester,
+smiled and nodded in affirmation. A few minutes later, she read the
+names. Among the freshmen substitutes were Hester's and Berenice's
+names.
+
+"But Berenice played last year," whispered someone near Hester. "She
+plays a good game, too. Why didn't Miss Watson put her first or scrub?"
+
+The reply came but too low for Hester's ears. Helen was waiting in the
+corridor when Hester came out. "I know; Miss Watson said she would put
+you on. You'll have a good place for passing. You know the game from
+observation. But if I were you, I'd read the rules again and again. If
+you have them fairly fixed in your mind you are not so apt to make a
+foul play. Do your best, and you may work up to one of the other teams
+before long. Erma Thomas may not come back after the first of the year.
+That will leave one place for a substitute. She plays right guard. She's
+one of the finest passers we've had, but she gets rattled if she tries
+to make a goal. She's too nervous to play when she is conscious that any
+one is looking at her."
+
+Hester was confident that she would not lose her head if the opportunity
+to make a goal came to her. Following Helen's instructions, she studied
+the book of rules. She was early at the first practice. Miss Watson gave
+the positions; Helen was referee. Hester was given the place of right
+guard.
+
+"Keep your eyes open," said Helen. "I would give a good bit if you could
+make a play to put you on the first team."
+
+Berenice was left guard. A moment before the game was called, she came
+up to Hester and spoke low that the others might not hear. "Helen
+Loraine knows the game, but there's a whole lot of things she never
+sees. Louise Reed is your opponent. She's not at all a suspicious girl.
+You see to it that we win. They always pick substitutes from the team
+which wins."
+
+Hester knew little of the subtleties of human nature, and consequently
+could not grasp the full import of the remark Berenice had made.
+
+Renee Loveland and Josephine Moore were captains. To Hester it seemed
+like an hour of intense excitement before the ball was in the air and
+Renee had sent it forward toward her.
+
+"Don't hold it--don't hold it," was the one thought in Hester's mind,
+for that rule in particular, had made a peculiar impression upon her.
+She was naturally a quick actor. Now the ball was scarcely within her
+clutches until it was out again across the room to Berenice. Hester
+rushed toward the goal, just as Berenice, jerking under the arm of her
+opponent, passed the ball back to Hester. Again Hester deftly returned
+it; making a backward movement just as Louise was about to cover her.
+Again Berenice deftly caught it and dribbled for a yard or more. They
+were near enough to the basket for a goal; but Berenice's opponent
+covered her. The ball went flying direct across the cage. Louise made a
+dash; Hester sprang forward and covered her. In the excitement of the
+play, Hester had put forward two hands. Just as quickly she remembered
+and swung her right arm about Louise, while with her left hand, she
+tossed the ball straight into Renee's clutch. Renee, who knew the game
+and played it well, did not lose her presence of mind. Like a flash, she
+gave a forward leap and sent the ball to goal. But while it curved
+downward in the air, the whistle of the referee was heard.
+
+[Illustration: AGAIN HESTER DEFTLY RETURNED IT.--_Page 92._]
+
+"Foul on the freshmen," she cried. "Right guard used two hands to
+cover."
+
+"I think you are mistaken," cried Berenice. "I wasn't playing. Hester
+Alden's arm was raised, but it did not touch her opponent."
+
+"Yes; I did!" cried Hester. "I touched her and then remembered."
+
+"I didn't know. It must have been a very slight touch," said Louise.
+
+"We've scored," cried Berenice.
+
+"I am refereeing the game. Foul on the freshmen." Determination shone in
+Helen's eyes as she gave Berenice a look that would have subdued a
+sensitive person. Turning about, Hester tossed the ball to Louise who
+made a goal from the foul of the freshmen team. The ball went back to
+center and the game again was on.
+
+At the end of the first half, the score stood six to eight in favor of
+the sophomores.
+
+Berenice came up to Hester while she was struggling into her sweater.
+"You see how it is," she whispered. Her eyes were snapping with anger
+and her voice fairly hissed. "You see what a little prude like you can
+do. If you would have sustained me, Renee's goal would have counted us
+two, and Louise would have had no chance to make a goal or foul. It
+would have been 8 to 7 in our favor."
+
+"But I really did touch," said Hester. "It was a foul, all right. I
+suppose I should have remembered in time; but this is my first game, and
+there's a lot to learn."
+
+"There's something that you will never learn," was the retort and
+Berenice turned and walked away.
+
+Hester did not grasp all that Berenice wished to convey. She believed
+the girl was vexed because of the score and attributed Berenice's anger
+to righteous indignation at bad playing. Helen came up before the
+beginning of the second half. "What about playing this, Hester?" she
+asked. "You did some hard playing for a new girl. Do you think you can
+stand it for a second half? You'll be stiff to-morrow. I'll ask Renee to
+have Edna Bucher substitute for you."
+
+"I'd rather finish, myself," cried Hester. "Why, I wouldn't stop now for
+worlds!"
+
+"Your own sore muscles be upon yourself then, little roommate," said
+Helen smiling. "I have warned you. All that is left for me is to offer
+the use of my witch-hazel and arnica."
+
+"I will not have Edna Bucher substitute," cried Renee coming up. "I am
+glad Hester has grit enough to keep to it. This evening we must make a
+score."
+
+"And to-morrow there will be wailing and groaning and rubbing of
+muscles," said Helen. The ten minutes was up. Helen moved toward the
+center of the cage.
+
+During the second half, Hester had no active work. She guarded Louise
+and was careful not to make another foul move. Berenice was an active
+player, getting so interested in the game that she forgot her special
+work. She never played into another's hand. Although Renee was the
+champion at throwing goals, Berenice risked the score rather than give
+the play to the center. She appeared determined that Hester should not
+come within touch of the ball, and she moved like a flash of light,
+hither and thither, across the cage, seeming to be everywhere at once.
+
+Helen watched the game closely. She was an impartial referee; her one
+desire being to play a fair game. She was aware of Berenice's playing at
+cross purposes and watched her closely. At last she called a foul.
+
+"I don't see why," cried Berenice. Her little beady eyes snapped as she
+approached Helen and looked defiantly up at her.
+
+"Two-hand dribble--the second time you have done the same thing. The
+first I let pass unnoticed just--to give you time."
+
+"I positively did not two-hand the ball. If that is a foul, I--"
+
+"I am a referee. Get out of the game. Edna Bucher is called to
+substitute."
+
+"I will not--" began Berenice.
+
+"Get out of the game within a minute or you shall be penalized for all
+the games to follow." There was no disputing Helen. Her manner was calm
+and her voice low, but authority was in her bearing. She stood ready to
+give the signal to play; but before she put the whistle to her lips, she
+said quietly, "While I am managing, we'll play an honest game or we will
+not play at all."
+
+The girls, except Berenice, cheered and clapped. She was making her way
+from the gymnasium. Her heart was filled with anger and a scowl was on
+her face. How she hated Helen Loraine! It was not the first time Helen
+had criticised her.
+
+"And Hester Alden will be another one just like Helen--too goody-good to
+live," was her thought. Even after Berenice was being disqualified,
+Hester did not understand fully all that had taken place. It was not
+until they were at the baths, that a full understanding came to her.
+Outside the bath, were the lockers. Sara and Renee had come up and
+paused for a moment.
+
+"Will you allow Berenice to play next game?" asked Sara.
+
+"Miss Watson must settle that. The captain and referee may disqualify
+for one game; but to make it permanent penalizing, the matter must be
+brought before Miss Watson. It is a very difficult matter to explain.
+The best way would be to have Miss Watson referee for one or two games.
+Then she would grasp the subtleties of the situation."
+
+They passed on. When they were almost beyond hearing, Renee's voice
+sounded loud and clear.
+
+"Sara, I do wish you'd let me wear your tan shoes down town to-morrow
+evening. I have permission to go, and I wish to wear my brown suit, but
+I have no tan shoes. I wear the same size as you."
+
+Hester smiled. She had known Renee but ten days, during which time she
+could not remember one instance when the conversation did not conclude
+with "will you lend?"
+
+Hester was deliberate in matters of getting from a gym suit into a
+dress. When she was ready to appear, the corridor leading from the
+gymnasium baths was deserted except for the sweep-women who were putting
+the finishing touches to their work.
+
+Hester hurried out. As she crossed the campus, she found Josephine Moore
+sitting on the steps leading up to the dormitory. From this place, there
+was an excellent view of the river and the mountain beyond. Josephine
+appeared to be spellbound by it. She was a large girl with quantities of
+brown hair which she drew loosely back and coiled at the back of her
+head. Her eyes were large, lusterless and of a weak and faded blue, but
+Josephine had read novels and knew what speaking eyes meant. She tried
+to make her eyes soulful. She was of a romantic turn of mind, and
+although she would not have prevaricated for the world or done another
+harm by repeating anything to their detriment, she was a dreamer of
+day-dreams. So well did she dream that it was difficult sometimes for
+her to know where truth ended and dreams began.
+
+"Can you not sit a while?" she asked. She moved to make room beside
+herself. Her voice was low and full and had in it a pathetic quality
+which was in harmony with her dreams. Hester sat down beside her. Being
+somewhat awed by this magnificent creature with the soulful eyes, Hester
+sat in silence.
+
+"I love this time of day," began Josephine in low rapturous voice. "I
+love the gathering twilight. I think this is the hour when poets must
+sit and dream. The world and work and all horrid things are passing and
+only the tender twilight hangs like a mantle over all." She paused and
+looked at her companion. Hester felt that a reply of some sort was
+expected. She said the first and easiest thing that came to mind. "Yes,
+it is sort of nice."
+
+"'Nice' is scarcely the word. I wish I knew what would exactly express
+the feeling. Sublime, soulful--" She paused and raised her eyes as
+though to scan the heavens. "I suppose I feel differently from other
+people. They tell me that my singing shows soul. I myself have often
+noticed the difference between myself and other girls. Would you believe
+it? They pass here with laughter and jest. I cannot do that. I always
+pause and look at the trees and river. It seems as though a spell comes
+upon me. I cannot laugh and jest in the midst of such sublime things."
+
+"Is Hester Alden there?" cried a gay voice. "Oh, is that you, Jo?
+Mooning? You had better come in. If you sit on those cold stones, you'll
+take cold and your nose will be red and your eyes watery. You'll not be
+sublime then." The cheer and good-nature in the voice robbed it of
+ill-feeling. Erma laughed as she appeared. No one could take exception
+to anything she said. She was too happy--too well satisfied with the
+world and the people about her to do anything or say anything in
+bitterness.
+
+Josephine arose slowly as became one of a poetic and soulful
+temperament.
+
+"You are the slowest mortal, Jo. You are wanted up in Philo Hall. You
+haven't fifteen minutes until the first study bell. The girls have been
+looking everywhere for you. You are on the program committee."
+
+"I was carried away--," began Miss Moore. But Erma had turned her back
+upon the girl. As she was about to speak to Hester, she was diverted
+from her intention by the sound of wheels. Both she and Hester turned
+to look as a carriage with a coachman in livery, came from
+porte-cochere, turned down the driveway and passed within a few feet of
+where the girls stood. The carriage passed under an arc light and Erma
+and Hester saw distinctly the features of the woman in the carriage. She
+had a beautiful face, although marked with care. Her hair was white, yet
+her bearing as she sat erect, was that of a young woman.
+
+"What a sweet face!" cried Hester. "That is the carriage that blocked
+our way, the day that Aunt Debby came up to school with me. I remember
+most distinctly."
+
+The occupant of the carriage had not looked in their direction. Even had
+she done so, she could not have distinguished the girls; for they stood
+leaning against the pillars and the moving shadows fell dark upon them.
+
+When the carriage had passed, Erma turned to her companion. "Helen was
+looking for you. I told her if I saw you, I'd tell you to go to your
+room. Helen has had company--at least I saw someone in her room."
+
+"It may be Aunt Debby," cried Hester. She did not wait to explain. She
+paused not to excuse herself, but went racing down the corridor as fast
+as her feet would carry her. Her heels clattered on the hard wood floors
+and the sound of her labored breathing was audible at a considerable
+distance.
+
+Just as she reached Number Fifteen, the door opened and Hester was taken
+by the arm. This was so unexpected that her first impulse was to jerk
+away, and hurry on. Fortunately a sober second thought overcame the
+impulse.
+
+"Miss Alden, is the building burning? Why this haste?" Hester raised her
+eyes to those of the preceptress. Miss Burkham was the acme of all that
+was cultured and elegant. No imagination was strong enough to picture
+her, other than deliberate, low-voiced, serene of countenance. Hester
+who knew more of bluntness than irony, replied fearlessly, "No, there is
+no fire. I wished to get to my room as quickly as possible."
+
+"So I surmised. But I see no necessity for this unladylike haste." Her
+restraining hand was yet upon Hester's shoulder. The girl felt herself
+quivering with the desire to be off down the corridor and up the stairs
+to Number Sixty-two. What if Aunt Debby should really be there waiting
+for her? Her heart beat fast with the thought.
+
+Miss Burkham also felt the quivering of flesh under restraint. She
+delayed Hester yet longer while she made plain to her the unwritten
+by-laws of a lady's conduct.
+
+"No lady races through the halls, in such fashion. It is the manner of a
+tom-boy. You may walk slowly down the corridor. I will stand here to see
+if you comprehend just what I mean by slowly. I trust that I may not be
+compelled to ask you to return in order that I may give you instructions
+in regard to the manner in which a lady walks."
+
+"No, Miss Burkham," replied Hester humbly. She controlled her impatience
+at being thus detained. Miss Burkham released her and Hester moved
+forward as though by well-directed machinery.
+
+On reaching Number Sixty-two, she found Helen standing before her
+dressing-table. She was alone. She turned as Hester entered.
+
+"Little roommate," she said smiling a welcome at Hester. "Little
+roommate, I am vexed with you. I have been sending messengers everywhere
+in the hope of finding you. My dear Aunt Harriet was here and asked for
+you in particular. She waited until the last possible moment. And see
+there."
+
+Helen pointed to a hamper which stood near the doorway. "She has brought
+us fruit, cake, and roasted chickens. No, I did not open the basket.
+Aunt Harriet told me what was there. It is for you as well as for me. I
+know Aunt Harriet, and I know how the basket is arranged. There will be
+a chicken for you and one for me; a box of fudge for you and one for me;
+and so on through the entire menu. Aunt Harriet is very much afraid that
+some girl will have her feelings hurt or feel slighted. Open up the
+basket, Hester. I must take off this waist. The collar hurts me. It
+always was too high. I'll feel more comfortable in a kimona."
+
+She turned to her dressing table. "Aunt Harriet brought me something
+which pleased me. I have an old pin which belonged to mother when she
+was a girl. I thought I had lost it, but Aunt Harriet said I left it at
+her home and she brought it with her."
+
+Helen held the pin in her hand while she talked. Then she laid it
+carelessly in a little pin tray on the dresser. It was a pin of unusual
+style, about the size of a dime. The outer band was of a peculiar gold.
+Within this was a yellowish-white stone which reflected the light like a
+flame of fire.
+
+Hester's eyes would have opened wide at the sight of the pin, but she
+did not see it, for her attention was on the hamper she was unpacking.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+There was at Dickinson a Doctor Wilbur who had charge of the
+mathematics. He was a man of brilliant mind, sharp tongue, and a poor
+opinion of the mental ability of girls in general. He had been at
+Dickinson two years, not because he loved the class of students, but the
+financial consideration had been the best ever offered to him.
+
+The girls feared him and yet respected him for the power he exercised
+over a class.
+
+He did not hesitate to use sarcastic speech. Scarcely a day passed, but
+some girl came from Class-room C with her feelings deeply wounded.
+
+Hester, who had a way of "speaking up," had borne her share of Doctor
+Wilbur's humor. But she forgot and forgave the instant she left his
+recitation.
+
+One day he had been particularly trying, and the sting of his words had
+lingered. She had it in mind to tell Helen of the bitter words Doctor
+Wilbur had hurled at her, simply because she could not explain the
+projection of a perpendicular upon a plane. So far in their school
+life--two months had passed--Hester and Helen had spoken to each other
+only of the agreeable things. But now Hester meant to express herself
+and be sympathized with.
+
+But when she reached Sixty-two, she found Edna Bucher awaiting her. Edna
+was tall and slender; long and lank, perhaps would be more nearly her
+description. She was colorless and lifeless. Her one desire seemed to be
+to be ladylike and to go with the best people. In her lexicon, _best_
+meant those with money or influence. Her hands were always cold, and her
+face expressionless. She posed as being the leader in classes. She was
+literary and musical, if one might believe her own judgment of herself.
+She never played, however, for the practice tired her. When she failed
+to respond to an invitation to recite--sometimes the invitation was
+quite urgent--it was not that she was not prepared to recite, but she
+was so nervous that she could not control her voice.
+
+"I've been waiting for you for half an hour," she began as Hester
+entered the room. Her tones implied, that although the responsibility be
+on Hester's head, she would be good enough to overlook it.
+
+"Were you?" replied Hester. "You surely knew that the freshies were busy
+until this hour."
+
+"I presume I did so; but it passed entirely from my mind. I was so
+absorbed in my work. I am editor-in-chief of the 'Dickinson Mirror.'"
+
+"Oh," exclaimed Hester. She looked at Miss Bucher again. The glory of
+being editor of the "Mirror" cast a halo about the head of the otherwise
+unattractive girl.
+
+"Yes, the girls selected me. I do not understand why they did. They
+appeared to think I had literary ability. Of course, I do not see that I
+have, but everyone speaks about it."
+
+She had an unpleasant little mannerism of talking through closed teeth
+and but slightly parted lips. In conversation, she used her lips as
+little as possible. It may have been that she wished to keep them from
+wearing out, or perhaps, she considered it unladylike to open her mouth
+more than was absolutely necessary.
+
+"I came to have you help. We always appoint four girls to collect news,
+write special articles and poetry. Of course everything must treat of
+school life. Then, when it is printed--"
+
+"Printed," cried Hester, her eyes snapping with fire. "Do you really
+have it printed and do the ones who write things have their names in
+it?"
+
+"Certainly. It is issued four times a year; once during each semester,
+and a special souvenir one for commencement. What do you think you'd
+like to do?"
+
+"I'll write some poetry," said Hester. She had never written any in her
+life, but she had the feeling that she could do it by half trying.
+
+"Poetry, isn't hard," she replied airily to Miss Bucher's look of
+surprise. "Just make out a list of rhymes like this." She took up a
+paper and wrote:
+
+    Side
+    wide
+    right
+    might
+    knee
+    me.
+
+"Then you fill them in," she continued. She held the pencil suspended in
+the air. Her brow was puckered with thought. "Of course, it isn't
+supposed to read as sensibly as prose. That is one of the greatest
+differences between them. In poetry one must use imagination and poetic
+license." Then she fell to work upon the paper and wrote steadily and
+laboriously for some minutes. Her eye flashed with triumph. "Listen. Of
+course this is mere rough work. I'll polish up what I write for the
+'Mirror.'
+
+    "Imogen was by his side,
+    So they wandered far and wide,
+    The woods and vales stretched left and right,
+    He loved the girl with all his might,
+    So dropping on his bended knee
+    He cried, 'Oh, fair one, pity me.'"
+
+A peal of laughter followed this closing line. It was a merry peal
+without malice or guile. Hester turned. Erma was standing in the
+doorway.
+
+"Oh, but that is rich! He dropped on his bended knee. Could he get on
+his knee if it wasn't bended?" She laughed aloud.
+
+"You are so literal!" cried Hester with dignity. "In poetry, one is
+allowed--"
+
+"Poetry," another merry laugh. "Is that poetry? Take it to Doctor
+Weldon's classes and let her put her seal of approval on it."
+
+Erma had made her way to the door. With a mock courtesy and a sweep of
+her skirts, she vanished. But as she went down the corridor, the girls
+in Sixty-two caught the echo of her laugh and her song, "And dropping on
+his bended knee."
+
+Miss Bucher was a lady who arose to the occasion. She did not give way
+to merriment. Her face was colorless and serene.
+
+"I understand fully, Miss Alden, the point you wish to make. Miss Thomas
+has no literary appreciation." She paused. There is but one thing worse
+in the world than adverse just criticism, and that is praise so faint
+that it is damaging. Miss Bucher paused as though to weigh her words.
+Then she spoke: "Miss Thomas means well enough, but--well, nature has
+not gifted us all in the same way."
+
+It was fair enough, or seemed to be. Yet Hester felt that intangible
+something to which one cannot respond, because one feels rather than
+knows of its existence.
+
+Miss Bucher arose. She was not given to furbelows. Each line of her
+attire accentuated her angles and height.
+
+"I will go now. I am glad you will help me. Could you have your poem or
+whatever you decide upon ready by Monday?"
+
+"I shall have it ready to give you when we go into chapel. I shall have
+something. Do not fear."
+
+Scarcely had the door closed upon the caller, when Hester was at her
+study-table with pencil and writing-pad. Inspiration had seized her. She
+would write a poem that would be worthy the name. It would appear in the
+"Mirror" with her name below, "Hester Alden." On second thought, decided
+to write it Hester Palmer Alden. The Palmer gave an added dignity to
+her name. How pleased Aunt Debby would be! What a pleasure it would be
+to write! Perhaps in time she might be editor-in-chief. Then when she
+left school--at that instant a part of Hester Alden which had been
+dormant awoke. The desire for expression came to her. What beautiful
+glorious things she would write--some day! Just what they would be or
+when she would write them, she knew not. But they were so beautiful that
+the tears came to her eyes as she dreamed of them.
+
+Helen did not come back to her rooms until barely time to dress for
+dinner. She found Hester with her head on the table, and a huge tablet
+before her.
+
+"Sick, little roommate?" asked Helen, bending over her.
+
+"No; I have been writing a poem--that is, I have begun to write one. I
+have sat here for an hour and all I have written is the first line. It
+was easy."
+
+"First lines usually are," said Helen smiling. In many ways, she was
+more years older than Hester than the calendar gave her credit for.
+
+"What is the first line? May I read it?"
+
+"'Doc Dixon had a Freshman Class.' It begins fairly well; but you will
+startle your leaders with such a sudden burst into facts. Why not lead
+up to the subject and break the news gently?"
+
+"You may all ridicule; but I intend writing a poem. All the ridicule you
+cast upon me will make me but the more determined."
+
+"I believe that. I have observed that trait on several occasions. You
+make me think of Rob Vail in that way."
+
+"I shall finish after dinner," was Hester's sole comment. "I presume I
+had better prepare for it now. Are you wearing a silk dress?" she asked
+as she turned toward Helen and saw that she was getting into a little
+one-piece suit of checked silk instead of her customary white.
+
+"Yes, mother thinks I dress too thinly. If I wear the white I cannot
+wear long sleeves. So I have promised to keep to this dark silk, though
+I do not like it nearly so well."
+
+She had slipped into her dress and was looking about for her pins and
+rings. "I had a little old pin on my dresser. Did you see anything of
+it, Hester?"
+
+"No, indeed. I never presume to touch anything there without your
+permission."
+
+"I did not mean to suggest that, little roommate. I carelessly let it
+lie there several days ago, and now I cannot find it."
+
+"I have not seen it," said Hester. She spoke quickly and perhaps, with
+unusual curtness. At least it seemed so to Helen, who attributed the
+curtness to Hester's being hurt at being asked such a question. She let
+the subject drop and no further word passed between them until they were
+called to dinner.
+
+When study hour came again, Hester pushed aside her text books and fell
+to writing. The door of the study, during this time, was always open and
+no words were permitted between roommates. Helen, observing that her
+roommate was not working at her lessons, gave her several warning
+glances; but Hester was unaffected. The muse had laid its hands upon her
+and she was helpless in its clutches. She wrote and erased, only to
+rewrite and erase again.
+
+It was not until the study period was over that she raised her head and
+with a smile of triumph read aloud:
+
+    "Doctor Dixon had a freshman class,
+    Whose minds were soft like snow.
+    He tried to teach them geometry,
+    But he could not make it go.
+    He scolded them in class one day;
+    He shocked the entire school.
+    The tears ran down one sweet girl's face,
+    When he called her a mule."
+
+A look of surprise flashed over Helen's face. "Surely Hester, he never
+would do that. He is critical and sarcastic, but surely he is a
+gentleman."
+
+"Do what?" asked Hester. "Why surely he is a gentleman."
+
+"Surely, he never would dare address one of the pupils in that way. A
+mule!"
+
+Hester laughed. "You are taking matters seriously. You must remember
+that this is poetry, and allowance must be made. In poetry, one cannot
+describe matters as they are. One cannot be too realistic. One must use
+what fits in. I was compelled to use the word mule because it was the
+only one I could think of which rhymed with school. Now listen to the
+rest, please Helen." She continued reading wholly unconscious that her
+roommate was not in sympathy with her.
+
+    "And then they ran to him and asked,
+    As he came forth from school,
+    'Doctor, dear, which is it best to be,
+    A driver or the mule?'
+
+    "'The mule has the best of it,' he said,
+    'So I'm inclined to think,
+    It can be driven to the water's edge,
+    But it can't be made to drink.'"
+
+"There, don't you think that is fine, Helen? That will appear in the
+next issue of the 'Mirror' with my name at the bottom. Aunt Debby will
+be delighted."
+
+There was no enthusiastic response. Hester waited a moment, then looked
+at her roommate, and again asked, "Don't you think she will be
+delighted? She has never suspected that I was poetic. Indeed, I never
+knew it until Miss Bucher asked me to write this."
+
+"If Aunt Debby is the kind of woman I think she is, I am sure she will
+not be at all pleased." Helen spoke slowly. Then at the look of surprise
+in Hester's eyes, she crossed the room, and sitting down on the arm of
+her roommate's chair drew Hester's head close against her and held her
+thus in a tender protective embrace, while she continued.
+
+"No, little roommate, I do not believe she will be pleased. I am not. It
+is fun--mere fun, I know. Were you and I the only two to know of it, it
+would do no harm at all. But consider, little roommate, the 'Mirror'
+goes out to all the old students. Hundreds read it. Among them, are many
+just as I who took the matter seriously, without considering that the
+poet was put to straits to find some word to rhyme with school.
+
+"They will think that we have grown lax here. Many will wonder what sort
+of man this Doctor Wilbur is that he dare use such terms in addressing a
+student. Do you see now why I wish this would not appear in the
+'Mirror'?"
+
+"I see why you think it should not. But really people are very foolish
+to cavil over such matters. If I might have my way, I would pay no
+attention to them. I would go my way, do as I please and let such people
+think as they please."
+
+"It is a very independent way of doing, but it is not at all practical.
+We must consider public opinion a great many times. We must hedge
+ourselves about with convention when we would be independent, for always
+there are some minds which put evil construction upon the slightest
+careless act."
+
+"Perhaps you are right," said Hester slowly. Before her faded the dreams
+of greatness. Taking up the paper, she deliberately and slowly tore it
+into pieces and threw them into the wastebasket. She expressed no word
+of regret. She expected no expression of admiration for her fortitude.
+She was no weakling. If she believed a thing were right, she would have
+performed it, regardless of the sacrifice to herself. She was the
+expression of Debby Alden's high ideals and rigid discipline.
+
+"I'll get up earlier than usual to-morrow," said Hester lightly. "I
+promised on my word of honor to have a copy ready for Miss Bucher. If I
+may not write poetry, at least I can write personals. Let us go to bed
+now before the retiring bell rings."
+
+A hurried knock came to the door. Before either girl could respond,
+Renee entered. She wore a gay kimona of embroidered silk. Her dark wavy
+hair hung over her shoulders. She looked like a goddess as she paused an
+instant on the threshold. Then advancing, she cried, "Oh, girls, do you
+happen to have any cold cream? I'm out and I do need some particularly
+badly."
+
+"Yes, I have some." Helen took a small box from the dresser and gave it
+to Renee.
+
+"Thank you ever so much." Without further words, Renee went her way.
+
+Hester waited until the sound of her footsteps had died away.
+
+"I was thinking," she began slowly. Her brow was puckered as though she
+were greatly perplexed. "I've been thinking that I never heard Renee say
+anything but 'Will you lend me?' Does she not know anything else?"
+
+"I presume she does, but she has allowed the habit to grow. Each year,
+she grows worse. I fancy by the time she graduates, she will borrow our
+diplomas and essays. It may be that by that time, Renee will have
+particular need of them."
+
+Hester had prepared for bed and was sitting on the edge of her own
+little iron cot waiting until Helen was ready to say good-night.
+
+"I am going to remain up some time, little roommate. But you need not
+wait for me." She crossed the room and kissed Hester affectionately.
+Somehow Helen had fallen into the older sister attitude toward her
+roommate. Since the first week of school, Hester had never gone to sleep
+without Helen's kiss warm on her lips. This had never been done after
+the fashion of a sentimental school girl who caresses everything which
+comes in her way. Helen was not demonstrative, and what her lips
+touched, touched strongly her affections.
+
+[Illustration: "OH, GIRLS, DO YOU HAPPEN TO HAVE ANY COLD CREAM?"--_Page
+121._]
+
+"I must make a thorough search for my pin," she said, going back to her
+dressing-table, to begin the search. "I must not lose it. It is a
+peculiar design. It was once an earring belonging to Grandma Hobart. It
+has her hair woven about it. When Aunt Harriet and mama were
+babies--they were babies at the same time, you know--grandma had the
+earrings made into pins. Mama wore this for years, and then gave it to
+me. I should feel bad if I should lose it."
+
+Hester scarcely heard what Helen said. Her mind was busy with thoughts
+of the literary work to be ready before chapel. She was running over in
+her mind all the material at hand which could be worked into personals
+to appear in the "Mirror."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+Before the midwinter holidays, the report was the round of the
+dormitories that Hester Alden was playing a good game of basket-ball.
+She was alert and quick. Her passing was particularly good and Helen
+praised her highly. Hester was brimming with enthusiasm. The one fly in
+her cup of ointment was that Aunt Debby could not see her play, for the
+games of the substitute teams were never public. If perseverance and
+whole-hearted desire meant anything in winning out, Hester meant to be
+on the second team. Then she ran the chance of substituting.
+
+Berenice could play the game well, but was inclined to use tricks and
+artifices which generally resulted in a foul being called on her own
+team. Consequently her good playing and dishonesty barely averaged as
+much as the fair dealing of the average player.
+
+Three times each week, the gymnasium work was basket-ball. The day
+before Thanksgiving an extra practice was called because the session in
+school had been shortened.
+
+Berenice and Hester were playing right and left guard. Berenice who had
+never forgiven Hester for her attitude in the first game of the year,
+kept the ball as much as possible to herself even risking the game for
+the sake of annoying Hester.
+
+"You're wasting your time on grand-stand plays," said Renee while the
+referee had called time. "Hester plays well at passing. Give her a show.
+You dribble and dribble and half the time make a foul when you might
+have played into Hester's hand."
+
+Berenice shrugged her shoulders; her bead-like eyes snapped; but she
+made no reply.
+
+While this conversation was going on between them, Erma Thomas had
+hurried up to Hester. "Berenice is determined not to play ball into your
+hands. It's pure jealousy. Do some playing, Hester, and make goals. Play
+ball to me when you wish to pass, and I'll pass it to you for a goal."
+
+Helen put up her whistle and the game was resumed. The ball was at
+center with Renee and Maud. Berenice's eyes were alight, and every
+muscle quivering with excitement. Scarcely was the ball in air, before
+it was in her hand, and she was moving toward the goal. Her guard was
+upon her, but by a quick movement, Berenice and the ball slipped under
+the outstretched arm, and by deft movements, came close to goal. Making
+a sudden spurt with the ball in hands, she pitched for a goal. But at
+that instant, the whistle sounded.
+
+"That is the third foul you've made in this game," cried Helen, "and we
+have played scarcely ten minutes." She tossed the ball to the opposing
+team. "Foul on the first subs."
+
+Mame Cross caught the ball and took a position before the goal, but
+Berenice would not accept the decision of the referee.
+
+"Helen has a spite against me. How was I foul there?"
+
+Helen was given no opportunity to answer. Renee, who was just and severe
+at times, came forward.
+
+"Foul, of course, it was. It was evident as could be. You are always
+stirring up a fuss and holding back the game. You are the only one on
+the squad who cannot play an honest game. Leave the cage, and remain
+out. Maude may take your place permanently."
+
+With her own captain against her, there was nothing to be done except to
+obey. Already Maud was within the cage and at her place.
+
+The game continued. Mame pitched a goal from Berenice's foul. With the
+ball again back to center, it was evident that Berenice in spite of her
+brilliant playing, had been a drag on the game. Before this, she had
+been the team and the others were mere fillers-in. Now each took a more
+active part.
+
+Maude was not one who played for her own glory, but to score for the
+team. The ball came to her and she passed it to Hester, and hurried
+forward to receive it on its return. She reached the basket and might
+have made a goal, but she was short while Hester was tall and quick in
+movement. Those considerations came to the girl, and quick as a flash
+she passed the ball to Hester. There was a sudden upward movement of
+Hester's long arms, a slowly curving ball and a final goal. It was the
+first score their team had made since the beginning of the game.
+
+This success was like wine in Hester's veins. The desire to make goals
+came upon her. It seized her like a mania. It was impossible to tell
+whether it were luck or skill. But in the second half of the game,
+Hester pitched a goal from every ball which was passed to her. That
+practice game went down in the history of Dickinson as the one in which
+one player made ten successive goals from the field.
+
+The wealth of the Incas was as nothing to Hester in comparison to the
+congratulations of the girls who crowded upon her at the close of the
+game.
+
+"You'll get on the scrub, sure," cried Erma in her high excited tones.
+"Remember your old friends when you rise to glory."
+
+Their praises were very sweet; but sweetest of all was Helen's quiet
+commendation, when after all the excitement had passed, they were back
+in Sixty-two.
+
+"I never saw a better play. I never knew a girl who learned the game so
+quickly, and I have coached a number during my three years. If you do
+as well the next game, I'll substitute you on the scrub team. I have one
+girl there who will never learn. She does no better than she did a year
+ago."
+
+"Do you suppose I might be called then as substitute on the scheduled
+games," cried Hester.
+
+"If you're the best player. I'll pick only the best. I will not risk a
+game even for friendship's sake--even for your sake, little roommate."
+
+"I mean to be the best player," said Hester quietly. Helen's calmness
+had always the effect of quieting her in her intense excitement.
+
+But Miss Hester had yet to learn that other powers than one's own
+desire, enter into results.
+
+The first team had played eight games, four having been in their own
+gymnasium and the remainder at different schools. On these trips to the
+seminaries and normals, they were treated royally. Hester could imagine
+nothing finer than being met by carriages, whirled away to dormitories
+where the guest-chambers were at their disposal and later to be
+banqueted.
+
+During the fall term, Dickinson had retained second place. Helen was
+determined that they should move to first and secure the pennant whose
+value was that of the laurel wreaths of the Olympiads. In order to put
+up the best game possible, Helen attended every skirmish and practice,
+determined that her substitutes should be the best. In addition to her
+regular work this self-imposed task of overlooking the substitutes'
+games, gave her little leisure.
+
+Each day, before dinner and lunch, there was a quarter-hour relaxation
+period. To Helen, this was anything but what the name stood for. The
+loss of her pin troubled her. She was confident that it was somewhere in
+her bedroom. She very distinctly remembered removing it from her stock
+and placing it in the cushion which stood on her dresser. There was a
+possibility of its being knocked off, or being caught in ribbon and
+ties, and so might have been dropped somewhere. She began a systematic
+search. One day, she emptied the drawers in the dresser and examined
+every article there, to be sure that the pin was not clinging to it. She
+peered under and about each article of furniture. But no pin appeared.
+While she was on her knees searching the corners of the room and edges
+of the rug, Erma appeared in the doorway. She gave a peal of delight.
+
+"Have you turned Moslem; or is it Mohammed who takes long journeys on
+his knees to do penance? I have passed your door twice and each time I
+find you crawling about on all fours like a Teddy Bear."
+
+"I've lost my pin. I am sick about it."
+
+"I wouldn't be. No pin is worth being even half sick about. Buy yourself
+another, or better yet, Christmas is coming. Throw out a few gentle
+hints to your friends. Tell them you have lost your pin. They would be
+very stupid not to understand that it was their duty to replace it.
+Perhaps more than one will respond as becomes friends. You may have a
+half dozen pins in place of one."
+
+"This cannot be replaced. It has belonged to our family for generations.
+The story is that one of the Loraines who were French, for political
+reasons, left his country and went to Brazil. While there, he discovered
+valuable mines. Selecting the finest gems, he returned to France and
+presented them to the king, and was immediately restored to favor. Two
+stones of the collection were pushed aside as not worthy so great a
+ruler. Tourie Loraine kept these for himself and had them made into
+rings. Later the rings were made into earrings. I think that was done by
+my great-grandfather as a gift to his bride. Grandmother had twin
+daughters. Earrings were no longer in style and so the stones were made
+into brooches and set about with her hair. Each little girl was given
+one. My mother gave hers to me. The other which belonged to Aunt Harriet
+disappeared years ago."
+
+Erma laughed with delight. She loved romance either in real life or
+between the pages of a book.
+
+"How perfectly lovely to have such glorious things happen in one's
+family! Nothing like that ever happened in our family. My people did
+nothing more exciting than write charters and fight Indians. I think we
+were very commonplace. It is the French people who have the romantic
+blood. Tell me some more, Helen. You have no idea how interesting this
+is."
+
+"There is little more to tell. After the stones had been in our family
+for several generations, it was discovered by the merest accident, that
+they were yellow diamonds and very valuable, on account of their size
+and purity. They were not really yellow, you know, but sometimes
+reflected a peculiar yellow light. We were sorry that we knew the value
+of them."
+
+"Sorry! I should think you would have been delighted. I can imagine
+nothing to be sorry for in finding that what you thought was a pretty
+little stone, was really worth a great deal of money."
+
+"Because if it had been worthless, someone would never have been tempted
+as she was. My Aunt Harriet on one of her visits South years before, had
+found a little colored girl who was mistreated. She brought her North
+and gave her a home. She fed and clothed her and trained her to be an
+excellent servant. When she was able to work, Aunt Harriet paid her
+wages. She learned the value of Aunt Harriet's pins and rings. She
+disappeared and the jewels with her. There were a whole lot of
+complications which I cannot go into detail about. But it changed Aunt
+Harriet's whole life. I remember Rosa so well. She was a beautiful girl.
+She did not look like a colored woman. She was scarcely darker than I
+am, and she had the most beautiful eyes and hands."
+
+"And nothing has been heard of her?" Erma was eager to know. She could
+have sat there all day to listen and would have forgone both meals and
+lessons.
+
+"Nothing. It was surely strange how such a thing could have happened and
+not be found sometime. It is not an easy matter for a woman to disappear
+and all traces of her be lost."
+
+Hester had not been present during this conversation. As Helen finished,
+her roommate came down the corridor and joined the two girls.
+
+"Helen has been telling me the most thrilling tales from her family
+history. It is worth writing to make a story. Don't you know something,
+Hester? Didn't your family do some wonderful things?"
+
+"No," replied Hester. "The Aldens settled down in one place and remained
+there. As Aunt Debby says, they fulfilled their duty to their church and
+to their neighbors, but nothing happened in their lives which was not
+prosaic."
+
+"But your mother's family," persisted Erma. "Surely there must be
+something romantic on her side of the tree."
+
+Hester smiled at the words. There was a little touch of sadness in her
+smile. She had never spoken to the girls of her people. They knew that
+she was an Alden. The name was well known in the central part of the
+State. They knew that an aunt had reared her. That was all the knowledge
+that came to them. When other girls talked together of what their
+parents and grandparents had done as children and repeated the old-time
+stories, which had been handed down to them as part of their family
+history, Hester Alden had only listened and had taken no part in the
+recital. Now, she would have evaded Erma's direct question, but Erma
+was not one who would permit her inquiries to go by the board. She
+repeated it. Hester answered slowly.
+
+"When I was a year old I had neither father nor mother. My mother met a
+horrible death. Aunt Debby took me. She never could talk of my parents,
+so I know little of them. Aunt Debby is mother, father, sister, and
+brother to me."
+
+"Oh, forgive me, I did not know. I would not have wounded you for the
+world."
+
+Erma was on her feet. Impulsive, loving and quick to act, she put her
+hands on Hester's shoulders and touched her lips warmly and
+affectionately. "But you have friends. I want to be one, Hester. You
+know I've always liked you and I'd love you if you'd give me half a
+chance."
+
+Hester, who responded quickly to affection, returned the embrace. "I'd
+love to have you for a friend. Aunt Debby is always first, for she is my
+friend, too, but you and Helen must be the next best."
+
+The little flow of sentiment might have continued, had not Renee at
+that moment, appeared in the doorway.
+
+"I'm awfully sorry to disturb you. But could you lend me your Solid
+Geometry, Helen? Did you get that original? Have you really? Isn't that
+lovely! Would you object to letting me look over it for a moment?"
+
+Helen took the book from the study-table and drawing out an original,
+handed it to Renee who, sitting down, began a thorough study of the
+problem she could not solve for herself.
+
+Barely was Renee disposed of than Josephine came in. She moved
+languidly. Her eyes were opened very wide, but instead of brilliance or
+alertness, they spoke of sentiment and dreaminess. Josephine had made a
+study of looking so. Soulful, she thought it to be; but the girls called
+it by another name not so complimentary and rallied her good-naturedly
+about it.
+
+Renee was quick, in action and thought. Josephine's slowness annoyed
+her. Now, she took her eyes from the paper which she had been studying
+on, and cried brusquely, "If someone would only set a fire under you,
+you'd get somewhere sooner, Jo. Why don't you move, when you move."
+
+Jo was not annoyed. She moved not a whit faster. Gliding in, she seated
+herself on a shirt-waist box and assumed a pose of figure which she
+believed to be artistic. She showed no annoyance at Renee's speech. She
+smiled sweetly and serenely. No matter what was said to her, or done in
+her presence, that smile came to her. Her placidity was exceedingly
+annoying to this set of girls. "If Jo was not always so sugary sweet,"
+was the general complaint. "If she would not always agree to everything.
+If only now and then she would express an opinion, one would know at
+least that she had formed one." These were the only complaints ever made
+against her.
+
+"Has something been troubling you?" she asked Helen. "You appear quite
+disturbed."
+
+"I am. I lost a pin." Helen told how she had placed it that evening she
+had last worn it, and how it had mysteriously disappeared. Both Jo and
+Renee had seen the heirloom, for Helen had worn it at intervals since
+she had entered the hall.
+
+"I'd advertise for it. You might have dropped it in the hall somewhere.
+Have Doctor Weldon announce it in chapel; and put a notice on the
+bulletin board in the main hall." It was Renee who made the practical
+suggestion.
+
+"I'm sure I did not lose it outside this room. I am quite sure of that."
+
+"About as sure as one can be of anything. I've noticed, however, that
+being sure is no proof."
+
+"What a loss it must be to you!" cried Jo softly. "Of course, the money
+value is of little consideration. It is the memories which cling to it
+which make it precious. I know how you feel about such matters. You have
+so much sentiment. I know what trifles may mean to one. I always wear
+this little chain. I have worn it since I was three years old. I never
+could bear to part with it. It seems a tie to bind me to my childhood. I
+feel as though I could never grow old while I wear it. I shall never
+take it off."
+
+Renee shrugged her shoulders. "I'm glad you don't have the same
+sentiment toward your collars. What a beautiful sentiment you might
+conjure up about a waist which some dear departed chum had embroidered
+for you; or perhaps she buttoned it up the back the first time you wore
+it and died immediately afterward. I really think the last would be most
+touching. Then you would feel that you could never unbutton the buttons
+which her dear hands had buttoned."
+
+The irony in Renee's voice was strong. While she had been speaking, she
+arose and moved toward the door.
+
+Hester's face had flushed. She feared that Josephine would be angry.
+Erma, however, laughed merrily, and smiled and fluttered about like a
+gay butterfly. She thought Renee's sarcasm was the finest wit in the
+world. If it had been directed toward herself, she would not have cared
+at all, and could conceive of no reason why Jo should be hurt.
+
+Josephine raised her brows languidly and smiled sweetly. "Renee laughs
+at sentiment," she said. "What is it that Shakespeare says about jesting
+at scars because you never felt a wound?"
+
+"If I ever do show wounds," cried Renee, "they will not be ones made by
+a tin soldier with a toy pistol. It will take a cannon ball to make me
+know that I've been touched."
+
+She sailed out of the room, her head high and her heels coming down with
+some show of feeling. Erma burst into a fresh peal of laughter.
+
+"Isn't Renee dear and doesn't she say the most brilliant things? I often
+wished I could be witty. All I can do is to laugh at the jokes which
+other girls make."
+
+"Why wish to be witty?" asked Josephine. "You're so sweet and womanly
+and tender."
+
+"Am I all that?" cried Erma and she laughed again. "I must go and tell
+Mame. She has known me for years and has never suspected that I am all
+that."
+
+She hurried away. Jo yet lingered.
+
+"I had a letter from Cousin Rob Vail," said Helen to Hester. "He is
+coming down Saturday morning in the touring-car with Aunt Harriet and
+you and I are invited to take a ride and then have dinner down in the
+city. Aunt Harriet is disappointed that she has never been able to meet
+you. So be prepared to meet the sweetest woman in the world."
+
+"Mrs. Vail is so sweet!" cried Jo. "I never look at her but there comes
+to my mind the picture of the 'Mater Dolorosa,' she's so sad and
+pensive."
+
+"She looks sad," said Helen, "but I never knew livelier company. One
+cannot be dull with her. She has a sorrow which passes comprehension,
+yet, she never worries another with it. She has trained herself to take
+an interest in others."
+
+"Saturday!" Hester cried and began prancing about the room. "Two days
+until Saturday. I wonder how I shall ever be able to wait until then."
+
+The bell for luncheon rang and the girls moved from the room. As they
+passed down the corridor, a number of the girls spoke to Helen about the
+loss of her pin and expressed the belief that it had only been mislaid
+and would be found.
+
+A number had seen and discussed it. Sara spoke of this. "It was so
+peculiar and unusual that anyone who finds it will know it is yours."
+
+Hester walked ahead without taking part in the conversation. It came to
+Helen then that her little roommate had shown no interest whatever and
+had not assisted in the search or even expressed her sympathy for its
+loss.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+Hester was deep in literary work for the Philomathean paper. She was not
+attempting poetry. After Helen's criticism she had not the heart to
+bring her efforts before the public, although she did write in secret.
+It is a long and hard drop from being a poet to a hack-writer scribbling
+down personals. Poets are born, while any one can write personals.
+
+Hester had been cultivating the unpleasant little mannerism of thinking
+aloud or rather in tones under her breath, as she wrote she read. Her
+efforts resulted in this form.
+
+"'Miss Erma Thomas has been excused from classes on account of
+sustaining a sprained ankle.'
+
+"'Sustain.' I wonder if that is the right word. Sustain a sprain. It
+sounds all right. I'll let it be that. If I don't know, the other girls
+will not know either."
+
+"Hester, do you realize that you are thinking aloud?" asked Helen after
+this performance had continued some minutes.
+
+"Am I? I did not know; but it does not matter. What I am saying is not
+private and it makes no difference if all the world hears."
+
+"That is not the idea," said Helen. She was sweet, calm, and decided.
+"Has it not come to you that I might wish to study and that monotone is
+anything but pleasant?"
+
+Hester's face flushed crimson. "I beg pardon. I was selfish, Helen."
+
+Helen crossed the room and bending over the abashed, confused Hester,
+said tenderly, "Do not mind my speaking so, little roommate. If it were
+Aunt Debby you would not take it so to heart. Then why should it hurt
+from me? Boarding-schools and roommates serve one great purpose--they
+rub off the jagged edges of one's manners." She bent and kissed the
+girl.
+
+"Helen Loraine, you are the dearest girl I know. I am so glad I have you
+for a roommate. We have never quarreled and I hope never will."
+
+"No, we never will," said Helen. She went back to her work.
+
+In addition to her literary efforts, Hester had other claims upon her.
+The Christmas season was approaching and her gifts were barely in
+preparation. She was embroidering a set of linen collars and cuffs for
+Helen, and the efforts to keep the work hidden was making life strenuous
+for her.
+
+Whenever Helen left the room, Hester took up the work, took a few
+stitches and perhaps was compelled to put it away. There were many
+people passing up and down the dormitory halls. It was not always
+possible to distinguish Helen's step. Then she had to resort to
+subterfuge to get the measure of Helen's collar. She had not
+accomplished that yet, but she had her plans laid and meant to carry
+them out at the first opportunity.
+
+It came to her sooner than she expected. Saturday morning, after a few
+minutes' study, Helen looked at the time, and arose from her work.
+
+"It is almost ten o'clock. Aunt Harriet and Cousin Robert should be
+here. I think I'll walk down to the guests' entrance and see if I can
+find any trace of them. Bob would not be permitted to come to the
+dormitory. Perhaps, Aunt Harriet is waiting with him in the reception
+hall. Marshall may have been sent for us, but you know his failing. He
+may be fulfilling a half-dozen commissions before he comes for us. If
+they are not there, I shall telephone to Auntie."
+
+Hester urged her to be gone. It was with a feeling of relief that Hester
+heard the click of Helen's high heels as they went down the hall.
+Waiting until she believed that Helen would not be interrupted, Hester
+hurried to the wardrobe which they had in common and taking down a waist
+began to measure the collar. She had just completed this when she heard
+the click of Helen's heels. Quick as a flash the dress was hung up.
+Hester was about to close the door when the dress caught. She was
+fussing over it and was very red in the face and visibly embarrassed
+when Helen entered the room.
+
+"What is the trouble?" Helen asked.
+
+"Nothing at all," was the reply given with unusual curtness. "What
+should make you think there was any trouble? I was just opening the
+wardrobe door."
+
+Her long speech which was wholly unnecessary and her evident
+embarrassment did not pass unobserved. Helen gave her a quick look.
+Hester was not herself, that was evident.
+
+"I asked the question because your face was red, and you appeared
+excited. That was all. I did not find it necessary to go to the guests'
+entrance. Marshall was coming for us. We are to go to the reception
+hall. You will meet Aunt Harriet at last."
+
+"How strange it seems that I have been here almost four months and yet
+we have not met! She always came when I was home with Aunt Debby, or in
+class. I fancy the Fates do not intend that we shall meet."
+
+"You shall meet in two minutes, or I am not a reliable prophet," was
+Helen's reply.
+
+Two minutes proved that she was not. Robert Vail alone awaited them in
+the reception hall. His mother had not been able to come.
+
+Hester gave a start of surprise when Helen presented the cousin to her.
+He was particularly fine-looking and attractive but she was not startled
+at that. He was the young man who had accosted her that day on the
+street and apologized by saying he had mistaken her for his cousin,
+Helen.
+
+"You remember me, I see, Miss Alden. You must have thought I was rude,
+but I was confident that you were Helen. I had not seen her for three
+months."
+
+"I am glad that I met you so that I can explain to Aunt Debby," said
+Hester naively. Then observing his look of surprise, she added, "She
+would not believe that you had really made a mistake. She thought you
+did it just to annoy me."
+
+"How could she?" cried Helen with a show of feeling. "Cousin Rob--."
+
+"Go slowly, Cousin," laughed the young man. "You must remember that I
+was a stranger to Miss Alden and her aunt. They were fully justified in
+believing that I was rude."
+
+"I did not," said Hester. "I saw you and I knew that you had really
+mistaken me."
+
+"How could your Aunt Debby think of such a thing? Didn't she also see
+Rob?" asked Helen.
+
+"I did not believe you could show such a spirit," laughed Hester. "You
+are always so calm."
+
+"When things touch myself, but not when they touch my friends," said
+Helen.
+
+"Please calm yourself, Helen. You know we made a compact this very
+morning and promised never to quarrel or be angry with each other."
+
+"The same old school-girl fashion," said Robert Vail. "If I am a good
+prophet, you'll be tearing each other's hair before the day is over."
+
+"Why did Aunt Harriet not come?" asked Helen, abruptly changing the
+subject of conversation.
+
+"She went on a little trip into Virginia," he replied. Then observing
+the anxious look which came to Helen's face, he continued, "We tried to
+persuade her not to go, but she said this might be a real clue and she
+could not be satisfied to remain home. Father would have insisted, for
+mother is really worn out, but she was so anxious to go that she and
+father went off last night."
+
+[Illustration: "YOU REMEMBER ME, I SEE, MISS ALDEN."--_Page 149._]
+
+"Was there anything new, or merely the same old story as before?" asked
+Helen.
+
+"Who can tell? You know Rosa's mother had been a house-servant in
+Virginia and Rosa had a host of relatives there. Mrs. Mader--you
+remember the Doctor Mader who sometimes attends mother? Well, Mrs. Mader
+had been West. There she made the acquaintance of a southern woman who
+talked much of a Rosa Williams, who did some work for her. Mrs. Mader
+was interested and asked all sorts of questions. This Rosa Williams, so
+the southern woman said, was a handsome mulatto woman about forty years
+old. She also said that she had several children and that one in
+particular had neither the features nor coloring of a negro."
+
+"Poor Aunt Harriet!" said Helen. "If only she would give up hope. She is
+wearing herself out in this way."
+
+Hester was delighted with this new acquaintance. She had known few boys.
+Jane Orr's brother, Ralph, had been her ideal of what a boy should be.
+Jane had not let his good qualities pass unnoticed. But Hester was
+inclined to think that Robert Vail surpassed Ralph in every particular.
+Helen had told her much of this one cousin who took the place of brother
+to her. He was in his last year in medical college, and had led his
+class for three full years. Yet he was not a bookish man. He was of a
+social nature, fond of company, and outdoor life, taking as much
+interest in cross-country walks and athletics as he did in his studies.
+Hester was thinking of these matters while Helen and Robert were
+talking. She had been sitting with her eyes upon the floor, listening in
+a half abstracted fashion. She raised her eyes suddenly to find Robert
+Vail's eyes fixed on her in scrutiny. Her cheeks grew crimson and she
+looked away.
+
+"I beg pardon," cried the young man, "I seem destined to annoy you with
+my rudeness. The first time I met you I mistook you for Helen. The
+resemblance is not so marked now that I see you together."
+
+"Yet we are often mistaken for each other," said Helen, "if the hall is
+just a little dark, the girls mistake us. Often I am called Hester."
+
+"It would have to be very dark if I were to mistake you now after once
+seeing you together.
+
+"I wish to explain to Miss Alden why I was looking so intently at her
+now. I've seen my mother sitting that way many a time. There was
+something about you which made me think of her."
+
+"You told me she was very beautiful," said Hester, saucily turning
+toward Helen.
+
+"Hester Alden, are you really fishing for compliments?" asked Helen,
+pretending to be shocked at Hester's question.
+
+"There is really no use of fishing when the compliments are floating on
+the surface within your reach," said the young man gallantly.
+
+This was all very pleasing to Hester. She had not been accustomed to
+receiving such compliments or attention and she felt quite grown up and
+elegant.
+
+Robert Vail's gallant manner was of short duration. He looked at Hester
+again, and grew quite serious. Very strange ideas came to him. He had a
+queer feeling that somehow his mother had made a mistake in not calling
+at the seminary that morning, and that he stood nearer the truth than he
+had ever stood before. These thoughts prompted him to turn to Hester
+with questions which were pertinent and personal.
+
+"Where do you live, Miss Alden?" Hester told him. She wondered as she
+did so why he had asked the question as though it were of moment.
+
+"Who are your people? Have you always lived there?"
+
+He had touched Hester on the one delicate subject of her life. She had
+pride enough for several girls. Not even Aunt Debby knew how her lack of
+parentage and name had hurt her. She had never permitted herself to
+think of it, lest she should grow depressed and unhappy. And to think
+that now this Robert Vail whom she had liked so much, had presumed to
+question her. Like a flash, it came to her that perhaps he had met Kate
+Bowerman or Abner Stout and they had told him that she had been left a
+waif on Debby Alden's hands and that her people had cared so little for
+her that they never came to find her.
+
+For an instant, pride was up in arms. Her one thought was to defend
+herself at whatever cost. All Aunt Debby's precious training was flung
+to the winds. She raised her head proudly and looked directly at him. In
+her eyes was a look of defiance; the crimson of annoyance and shame
+flamed on her cheeks.
+
+"Who are my people?" she repeated his question. "As my name is Alden, I
+presume my people also were of that name. My father and mother died when
+I was a babe, and my father's sister, my Aunt Debby Alden reared me."
+
+Her annoyance was evident. Robert Vail was vexed with himself for having
+caused it. "I am always falling into error, Miss Alden. If you forgive
+me this once more, I shall promise not to annoy you again. I fancy my
+question was personal. I asked it because of the resemblance to my
+mother and cousin. It came to me that you might be a relative. Though I
+doubt if you would wish to claim us. We are a bad lot. I am really the
+only fair specimen among them."
+
+"Such insufferable conceit," said Helen. "Everyone knows that it keeps
+all the other members of the family taking care of you."
+
+"Which proves what I have just said. I am the family jewel. It behooves
+them to take care of me, lest I be lost or stolen." Turning to Hester,
+he held out his hand. "Am I forgiven?" he asked.
+
+Hester, ashamed and abashed, laid her hand within his. "I am sorry I
+spoke so hastily," she said. But the red did not leave her cheeks, nor
+the hurt look from her eyes. She blushed for the statement she had made.
+"'My father was Aunt Debby's brother.' It was a lie--nothing less than a
+lie," she kept saying to herself and the thought spoiled the entire day
+for her. It spoiled more than that, too. Perhaps, had she told the
+truth, she would never again have need to blush for her lack of name or
+to misunderstand her people for not coming in search for her. Her little
+sin bore its own fruits with it; yet Hester believed she was paying the
+debt by being sorry and ashamed.
+
+"About your going with me," Robert turned to his cousin. "Mother said I
+was to play escort and take you anywhere you wished to go."
+
+"Aunt Harriet's not coming may make a difference. The preceptress gave
+me permission to go with the understanding that we were in your mother's
+charge."
+
+"I shall take as good care of you as mother. Better care, I fancy, for
+she would be helpless if she had to manage a machine."
+
+"It is the idea of not living up to the conditions," replied Helen. "If
+you and Hester will excuse me, I will explain to Miss Burkham. Perhaps,
+she will not object to my going with you. She would if you were not a
+cousin."
+
+She went directly to the preceptress and in a few moments returned with
+that lady herself, who listened to the story of the difficulties.
+
+"We intended stopping to see Aunt Debby," said Hester. "I wrote her a
+note yesterday, telling her to expect us."
+
+"You may go under these conditions," said Miss Burkham, "that you go
+directly to Miss Alden's aunt's. If she can accompany you further, very
+well. Otherwise you remain at her home until you are ready to return to
+school. Under any circumstances you must be here before five o'clock. Be
+kind enough to set your timepieces with the tower clock. Then there will
+be no excuse for not being here on or before the hour appointed. You may
+get your wraps. I shall entertain Mr. Vail until your return."
+
+Miss Burkham was always exacting. Her speech was frank and sometimes
+even blunt; but she had such a sense of justice and fitness of things,
+that her decisive words were never galling, even to the most sensitive
+of the girls. Her manner was gracious and her smile kindly. She would
+put herself to no end of trouble to add to the happiness of the pupils;
+on the other hand, she would go to no end of trouble to see that the
+rules of the school were rigidly enforced and that the girls under her
+care would do nothing unbecoming a lady or which might bring criticism
+upon their heads.
+
+Soon the three were on their way. For three days, Hester Alden had
+enjoyed the ride in anticipation. But now something had gone from it.
+The buoyancy of spirit which was generally hers and the power of
+enjoying the most trifling affairs had deserted her. She sat silent
+until Helen rallied her. Then she made an effort to be her usual bright
+talkative self; but it was plainly an effort. She was forcing an
+interest in what was going on about her. Her mind dwelt only on the
+statement she had made to Robert Vail.
+
+"It was a lie, a lie," she kept repeating to herself. She was almost
+afraid to meet Aunt Debby. How Aunt Debby despised anything of that
+kind! Hester felt that her clear gray eyes would look straight down into
+her heart and read the lie which had made a mark there.
+
+Robert Vail observed that Hester was more than quiet. She was depressed
+and anxious.
+
+Debby Alden was prepared to receive the guests. She, with Miss Richards,
+had a lunch ready to serve. She had smiled when she arranged her table
+service. She had given it the right touch of daintiness and refinement.
+There had come to her, the remembrance of certain conditions of her life
+and her manner of doing things before Hester had come into her life.
+She had spoken her thoughts to Miss Richards.
+
+"I have been a different woman ever since I found Hester," she said.
+"Life holds so much more for me than it did before--a great deal more
+than I ever hoped to have it hold. I wonder what I would have been had
+Hester gone her way that day and not have come into my life."
+
+"You would have been Debby Alden," said Miss Richards, "a woman of
+conscience and principle. You would have been the same Debby--only with
+the narrower view of life. You would have been an old woman instead of a
+bright, interesting, beautiful, young girl of forty."
+
+Debby Alden had blushed at the speech.
+
+"You and Hester have conspired to spoil me. I think you are leagued
+together to make me vain and worldly. What one does not think of, the
+other does. It was only last week that Hester wrote me some very silly
+nonsense about not one of the women at the reception, looking half so
+fine as I. Of course, I know the child does it merely to please me."
+
+Miss Richards nodded her head in negation. "You know she means every
+word she says, Debby. Hester could not prevaricate, even to please you.
+As to its being nonsense, you know it is not. We think what we say and
+you like to hear us say it. Why not express ourselves? There is nothing
+in the world that is as great as love. The greatest thing in the world!
+Why then should we go through life with silent lips, or lips which open
+only for criticism while all the time love is really in our hearts? Is
+it not lovelier and kinder to express our love while the loved ones are
+here to listen?"
+
+This had been Miss Richards's philosophy of life. It had been her love
+as well as Hester's which had brightened and developed Debby Alden.
+Their words concerning Debby's being beautiful were not flattering. She
+was beautiful with the beauty which comes from fine principle, high
+ideals, and a warm, love-filled heart. People had turned in the streets
+for a second look at Debby Alden, while she, wholly unconscious that she
+had grown so attractive, moved on her way without knowing of the eyes
+turned in her direction.
+
+Debby went down to the gate to meet her guests. She took Hester in her
+arms. In an instant her intuition told her that something was wrong.
+
+"What is troubling my little girl?" she asked.
+
+"Nothing, Aunt Debby. Nothing at all. Oh, how sweet to be back home!"
+She threw her arms about Debby Alden's neck and hugged her with a
+vehemence which caused that lady to gasp for breath.
+
+Helen and Miss Alden had never met. Debby at once noticed the
+resemblance between Helen and Hester. She greeted the former as she had
+done her own little girl. Then she turned to Robert Vail and holding out
+her hand, said merrily, "I shall forgive and believe now, since I know
+you have a cousin Helen and she does resemble Hester. Until this time, I
+thought it all a myth of your own making, manufactured for the sole
+purpose of annoying two plain country folk."
+
+Rob Vail laughed as he took her hand in his own firm clasp. "I do not
+know whether I shall allow myself to be forgiven under such
+circumstances. You would not have faith in me until I presented the
+proof and that is really no faith at all. I wish to be trusted without
+evidence."
+
+He laughed again and held Miss Debby's hand tight in his own while they
+moved up the walk toward the tiny cottage.
+
+"From this time, I shall have faith in you, though evidence is lacking,"
+she said.
+
+She liked the boy. She had never before been so pleasantly impressed by
+a young man as she had been by him. He was wholesome, clear-eyed and
+unaffected.
+
+Debby Alden recognized these virtues in him and received him at once
+into her home and friendship. She liked his college talk; his bright way
+of making his smile and voice put his words at fault. Yet, while he
+entertained her she was not wholly unconscious of two things--that
+Hester was not herself, and that the resemblance between the two girls
+was not the result of mere chance. Suddenly she turned to Helen with the
+question:
+
+"Have you any sisters? Did you ever have any?"
+
+"No, unfortunately, I am an only child," was the reply.
+
+"Which may account for any peculiar little traits of character or
+manner," said Robert Vail. "Only a brother or sister is able to 'comb
+one' thoroughly smooth. They trim the plant of self-esteem; they nip the
+bud of selfishness before it can bloom; they serve their purpose,
+nuisances though they are--these brothers and sisters."
+
+"How unfortunate that you never had any. You might have been--" Helen
+left the sentence unfinished, implying by her tone that he might have
+been all that he was not.
+
+"But you served the same purpose, cousin. You have never failed in your
+duty toward me. You are worth a dozen brothers and sisters when it comes
+to 'combing one down.'" They laughed at the sally and might have carried
+it further had not Miss Alden led the way to the lunch table.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+Hester Alden barely escaped being campused for dancing her way through
+the main hall and shrieking in wild excess of spirits. To add to the
+enormity of the offense, the day on which this had occurred was the day
+when the ice-cream wagon came in from Flemington and disposed of its
+wares at the front entrance of the campus. At the time of her exhibition
+of high spirits, Hester had held high in her hand a paper butter-dish
+filled with cream, which had melted and was trickling over the edge of
+the dish and down her sleeve. The German teacher had heard the unusual
+commotion and appeared on the scene.
+
+"Ach, Fraulein Alden, what matters it by you? To your room go you at
+once. To Miss Burkham, I such conduct shall report."
+
+Hester in the exuberance of spirit, hugged the little German lady who
+was as fat as a dumpling. "Fraulein Franz, you are a dear old soul if
+you do get your English verbs confused. You would dance and laugh and
+spill your ice-cream too, if you were to play on the scrub team."
+
+"Gra-shus," said Fraulein. "Pardon me, I did not know the cause. I
+wonder not that you much rejoice."
+
+She retired to her room. Hester laughed again, but softly this time for
+Miss Burkham's office was not a great distance away.
+
+"The dear old Fraulein! To think of her begging my pardon for
+reprimanding me. I am only too glad it was not Miss Burkham. If she had
+seen me, I'd had two weeks on the campus and someone else would have
+been compelled to carry my cream from the wagon to the coping."
+
+The other east dormitory girls had heard the news and were quite as well
+pleased as Hester. Mame Cross had been forbidden by her father to play
+any but practice games. He thought she grew too excited for her own
+good. It was her place on the second squad which Hester was to fill.
+
+Helen had used her influence in behalf of her roommate; for there were
+ten other players who would have been as well pleased as Hester was, had
+it fallen to their lot to substitute. Fortunately they were a liberal,
+broad-minded set of girls. They were not envious, but rejoiced with
+Hester in her good fortune.
+
+As Hester hurried down the main hall to the dormitory stairs, she found
+her own particular set of friends waiting for her on the landing.
+
+"Here she is!" cried Erma. "We have been looking everywhere for you.
+Isn't it simply grand to think that one of our set got on?"
+
+"I'm glad you've got it, since I couldn't," said Mame. She had always
+the expression of one on whom Fortune had frowned. On the contrary, she
+had fairly basked in that lady's smiles, since the first day of her
+babyhood.
+
+"I don't see why father will not let me play. There's no danger of my
+hurting myself, and what if I should? He has an idea that I am such a
+precious article that I should be done up in cotton. One thing, Hester,
+if you play a match game, you'll look better than I do. My basket-ball
+suit was a fright; but then, I never do have anything that looks like
+other girls."
+
+Hester was about to express herself contrary to this sentiment, when an
+audacious remark from Erma caused her to fall back in silence.
+
+"You see how it is, Hester," explained Erma later as the two walked arm
+in arm down the hall. "Mame is the best dresser in school. She has the
+best-made clothes and the best taste about choosing them, and you never
+see a pin or hook loose. Yet we never yet have heard her say she was
+satisfied. So we just concluded that we wouldn't encourage her. When she
+begins to complain and find fault with her lot, we'd look as though we
+pitied her. It isn't a bit of use of trying to convince her how lucky
+she is.
+
+"Now, I am always the other way." Here Erma paused long enough to laugh
+merrily. "I'm satisfied with everything. My father is simply grand; I
+just adore this old seminary, and I think the girls on our hall are the
+sweetest things, and I never had a dress in all my life that wasn't
+simply a dream."
+
+The girls rejoiced with Hester, all except Berenice. She went through
+with the form of congratulations, but her voice had a sarcastic touch
+and her eyes had narrowed themselves into mere slits. Her words were a
+little uncertain as to meaning; but Hester to whom all things appeared
+beautiful, was in no mood to take exception.
+
+"I'm sure I'm glad you're on the scrub," she said slowly. "I'm always
+glad to see people get what they work so hard for."
+
+"Thank you, Berenice. You girls have all been lovely. You do not have a
+bit of jealousy about letting a 'freshie' step in ahead of some who have
+been here two and three years."
+
+"We want to win games," cried Louise Reed. "Whoever makes goals for us,
+suits us whether she's a freshman or a senior. Get the pennant and we'll
+carry you home on our shoulders."
+
+They had come to Sixty-two. Erma and Mame in company with Berenice
+walked on down the corridor.
+
+"I'd love to have been put on; but since I wasn't I am glad that Hester
+was. It was fair, too. She's played better than any other one on the
+team. She gets excited but she doesn't lose her head."
+
+Berenice sneered. "To get on the team, one must learn to toady," she
+said. "No doubt if you had played lackey to Helen Loraine, you would
+have been playing scrub."
+
+Erma turned suddenly to look at the speaker. There was no laughter now
+in either her eyes or voice as she, gazing steadily at Berenice, asked,
+"Do you mean to say that Hester Alden plays lackey to Helen? Do you mean
+to say that Helen would permit it if Hester were foolish enough to do
+so, and furthermore do you mean to say that Hester was not chosen for
+the simple reason that she is the steadiest player among the
+substitutes?"
+
+Berenice shrugged her shoulders. Her little beady eyes had their lashes
+drawn down upon them until they had narrowed into a mere slit.
+
+"How you do fly up, Erma! I really did not think you had such a temper;
+but one thing you may rest assured of: it is always you sweet girls who
+fly into a passion at the slightest word."
+
+"I have never posed as being a sweet girl, and I am not in a passion
+now. I have asked you a question which you have evaded. You have
+insinuated things about girls who call me their friend and I will never
+let such matters pass. I wish you to answer my question before we go one
+step further."
+
+Erma stood still. The others did as she did. Berenice laughed lightly.
+"How very silly. A perfect tempest in a tea-cup simply because I choose
+to get off a joke."
+
+"If that is a joke, it is in horribly bad taste," was Erma's retort.
+
+"You are unjust, Erma. How many times have I heard you laugh at Helen
+for trying to stand in with the teachers, and for letting Mame copy her
+translations."
+
+"Hundreds of times, but you always heard me laugh and jest when the
+girls themselves were present and when every one who heard, knew that it
+was mere fun. It was mere give and take between every one of our set who
+were present. You have yet to hear me criticise an absent girl, or jest
+about her."
+
+Again Berenice shrugged her shoulders as though she would dismiss the
+subject.
+
+"I am glad I am not ugly-tempered," she said and walked away without a
+backward glance at the others. For a moment, Erma was wounded. Then the
+humor of the situation came to her. She laughed until the silvery echoes
+rang from one end of the corridor to the other; and the girls begged to
+be quiet lest the hall-teacher follow in their footsteps and they be
+sentenced to solitary confinement on the campus.
+
+After receiving the congratulations of her friends, Hester had gone to
+her room. Helen was busy preparing a lesson for the session the
+following morning.
+
+"Of course, you know what has happened," cried Hester. "Of course you
+do. I can see by your eyes. Miss Watson sent for me to come to her and
+then told me. I knew who proposed my name. It was you, Helen Loraine. I
+cannot possibly thank you, and I never in the world can repay you."
+
+Flinging her arms about her roommate's neck, Hester embraced her warmly
+all the while declaring that she would never be able to repay her.
+
+"Yes, you surely can," said Helen. "Play a good game and justify my
+recommending you. That will please me best of all."
+
+"I shall do that for your sake, for my own, and for the team's."
+
+Helen stood silent a moment, considering whether she had better tell
+Hester all her plans. She decided that she would and drawing Hester down
+on the cosy corner, which had been improvised from trunks, she
+continued: "For several reasons you must play well the next two weeks.
+Three weeks from next Saturday, we play the girls from Exeter Hall. They
+are the hardest squad we'll meet. Their coach is a college woman and a
+specialist in physical culture and athletics. The Exeter team is the
+best-trained one we'll come up against. We'll take along four
+substitutes. Maud plays well for the first half, but she tires easily. I
+intend to substitute for her on the second half, and if you justify my
+doing it, I'll let you take her place."
+
+"Really?" That one word was all that Hester Alden could command at that
+moment; but it spoke volumes. To the girl it seemed as though the one
+ambition of her school life was about to be fulfilled--to play on the
+first team.
+
+She did not consider herself alone in this. Aunt Debby was always first
+in her thoughts. Ever since Mary Bowerman had taunted her with being a
+waif, Hester had realized how much the foster aunt had done for her, and
+what sacrifice of time and money, she had made. The one way which Hester
+saw to repay the obligation, was to do those things which would reflect
+credit on the Alden name. Playing on the first team would do that very
+thing for never before in the history of Dickinson, had a freshman been
+so honored.
+
+Hester had reached such a degree of happiness that she lacked expression
+either by words or motion. She could but sit still in the cosy corner,
+her hands clasped in her lap and her eyes looking steadily before her.
+So she sat for some minutes but in those minutes, she anticipated every
+play in the coming game. She saw the goals she would make; she could
+hear the referee call out the score and read the figures which the score
+makers were writing down. She could see Aunt Debby sitting in the
+gallery; she could hear the applause which swept over the hall.
+
+"Really? Do you really think there is the least chance for me?" she
+asked at last.
+
+"I really think so. I might say I am quite sure," replied Helen. "Miss
+Watson always permits me to choose my substitutes. I would almost
+promise but--"
+
+"Don't promise. I would not have you do that. During the next two weeks
+I might lose my head and not play well at all," she said.
+
+"I'm not afraid of that," replied Helen. "But it does not seem fair to
+the other girls to have me pledge myself to you, before you have had a
+single practice on the scrub. I try to be just, but sometimes I am
+afraid I am a little partial in choosing the ones I love best. Because
+you are you, I might be unjust to the others. Do you understand why I
+would rather not promise, little roommate?"
+
+"Yes, I know."
+
+The subject ended there. Helen went back to her work. Hester tried to
+keep her mind upon her books; but one might as well have tried to charm
+a butterfly. Her thoughts flew from the game to Aunt Debby, and back to
+Helen and the attitude she had taken in regard to the game.
+
+Hester had no doubt that Helen had a great affection for her. There had
+been some sweet and gentle evidence of it since the first week of
+school. Hester was beginning to understand what the girls had tried to
+convey to her that first day of school, when Sara had declared that
+Helen had such an air. It was the grace which was the expression of fine
+breeding, intellect and kindliness of heart.
+
+As Hester thought of these things, she could have gone down on her knees
+to Helen just as she would have done to Aunt Debby.
+
+"We'll be friends all our life. Whatever happens, we will never quarrel.
+It is lovely to have a friend like Helen." These were the thoughts which
+came to Hester. Inspired by them to express herself, she opened a
+note-book and under the date of the month and year, she wrote what had
+been in her thoughts.
+
+Helen was one who had much affection in her nature, but was never
+sentimental. She was intensely practical when it came to her work.
+After her talk with Hester about the work on the team, her mind turned
+to the petty details, the fulfillment of which meant success.
+
+"I wear my gray basket-ball suit when we play with an outside team," she
+said to Hester. "You have never seen it. It has D. S. in gold and blue
+letters. Dickinson Seminary. It looks well, and the suits are really
+pretty. Mine, however, is beginning to show wear. I have had it for
+three years. The last time we played over at Kermoor, a hook came loose
+on the shoulder where my waist fastens. It was a trifle but it almost
+caused me to lose that game. It pestered me until I could scarcely think
+of anything else. I made up my mind then that I'd never be placed in
+such a position again. While I have it in mind, I am going over those
+hooks and eyes and sew them so tight that they cannot possibly give."
+
+"Why not come out on the campus now, Helen? The girls are going to walk
+along the river's edge as far as the campus reaches and then climb over
+the hill and come back the other way. Miss Watson will come with us."
+
+"If I do I'll neglect those hooks. I had my gym work to-day and do not
+need exercise. You run along and I'll discipline myself about the
+hooks." She laughed softly at her own remarks.
+
+"Very well. If you will not, you will not," replied Hester, drawing on
+her red sweater and Tam-o-Shanter. "I'll be off or I'll keep them
+waiting, and you know Miss Watson does not approve of that."
+
+She went her way down the hall. She was a picture good to look at, and
+which would have pleased more eyes than the partial ones of Debby Alden.
+
+Upon Hester's departure, Helen went to her sewing. The gray gymnasium
+suit hung in a public press at the end of the hall, and it took her some
+time to find her own among the others which hung there. Her needles and
+thread were at hand, but hooks and eyes were lacking. She found that the
+waist required several additional hooks and what were in place hung by a
+mere thread.
+
+"I have a card of hooks somewhere," she said to herself. "I remember
+distinctly putting in everything in the line of mending that I might
+possibly need. I remember now. What I thought I would not need often, I
+put in the bottom of the closet."
+
+The closet floor held quite an assortment of boxes. Articles which the
+girls used seldom, had been stored here out of the way. Helen remembered
+that a box with hooks and eyes, buttons and glove-silk had been placed
+in there, early in the fall when she had unpacked the trunk.
+
+She and Hester had been careful about not infringing upon each other's
+closet room. Each had her allotted space and number of hooks; but
+keeping the floor divided was not so easy. Boxes had been moved and
+shoved about until it was impossible to know whose they were.
+
+Helen sat down on the floor and began a systematic search; in turn
+opening each box and examining its contents. It required system for the
+boxes were many and the confusion great. There were handkerchief boxes,
+spool, candy, and shoe boxes of all sizes and conditions.
+
+She had opened each one without discovering the articles which she
+needed. She was about to put them back in their places when a little
+dark covered box, hidden deep in the corner, attracted her eyes. Without
+a thought that she might be infringing on someone's else right, she took
+up the box and opened it. She gave a sharp exclamation at the sight of
+its contents. She sat with it opened in her hand, looking at it
+steadily. Then she replaced the lid and put the box with the contents
+just as she had found them, back in the corner. She put the floor of the
+closet in order, and then went back to her work. She found her card of
+hooks and eyes in the bottom of her sewing-bag. She was busy sewing them
+on when Hester came in. They greeted each other as usual, yet Hester was
+conscious that something was different.
+
+"Are you ill, Helen?" she asked.
+
+"No, Hester."
+
+"Are you worried?"
+
+"What should I have to worry me? You have been gone less than an hour.
+What should happen in that time to make me either ill or anxious? I have
+been putting the floor of the closet in order. I am afraid I opened
+some of your boxes, but I did not disturb their contents."
+
+"No matter if you did. I am glad the closet is in order. It surely
+needed some attention." Going to the door she flung it wide. "How nice
+it looks. The boxes piled up like a shoe-store. I wonder how long it
+will remain that way."
+
+Helen watched her closely. Hester must indeed be a capital actor, for
+she had showed neither anxiety nor embarrassment at hearing that Helen
+had opened the boxes.
+
+After dinner that evening, no conversations were carried on between the
+two girls. Helen, contrary to her habit, went directly to her room and
+did not mingle with her friends in the library or parlor. She was in her
+study garb and presumably deep in study when Hester came back to her
+room. She neither spoke nor raised her eyes at Hester's entrance. Her
+eyes were upon the text, but she was not studying. She was reviewing
+certain little incidents of Hester's being with her. A score of trifles
+to which she had then given no thought, now appeared in gigantic
+proportion with most pretentious signs. Hester had shown no interest
+whatever when the pin had been lost. She had not helped look for it.
+Just before the holidays, Helen remembered it clearly now, she had found
+Hester in the closet. Hester had blushed and stammered and appeared much
+confused and had replied curtly to Helen's questions. It was really very
+suspicious. Helen did not like to think of such matters. She had no
+desire to think evil of any one; but the evidence was there. She could
+not go past that. She had trusted Hester, and had really loved her.
+Hereafter she would trust and love no one.
+
+Even after the close of the study hour, there was no opportunity for
+conversation; for at the ringing of the half-hour bell, Helen, contrary
+to her habit, went down the hall to the room of one of the seniors. She
+did not ask Hester to accompany her and the latter was hurt by the
+omission. They had been together almost six months and in that time such
+a thing had never before occurred.
+
+Hester slowly made ready for bed. The fumes of chocolate and fudge in
+the making were wafted to her from the rooms at the lower end of the
+hall, and the chatter and laugh came with them. No one called her to
+come. She felt forsaken and lonely. Such occasions previous to this, she
+had not waited until a special invitation had been given her, but joined
+and helped with the merry-making. She felt that something stood between
+her and Helen. Just what that something was, she did not know, nor could
+she surmise. There was nothing tangible for her thoughts to work upon to
+reach a conclusion. She instinctively felt that something was wrong. In
+this particular case, instinct was stronger than reason. She crept into
+bed, although the retiring bell had not rung. The two little iron cots
+stood side by side with only a narrow space between them. Helen had
+always been the deliberate one of the two. Hester was generally in bed
+before Helen had finished her reading. It had been the latter's habit to
+come to Hester's bed and softly kissing her on the forehead to whisper,
+"Good-night, little roommate."
+
+It was for this good-night that Hester was waiting. She would insist
+then upon knowing what troubled Helen or what had gone wrong to cause
+this feeling of alienation. She would have cried had not her pride
+sustained her. The tears were very near the surface but she forced them
+back. She would cry for no one, no matter how that one treated her.
+
+A few moments before the retiring bell, Helen came into the bedroom.
+Knowing that she was late and that the lights would soon be turned off,
+she prepared hastily for bed. She did not once glance toward Hester, but
+that might have been because she was hurried. While Hester lay and
+watched her, the lights went out. She heard Helen laugh softly and say,
+"Just in time. I just gave the last turn to my hair."
+
+Then she moved toward the cot, but she moved toward the outside and not
+near that of her roommate. Hester was overcome with homesickness. Her
+pride took to itself, wings. Raising herself in bed, she turned toward
+Helen.
+
+"Have you forgotten something, Helen? Are you not going to bid me
+good-night?"
+
+"Surely. Good-night, Hester."
+
+"But not that way, Helen. I mean the way you always have done."
+
+There was silence for an instant. To Hester it seemed as though hours
+had passed before Helen replied gently and firmly, "Not to-night,
+Hester. I--I--cannot--to-night."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+After this, Hester Alden believed that school could never be as it had
+been. The first day proved that she was wrong. Outwardly, life at
+Dickinson moved on as before. No one appeared to know or care that
+Hester Alden had been touched to the quick, and that she was very
+miserable and unhappy.
+
+Helen was courtesy itself. She was careful to include Hester in all her
+invitations, but it was a carefulness forced upon her from a sense of
+duty and not from love. Hester was not dull. She felt the difference.
+She could be quite as proud as Helen. So she raised her head a trifle
+higher as she walked and drew her shoulders a little more rigid and gave
+back to Helen the same rigid courtesy that she was receiving.
+
+To Hester it was tragic. The alienation was a genuine sorrow to her. To
+one who merely looked on, the two girls were acting foolishly. A few
+words would have cleared away the misunderstanding and saved them from
+suffering. Helen acted from what she thought was a high sense of
+justice; Hester's action was from pride only.
+
+The other girls in the dormitory knew not the cause of the estrangement,
+for both Helen and Hester had that sense of honor which impelled them to
+keep closed lips on such matters. The intuition of the girls told them
+that affairs between Helen and Hester were not quite the same. That was
+as far as their intuition carried them.
+
+In spite of Hester's unhappiness, matters at Dickinson moved on as
+before. Renee came to borrow; Erma laughed merrily; Mame wept over the
+condition of her clothes which looked as though they were fresh from the
+French tailor; Josephine grew eloquent on moonlight, love-stories, and
+kindred subjects; Mellie Wright came and went like a gentle ray of
+sunshine. The strangest part of all to Hester was that Mellie, who never
+appeared to notice what took place, was first to grasp the situation.
+Before the week had passed, she made an occasion to join Hester on the
+campus. No reference at all was made to the state of depression which
+hung over Hester like a cloud, but before the two had parted, the
+younger girl carried with her these impressions:
+
+Everything comes right some day, and that day comes when least expected;
+nothing matters if one continues to do what is right, regardless of
+other people's opinion of one; and if one is blue, the best thing to do
+is to do something and do it quickly.
+
+Mellie did not put her philosophy into those words, nor did she make a
+personal application for her companion. The strongest impressions are
+those which we receive unconsciously. After this talk with Mellie,
+Hester's pride and ambition were aroused. She was indignant with herself
+that she had given way to any show of feeling and vowed to herself that
+from that instant she would not lose control over her emotions.
+
+Fortunately for her, basket-ball practice followed close on her
+resolutions and putting her thoughts into action, strengthened her.
+
+She played right guard on the scrub team with Edna Turnbach opposed to
+her. Edna was little, wiry, and active, an opponent that was really
+worth while.
+
+Hester cast her troubles to the wind and went into the game with all her
+energy. Edna was quick, but Hester matched her with cool calculation.
+Her long strides were equal to Edna's quick ones; and she had the
+advantage of length of arms which could be kept beyond Edna's reach.
+
+The left guard on the scrub team was Emma who resembled a little Dutch
+doll wound up and set to moving. Emma had no guile in her disposition
+and was utterly lacking in self-assertion. She admired Hester's playing
+and never failed to play the ball into her hands. Just the moment
+Hester's hand touched the ball, Emma encouraged her with cries of "Show
+them how to play, Hessie. Show them how scrubs play when they once get
+started."
+
+Emma was both an inspiration and an advantage. Hester played with all
+her energy. To watch her, one might believe that all the future depended
+upon the winning of the game.
+
+For the first half, she had the ball the instant the captain's hand had
+left it. Passing it on to Emma with a quickness and deftness which was
+almost beyond belief, she rushed forward in position to receive Emma's
+return pass. It was no easy matter for Edna was close at her heels and
+the center stood in her way. But by quick side movements, a sudden jerk
+beneath outstretched arms, the thing was done.
+
+Only once during the first half was the ball worked back to the goal of
+the opposing team; but even then it did not make a score. For three
+minutes, it went from end to end of the cage and at last went from the
+hands of the scrubs on a foul that Emma had made.
+
+During the game, Hester was not only playing right guard. She played the
+game alone with a little assistance from Emma--a game of solitaire. She
+was the team and made every score.
+
+Miss Watson and Doctor Weldon stood in the gallery looking on.
+
+"Hester Alden is a brilliant person," said Miss Watson. "She will amount
+to something if she continues."
+
+"She can do little in mathematics. She'll pass on about seventy-five per
+cent," said Miss Laird. She had long since erased Hester's name from her
+good books, for Miss Laird knew only angles and equations, fixed values
+and ratios, and had no conception of nor admiration for a mind which was
+not as her own.
+
+Miss Watson laughed at this remark. She was more liberal-minded than
+Miss Laird and was not disappointed to find that her girls were not all
+of the same type.
+
+"You can open an oyster with a pen-knife as well as a chisel," she said.
+
+Miss Laird glanced at the speaker. She was logical but not witty. Seeing
+that she did not grasp the meaning, Miss Watson continued.
+
+"Taking the oyster as each one's little world, you know, Miss Laird. I
+have known men and women who have achieved a wonderful amount of success
+and happiness who could not have made seventy per cent on one of your
+examinations."
+
+Doctor Weldon had listened in silence. She had sat watching Hester
+during that intense first half. She read deeper than either of her
+teachers.
+
+"I am fearful for Hester," she said at last. She spoke so low that only
+Miss Watson heard her. "She is too easily hurt, and she'll fight off
+showing it until she drops from exhaustion. If I know the girl, her good
+playing this evening is not so much for love of the game, as it is to
+hide the fact that something has gone wrong."
+
+"Rather an excellent trait. Do you not think so?" said Miss Watson.
+"Personally, I despise a whiner, and haven't a bit of sympathy for a
+girl who goes about asking for pity. Pride is a good thing when it helps
+us cover up our own bruises."
+
+"It is very fine, if it is not overdone. You know you cannot keep all
+the steam in a boiler under high pressure. There must be a safety valve
+or--trouble. I hope Hester will not be too intense. Intense folk need
+such a lot of self-control, or they make every one miserable about
+them."
+
+The conversation stopped at this point. The practice game was over and
+Miss Watson went below and into the cage to see that the girls were
+taking the necessary precautions in regard to wraps.
+
+"Hester Alden will play at Exeter," was the general opinion at the close
+of the game.
+
+"I am sure of that," said Sara Summerson. "During the game I was where I
+could see Miss Watson. Nothing escaped her. She watched every move
+Hester made. Emma was all right at first, but that foul put her on Miss
+Watson's black list. I could tell that. You know how Miss Watson presses
+her lips together and nods her head when she's pleased. Well, she did
+that every time Hester made a good play."
+
+"I will not get a chance to go," said Emma. "I am sure of that. I'd like
+to, for I know lots of Exeter girls. There's a whole _bunch_ of them
+from up our way."
+
+"You speak as though they were flowers," laughed Erma, as she hurried
+down the steps from the gallery to join the girls. "A bunch of girls and
+a bunch of flowers, I presume that is a figure of speech, but
+nevertheless I would not let Doctor Weldon hear me, if I were you. She
+might fail to see how flowery it is, and think you are using slang."
+
+Josephine was leaning against the balustrade. Her cheeks were pressed
+upon her upturned palm and her eyes were raised toward some remote
+region in the direction of the ceiling. Her hair was bound with a Greek
+band. She had seen to it that her short-waisted dress was suggestive of
+Grecian lines of beauty.
+
+"I rather like that term," she said slowly. "We say a bunch of flowers;
+then why not a bunch of girls. Somehow I always think of flowers when I
+see a group of girls together. Do people never make you think of
+flowers? Some seem to me like lilies, others like shy, modest violets."
+
+"Oh, cut it out!" said Emma, disregarding the rules in the use of
+language. "Just at present they make me think of a lot of empty vessels
+which will be emptier if they are not out of these duds and into dresses
+before the ten-minute bell rings for dinner."
+
+Emma strode on down the hall, in company with Mame Cross and Edna
+Bucher. Edna had her arm around Emma's waist, although she was fully
+six years Emma's senior. But the younger girl's father was a bank
+president, a railroad magnate, and a number of other important persons,
+and Edna believed in cultivating friendship where it would bear fruit
+worth while. Emma was lavish and Edna fell heir to many discarded
+trifles and was never ignored when Emma had a spread or banquet.
+
+"Josephine is too sentimental," said Emma placidly. "If she would only
+waken and talk sense, she would be fine."
+
+"She's such a sweet girl," said Edna. Every woman, girl or child she had
+ever known, came under that general heading in Edna Bucher's good books.
+They were "sweet." That was always the sum and substance of her
+criticism. There might have been a reason for such a general judgment.
+As in the case of Josephine, obligation fixed the limit of Edna's
+expression. She was at that moment, wearing a shirt-waist which
+Josephine had purchased only to find it too small for comfort in
+wearing.
+
+During the three weeks before the game with Exeter, nine practice games
+were played between the first team and the scrubs. In these Hester
+Alden played right guard. She had never missed a goal which she had
+attempted and had never made a foul. There had been one or two instances
+when she might have done quicker work in passing and kept the ball from
+the control of the opponent; but they were minor faults which faded into
+insignificance before her more brilliant plays.
+
+During this time, Helen had maintained the letter of courtesy toward her
+roommate. But there was no longer any show of affection or love between
+them. Nothing had been said about the trip to Exeter. However, Hester
+was counting upon it. She knew that her playing had justified Miss
+Watson and Helen in selecting her. Miss Watson was the head of the
+athletics, yet the choice of players in reality rested with Helen.
+
+Miss Watson permitted this because she believed that girls who were in
+sympathy with each other could work together better than where there was
+an unfriendly feeling or antagonism. Hester, relying on being chosen as
+a substitute for the Exeter game, made ready her suit, purchased a new
+pair of gymnasium shoes, and was about to write to Aunt Debby
+concerning the trip.
+
+The games were played on Friday evening, unless the distance was too
+great for the visiting team to reach the school in a few hours. Then
+Saturday afternoon was given over to them. Several days before, Miss
+Watson read out the names of the substitutes and the teacher who would
+go in charge of the girls. This important reading took place immediately
+after the general gymnasium work in the afternoon.
+
+Wednesday morning, Berenice went about with a very wise expression. She
+looked as though she could tell a great deal if she were insisted upon.
+Erma, meeting her in the hall, fell prey to her hints and insisted that
+she tell the secret that was weighing her down.
+
+"I was in the office waiting to see Doctor Weldon," said Berenice. "Miss
+Watson was in the private office talking with the doctor. It was
+something about the players for the Exeter game. You know Miss Watson
+must always give the list to Doctor Weldon before it is announced.
+Something unusual happened, for they debated a long time. Of course, I
+could not catch the words. I did not try; but I could not help knowing
+that there was a discussion."
+
+"There generally is," said Erma. "Doctor Weldon will not allow a girl to
+play unless she is up in her work and her conduct. Campused twice, and
+your throat is cut for any work in athletics."
+
+Berenice's face flushed. The reference to being campused touched her.
+
+"This was more than that. It was an argument; Miss Watson held to one
+idea and Doctor Weldon to another." This was growing interesting. A
+group of girls clustered about Berenice to hear the startling news.
+
+"Did you hear who the substitutes were?" asked someone.
+
+"Why ask that?" said Sara Summerson slowly.
+
+"I am not brilliant, nor yet am I observing; but I know who the
+substitutes will be if the choice is according to their playing."
+
+"_If_ it is," said Berenice.
+
+"I think it always is," said Mellie gently. "It would be very foolish to
+have it otherwise; to risk our securing the pennant on account of a
+little personal feeling. I do not like to feel that people are unjust.
+They have always treated me fairly."
+
+"They always will," said Erma.
+
+"They have never treated me fairly," said Berenice. "Every one I meet
+always tries to make something from me or treats me unfairly."
+
+Erma laughed and the girls followed her fashion.
+
+"They always will, Berenice," she said. "People always find what they
+are looking for. You always find in every place just what you carry
+there. You are out looking for trouble, and you will find it waiting
+around the corner. If you will persist in going about with a chip on
+your shoulder, you may be sure that someone will take pleasure in
+knocking it off."
+
+"But the players," cried Emma. "Who are they? When will Miss Watson read
+the names?"
+
+"I did not hear the names, but I did hear her say that she intended
+making them public at gym this afternoon."
+
+"I intend to ask Doctor Weldon if I may go over with the girls," said
+Emma. "Of course, I know that I will not be allowed to play and I don't
+care much about it. I'd have just as much fun looking on and rooting. I
+know a dandy lot of girls over there."
+
+"You had better see her early then," said Louise Reed. "She will not
+grant more than ten extra permissions and I know a number of girls who
+intend going."
+
+"I'll see her the first thing after luncheon," said Emma. "She will not
+let us come before one-thirty."
+
+"Whatever you do, Emma, do not get excited and tell Doctor Weldon that
+you know some 'dandy' girls at Exeter. She will not allow any of us to
+go if she hears from you that the Exeter girls are of that type. Be
+careful, Emma."
+
+Emma shrugged her shoulders and tried to look serious, but the effort
+was a failure, for the dimples came to her cheeks and rippled into
+smiles. She turned to Mame and asked if she were going.
+
+"I--going?" exclaimed Mame. "How can I go? I haven't a thing fit to
+wear."
+
+"You might wear your new blue broadcloth," suggested Louise Reed.
+
+"New? Why, I had that before the holidays. I never did like it. I shall
+not go with you girls and look shabby. You always look so well and I
+will not put you to shame."
+
+"I am sorry for you," said Erma. "I'd offer you my tan coat suit which I
+have worn but two years, only I need it myself; it being the only one of
+its kind that I have."
+
+"You may laugh," said Mame. "But I am telling you the truth. I haven't a
+dress fit to wear."
+
+"No congregating in the hall, if you please. If you must talk together
+you will find the parlor open to receive you." Miss Burkham had come
+among them and spoke with a voice of gentle authority.
+
+"Yes, Miss Burkham," replied six voices together, as the six bowed and
+moved to their rooms.
+
+The rumor that the names of the players would be read that afternoon
+filled the ranks in the gymnasium. A number of girls had received
+permission to be absent, but on hearing the rumor, they reconsidered
+and decided that they were able to be present. The period of exercise
+dragged along. The girls went through with the drills with as much
+animation as one might expect from an automatic machine. Their eyes were
+upon the clock whose hands moved provokingly slow. But it came to an
+end, as all things must after a time.
+
+Miss Watson gave a signal to the pianist to stop playing. Then stepping
+to the front, she bade the girls to be seated. They found places on the
+floor, on the horse and the mattresses which lay along the outer edge of
+the floor. A few drew themselves up on the horizontal bars and balanced
+there carefully while Miss Watson drew forth her paper, looked it over
+and then began her preliminary remarks. One could have heard a pin drop,
+so quiet was the room.
+
+"As you know, we play the Exeter team in their gymnasium, Friday
+evening," began Miss Watson in her brisk, business-like way. "The game
+will be called at eight o'clock. We shall have a two-hours' ride to
+reach Exeter. The last train from our station leaves at four o'clock.
+Consequently, the faculty will excuse from lessons Friday afternoon, all
+the girls who play."
+
+"Or root?" finished Emma. She was balanced on the bars. The sound of her
+own voice so startled her that she nearly lost her balance and was saved
+from falling only by Louise's clutching her firmly by the shoulder.
+
+Miss Watson turned toward Emma and looked her reprimand. "What have you
+to say concerning the matter, Miss Chase?" she asked. The tones of her
+voice would have disconcerted any one but Emma. Hers was an effervescent
+spirit which could not be suppressed. She smiled upon Miss Watson as she
+replied, "The girls who go along to root--will they be excused, too? You
+said the players will not have any lessons Friday afternoon. What about
+the girls that root?"
+
+Miss Watson looked her scorn of the question and questioner. One thing
+which had been discountenanced by the faculty and by Miss Watson in
+particular, was the word "rooting" and all it stood for.
+
+Miss Watson ignored the questions and continued, "Miss Burkham had
+planned to accompany you--."
+
+The girls gasped. With Miss Burkham in charge they would not be allowed
+to speak above a whisper. She would compel them to be all that was
+elegant and conventional.
+
+"--but she has found that to be impossible. Neither Doctor Weldon nor I
+can leave the school, so Fraulein Franz will have you in charge."
+
+There was a relaxation of muscles. An expression of amusement and relief
+spread over the faces of the girls. Dear Fraulein Franz! She would be
+with them like a mother hen with a brood of ducks. With the Fraulein
+they would do much as they pleased, and she would attribute it to the
+peculiar customs of the country.
+
+"The first team will be made up of the regular players. Three
+substitutes will accompany the team. Doctor Weldon thought three would
+be sufficient. I shall read the names of players and substitutes."
+Taking up the paper, she read.
+
+"Captain, Miss Loraine--Players: Misses Turnbach, Cross, Bucher, and
+Loveland. Substitutes: Misses Reed, Chase, and Thomas."
+
+That was all. Hester's heart had been in her throat at the beginning.
+Now she felt cold and chill. She had been so confident. The girls knew
+that she had expected to be chosen. They knew that she had her suit in
+order, with gay new letters across the blouse. She sat quite silent and
+motionless on the mattress propped against the wall. She could not raise
+her eyes to meet the eyes of the girls. She could not speak to them. The
+girls did the kindest thing they could do. They went off without
+attempting to speak to her, or to offer her condolence or sympathy.
+
+When she raised her eyes, she found that the gymnasium was deserted and
+that she was the only occupant.
+
+She arose and went out into the corridor. She could not go to her room
+and meet Helen. Helen had played her false. Perhaps, the recent
+assumption of dignity on Helen's part had been to prevent any criticism
+of this action.
+
+Hester could not remain alone in the gymnasium, neither in her present
+garb would she be permitted to visit the parlor, nor to linger in the
+halls. The only alternative was to go to her room, and meet Helen there.
+The injustice of the choice of substitutes at last appealed to her. Had
+she been an Alden in very truth, she could not have shown the old
+revolutionary spirit more.
+
+Wounded feeling gave way; personal pride took to itself wings. The thing
+was unjust and she would not bear it even from Helen Loraine. Another
+thing she would not bear--she had borne it too long already--and that
+was the distant, haughty treatment accorded her by Helen. Hester Alden's
+spirit arose. She would have justice though she had to fight for it.
+
+The feeling of humiliation left her. Now she had no dread of meeting the
+girls. She raised her head proudly. Her eyes flashed, and a flush came
+to her cheeks.
+
+Helen was in the study when she entered. She was evidently doing nothing
+and had been doing nothing for some minutes. Perhaps she dreaded the
+meeting as much as Hester. She looked up when the latter entered and
+spoke, "Well, Hester, are you back from the gym?"
+
+To use Debby's expression, Hester was not one to beat about the bush.
+Now, she brought up the subject at once.
+
+"Did you or Miss Watson choose the substitutes?" she asked.
+
+"Why, I did. That is, I recommended the ones I wished to play, and Miss
+Watson agreed that they were satisfactory."
+
+"Helen Loraine, did you choose ones who played the best, as you have
+boasted that you always do?"
+
+"I took the ones that played well and whom I thought had a right to be
+substituted."
+
+"Answer me this." Hester walked directly before her roommate. Standing
+so, they looked into each other's eyes. "Answer me this. Do I not play a
+better game than either Louise or Emma? Have I not made the score when
+their fouls would have brought it down?"
+
+"Yes, you have. You are a better player than either. To do you justice,
+Hester, you play as well as any girl on the first team."
+
+"I do, and yet you passed me over for an inferior player. Is that
+justice to either the team or me?"
+
+"It does not appear so. Yet one cannot judge from appearances alone. I
+believed that I did what was fair and honorable."
+
+"I fail to see it that way," said Hester proudly.
+
+"We do not see it from the same point of view."
+
+"Evidently not. But this much I insist upon. I must know the reason why
+you ignored me when you have acknowledged that I was the best player. I
+demand the reason."
+
+"Don't you know, Hester Alden? Don't you really know?"
+
+"I do not. There is something else I do not know or understand; that is
+your treatment of me for the last three weeks. Do not for a moment think
+that I am begging for either your love or friendship. I wish nothing
+that does not come to me of its free will. But it was you who first
+wished to be friends. It was you who always made the first advances.
+Time and time again, you told me that I was nearer to you than any
+friend you had ever had and that I seemed more like a sister to you."
+
+"I know," said Helen slowly. "And I meant every word. From that first
+night you were here, you were never like a stranger. I meant every word
+I told you."
+
+Her voice was low and sorrowful; but Hester was unmoved. The bitter
+feeling which had filled her heart for three weeks was now bursting
+forth in a torrent.
+
+"Much I care for such affection! If that is the way you treat your
+sister, I am very glad I am not she. Suddenly, without a reason, you
+grow haughty and rude--."
+
+"Rude! I was never rude, Hester. I was always courteous."
+
+"Yes, with the kind of courtesy which made me angry all over. I wish to
+tell you right here, Helen Loraine, that I shall not stand being treated
+so without a reason."
+
+"I thought I had a reason. I think yet I have a reason."
+
+"Then why did you not come to me and tell me point blank? It is far
+better to accuse me of something definite than to go about acting and
+looking unutterable things."
+
+"I could not tell you. Even now, if I should tell you and ask for an
+explanation--."
+
+"I would refuse to give it. It was either your place to come directly to
+me or to trust me implicitly. I would give no explanation now, if I had
+a million of them to give."
+
+"But, Hester, listen. I have been as hurt and miserable about this as
+you. Let me tell you--."
+
+"Here you are. I knocked once and you didn't hear me. Hester, would you
+just as soon lend me your basket-ball suit? I never gave a thought of
+going to Exeter and I haven't any letters for my blouse." It was Renee
+who had interrupted them.
+
+"Yes, you may have it," said Hester. She moved away. The talk which
+might have resulted in a reconciliation between her and Helen was not
+resumed and nothing at all came from it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+There were but twelve girls who went down from Dickinson to the Exeter
+game; but to the hundred yet remaining, it seemed as though the
+dormitories were vacant. Hester found the afternoon long. Her anger had
+passed. She was not sorry that she had spoken as she did, but that no
+results had come from her show of spirits. She was not in a mood to
+visit with the other girls. Her intimate friends had gone with the
+basket-ball team. No study hour was observed Friday evening. The parlors
+and library were open. Hester, from her room, could hear the sound of
+the piano and the school songs. Instead of enlivening her, it had the
+opposite effect.
+
+The girls who went down to Exeter could not possibly return until
+Saturday evening. That meant another entire day alone. Hester did not
+like to think of that.
+
+"I shall pack my suit-case and to-morrow morning, I shall ask Doctor
+Weldon to allow me to go to Aunt Debby."
+
+The decision brought up her spirits. She immediately began to arrange
+her work. The books were put in order and a suit-case taken from the
+shelf in the closet.
+
+"Aunt Debby said she would make new collars for my waists and change the
+sleeves." With this promise in mind, she selected the thin white waists
+which were showing signs of wear. Miss Richards and Miss Debby, with a
+few deft touches, would make these look almost as well as new.
+
+In her rummaging, Hester had the same experience that Helen had had
+three weeks before. She went over the boxes for some article she needed.
+She discovered the little box hidden away in the corner. She opened it
+and exclaimed just as Helen had done.
+
+"My pin! I had forgotten all about that. I think I shall wear it. It
+looks rather pretty against a white dress." Holding it up against her
+waist, she looked down upon it with satisfaction. It surely did look
+pretty, against the white! The little bit of cut glass scintillated
+like a bit of fire. Fastening it to her waist, she continued her work.
+
+The next morning, she went down to breakfast wearing the pin. Mellie was
+at the table, and gave a look of surprise when Hester came in. After a
+time she turned to her and said: "Where did Helen find her pin? I am
+glad she has recovered it, for it was valuable in addition to being an
+heirloom."
+
+"I did not know she had found it," said Hester. "She did not mention the
+matter to me."
+
+"I thought--." Mellie hesitated and did not finish the sentence. Several
+times, Hester found her looking closely at her.
+
+Hester was wearing a soft shirt-waist with a tie. The ends of the tie
+knotted in butterfly fashion had been caught together by the pin which
+was partly hidden by them.
+
+Hester secured permission to visit her Aunt Debby. She was to go down on
+the ten o'clock car and return Monday morning in time for chapel. On her
+way to the car, she met Mellie, Berenice and several girls from the west
+dormitory.
+
+"We'll walk with you to the triangle," said Berenice. "I do not know how
+we will put in our time to-day. It is certainly dull with the girls
+gone. I wonder how the game went last evening?"
+
+"Didn't you hear?" asked one of the others. "They telephoned Miss Watson
+last evening. She's our hall-teacher and she told us at once. It was
+twenty to thirty in favor of Exeter."
+
+"Exeter won!" cried Berenice. "It is poor management on someone's part.
+They never won a game from us before--not on such a score. Last year
+neither scored, and the year before Exeter was one goal ahead, and they
+would not have made that if the referee had not been partial."
+
+"I am sorry. I was sure they would win," said Hester. They had come to
+the triangle, the place where the sloping walks meet at an angle.
+
+"They would have won, too, if you had been there. You should have been.
+I, for one, was ready to revolt Wednesday morning, and the other girls
+would have stood by me. We would have done so if you would have shown
+any spirit; but you sat there as though the game were nothing to you."
+
+Hester smiled but made no attempt to reply. She was learning to know
+Berenice and the danger of expressing one's opinion in her presence.
+Life at Dickinson was teaching her more than what lay between the covers
+of books. She was learning to meet people, to know them as they were,
+and to hold her tongue under provocation as she was doing now.
+
+Berenice was not easily put aside. "Why, did you not show some spirit
+about it, Hester?"
+
+"Spirit? Why should I? If Miss Watson and Helen thought Emma put up a
+better game than I, why should I complain?"
+
+Berenice shrugged her shoulders. She was about to say more when Erma
+came down the dormitory steps and crossed the campus toward them. Her
+fair hair was piled high on her head in puffs and rolls. She was wrapped
+in a long garnet sweater. She looked like a crimson rose as she moved
+across the snow.
+
+"Drop the subject," cried Berenice. "Here comes Erma. She takes
+exception to everything I say. One cannot express an opinion or offer a
+criticism in her presence unless one is taken to task."
+
+"Perhaps it is just as well to let it drop," said Mellie gently. "It is
+only a game of basket-ball and not worth a heated discussion."
+
+"Well, peaches," cried Erma cheerily accosting Hester. "Are you really
+going home? Won't your Aunt Debby be glad to see you. Tell her I send
+her a thousand hugs and a million kisses. How I wish I were going home
+to see that dear old daddy of mine. Girls, when you want to see the
+grandest man in the world, come home with me and I'll show you my
+daddy."
+
+Berenice looked down over her nose.
+
+"It is well to be satisfied," she said.
+
+"It certainly is," replied Erma. "I am glad I am. There's not a father
+or mother better than mine and my friends are the best in the world. I
+wouldn't exchange them for millions."
+
+She had come close to Hester, and encircling her with her arm, asked,
+"When are you coming back, peaches?"
+
+"Monday morning. There comes my car now." She stooped to lift her
+suit-case which Marshall had brought down from her room and deposited at
+her feet. As she did so, the butterfly end of her tie fluttered,
+displaying her quaint pin whose setting gleamed like a spark of fire.
+
+Its scintillation caught Erma's eye. She was about to remark concerning
+it, but stopped herself in time. But Berenice, who never let anything
+escape her, also caught the sparkle of the stone. More than that, she
+saw the expression which passed quickly over Erma's face, and she read
+it aright. She made no remark until Hester had boarded the car, had
+waved her good-byes and the car had disappeared down the bend of the
+road. Then turning, she slipped her arm into Erma's and Mellie's, and so
+walking between them, moved toward the building.
+
+"Did you notice the pin Hester had on?" she asked suddenly.
+
+Mellie was wise and did not answer. Erma, who was as transparent as a
+ray of light, grew confused and tried to cover it up by asking, "A pin?
+Did she have a pin on? I suppose she did. Girls generally wear pins of
+some sort."
+
+Berenice shrugged her shoulders. "Yes; she had a pin on, Erma Thomas,
+and you observed it as well as I did. You know as well as I do whose pin
+it is."
+
+"You are very much mistaken. I know nothing at all about it. I have
+nothing to do with other people's jewelry."
+
+"You have with this. At least you spent hours in helping to look for it.
+It is that odd one which Helen Loraine wore and which so mysteriously
+disappeared."
+
+"Any disappearance is a mystery. If I lose a collar button, it is a
+mystery to me. If it was not, I would know where it was. The things we
+don't know are always mysterious. If we know, then they are as plain as
+day."
+
+"It seems strange it should disappear for three months and then Hester
+Alden have it on, especially when Helen Loraine is away."
+
+"That is the very time you should wear other people's jewelry and
+clothes. When I am home I always wear my mother's best silk stockings
+and rustling petticoats when I know she's down in the city shopping. Of
+course I always ask her--when she comes back--and she never refuses me
+permission. She always says the same thing: 'Well, since you have them
+on--'"
+
+Erma's attempts to lead the conversation away from Hester and the pin
+was without results. Berenice clung to the subject with a tenacity which
+would have been admirable had the thing been worth while.
+
+"I understand you, Erma. You think just as I do, but you are afraid to
+say so. I suspected from the first where the pin went; but of course I
+did not say so."
+
+"Do you not think it a wise course to follow now--to say nothing?"
+
+"It is very different now. Before, I was merely suspicious. One may not
+make statements in mere suspicion. Now I have proofs."
+
+"Proofs? Because Hester Alden has the pin on and Helen is away?"
+
+"Let us walk along the edge of the river," said Mellie. She, too, meant
+to change the conversation. "I love the river when it is icebound. I
+should like to cross if I thought it were safe. But I fancy we had
+better not. We have had several days of thaw and that always rots the
+ice, and rotten ice is far more dangerous than thin ice."
+
+"I intend to speak my mind," said Berenice. "Mellie and you are very
+much afraid you will express yourselves. You think as I do about the
+matter, but you will not say so. I cannot see the difference between
+thinking a thing and saying it outright."
+
+"The best thing to do is not to think it," said Erma. She laughed long
+and loud and merrily. "That is quite an idea. After this, I shall not
+think things. Perhaps my brain will never wear out. Doesn't the
+physiology say that every thought wears away some of the gray cellular
+tissue? Thank goodness, no one can blame me for destroying mine. I am
+sure I never thought any of mine away." As she spoke a new thought came
+to her. "No doubt, Helen found her pin weeks ago and you are having your
+tempest in a tea-pot all for nothing."
+
+Berenice had not thought of that possibility. This was an argument, she
+was not equal to and was the means of causing her to say no more on the
+subject.
+
+She knew from experience that she could not talk with some of the girls.
+They had a sense of loyalty and honor which restrained them from
+discussing anyone who came under the name of friend.
+
+Berenice was unfortunate in her disposition. She was not by nature
+honest or sincere, and she could not conceive of another's being so.
+When Erma and Mellie had refused to listen to her suspicions, she
+attributed not to their high sense of honor, but rather that they were
+deceiving her and would discuss the question between themselves.
+
+Every girl in the hall understood Berenice. They were careful of their
+words while in her presence and they never repeated a tale that she
+carried to them. Many a time had they taken her to task, but she never
+profited by the lessons. When the girls spoke to her plainly, she put
+the fault on them instead of upon herself. Gradually the girls let her
+go her own way, gave no credence to her words and kept a bridle on
+their tongues, when Berenice was within hearing.
+
+Yet, a word dropped here and there, will spring up and bear seed even
+though every one about knows it to be but a poisonous weed. Berenice
+dropped these seeds in plenty. A word fell here and there, although the
+hearers repudiated it, it yet made an impression, before any one was
+conscious that it was so. No one could trace the source from which it
+sprung, but the impression was strong throughout the hall that Hester
+Alden had taken Helen's valuable pin and had hidden it away for months,
+then at the first opportunity when Helen was at Exeter, Hester had worn
+it home.
+
+Hester, wholly unconscious that her action might be misjudged or that it
+should be judged at all, had left the pin at the cottage with Aunt
+Debby. She had put it away in her own tiny bedroom. A feeling of pride
+had restrained her from wearing it at school. The other girls wore pins
+which were not make-believes and Hester did not like the idea of the odd
+metal and cut glass.
+
+"Aunt Debby told me it was just a cheap little pin," she said to herself
+as she placed it away. "I shall always keep it because it was my
+mother's, but I shall not wear it. I do not feel just right wearing
+something which pretends to be something else."
+
+When Hester returned to school Monday morning, more than one pair of
+eyes looked eagerly for her coming. Erma and Mellie were hoping that she
+would come in with the pin boldly in evidence, and thus put to rout the
+rumors which had crept into the hall. Berenice, too, watched for
+Hester's coming with a wholly different motive.
+
+"If Hester Alden comes in to class and wears the pin when Helen is
+present, then of course nothing can be said. I shall believe it then
+that Helen found the pin and allowed Hester to wear it. But if Hester
+comes back without it, I shall draw my own conclusions, and I shall feel
+justified in doing so."
+
+She did not dare to say this to Mellie, Erma, or the older girls. It was
+to Emma she spoke, and Emma being youngest of all, and new to school
+life, listened and believed.
+
+Hester was expected on the eight o'clock car. It was not by chance that
+some of the girls lingered in the main hall at the time of her coming.
+
+Marshall from the office window, saw the car coming in the distance and
+went down to the triangle to carry up Hester's baggage. The group of
+girls saw him and moved nearer to the door.
+
+"The car is coming. Hester will be on it," said Berenice. Erma was in
+the little group. At the tone in Berenice's voice, Erma flushed. Like a
+flash there came to her a conception of the part she was playing in
+this. If she were Hester Alden's friend, she had no right to question
+her action and no right to wait at the door to find proof of her perfidy
+or her honesty. Erma raised her head proudly, "I think I shall not wait
+here. I shall see Hester later. The dear old honeysuckle that she is! I
+shall be glad to have her back. I missed her dreadfully these two days."
+She turned her back on the group and was about to walk away when Mellie
+moved forward and slipped her hand in Erma's arm. "I shall go with you,"
+she said. Others, grasping the situation more clearly than they had
+before, followed the example of Erma. So it was, that only Berenice and
+two of the younger girls waited at the doorway.
+
+But a few moments they stood there, when the door opened and Marshall
+ushered Hester into the hall.
+
+"I shall take this case directly to your room, Miss Alden," said
+Marshall.
+
+"Thank you, Marshall," cried Hester. She was her gay, bright self after
+her visit with Aunt Debby. Her eyes were sparkling and her cheeks
+bright. She turned to the girls who stood waiting for her. Ignorant of
+the motive which had brought them here to meet her, she greeted them
+affectionately.
+
+"It was lovely of you girls to come down here to meet me. I had a lovely
+time with Aunt Debby. Yet I am glad to get back to school."
+
+While she had been speaking, she had drawn off her gloves and had thrown
+back her coat. The girls had given no response to her greeting, but
+stood with their eyes fixed upon her. The exclamation which Berenice
+gave sounded much like one of exultation; for Hester Alden was not
+wearing a pin.
+
+Hester felt conditions about her. She gave the three girls a quick
+hurried glance as though to grasp the intangible something which she
+felt. Then she continued her way down the corridor. Berenice was not
+easily offended. Catching step with Hester, she walked with her.
+
+"Did you lose your pin, Hester?" she asked. "You had such a pretty pin
+on when you left school Saturday morning. I noticed at once that you
+didn't have it on now. Do you suppose you lost it?"
+
+"No, I did not. I left it home purposely."
+
+"Indeed. If I had such a pin I am sure I would wear it. There are only
+one or two girls in school who have diamonds. If I had a pin with a
+diamond in it, I am sure I'd be only too anxious to wear it."
+
+"But that did not happen to be a diamond. It is a very cheap little pin
+which belonged to Aunt Debby--that is, it belonged to me, and I'd rather
+keep it than wear it."
+
+Berenice gave her shoulders a shrug, lowered her eyelids until her eyes
+looked like little beads. She would prove to the girls that what she had
+said was true. Every one of Hester's friends had heard the report but
+had refused to discuss it. Erma laughed in derision at the mention of
+it. "Oh, you silly thing," she cried, "to come to me with such a story.
+Don't I know Hester better than that."
+
+And Mellie, Mame, Renee, and Sara stopped the tale-bearers in their
+story. Yet while they tried to be true, in the heart of each one was a
+doubt. Had they not seen the pin many times? Had it not disappeared
+weeks and weeks ago; and had they not seen Hester wear it home, and that
+when Helen was absent? Proof was brought before them and they tried to
+ignore it. They tried to strengthen themselves in their position by
+believing that Helen had found the pin and had neglected to tell them.
+
+Hester's friends would have let the matter pass, giving her the benefit
+of a doubt, but there was in school a different set who were easily
+influenced and stood ready to believe anything that was told them. This
+set with Berenice as instigator, took it upon themselves to ostracize
+Hester.
+
+It was the custom of the students to loiter in the parlor after dinner,
+gathering about in groups. Someone talked; others drew about the piano;
+while others arm in arm walked up and down in confidential talk. One
+evening as Hester joined one of these groups, the talk ceased. There was
+an attempt to resume it, but it was fruitless. The group scattered,
+leaving Hester alone. This occurred several times. Hester was not
+supersensitive; neither was she dull. She knew that something had gone
+amiss, and that she had purposely been snubbed. But not by so much as a
+glance did she show that she was conscious of the treatment. She
+lingered a few moments longer, made a pretense of playing a piece and
+then went to her room and took up her books.
+
+"They will not treat me so a second time," she said to herself. "They'll
+never have the satisfaction of knowing that I observed them."
+
+It was all very well to speak bravely, but the sting was deep. She had
+determination and pluck enough not to bewail. She took up her lessons
+and vented her energy in getting them out.
+
+She was not alone in observing the conduct of the younger set. The girls
+of her own hall had also seen what had taken place.
+
+Not in this alone, did the younger girls express themselves. At
+recreation hour, which followed the evening study period, they were
+accustomed to gather in little groups in one of the rooms. At these
+times, the chafing-dish was brought into use, and the air was heavy with
+the odor of chocolate. By contriving, the younger set managed that
+Hester no longer made one of the party.
+
+One evening, Erma and Mame took the girls to task on this matter. Emma
+and Louise expressed themselves strongly. Hester had been guilty of the
+greatest dishonesty and they meant to cut her dead.
+
+"Are you taking it upon yourself to mete out judgment?" asked Mellie
+gently. "I should scarcely feel myself equal to such a great work. You
+are not sure that Hester is guilty. You are surmising. Who knows but
+Helen found the pin."
+
+"I know," exclaimed Berenice. "I took it upon myself to ask her."
+
+"You must have had--" Erma began with some show of feeling, but stopped
+herself suddenly and laughed instead. What was the use in turning the
+matter into a tragedy. "Well, if you begin to cut people, you little
+freshmen, bear in mind that other girls can do the same. Hester is my
+friend and will continue to be. If she is not treated as I am treated,
+then I am treated badly."
+
+"It's a case of love me, love my dog, is it?" asked Berenice.
+
+"It's a case of treat my friends as you treat me. If Hester is not at
+the next fudge party, then you may expect me to leave and furthermore,
+you need expect no invitation to any spreads that I have anything to do
+with."
+
+She went her way. The younger girls shrugged their shoulders. It was
+considered very fine to be entertained by the seniors and to be accepted
+by them as friends. The freshmen who had been so favored did not wish to
+forgo these joys. On the other hand, they did not like the idea of
+giving up their independence and running at the beck and call of any
+senior.
+
+Berenice's words about asking Helen in regard to finding the pin, had
+put Erma's convictions to rout. She tried to comfort herself in the
+thought that Berenice was not always reliable in her statements. It was
+sorry comfort at the best. A heroic course then presented itself to
+Erma. The thought no sooner presented itself to her than she determined
+to put it into play.
+
+"This evening after study hour, I intend making some hot chocolate.
+Marshall shall buy me some nice fresh wafers when he goes down the
+street."
+
+"Thank you, I shall be there," said Mame.
+
+"No, you shall not. That is what I wish to speak to you about. The
+moment the half-hour bell rings, I wish you to go down to Hester Alden's
+room and I wish you to keep her there until I call to you and her to
+come. But not for worlds must you let her know that there has been
+anything premeditated about the affairs."
+
+"Oh, not for the worlds," said Mame. "I do not quite grasp your idea,
+but I'll do as I am told though I die for it."
+
+"You'll not die, Mamie. The good die young, so I see a long, long life
+for you. You will be rewarded for your goodness. I shall save the
+biggest cup for you and I'll fill it twice without so much as your
+hinting."
+
+"I am your servant from henceforth. Two cups of cocoa to be had not for
+the asking, and big cups at that."
+
+Promptly at the recreation hour, Mame hurried off to see Hester. There
+was something she wished done for the paper and Hester wrote so
+beautifully. Helen went away and left them. The sound of voices came up
+to them from Fifty-four.
+
+"Erma asked me to come down for some hot chocolate," suggested Hester.
+But Mame refused to take the hint.
+
+"Yes, she asked me too. She'll call us when it's ready. She knows that I
+am up here. Now, about this editorial. I'd rather write a novel than an
+editorial any time. In novels, something may be done; but in editorials,
+one must just think. Would you say this, Hester?"
+
+She began her reading on an abstract subject which was a theme worthy of
+a logician and Hester was compelled to listen.
+
+Meanwhile, down in Fifty-four, a number of girls had gathered. Erma was
+making good use of the chafing-dish while Renee was passing salt wafers
+and blanched almonds. Erma was laughing merrily, as she poured the
+cocoa. In the midst of her activities her brooch fell from her collar on
+to the table.
+
+"Good thing, I heard it," she exclaimed, drawing the attention of the
+entire room to it. "If I had dropped it in the hall or on the campus, I
+might never have found it, just as you did, Helen. You never found your
+pin did you?"
+
+"No," said Helen. Her reply was given curtly as though her mind were on
+other matters.
+
+"I told you so," cried Berenice with a show of exultation, looking from
+one girl to another. They had become suddenly quiet at Helen's reply.
+
+"I told you so," she repeated. Then turning to Helen, she continued. "I
+can tell you where it is. I saw it and so did several of the others. But
+they are afraid to tell."
+
+"Not afraid," said Mellie gently. "Fear was not what kept us silent."
+
+"Hester Alden knows where it is," continued Berenice. "While you were at
+Exeter, Hester went home. I met her in the hall and walked with her to
+the triangle. I saw the pin on her tie. It was partly hidden by the ends
+of her tie. When she came back, she did not have it with her. I was not
+the only girl who saw it. They all feel as I do about it. Hester Alden
+took your pin."
+
+She looked about the room with an air of malicious triumph. What could
+the girls do or say now? The gauntlet had been thrown down and they
+could not fling it back. It must lie there, for Hester could not be
+defended. Gentle, soft-spoken Mellie arose to the occasion. "I hope you
+are happy now, Berenice," she said. "But I do not see how you can be
+after such an act. You have deliberately done what you could to ruin
+Hester's reputation and what have you gained by it? Nothing at all,
+except those who have heard, care just a little less for you."
+
+During these remarks, Helen had sat silent on a heap of cushions piled
+high on the floor. At Berenice's first words, she had grown pale but she
+listened without a word. What could she say or do? While Mellie spoke,
+she decided the course she would take. If the girls misunderstood her
+meaning, well and good. She loved Hester. It was a queer worthless sort
+of love which would make no show of sacrifice for its object. She
+reasoned thus while Mellie was speaking. Then she looked from one girl
+to the other.
+
+"What startling things you say, Berenice. What pin have you reference
+to?"
+
+"Your heirloom with the diamond in it?"
+
+"Oh, that," with an air of assumed indifference. "Is that the one that
+you have in mind? Yes, I found that three weeks ago. Where do you think
+I found it?" She looked about at the girls, but gave them no opportunity
+to answer. "I found it in a little box along with some other trinkets.
+The box had been put on the closet floor and got pushed back in the
+corner. I was hunting about for some hooks and eyes and came across it
+quite by accident."
+
+A sigh of relief was felt. The girls had been sitting with every muscle
+rigid. Now, they relaxed and a buzz of laughter and talk began. Berenice
+was far more discerning than the other girls there. Something in Helen's
+manner was beyond her comprehension.
+
+"Did you really know then that Hester Alden had your pin and was wearing
+it?"
+
+Helen nodded brightly as she replied. No one noticed that she ignored
+the second question that Berenice had put to her.
+
+"Why, certainly, I knew that Hester had it. You take up very strange
+ideas, Berenice. I'd put Hester and the pin from your mind from this
+minute. I give you my word of honor that I knew that Hester had the
+pin."
+
+Erma laughed delightfully. Her voice ran the scale and came back with an
+echo of triumph in it. Her plan had succeeded beyond her most sanguine
+expectations.
+
+"I have forgotten the girls," she said, "and the cocoa almost gone."
+Going to the hall, she called to Sixty-two. "Hester Alden, are you and
+Mame going to stay there all night? The bell will ring in a few moments,
+and you will have no chocolate."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+From this time on, the younger set of girls made a point of being kind
+to Hester. Feeling that they had misjudged her they tried to repay by an
+excess of kindness. Hester was a responsive creature. She had no
+ugliness in her heart. Spite was a quality that had not entered into the
+composition of her character. So when the girls showered her with
+kindness, she responded heartily and put from her heart, the bitter
+thoughts which had been there.
+
+Helen, after the brave stand she had taken in regard to Hester, was
+troubled. She felt that she had been placed by Hester's shortcomings in
+an unpleasant position. She had deceived her girl friends. To be sure,
+she had not told them a word which was not strictly true, but they had
+misunderstood her and she knew it. To make matters worse, she had
+deliberately constructed her sentences that they might be deceived and
+yet she was telling the truth. Taking it all in all, it was a paradox.
+She hated deception, and Hester had placed her in such a position that
+she had been compelled to put a double meaning to her words.
+
+So the little plan which Erma had worked out had the effect of widening
+the breach between the occupants of Sixty-two.
+
+Hester had been grieved by the treatment she had received from Helen;
+but after the choice of substitutes, sorrow gave place to anger at the
+injustice accorded her. When the anger had gone, a steadiness of purpose
+came to Hester. She resolved to treat Helen with courtesy, nothing more;
+to be untouched by her in any way. Hester set her lips firmly and raised
+her head proudly. She had caught little mannerisms from Debby Alden,
+just as she had caught the principle which had actuated her conduct: not
+to cry out and let every one know when one is hurt.
+
+When she came back from the two-days' visit with Aunt Debby and Miss
+Richards, she had mastered her feelings to a great extent. She never
+failed to greet Helen upon rising; she bade her a courteous good-night
+when bed-time came. They spoke together of little school affairs, but
+the long confidential talks had gone. They were well-bred strangers
+together for a time. They were spoiling the best part of the school year
+by what they pleased to think was their heroism. It would have been far
+easier and more fruitful of good results had they taken each other
+sharply to task, and blurted out what they had against each other. It
+would have been an easy matter, for each would have discovered that
+there existed no cause for an estrangement between them.
+
+Down in the city, Debby Alden was spending the best year of her life.
+She had continued her music until her playing had passed the apprentice
+stage. She read the classics with Miss Richards. The townspeople had
+found her charming in her gracious thought for others. She was practical
+and thoroughgoing, and they filled her hands with church and charity
+work. Debby had not an idle, lonely moment. To do her justice, she gave
+no thought to what people might be thinking of her. She had too many
+thoughts outside herself to give Debby Alden much thought.
+
+She had proved the statement that it is a woman's own fault if she is
+not beautiful by the time she has forty years to her credit. Debby's
+beauty was of form and feature, and beyond this, the beauty which
+radiates from holding high ideals and living up to them. People did not
+merely like or admire this elder Miss Alden. Those words were weak to
+express the sentiment they held for her. They loved her, perhaps because
+Debby had in her heart an interest and love for every human creature
+that she met. Hester wisely had not mentioned to her aunt the little
+disturbance at school. This was partly due to unselfishness, and partly
+that there had been nothing tangible to tell. It would be very foolish
+to run and cry, "I have had my feelings wounded, but I do not know why."
+Pride, too, was one of the important factors of her silence. She could
+tell no one--not even her dear aunt--that the girls had, for some
+reason, held her in disfavor.
+
+But Debby Alden had not lived with Hester sixteen years without
+understanding her. The girl had barely entered the cottage and removed
+her wraps before Debby knew that something had gone wrong. Debby asked
+no questions, according to Hester the same privileges she demanded for
+herself--to have hurts and wounds without being questioned concerning
+them.
+
+At the sight of Hester's troubled face, Debby Alden's old fears came
+back to her. Had someone at the school brought up the subject of the
+girl's parentage? Had someone told her that she had been thrown upon the
+world a waif, and none of her people had cared to look for her?
+
+Saturday evening, the three of the household gathered about the grate
+fire. Miss Richards had her embroidery and Debby had taken up a book;
+but neither was in the mood for work. Hester was filled to the brim with
+school. She was fairly bubbling over with stories of what the girls had
+done; who had been campused, and who had been called into the office.
+
+Debby Alden listened to the chatter as though it were the profoundest
+wisdom.
+
+"And, Aunt Debby, what do you think? I missed Mrs. Vail again last week.
+She came to take Helen for a ride and intended asking me to go with
+them, but Sara and I had gone around the campus and so I missed my ride
+and did not meet Mrs. Vail. Does it not seem strange, Aunt Debby, that I
+should always miss her? I fell in love with her picture, you know, and I
+was very anxious to know her. Don't you think it's very funny?"
+
+"I do not know that it is funny," replied Debby. "It has just happened
+so. Does the young man come with his mother?"
+
+"Rob? Sometimes he does. He comes very often alone. Several times, Miss
+Burkham permitted me to go down to the reception hall with Helen and
+talk with him. Last week, when we had a reception, he was there, and he
+talked to me a long, long time. I think he is the nicest boy I ever
+knew. I think he is nicer than Ralph Orr. Don't you think so, Aunt
+Debby?"
+
+"You must remember that I met him but once, Hester. I liked him very
+much. He had such a nice boyish manner."
+
+"Boyish. Do you know how old he is?"
+
+"I am sure he is under seventy," said Debby with a smile.
+
+"Surely," said Miss Richards in her droll, quiet way, "he must be
+younger than I am. I am only sixty-three."
+
+Hester laughed. "You are making fun of me. He really isn't a boy. He is
+twenty-one and a senior in a Medical School. My, but he has strong
+nerves! I asked him if it didn't make him tremble to see the surgeons
+cut the flesh from one. He said it never phased him. That was his
+expression--never 'phased' him. I rather like the expression. It sounds
+just like what you might expect from a college boy. Don't you think so?"
+
+"I never knew college boys," began Debby Alden, but stopped suddenly.
+She remembered in time that James Baker had been a college boy. "--I
+never knew many, not enough to know what language to expect of them."
+
+Hester had not caught the hesitancy in Miss Alden's speech. Miss
+Richards had and looked up in time to see another Debby Alden than the
+Debby she had always known. This Debby had the flush of sixteen years in
+her cheeks and the tender light of day-dreams in her eyes.
+
+Just a moment, Debby Alden sat thus. Then the woman came back where the
+girl had been. "What more?" she asked Hester. "Of what else does this
+wonderful lad talk?"
+
+"Everything, Aunt Debby. I really do not believe there is a subject that
+he cannot talk upon."
+
+The women could not restrain a smile at this girlish exhibition of the
+confidence of youth.
+
+"He's traveled and he's been in school, and he is an athlete. He told me
+a great deal about school life. That was while we talked together at the
+reception. Helen was surprised that he talked so long to me. She says
+that he generally speaks to everyone for a few minutes and then goes. He
+must have talked to me a half an hour."
+
+"And then he went home?" suggested Debby. Hester blushed. "No, Miss
+Burkham came up and said that I must remember there were other guests
+who demanded some of my time, and I had to excuse myself."
+
+Debby Alden in her thoughts gave thanks to Miss Burkham.
+
+Hester continued her chatter. She needed no encouragement for when she
+was once on a subject she generally threshed it so thoroughly that
+nothing but chaff remained.
+
+"But Robert told me that he generally said but a few words to each lady
+present and then went home. But somehow from the very first, he said I
+did not seem a stranger to him. He felt that he had always known me.
+That was why he sat so long and talked with me and I wish that Miss
+Burkham would have attended to something else then, and let me alone."
+
+This was said in the most childlike, guileless manner. Debby Alden
+almost gasped for breath. She was about to remonstrate at the expression
+of such opinions when a glance from Miss Richards restrained her. That
+lady was not at all alarmed, only amused at Hester's talk.
+
+"But Eva does not know all I know," said Debby to herself. "If she did,
+she would find it no laughing matter."
+
+When Hester had gone to bed, leaving Debby and Miss Richards yet at the
+fireside, the latter took up the conversation.
+
+"You are needlessly alarmed, Debby. There is not a bit of danger about
+Hester's having her head turned. She looks upon Robert just as she did
+upon Ralph. He is a good companion. That is all. Perhaps, she is a
+little flattered by having a college boy notice her at all. I remember
+when I went to school, I did the same thing. If a cadet spoke with us,
+we held our heads high and if he asked us to dance, our heads were
+turned. We really cared not at all for the cadets, but the uniforms were
+very handsome. That was fifty years ago, Debby Alden, and girls have not
+changed one whit."
+
+She smiled as she thought of the old school days. She was far enough
+away from them now to know what was mere childish pleasure which had
+left its pleasant fragrance clinging to all the years between.
+
+"Nevertheless, no one knows what may result from these conversations. I
+shall speak to Hester."
+
+"My dear Debby, I beg that you consider and do nothing of the sort.
+Hester is a child with no thought of being anything else. Why should you
+put other thoughts into her head? You will do just such a thing if you
+discuss the subject further with her. Let her talk with the young man at
+the reception if she wishes to and Miss Burkham does not object."
+
+"She appeared so much interested. I am afraid--"
+
+"Nonsense. You would hedge Hester about with your fears. It is just a
+wholesome girlish interest which is right and proper for one normal
+young person to show in another. Had it been otherwise, Hester would not
+have talked so freely."
+
+Yet, Debby was not satisfied. "You know that very serious love affairs
+are started in just such a boy-and-girl fashion."
+
+"Surely. I know it. I know also that I do not think it altogether a bad
+fashion. Robert Vail, if I read him right, is an excellent young man.
+The Vails are people who are above reproach. So what cause would you
+have to complain, Debby Alden, if these half-hour talks should be taken
+seriously?"
+
+"In the abstract, your ideas are worth while," said Debby. She could not
+laugh at the matter as Miss Richards was doing. "But in the concrete,
+they are wrong from beginning to end, and cannot be applied to Hester's
+case. Hester must never marry. Knowing that, I intend to keep her from
+falling in love, for I would not have her be unhappy."
+
+There was tragedy in her voice which Miss Richards saw fit to ignore.
+
+"At the same time, keep the rain from falling and the days from growing
+shorter. One is as easily done as the other. You will pardon my
+frankness, Debby, but I think you are about to make a mistake with
+Hester. You may restrain and educate her to a certain extent, but you
+cannot control her thoughts or her emotions. No one can do that for
+another. Guide Hester as far as your power lies; advise and admonish
+her, but she must live her own life; make her own mistakes and shed her
+own tears over them. You and your love must not shield her from that.
+She is herself to make of herself what she will.
+
+"I cannot understand why you should wish her not to marry. In my mind,
+it is a fitting state for men and women, else the Lord would not have
+sanctioned it."
+
+Debby could make no answer to this. Miss Richards bent over her
+needlework. She and Debby in all their years of intimacy, had but once
+before discussed the question. It had been Hester and Hester's future
+which had brought it up. The two women sat in silence for some minutes,
+when Debby said, "You cannot understand in what way life must be
+different for my girl. You do not understand and I cannot explain."
+
+"Very well. But bear this in mind, Debby. You must not take the
+responsibility too heavily upon yourself. You are able to do a limited
+amount. There is a greater power in Hester Alden's life, than you. It is
+omnipotent and has a greater conception of life than your feeble mind
+can grasp."
+
+"I know," said Debby humbly. "I am able to do so little. I cannot save
+my little girl all the bruises and hard places. She must bear them
+herself."
+
+"And you should not if you could. Do not worry about Hester's being able
+to bear them. She has a courageous spirit and indomitable will."
+
+Silence came again. Miss Richards worked on the center-piece she was
+embroidering. Debby leaned back in her chair. Her eyes rested upon the
+dying coals of the grate. Hester's childlike chatter had started her
+thinking on matters she tried to keep back in her memory. She blushed at
+her foolishness. Her practical business-like mind looked with scorn upon
+day-dreams--such day-dreams as came to her then, as she sat with her
+eyes on the grate. She could not smile at Hester's talk of Rob Vail's
+wonderful attainments. It touched too deeply. She had thought the same
+of Jim Baker that winter he took her to the spelling-bees. He had been a
+rosy-cheeked, blue-eyed boy who had ambitions. She had listened to his
+stories of the work he meant to do and she looked upon him as the most
+wonderful person in the world. But that had happened over twenty years
+ago, and she was very foolish to think of it at all.
+
+Miss Richards worked in silence. At last when Debby Alden brought
+herself back from her day-dreams, her companion addressed her.
+
+"When Miss Loraine was here, Debby, did you observe the resemblance
+between her and Hester?"
+
+"Did I? I most assuredly did. The likeness was so strong that I almost
+exclaimed aloud when Helen stepped from the car. She was my Hester, with
+just a little difference."
+
+"You passed the subject over so lightly that I thought you had not
+observed what I had."
+
+"I passed over it lightly because I did not wish to disturb Hester. She
+knows she does not belong to my people; I would not have her know more,
+nor would I have her disturbed by commenting on the likeness.
+
+"The likeness between her and Helen did not startle me as much as a
+little mannerism which I noticed in her cousin. Did you observe Robert's
+way of looking at one while that one was talking? He had the appearance
+of being absorbed with interest, and so impatient to hear all that was
+to be said that he might be tempted to pull the words from one's mouth."
+
+Debby laughed softly at her words. "That is rather a peculiar way of
+expressing myself, but that is the impression he gave me. I have seen
+Hester sit so, listening. Time and time again, I have smiled at her
+intenseness, and I have chided her for it. I have no doubt that Robert
+Vail is an excellent young man. He looks it. If I read him right, he's
+inclined to be 'set' in his way. I do not doubt that if he thought a
+course of action was right and decided to follow it, he would be flayed
+before he could be compelled to give up. I have noticed that same
+tendency in Hester. She is what I call 'set' and always has been."
+
+"Debby, do you think for a moment that Hester had to go far from home to
+find her example? Your dearest enemies could never accuse you of
+vacillating. You are what your people were before you. You're 'set'
+Debby--quite set.
+
+"It is not a lack of virtue in one. On the contrary, I admire it. I have
+little sympathy for the one who moves with every passing influence. In
+my friendships, I find myself leaning toward folk who are 'set.'"
+
+The gentle kindliness in the speaker's voice and smile made every word
+she said seem like a caress.
+
+"I should be very glad, Debby," continued Miss Richards, "that Hester
+has that virtue. Wax melts under any influence; but if iron is molded
+right you have something stable. You have given Hester high ideals, and
+I have no fear that she will be influenced from them."
+
+"I had no thoughts of criticising," cried Debby quickly. "I am glad that
+my Hester is as she is. I would not have her different. I was remarking
+about the resemblance in manner and disposition between her and Robert
+Vail. She looks like Helen, but she is like Robert."
+
+"Do you think there might be relationship, Debby? If there be one,
+Hester would not blush to claim such kin. The Vails and Loraines are
+fine folk--fine in the highest sense that I can use the word.
+
+"You told me several years ago, that you knew more of Hester's family
+than you had given out. You told me no more than that, and I do not ask
+to know more now. But it came to me that they might be bound to Hester
+by ties of blood. Surely such a resemblance cannot come by mere chance."
+
+"There are no blood ties there," cried Debby Alden. "I am sure of that.
+No, do not misunderstand me. I would not be jealous of them were they
+her kin. I should rejoice to know she was of such a family and the
+anxiety which I have borne in secret would leave me. No, Hester is not
+of the Loraine or Vail blood."
+
+Arising from her place at the grate, she moved away to the end of the
+room and stood looking out on the white earth. After a few minutes'
+struggle with herself, she came back to where Miss Richards sat, "Eva,
+cannot your imagination fill out what I cannot tell? You know there are
+conditions of blood and family which bear a stain which generations
+cannot eradicate. Poor Hester, innocent and brilliant as she is, bears
+that mark. You know why I wish to make her independent and
+self-sustaining. Those from which she sprung are beneath her; and she
+dare not bring the affliction of her people upon those higher. You see
+why I must guard her. She must do as you and I have done--though not for
+the same reason. She must be alone all her life. I want you to help me
+in this."
+
+"As I have always done, and always will," said her friend. "My
+heartstrings cling about Hester, too. I love her almost as much as you
+do, Debby Alden."
+
+While the conversation was being carried on, Hester Alden lay in the
+room above not wholly unconscious that her aunt and friend were
+discussing her. Now and then a word came to her; but she closed her ears
+tight to shut out the slightest sound.
+
+"Aunt Debby is talking about my people and I must not hear. She said
+once that what she told me was all she cared to have me know, so I must
+not hear this."
+
+She shut the sound of voices from her ears. If Aunt Debby did not wish
+her to know, that ended it as far as Hester's desire to know was
+concerned.
+
+Debby Alden was troubled in her thoughts about Hester all that winter
+term; for she knew that something lay heavy on Hester's heart. The girl
+continued her studies, took her part in the social life of the seminary,
+and played basket-ball with all her energy; yet her heart was sore
+because the breach between Helen and her had not been bridged. The
+seminary life was fine--but Helen had been the biggest part of it to
+Hester.
+
+The river had been frozen over since the first of the year. The students
+who could skate, used the ice for an outside gymnasium under the
+chaperonage of the little German teacher. Helen did not skate and
+preferred the routine of the regular physical culture course. Hester, on
+the contrary, could have lived on skates, as far as her desire and lack
+of muscular weariness was concerned.
+
+The difference in choice of exercise separated the girls yet further.
+The skating was like a tonic to Hester. She could not be dull,
+depressed, or anxious after an hour on the ice. She missed Helen's
+companionship less than before. While Helen was brought to realize that
+it was not a passing fancy she had held toward Hester, but genuine
+affection and she missed her companionship more and more.
+
+The winter held on until late. The week preceding Easter Sunday, the
+spring thaw set in and the river came up and over the ice.
+
+"We'll have an ice-jam and a good one," laughed Erma. "Last spring the
+cakes piled as high as the old apple tree. The ice broke just at
+tea-time and the river was floating with it until morning. Doctor Weldon
+allowed us to watch until bed-time. It was simply gorgeous. Great white
+blocks would rise high in the air and then crumble into powder. I think
+we'll have a bad jam this spring." Erma danced away, overjoyed at the
+prospect of something to break the routine.
+
+The following Saturday, the rain fell all day. The building was gray and
+cheerless. It was the time of year when homesickness is prevalent at
+school. The girls were dull and sat about silent in the parlor or idly
+turning over magazines in the library.
+
+In the chapel a chorus of girls were being drilled. "What are they
+preparing for?" asked Hester of Sara.
+
+"You are new, so I cannot tell you. Wait and find out," was the reply.
+
+At tea-time the same heaviness of spirits hung over the dining-hall.
+Suddenly, a creaking sound was heard and a crush as though of breaking
+timber.
+
+"The ice!" cried Erma. Her voice was distinctly heard throughout the
+large dining-hall.
+
+Fortunately, they were at the dessert and Doctor Weldon excused them
+immediately. They were warned to fortify themselves with wraps against
+the weather. In a few moments, they had hurried to their rooms and were
+back again in raincoats, overshoes, and Tam-o-Shanters.
+
+The Fraulein loved the storm. She and Miss Laird were the only two of
+the faculty who could be induced to leave the building. The rain was
+falling softly. The Fraulein led the way across the campus to the edge
+of the river. The water had risen six feet since morning, and had
+encroached upon the campus, and gurgled about the trunk of the old
+orchard trees. The ice jammed back on the shore, forcing the girls to
+retreat. Great cakes arose as a perpendicular, balanced for an instant
+and fell to pieces, or crushed against the trees until they groaned and
+bent under the strain. All the while the growling and seething and
+gurgling of the water was heard above all. It was glorious. Little
+wonder that Erma had anticipated this with delight.
+
+The lights about the building were the only ones on the campus. The
+shadows were heavy where the girls stood along shore. Hester, to whom
+this scene was never old, although she had seen it every year of her
+life, stood entranced. Her umbrella had been tilted back and the rain
+beat down on her face, but she knew it not. She was unconscious of the
+chatter about her. She could not have talked. The river and noise and
+jamming ice held her spellbound.
+
+Helen observed her as she stood so and believed that she was sad. Going
+up to where Hester was, Helen stood beside her, but no attention
+whatever was paid to her. Then she laid her hand lightly on Hester's
+arm. The result was the same. Hester stood with her eyes fixed upon the
+river, and made no response to the overture of friendship. Then Helen
+turned away, feeling that she had been repulsed.
+
+When the heaviest flow had passed, the Fraulein took the girls back to
+the building. Helen went directly to her room to look over the evening
+mail; but Hester lingered with the Fraulein who was vainly trying to
+describe the flood which she had witnessed in her own little German
+village.
+
+When Hester at length entered Sixty-two, Helen had read her letters and
+was standing by the study-table in deep thought. She looked at Hester a
+little wistfully.
+
+"I had a letter from our pastor at home," she said, turning to Hester.
+"You have heard me speak of Dr. James Baker?"
+
+"Yes, I have," replied Hester and took up her work. One could not begin
+a conversation on so little encouragement. Helen took up the letter from
+her pastor and read it a second time. He wrote to her as he did to all
+the absent young people whose church home was his church. He brought to
+their attention, the coming Sabbath, and reminded them that it should
+mean much to them. He suggested that they too, lay aside the old life
+with its troubles and its shortcomings and arise with new ideals and a
+new spirit. He had expressed himself finely. Helen, who was sympathetic,
+was touched by his words. She would put aside the old life. She would
+begin that instant to forget all that had passed and begin anew even her
+friendship with Hester.
+
+Hester, fortified by her pride and the resolution she had made some
+weeks before, sat at her table writing. For weeks she had given Helen no
+opportunity for more than a passing word.
+
+"This letter from Doctor Baker is beautiful," began Helen. "He is as
+good as he writes. He has been our pastor for fifteen years--more
+perhaps. Will you read it, Hester? It may do you good. It has me."
+
+"Perhaps I do not need it," was the curt reply. "And perhaps Doctor
+Baker might object to a third party reading his letters."
+
+"Nonsense. He would be delighted. Will you read it?"
+
+"No, I thank you," said Hester, proudly. Then she added. "I may be
+beyond being reached, you know."
+
+Her tone was sharp. It caused Helen to cease from further importunity.
+
+"Very well, Hester. If you do not wish to, I shall not insist." She
+laid the letter aside.
+
+"It will be the very last time, I shall try to make up with Hester," she
+said to herself. "She never really cared for me, or she would see that I
+wish to be friends. But she does not care."
+
+When the half-hour bell rang, the girls began their preparation for bed
+without a word to each other. Since the first days of their
+misunderstanding, their politeness toward each other was so marked as to
+be burdensome.
+
+They excused and begged pardon each time their paths crossed. The same
+formality was continued now. There was no conversation, although both
+were talkers and their heads were buzzing with the things they would
+like to have said.
+
+When the retiring bell sounded, there was a short "Good-night, Hester,"
+and as short a response, "Good-night, Helen."
+
+There were to be sunrise services in the chapel at which every student
+was required to be present. But before that time, Hester was awakened by
+voices far in the distance. She sat up in bed to listen. The gray of the
+Easter morning was stealing through the window. The voices came nearer
+and nearer. At last she could distinguish the words.
+
+    "Christ is Risen. Christ is Risen. He hath burst His bounds in twain.
+    Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen! Alleluia, swell the strain."
+
+It was the chorus of girls. This had long been the custom of the school,
+to wake the pupils by song on Easter morning.
+
+The voices drew nearer. The singers paused at the landing of the stair.
+Hester could distinguish Erma's loud, clear notes which soared upward
+like a bird and floated over all.
+
+    "Alleluia, Alleluia, swell the strain."
+
+The spirit of the Easter morn came to Hester.
+
+There was peace and joy. She wished for that. She really had not had it
+for weeks. While the song rose and fell, her heart softened toward
+Helen. She would make up with her. She would ask to be forgiven and be
+friends again. She crept out of bed and went to Helen's bed, but Helen
+had gone to make one of the Easter Wakening Chorus.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+Proserpina had returned to earth again. The evidence of her visit was
+everywhere. The campus had turned into green velvet; the pussy willows
+were soft as chinchillas; the apple trees were in leaf, and just about
+to blossom. These were the signs of spring everywhere. In addition to
+these, the seminary had a sign which appealed to it alone. The man with
+the ice-cream cart had appeared. For several days, his cart had been
+backed against the curb of the campus and the sound of his bell was like
+the music of the hand-organ to the girls. It was a bluebird and a
+robin--the harbingers of spring to them.
+
+May came and was quickly passing. The girls were talking caps and gowns
+and diplomas. The seniors went about with a superior air; the juniors
+were little better for they had a classday at least. The freshmen and
+sophomores, in the plans for commencement week, were but the fifth
+wheel to a wagon. They were ignored. If they offered suggestions they
+were snubbed, and informed, not too gently, that they could not be
+expected to know anything about such matters--being new to the ways of
+commencement.
+
+Though they had neither commencement, class day, nor play, the freshmen
+and sophomores did not lose spirit. What was not theirs by rights, they
+meant to make theirs by foul means and strategy.
+
+It had long been the custom of the seniors to follow the commencement
+proper with a banquet. This included only members of the senior class.
+The Alumnæ banquet took place later and was in the hands of old students
+who had long since left the seminary. Among these were the wives of
+judges, physicians, bankers--people with whom the freshmen and
+sophomores dare not interfere, though it would have been an easy matter
+to have taken this Alumnæ Banquet, for there was no one on hand to guard
+it. The menu and serving were wholly in the hands of a caterer from the
+city.
+
+Knowing that the affairs of the Alumnæ must not be tampered with, the
+freshmen turned all their energies toward the seniors and juniors.
+
+The juniors were to give a play. The costumes were to be rented for the
+occasion. The play itself was zealously guarded lest it be stolen. Erma,
+whose talent lay in a histrionic direction, had charge of the copies of
+the drama. Erma had talent but no forethought. She put the pamphlets in
+the place most suited to them. Hester, who had been sent out by her
+class as a scout to find what she could of the plans of the juniors,
+discovered the books the first day; and not only the books but the names
+of the juniors and the parts which each was to take. Hester reported
+immediately the results of her investigation. The following day, while
+Erma was engaged elsewhere the play disappeared, was hurriedly copied by
+the freshmen and replaced. Not a member of the junior class, so the
+freshmen believed, was aware of what took place and was not the wiser
+that the freshmen had begun the preparation of the same play.
+
+"We can outdo them," said Louise at the class-meeting. "The play is
+booked for Tuesday evening. Monday evening is the band concert and
+promenade from seven o'clock until eight-thirty. After that, the
+freshmen class will have the floor and we'll give the play before the
+juniors. Their efforts will fall flat on Tuesday evening."
+
+"But the costumes!" exclaimed Hester. "What will we do for them?"
+
+"Borrow them from the juniors when they are from their rooms. We will
+need them but one evening. We'll return them as fresh as ever the
+following morning."
+
+"Will they lend them?" It was a little first term girl who asked the
+question.
+
+"No, you dear little freshie, they will not lend them if they can help
+themselves. We will ask them Tuesday morning and use them Monday. It is
+the safest way," said Emma, who was exceedingly enthusiastic over this
+part of school life. While at home, she had read volumes on the subject
+of life at a boarding school. From the impression left by those books,
+life at school was one succession of receptions, public meetings, and
+practical jokes. Discipline and lessons were in the undercurrent of
+life. Life at Dickinson had been wholly different from what Emma had
+anticipated. This stealing of the junior play and presenting it before
+the juniors had the opportunity, appealed to Emma. This was more in the
+order of the books she had read.
+
+Louise sat up on the rostrum, appointing the students to their parts.
+She looked at Emma quizzingly, "About your part, Emma," she began.
+
+"I know what I want to be. Let me be queen. I'd dearly love to put my
+hair up and wear a train."
+
+"You! The queen!" the girls laughed in scorn. "You never would have
+dignity enough for that. What you should be is a Dutch doll that moves
+with a spring."
+
+"I could do the queen part--," she began.
+
+"Hush, hush. You are talking too loud. Some one is coming."
+
+Footsteps were heard along the stair. The door opened and Renee put her
+head in.
+
+"Are you there, Louise?" she asked. "Do you object to my taking your
+umbrella? My roommate has gone off leaving mine locked in the closet,
+and I've permission to go down town."
+
+"Yes, yes, take it," cried Louise. Renee closed the door and
+disappeared.
+
+"I'm suspicious of that umbrella," said Edna. "I think Renee was sent up
+here to see what we were about."
+
+"No, I'd be suspicious of any one but Renee. She wished the umbrella. I
+am sure of that."
+
+"But why should she need it this afternoon. There is not the slightest
+suggestion of rain and the sun is not bright."
+
+"Because, she couldn't go without borrowing something," said Louise. "It
+wouldn't be Renee if she could. I suppose she looked about and an
+umbrella was the only thing she did not have at hand, so that was the
+only thing she could borrow."
+
+Eventually the parts were given out and partly learned. The girls had
+planned for a rehearsal the first week in June. The fact that everything
+had to be done under cover from the juniors, made the practice drag.
+They could assemble only at such hours when the juniors were in class,
+and the chapel vacant.
+
+The sophomores, confident that the freshmen alone would be able to
+manage the juniors, turned their attention to the seniors. Their plan
+was to divert the banquet from the dining-hall to one of the society
+halls, and feast upon it while the seniors went wailing in search of it.
+
+Their plans were developing nicely when the weather saw fit to
+interfere. The last day of May, which fell on Tuesday, set in with a
+soft, fine rain. This was nothing alarming in itself, had it performed
+its work and gone its way. But it lingered all day, all night and when
+Wednesday morning broke dull and gray, the volume of water had
+increased, and was coming steadily down. Thursday was but a repetition
+of Wednesday. The rain did not cease for an instant. The sun never
+showed his face.
+
+The river had crept up gradually until the water was licking the trunks
+of the apple trees; but this was not alarming. The ice flood had been
+higher; and further back on the campus were the marks of the flood of
+'48, the highest flood ever known along the river. Even then the water
+had not touched the building. There was nothing at all to be alarmed by
+the river's rising.
+
+After the afternoon's recitations, the girls went down to the river's
+edge, although the rain poured down upon them. They were learning the
+tricks of the old river men. They stuck sticks in the edge of the water
+to mark the rise or fall.
+
+"It's risen over a foot since lunch time," cried Erma. "See, there is my
+marker. You can just see it. Think of it--a foot. What will become of
+us?"
+
+"It will rise twenty feet before we need give it a thought," said
+Hester. She had been reared along the river and had no fear of it. She
+loved it in any form it could assume--tranquil and quiet--frozen and
+white--rolling and bleak and sullen. In every form, she recognized only
+the beautiful and knew no reason to fear.
+
+"But if it should rise twenty-five?" cried Erma. She was running about
+excitedly like a water-sprite. Her red sweater gleamed in the sullen
+gray light. The rain was trickling from her Tam-o-Shanter; but she was
+oblivious of all, save the far remote danger.
+
+"Oh, what if it should come up twenty-five feet!" she continued asking
+as she ran along the shore.
+
+"Oh, what if the world should come to an end!" retorted the girls in
+derision.
+
+The gong in the main hall sounded.
+
+"I knew it," cried Emma. "I knew Doctor Weldon would not allow us to be
+out long. She's dreadfully careful of us. Now, what harm can a little
+bit of water do to anyone?" Emma shook her bushy, curly locks.
+
+"Nothing, when one's hair curls naturally. But it can do a lot when
+one's hair is straight. Look at mine." Mame sighed dismally. "Did you
+ever see such locks? Every one as straight as a poker. I wish, just for
+once, I could look like other girls."
+
+Josephine was standing in the hall, waiting when the little group of
+girls entered.
+
+"Have you been in all the time?" asked Hester. "How could you? The river
+is fine and getting higher and higher each moment. You shouldn't miss
+such a sight as this."
+
+"I have not missed it," was the reply, given while the speaker's eyes
+took a soulful upward glance. "I cannot enjoy nature with people
+laughing and talking about me. I must be alone and commune with it. I
+have stood here watching from the window. What a beautiful and yet a
+terrible scene it is. I feel uplifted."
+
+"I wish I felt the same way--uplifted to the extent of two flights of
+stairs," said Hester. She had not meant to be funny, but the girls
+laughed. Josephine turned upon her a hurt, aggrieved look. But just for
+a moment, then she smiled and said gently, "Hester, you little
+water-sprite! How can you jest when nature is at war?"
+
+Edna Bucher was another student who would not brave the elements. She
+stood at the hall window where the stairway makes a turn. She was
+dressed in very somber clothes, guiltless of curves or graces. She did
+not look with favor upon girls' trudging out in the storm. It had in it
+the element of tom-boyism upon which Miss Bucher looked with alarm.
+
+"No, I did not go," she said meekly and apologetically. "I was brought
+up to think it wasn't ladylike to go out in all kinds of weather;
+ladies don't do it. It is just what you would expect of a man."
+
+The hearers replied not a word. They did not so much as shrug their
+shoulders or glance at each other. But each girl resolved at that
+minute, if being hearty and hale and fearless were unladylike, from that
+moment they would be that very thing.
+
+The weather soon had its effect upon the spirits of the girls. Gayety in
+the dormitories and parlors was reduced to the minimum. Pupils stood
+silent at windows, gazing out at the steady downpour. Where they did
+gather in groups of three or four, there was no laughing or bright talk.
+Just a word now and then, and a low reply. At intervals, someone grew
+intolerant and expressed herself. "Will this rain never stop?" "I was
+hoping it would clear so that we might go into town."
+
+Their hopes were doomed to disappointment. The rain never ceased for one
+instant during the night and all day Friday.
+
+At lunch time Friday, the girls ran out on the campus to see what had
+become of their markers of the evening before. They were gone. The
+water had come over them and moved up in the campus until it touched the
+cannae-beds.
+
+"The flowers will be ruined!" cried the girls. As though to prove the
+truth of the statement, a tongue of water curled itself softly about the
+plants, sucked deep into the roots, and when it went its way, the
+cannaes went with it, and only a hollow was left in the great bed, and
+this was quickly filled with water.
+
+"It has risen three feet since last evening," said Hester, who had been
+standing silent, estimating the distance. There were exclamations of
+wonder, surprise, and fear. To many, three feet of a rise in water meant
+no more than a Greek syllable. They had not been reared near a river,
+and knew nothing of what might be expected in the way of floods.
+
+"Three feet is nothing," said Hester with the air of one who knew all
+there was to know of such matters. "Why, a June flood is generally seven
+feet at home. We do not think much about it. And September floods--we do
+not always have them, but we wouldn't think of calling it a flood
+unless the river rose at least five feet. Three feet since yesterday!
+That is really nothing at all. I hope it will go five feet higher before
+night."
+
+It was all braggadocio on her part; but it had the desired effect. Erma
+screamed in terror; Emma's eyes grew big; Mame scolded her soundly for
+expressing such a wish. For a while she had a hornet's nest about her
+ears.
+
+Early Friday afternoon, a change came. Before, the rain had come down
+steady and constant. Now it came in a stream, as though the floors from
+a great reservoir had given way and the water had fallen in one great
+body.
+
+There was no going out in this. An umbrella was no protection whatever,
+for the rain came through as water through a sieve. After dinner, the
+girls stood in the windows which overlooked the river and watched the
+water as it crept up, so slowly the eye could not recognize its advance.
+
+The trunks of the apple trees were hidden from view. The water was muddy
+and foaming. The current had increased until the velocity was ten times
+that of normal. There was a sullen roar, and tearing as though the
+banks were giving way. Some logs were running, but not many. The breast
+of the water was covered with drift. At intervals, large branches of
+trees went down. Once a great oak, roots, trunk and all, sailed close to
+the apple tree and almost tore it from the earth. A walk, a piece of
+fence, a chicken coop, or a dog-kennel went bobbing along their watery
+way. Some distance below, yet in sight of the school, was the county
+bridge. It had been built in the early history of the country. It was a
+big, clumsy-looking affair of wood with a shingled roof and board sides.
+Now, entrances were cut off by a wide stream. It stood alone, like an
+isolated being; its weather-beaten sides, looking gray against the brown
+of the muddy water.
+
+The sight of the river was growing awful, yet it attracted and held the
+girls. The study bell rang unheeded. Miss Burkham came from her room to
+call their attention to the study hours.
+
+As the girls from the east wing crossed the main hall in order to reach
+their rooms, they saw Doctor Weldon in earnest conversation with
+Marshall, the office boy; Belva, the man-of-all work, and Herman who
+acted as night-watchman.
+
+"I do not anticipate a bit of trouble," she was saying. "But telegrams
+came into the city from Reno, thirty miles above, that there was a
+twenty-foot flood there and still rising. They've sent warning all down
+the river.
+
+"I have heard that alarm sounded ever since I have been at the seminary.
+It is always a twenty-foot flood and the word always comes from Reno.
+Either those people have no idea of a foot measure or their imaginations
+have been over stimulated." She spoke slowly yet with conviction, as one
+who has been accustomed to having their slightest word obeyed. The three
+men had been at the seminary and in her service for ten years. They
+adored her and accepted her word as final.
+
+"However, Herman, you keep a close watch. Do not let the water reach the
+drive without warning us. We will not run any risks. If you wish to have
+Belva and Marshall with you, well and good. I shall ask the matron to
+have a lunch prepared for you."
+
+There was little possibility of danger. Should the water creep up from
+the river, even to the west side of the dormitory, a great wing extended
+to the east and avenues of escape would remain open.
+
+The girls overheard Doctor Weldon's words. They were not alarmed. They
+understood the conditions perfectly. Should the water come near the west
+wing, a thing which had never yet occurred even in the famous flood of
+'48, there could be no immediate danger. They were excited with the
+prospect of the unusual happening. Since it had rained for five days
+against their express wishes, they would feel themselves aggrieved if no
+compensation, in the form of an unusual experience, was offered them.
+
+The fact that it was Friday night, and that the week had been one which
+had been void of relaxation or amusement in any way, moved the
+preceptress to shorten the study hour and lengthen the time for
+recreation.
+
+But the students would not get away from the weather and the flood.
+Little groups of four and six came together and discussed floods, from
+the Noachean down to the one of '48. The girls had no personal knowledge
+of any high water, but they handed down the folk-lore as it had come to
+them.
+
+Some were particularly fine in giving detail, and making weird, strange
+scenes so real that their hearers were deeply affected. Erma had this
+power in a great measure, and Hester, to some extent. By the time they
+had related several stories, the girls in Sixty-two were shivering with
+nervous fear.
+
+"Oh, you silly little geese!" cried Erma. "Why, you are actually
+shivering over something which happened in my great-grandfather's time!"
+
+"But you make it so real! You and Hester talk as if it happened but
+yesterday," said Mellie.
+
+"Certainly, that is what we try to do," Erma laughed, and seizing Mellie
+by the hand, drew her up from the floor where she had been sitting.
+"That is what will make us famous. I shall be a great actress and Hester
+a great writer."
+
+Hester heard and blushed. She wondered how Erma knew of her day-dreams
+for she had mentioned them to no one.
+
+"Come, peaches," cried Erma. "I'll take you back to your rooms. If I do
+not, you all will have nervous prostration, sitting here listening to
+such stories."
+
+"I do not know when Erma is complimenting me," said Mellie as she
+followed. "Sometimes I am 'silly goose' and sometimes I am 'peaches.'
+Now when am I which, and why?"
+
+Erma laughed again. "Oh, you silly goose, don't you know you're peaches
+all the time with me?"
+
+The girls departed. It was yet early, yet Helen and Hester prepared for
+bed. Each was deliberately slow. Their paths crossed and recrossed as
+they moved from one part of the room to the other, yet not a word was
+said until Hester reached to turn off the light. Then came the customary
+good-night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+There was no danger of the river rising to such an extent that the
+building would be surrounded and communication cut off. Such a thing
+would be impossible! But Doctor Weldon had forgotten to reckon with the
+creek which flowed on the opposite side of town and joined the river at
+the east end. It had risen as rapidly as the river and had come over the
+banks and was creeping in upon them.
+
+Hester awakened suddenly. It was early morning for the gray lights were
+shining in at the windows. The rain had ceased. The first thought which
+came to her was that of thankfulness. Now they could have a clear
+Saturday and be out of doors without being drenched to the skin.
+
+It was not raining but there was a peculiar gurgling sound of water.
+Helen also heard it and sat up in bed.
+
+"Do you hear that, Hester? What is it?"
+
+"It is something outside, I'll see." As she spoke she had left her bed
+and hurried to the window. Her exclamation brought Helen to her. There
+was no need to ask for explanation. Beech Creek had backed in from a
+mile beyond, and was lapping against the stone foundation. The water was
+moving over the campus. Nowhere was it more than an inch deep; but on
+each side lay the greater depths of the river and the creek.
+
+"Let us get dressed at once!" cried Hester.
+
+"Yes, let us go downstairs," replied Helen. She was not so excited as
+Hester, yet she was more afraid. Hester knew the river and loved it. Now
+her excitement did not spring from fear, but from a kind of enjoyment.
+
+They slipped into their clothes and made themselves as presentable as
+possible and hurried downstairs. At the front entrance was a group of
+girls. Some were standing on the lower step, which was a single piece of
+granite. The water was lapping but a few inches below. While they talked
+and laughed, some hysterically, the water crept up and lapped upon the
+lower step. The girls moved higher. Five steps led to the entrance,
+which was on the level of the first floor. Then the breakfast bell
+sounded and the girls reluctantly went into the dining-room.
+
+While they were standing with their hands on the back of their
+respective chairs, awaiting the signal from the principal, she addressed
+them.
+
+"Young ladies, you will be served with plain fare this morning. Perhaps,
+you do not know that the butcher, the baker, the milkman, and butter-man
+drive in each morning from Flemington. The road was flooded this morning
+and they could not reach us. The supplies which the steward keeps on
+hand, are in the basement, which was flooded last night. You may be
+seated."
+
+There was no complaint at the bit of bacon and stale bread with which
+each plate had been served. There were excitement and hilarious
+good-humor, as though the flood had come for their especial benefit to
+give them an experience new and unusual. A bit of bacon and stale bread!
+One could get along very well for a few hours on that. But it seemed
+destined that the students were not to have even so little.
+
+Marshall came in and hurried to Doctor Weldon. She appeared cool and
+collected; but one could never tell from her manner whether she were
+anxious or not. The few seniors who remembered when the building had
+been afire, remembered Doctor Weldon had acted just so. Waiting until
+Marshall left the dining-hall, she rang the bell. The buzz of voices
+ceased.
+
+"Take your plates and go up to the parlor on the second floor. You may
+be dismissed in order. Miss Burkham's table first."
+
+Miss Burkham arose and led the way. She was quite as collected as Doctor
+Weldon, although, she, too, had seen the water marks which were
+appearing on the floor from the water in the basement below.
+
+"It is like a picnic. Think of eating bacon and stale bread in a parlor,
+done up in pale-green and silver. I know it will taste better." It was
+Erma who was talking. Her voice rang over all like a silver bell, as
+with merry laugh and light spirits she lead the way to the floor above.
+
+The door leading from the main hall on to the porch was closed, but a
+little stream had forced itself in and was trickling over the floor.
+The men-servants were rolling up the rug, preparatory to carrying it to
+the floor above and the women-servants were pinning up window draperies
+and hangings to save them from possible contact with the water.
+
+Doctor Weldon, calm and serene, as though a flood were an everyday
+occurrence and not at all alarming, went about the building instructing
+the servants and teachers in regard to saving what they could of the
+property on the ground floor.
+
+Hester, Helen, Erma, and their friends stood on the landing of the
+stairway and watched the men work. The girls had forgotten that they
+were hungry. Their plates were poised in the air and the bits of bacon
+and stale bread were untouched.
+
+Renee came to the head of the stairway and leaning over the balustrade,
+looked down on the outstretched plates. "Haven't you girls touched a
+bite?" she asked. "I am glad I found you. I wish you'd lend me your
+piece of bacon."
+
+The girls, thus addressed, saw nothing humorous in the request. Erma
+was about to hand over her portion when a laugh from the hall above
+caused her to pause. Emma, Edna, and Louise were laughing and ridiculing
+Renee, who turned about and went off in bad humor, explaining as she did
+so that she wanted a piece for Mame Cross who had been complaining that
+she had not been treated as other girls when it came to the distribution
+of bacon.
+
+The men tossed the rugs upon the first landing of the stairway and went
+to the assistance of Marshall, who came in with tables and chairs from
+the kitchen. By much straining and lifting, the pianos were raised upon
+these.
+
+"That is all we can do," said the night-watchman. "We cannot possibly
+take them to the second floor. They are three feet higher now. The water
+can't possibly rise that much more."
+
+Doctor Weldon had taken refuge on the steps for the hall was flooded.
+The girls moved up to the second floor.
+
+"Let us go to the Philo Hall on the third floor," cried Erma. "We can
+see over town from there."
+
+"I do not wish to see," said several.
+
+"I do," said Hester and Helen together. The three made their way to the
+hall whose windows opened to the north and east. The current from the
+river was sweeping about the corner of the building with a tremendous
+force. Logs and square timbers, uprooted trees and driftwood were being
+borne down in great quantities.
+
+On the side of the driveway, where the current was strongest, stood an
+iron lamp-post deeply imbedded in a foundation of stone. It had been
+placed there in the early history of the school, when electricity and
+gas were unknown. It had never been removed for the trustees were
+graduates of the school and refused to remove the landmarks of their
+school-days. So there it stood above the muddy, dirty water.
+
+The girls at the open window above could look down upon it.
+
+"See that great timber coming!" cried Helen.
+
+"It is right in the current and making straight for the building. If it
+should strike the corner!"
+
+The building was old and not able to stand the force of a heavy timber,
+propelled by such a tremendous force. The girls at the window knew what
+that meant. They held their breath. The timber rushed on, but it turned
+broadside in the current and came up against the iron post. There it
+remained as nicely as though weighed and measured and fixed in place.
+Back of it came logs and drift which piled upon the timber and lamp-post
+until a bulwark was formed which turned the current away from the corner
+and the danger with it.
+
+"It's luck. Did you ever see such luck?" cried Erma. "If that lamp-post
+had not been there, the whole corner of the building would have been
+broken in. It was luck--pure luck."
+
+"It was Providence," said Helen simply. "I think it was meant that the
+lamp-post should be just where it is."
+
+There were few words said. The scene was so awful that the desire to
+talk was taken away. From the parlors below, the excitement and laughter
+died. A quiet fell over the building. There was nothing to do but to
+watch and wait--for what or how long, no one could tell.
+
+[Illustration: THEY HELD THEIR BREATH.--_Page 290._]
+
+The sun shone out on the water. Below, lay the city. The portion which
+stood low was flooded to the second floor. Hester thought of Aunt Debby
+as her eyes rested on the distant town.
+
+"There is no fear there," said Helen following the glance of her
+roommate's eyes. "Fairview Street is the highest in town. You remember
+there is a terrace with steps where it joins Market. The tops of the
+buildings on Fourth Street will be covered before it comes to the doors
+of Fairview."
+
+Hester knew that this was true. No immediate danger threatened the
+little cottage. The seminary with its old walls and the current from
+both river and creek beating upon it was where fear lay.
+
+"Look!" cried Helen, pointing her finger to midstream. There bobbing
+along like a cork on the current was a stable one side of which had been
+torn away. The mow was filled with hay, and in the stalls beneath was a
+horse feeding from the manger. It bobbed along serenely, as though
+midriver in a high flood were the legitimate place for a stable. Then it
+struck the sides of the bridge. There was the sound of crushing and the
+barn was sucked down under the bridge and disappeared from sight.
+
+The morning passed and the girls sat in the window seats, fascinated by
+the sea before them.
+
+The water continued rising until twelve o'clock. It filled the lower
+halls and crept almost to the second floor. The water-pipes burst and a
+famine of drink as well as food came. Fortunately, the experiences of
+the day had taken away the appetite.
+
+"I have been watching that old tree," said Hester. "When the clock
+struck twelve, the water had just reached the notch at the branches. It
+is one o'clock now and it has not gone higher."
+
+The waters were at a standstill. The worst was over. At three o'clock,
+Hester cried out with delight. "It is falling--falling! See the trunk of
+the tree shows above the water."
+
+It was slowly receding. The danger-mark had passed, although the signs
+of havoc it had caused, were yet passing on the breast of the river. A
+part of a kitchen went sailing by. The watchers saw the upper window of
+a half-submerged house. There was a bed, a cradle, and a sewing-machine
+open and ready for use. There were pathos and tragedy sufficient for a
+lifetime. There was a touch of humor too, for on a long plank, at either
+end, sat a rat and a great black cat. They watched each other
+instinctively, and were unconscious of the danger which threatened them
+both.
+
+Five o'clock came, and the girls had not moved from their positions.
+During the day, but a few sentences had passed between them.
+
+At last hunger came to them. But there was no use going in search of
+food; for the larder was bare. There was not even a cup of water for
+them.
+
+For more than an hour Helen had not moved. Fear of the water had passed.
+A finer feeling than dread inspired her now. Someone from below called
+Erma, and she left the Philo Hall. She neither laughed nor danced. Even
+her effervescent spirits had been under the spell of the waters.
+
+Her departure aroused Helen from her reverie. Arising, she came to where
+Hester sat. Her voice was low. To the old tenderness was added a new
+sweetness and strength, "Little roommate," she said, "listen to me for a
+few minutes. Weeks ago, I believed you guilty of an act I could not
+countenance. I treasured resentment against you, though even while I was
+doing it, I loved you. I did wrong in not going directly to you and
+making known my complaint. May I tell it to you now, or shall we let it
+be as though it never happened, and let all our ugly feeling and
+bitterness go down with the flood?"
+
+"Let it go with the flood, Helen. I do not know how I erred, but I do
+know that I missed your friendship. Let us forget it from this minute."
+
+"And let me give what I denied long ago," said Helen, as she stooped to
+press her lips to Hester's forehead.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+Little by little, the water receded. So slowly did it fall that the eye
+could not mark it. Over the mud-colored waters, the sun shone brightly
+and made of the spray a million sparkling diamonds.
+
+By evening, the students began to experience the pangs of hunger and
+thirst. There was nothing to satisfy them, for although there was water,
+water, everywhere, there was not a drop to drink. At twilight, the lower
+floors were above the flood, although at intervals, a sudden splash from
+without sent little streams back through the door.
+
+The pupils were yet under the spell of the flood. Unusual quiet reigned
+in the dormitories, when suddenly a cry of delight came from Erma. Her
+voice echoed from one end of the hall to the other, and reached even to
+Miss Burkham's ears; but that lady did not appear to reprimand her. The
+preceptress realized that the girls had been under a nervous strain all
+day and she did not have it in mind to restrain them, even though they
+exceeded the bounds laid down by Seminary law.
+
+"What has happened to Erma?" exclaimed Hester, starting up when the cry
+reached her ears.
+
+"Don't be alarmed. It is nothing serious. I can tell from her voice.
+That shriek is Erma's cry of delight."
+
+In an instant, Erma herself tripped down the hall to explain and to
+share. Knocking hastily, she did not wait to be admitted, but flung open
+the door.
+
+"What do you think I found?" she cried. "A half-dozen lemons. I forgot
+that I had them. I bought them last week. Here, we're dividing."
+
+She thrust one out at them. It had already been opened and part of its
+contents extracted.
+
+"There wasn't enough for one a piece. Just take a good long suck from
+it."
+
+The girls did. There was nothing humorous in this passing a lemon about
+among many. Not a drop of liquid had passed their lips since the night
+before. The few drops of juice which they were able to extract, were
+refreshing.
+
+"Doesn't it taste good?" cried Erma. "I never knew before how perfectly
+delicious a cup of cold water is. Wait until I have the opportunity. I
+mean to drink a gallon without stopping. I must go on. The girls in
+Sixty haven't had any yet."
+
+She was gone before Hester and Helen had expressed their thanks. Before
+she reached Sixty, the door opened and Renee came out. "I was looking
+for you, Erma. Someone said you had found some lemons. Can't you lend me
+one?"
+
+"What's left of one. Take it and drain it dry." It was almost that now,
+but Renee received it thankfully.
+
+"I thought I could not stand it another minute. How long will it be
+before we get anything to eat or drink?"
+
+"In a week or so," cried Erma as she passed on.
+
+Sunday morning broke clear and bright. There were no rising or breakfast
+bells, for there was nothing to serve the hungry people.
+
+Doctor Weldon and Miss Burkham had conferred together and decided that
+as long as the girls were sleeping, they would be neither hungry nor
+thirsty, so they allowed them to sleep until they awakened of
+themselves.
+
+The perversity of human nature showed itself in every girl's being awake
+unusually early. At the usual breakfast hour, the upper halls were
+filled. It was the Sabbath, but on the lower floor the servants were at
+hard work. The women were wearing top-boots and short skirts, which
+reached just below the knees. They were dragging out the mud with hoes.
+In the middle of the floors, the sand and mud were fully a foot deep
+while in corners, which had been free from the force of the current, the
+deposit was three times that depth.
+
+In the middle of the main floor, a saw-log lay. A great hole in the
+plaster showed where it had spent its force, and the shattered glass of
+the front door was evidence of its place of entrance. The curtains of
+real lace which had added to the beauty of the reception hall, were
+nothing but dirty rags, discolored, torn, and hung with bits of drift.
+
+The sun beat down upon the water-soaked places, and the steam which
+arose, was foul-smelling. The men who were endeavoring to do the heavier
+portion of clearing, were knee-deep in the drift. The flood had receded,
+but the basement was yet full of water. The conditions were bad and
+would remain so for some time, regardless of the fact that everyone was
+doing his utmost to better them.
+
+There was nothing to be hoped from the city, for it had its own burden.
+The store-houses had been flooded and the food supply cut off.
+
+Miss Burkham went to Doctor Weldon. "What do you think of my taking the
+girls from the building?" she asked. "The hygienic conditions here are
+dreadful. Outside we can find the sunshine, at least. I can take them
+through the city streets--wherever the streets are open. I think we can
+keep them better satisfied if we keep their attention on something else
+than themselves."
+
+"Perhaps, it would be better. I have been concerned about them. They
+have been most thoughtful and considerate so far. You may take the
+Fraulein with you--and the school purse, too, Miss Burkham. You may be
+able to buy something for them."
+
+"While you are gone, I'll try to get into communication with our people
+at Flemington. The telephone and telegraphs are useless. Marshall and
+Herman might be able to walk out and carry something back. It will be
+hours before a delivery wagon can get through to bring us anything."
+
+Following Miss Burkham's instructions, the girls dressed in their
+shortest and shabbiest skirts and put on heavy shoes. It was a dismal,
+hungry-looking party which set forth.
+
+For a square down Main Street, the way was clear. They were often forced
+to leave the sidewalk and make a detour to escape the piles of drift
+which lay in heaps. The mud was over the tops of the rubber shoes, and
+the greater number had discarded overshoes before they had gone far. At
+the corner of Main and Clinton Avenue, they stopped. Their way was cut
+off by a great pile of logs, timbers, and uprooted trees which reached
+above the second story of the houses. Here and there, caught between the
+branches of the trees or the conjunction of timbers, were bits of
+household articles, parts of chairs, window frames or broken beds and
+soggy mattresses.
+
+"We can climb over," suggested Hester. "That will not be much of a
+climb."
+
+Miss Burkham had been hesitating. She feared to go on and yet to go back
+meant dissatisfied, hungry girls shut up in a wet, foul-smelling
+building.
+
+"We'll climb," she said. "But be careful to move slowly, and not bring
+this down upon you."
+
+The feat was not a difficult one. They succeeded in crossing and entered
+the business street. There was not a whole plate-glass window in this
+section. They had been shattered into bits so small that no trace of
+them could be found.
+
+The girls entered what had been the largest and finest grocery store of
+the city. The mud was several feet deep; the show-cases had been
+battered to pieces; canned goods were piled in heaps in the corners and
+covered with refuse. But the combination most surprising, was where a
+large cheese had tumbled down upon a dead cow which had been washed in
+from some dairy farm far up the river.
+
+Men were already clearing the streets, and shoveling the refuse from the
+stores.
+
+From the business thoroughfare, Miss Burkham led her charges to the
+residence street. Here conditions were the same. The elegant houses bore
+the marks of the flood. Trees were uprooted. Lawns which but a few days
+before were things of beauty, were now but heaps of refuse, or hollows
+filled with water.
+
+Doors and windows stood open wide. Delicate, cultivated women had
+arrayed themselves in overalls and were scraping the mud from their
+homes.
+
+As they made their way eastward, Robert Vail hurried down a side-street
+to meet them.
+
+"I started for school the instant I could," he explained to Miss
+Burkham. "I did not know how bad conditions were, but I expected they
+could not be good.
+
+"I have a tally-ho and horses, but we could not get beyond Fairview
+Street. South Street is a mere chasm. The horses could not have crossed
+there. I did reach Miss Alden and Miss Richards. My man took them back
+home while I came in."
+
+Hester grasped his arm. "Auntie--is Auntie all right?"
+
+"Fine as silk. She was concerned about you until we satisfied her that
+seminary girls could not be gotten rid of so easily. It takes more than
+a flood--" He spoke lightly to the girls and then turned to Miss
+Burkham. "Our housekeeper said I should fill up the tally-ho and bring
+the girls there. The buildings at school will not be fit to live in for
+some days. We'll take care of eighteen or twenty until you arrange
+matters."
+
+A feeling of relief came to the preceptress. "You have taken a great
+responsibility from Doctor Weldon and me," she said. "We shall never be
+able to thank you. As to the girls, Hester and Helen, of course must go;
+also the Fraulein, for I must not allow the girls to go alone."
+
+She turned to the group about her, and selected the number which would
+fill the tally-ho.
+
+"You girls will go with the Fraulein and Mr. Vail, and remain until we
+send you word to return. Berenice, Violet, Edith and I will return to
+school."
+
+"I declare, this is too bad," cried Robert. "I cannot allow you to walk
+back, and without anything to eat."
+
+"You cannot help it. The circumstances are unusual. The elements have
+our fortunes in hand," she replied.
+
+"The instant I get the young ladies home, my man and I will come back
+with all the good things we can carry. Tell Doctor Weldon that we shall
+have a dinner--perhaps a late one--for her."
+
+"She has sent messengers to Flemington. They will bring us something for
+one meal at least. Come, girls." She led her little flock toward home.
+There was no hope of finding a bite to eat anywhere in the city. Men and
+women had worked all night and were yet working without a particle of
+food or drop to drink. The preceptress was worn and weak. Her
+responsibility for the last two days had been great; but she did not
+dare give up. She trudged bravely toward school, encouraging the girls
+and drawing their attention to any phase of the situation which was not
+burdened with pathos.
+
+Robert Vail led his party down the residence street and then turned down
+an alley. "These narrow passages have less drift," he explained. "My man
+and I discovered this this morning."
+
+By devious ways, he brought them out on High Street which stood above
+the ravages of the flood. Here a tally-ho with four horses stood
+waiting.
+
+Robert assisted the Fraulein and girls to their places and bade the
+coachman drive on. Hester and Helen sat side by side.
+
+"Now, I am really to meet your Aunt Harriet," said Hester. "It is very
+strange. Think of my rooming with you for ten months and never meeting
+her."
+
+"Never met mother?" exclaimed Robert Vail. "Be prepared to meet the
+finest mother in the world."
+
+"There may be some exception," said Helen, "at least Hester may think
+so. She may be vain enough to think that she had the finest mother in
+the world."
+
+"Oh, no," began Hester hastily and then she paused. She was not dull.
+She had been keen enough to know that there was something not just right
+about a mother and child traveling alone through a strange country and
+no one ever searching for them. But she could not allow any one else to
+know her thoughts. Her face flushed as she continued, "I have never
+known a mother. Aunt Debby is all I ever had. I am sure that no one can
+be finer than she."
+
+"We will make an exception in favor of Miss Alden," continued Robert.
+"With the exception of Miss Debby Alden, you will find my mother the
+finest woman in the world. You'll fall in love with her the instant that
+you meet her."
+
+"I know. I have caught several glimpses of her but I never met her. But,
+perhaps she will not care for me. I should not be pleased if I should
+like your mother very much and she would not like me at all."
+
+Vain little Hester Alden. She knew what speech Robert Vail would make.
+She had heard him express himself on the subject twice before. Because
+his words had pleased her, she called them forth again.
+
+"There'll be no danger of her not liking you. I'll vouch for that.
+Mother and I always like the same people and things. She has the best
+taste in the world."
+
+Helen laughed teasingly. "You like to impress people with the fact that
+you are fond of your mother; but have you ever noticed, Cousin Robert,
+that there is always one compliment for her, and two for you?
+
+"Robert Vail and his mother like the same things. That is the first
+premise. The second is, his mother has excellent taste;
+conclusion--Robert Vail has excellent taste. I have not studied logic
+for nothing, Cousin Robert."
+
+Robert shrugged his shoulders. "That is a girl's idea of reason," he
+said. "They always go about in a circle, like a lost duck and they never
+lose the personal element in anything."
+
+"Your remarks are not original," said Helen. "I have heard Doctor Baker
+say that same thing."
+
+"I have heard you mention Doctor Baker before. Is he your physician at
+home?" asked Hester. She had forgotten Helen's Easter letter.
+
+"He's our pastor and perfectly lovely, Hester. He has been with us a
+long, long time. I told you once about him, but you were vexed with me
+then and my words fell on deaf ears. Sometime you must come and spend a
+month with me in my home and you shall meet Doctor Baker."
+
+"I never would go and leave Aunt Debby for an entire month. It was bad
+enough to go to school and not be with her," was Hester's reply.
+
+"But Aunt Debby can come along. My father would like her, and she and
+Aunt Harriet would be friends from the moment they met. Maybe we can
+arrange it for this summer. Sometimes Doctor Baker comes to visit us,
+too. He gets very lonely. I should think any one living alone would be
+lonely."
+
+"Isn't he married?" asked Hester. "I thought ministers were always
+married. Why doesn't he get married?"
+
+"You think a marriage certificate goes with the manse," said Robert.
+"His case is a paradox. He is always marrying, and yet never is married.
+Quite a riddle isn't it?"
+
+Helen's face lighted up. She was like Hester in that both delighted to
+hear romantic stories.
+
+"He had a love affair, a long time ago," she said softly as though the
+subject were one too sacred for full tones to play upon. "But he went to
+college, and when he came back his sweetheart did not care for him. But
+he has never forgotten her."
+
+Hester gave a sigh of contentment. She would remember and tell her Aunt
+Debby about this. While her Aunt Debby had chided her about repeating
+these little romantic tales which came to her ears, Hester had a feeling
+that the elder Miss Alden was not wholly unsympathetic.
+
+Josephine, who was sitting in the front of the tally-ho, caught the last
+of Helen's speech. She sighed, and leaning forward that all might catch
+her words, said: "How lovely! Such persons appeal to me. There is
+nothing in the world which is so beautiful to me as faithfulness. How
+perfectly lovely! I always--"
+
+"Hester, lend me a pin, please. I see you have one in the front of your
+coat and I need one to fasten the ends of my tie," it was Renee who
+broke in upon Josephine's flow of sentiment.
+
+"We shall soon be there now," said Robert. "The house stands back of
+those trees." He pointed to a small elevation which was about a mile
+distant. The girls exclaimed with delight except Mame Cross who looked
+down upon her short skirt and mud-stained shoes with a mortified
+expression.
+
+"Really, Mr. Vail, I simply cannot enter your home, looking like this.
+Your mother would refuse to receive me."
+
+"I do not understand why," he replied.
+
+"Mame, do please forget about it," laughed Erma. "My shoes are muddy; my
+skirt is shabby; I am hungry--so hungry that I'll fairly snatch at
+anything to eat. I look like a fright, I know I do. But what's the use
+of thinking about it. It can't be helped. So why not pretend that we do
+not notice it?"
+
+"We must make up for our looks by being so nice that Mrs. Vail will not
+notice that we are not immaculate." It was Mellie who offered this
+suggestion.
+
+"That is all very well for you girls to speak so," said Mame. "But you
+do not look as I do. You girls look nice, considering what you have gone
+through; but me--I always look the worst. I never look like other
+girls."
+
+"Then give up trying, Mame. You never will look like other girls, you
+know. So make the best of matters which cannot be helped, and be
+cheerful and gay." Erma's words were supposed to be ironical; but her
+happy little laugh and dainty little touch upon Mame's hand, robbed them
+of their sting.
+
+"Here we are!" exclaimed Robert Vail, as the horses turned from the main
+road into a private drive. Hester opened her eyes in astonishment. She
+had seen the beautiful homes near Lockport, but this surpassed any. The
+house was in the midst of a great park; there were lawn, forest, and
+flowers. The house was large, but not imposing. It had rather the look
+of a home than of a mansion. Never before had Hester seen such beauty of
+surroundings. Nature and cultivation had worked together to make the
+best of this.
+
+As the girls stepped from the tally-ho, Hester grasped Helen by the arm,
+"I am afraid--afraid," she whispered.
+
+"To meet Aunt Harriet? Why, little roommate, she is not a bit
+formidable. You will love her."
+
+"I think it is not just that--" she began again. She could not finish.
+Aunt Debby and Miss Richards had come to meet them. Back of these two,
+stood a large, wiry woman in a dark dress and an extensive white apron.
+
+"My little girl," cried Debby, clasping Hester in her arms. "I have been
+very anxious about you."
+
+"I was safe, Aunt Debby. Perfectly safe, but so hungry."
+
+Robert Vail escorted his guests to the door.
+
+"This is Mrs. Perkins, young ladies," he said, indicating to the big
+woman. "She will see that you have something to eat at once."
+
+"I have been waiting dinner. If the ladies wish to come at once--" She
+led the way. The guests were weak from hunger. The odor of the food
+aroused their appetites afresh.
+
+"Did you ever think bread and butter was so gloriously fine?" said Emma
+after her first mouthful. "Do you realize that we have had nothing since
+Friday evening."
+
+"I do; but I do not intend talking about it--now," said Hester. "I have
+greater things to do."
+
+Indeed, they all had that. They had kept up bravely under strenuous
+conditions. There had been no word of complaint. Erma especially, had
+been cheerful and gay as long as those two qualities were needed to
+sustain herself and her friends. Now, she was the first to give way.
+After a few morsels had been eaten, she realized that she was tired--so
+tired that she believed that ever being rested again would be an
+impossibility. She made an effort to keep up. She tried to laugh, but
+ended with a nervous giggle. Then to the amazement of all, she began to
+cry and sob.
+
+"I am so tired. I am too tired to live. I never could go through with
+this again."
+
+"And you will not need to--never again," said Miss Debby, going to the
+girl's aid.
+
+"Let her cry. It will do her good," she continued as the others were
+about to leave their dinner. "Let her cry, it will do her good."
+
+At this Renee began to giggle. Mame looked at her and straightway did as
+Renee. Mellie and Josephine made a brave effort to control themselves,
+but after a few minutes they were following Erma's example and were
+sobbing as though their hearts would break.
+
+Miss Richards and Miss Debby took matters into their hands. There was no
+help to be expected from the Fraulein, for she was as wearied as the
+girls.
+
+The housekeeper made ready the rooms and the girls were forced to go to
+bed.
+
+"Each young lady ate a little something, I observed," said Mrs. Perkins.
+"Let them rest a while, then I shall take some refreshments to them."
+
+"It was so beautiful what they behaved yet to this time," cried the
+Fraulein. "Never no word, no fuss, all smiles, all funs, no cross or
+nothing until now." She was much disturbed lest the women would
+discredit her for the girls' behavior.
+
+"We understand," said Debby Alden. "It is not your fault, Fraulein. You
+are going to rest now, too. We intend treating you like a little girl;
+send you to bed and send your bread and jelly to you."
+
+"Ach," the little German teacher tried to look self-reliant and
+sufficient to take care of herself. But there was something in Debby
+Alden's manner which touched her. The Fraulein was a stranger in a
+strange land. Many and many were the times when she longed for the
+tenderness of those who were bound to her by the ties of love and blood.
+She was but a little homesick girl, herself and wished to be mothered
+like other girls. But she was brave enough with all her longing. She
+shrugged her shoulders; but Debby laid her hand affectionately on the
+girl's shoulder. That settled it. In an instant, the German teacher
+rested her head against Debby; her eyes filled; she touched Debby's
+cheeks tenderly; "I vill go. The Fraulein is so kind. The Fraulein has
+a heart in her breast." Without a word of demur, the little German
+teacher followed the girls and rested while the housekeeper and Debby
+Alden waited upon them with the most kindly attention.
+
+Robert Vail and his man had returned at once to the city taking with
+them a supply of necessities. The housekeeper came to Miss Debby with
+the explanation and apology. Thought of others had caused Robert to
+neglect his duty as host. Here Mrs. Perkins looked mournful and as
+though she might say much if she chose, and added that Mrs. Vail had
+left early that morning, having driven over the hills to an adjoining
+town where railroad communications had not been cut off. She had
+received news which had caused her some anxiety and she had set forth at
+once.
+
+The housekeeper was in the mood to speak freely; but Debby Alden was not
+one who discussed with the maid the affairs of the mistress. She
+accepted the explanation and went her way. So many incidents of life
+turn as a straw in the wind. This was a time and place propitious for
+much clearing-up of uncertain matters; but Debby Alden had not been in
+the mood to listen; and the mistress of the house was traveling over the
+country after a will-of-the-wisp which had led her many a long,
+unfruitful journey.
+
+Robert Vail, greatly fatigued with his day's work, came back to
+Valehurst just at dusk. By this time, the nervous tension had been
+greatly relieved. The girls had had a nap and a substantial evening
+meal, and were prepared to look at the experiences of the last few days
+in a more cheerful light.
+
+Robert brought with him the good news that the hucksters from Flemington
+had driven in over the hill and had brought food with them to the
+seminary. The teachers and pupils were preparing to return with them to
+the farmhouses which stood high enough to be out of the way of the river
+and creek.
+
+Marshall and Belva with a set of workmen were remaining at school to put
+the place in order; to build fires that the building might be dried
+rapidly and to protect the grounds and buildings from vandalism. Doctor
+Weldon had sent word that the young ladies who were with the Fraulein
+at Valehurst were to remain there until she recalled them.
+
+Miss Debby and Miss Richards, with the little group of girls, had
+gathered about Robert on the lawn, anxious and eager to hear about their
+friends. When the message had been received and the good news told, the
+crowd separated into little groups. Helen and Hester, in company with
+Robert, moved toward the house.
+
+"I had no opportunity of asking you about Aunt Harriet," said Helen,
+"and I do not like to put such questions to Mrs. Perkins. You said that
+Auntie would be here, Robert." She looked up at him and waited as though
+expecting an explanation.
+
+"So I thought. We made ready before daylight this morning to go for you
+girls. Mother came down to see us off. In fact it was she who prepared
+the lunches to give to any one in distress. But Perkins tells me that
+quite early someone called her up on the 'phone. She talked a long time.
+Then she called Ryder and told him to get out the grays and the light
+carriage. Then she went off. She didn't even leave word where she went.
+I called up father's office. He knew nothing about it."
+
+"And don't you know?" There was anxiety in Helen's voice. Her eyes had a
+pained, distressed look.
+
+"She telephoned to Perkins that she had gone to Minnequa, a little
+factory town where an old colored woman had the care of a young white
+girl. The message came from those people who had found such a 'sure
+thing,' before and then failed to make good when the time came."
+
+"You don't mean that horrid man and his son? What was their
+name--Stroat--Strout?"
+
+"Stout, if I remember right. Before it was a mere scheme to extort
+money, and I do not doubt that it will be the same now. Poor mother, she
+will be worn out with the journey and have nothing but disappointment
+for it all. I mean to talk with her on the wires to-night. If she does
+not intend coming home at once, I shall go to Minnequa and be with her.
+I may start early and shall not see you in the morning. Will you
+explain to Miss Debby and the girls? I am not running away, but I must
+not let my mother stay there alone."
+
+"Yes, you must go. Do not give a thought about us. We shall be very well
+taken care of here. Poor Aunt Harriet! How I wish I might fill that
+empty place in her heart!"
+
+Hester had been walking a few steps in advance; but had heard the
+conversation. Why should Helen always speak of her aunt as though she
+were to be pitied? Mrs. Vail had everything that a woman could desire--a
+beautiful home with trained service, a husband and son who considered no
+one but her. It was strange. Hester could not understand why Helen
+should always speak of Mrs. Vail as "poor Aunt Harriet."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+How fine it would be if one could foresee the result of every action!
+Hester Alden's slight prevarication to Robert Vail, when she told him
+that her father had been Miss Debby's brother, carried with it a long
+series of misunderstandings. Had Robert Vail known the facts--but he did
+not.
+
+Hester, bearing within her heart the consciousness of her own fault,
+spent not a few unhappy moments with herself. To it, she attributed the
+former entanglement, between herself and Helen. She reached this
+conclusion because she knew of nothing else on account of which Helen
+might have misjudged her. Several times, she decided to speak of the
+matter to Helen and confess that she had misrepresented matters when she
+had declared that she belonged to the Alden family; but each time, her
+courage failed her, and her pride prevented. It is not an easy matter
+for one to confess that she has, in her statements, deviated from the
+truth.
+
+The morning following the coming of the girls to Valehurst, Robert Vail
+left home early and by a hard drive over the mountains at length reached
+the junction where railroad communication had not been cut off.
+
+Mrs. Perkins expected him to return with his mother the following day;
+but they were detained by business. So Valehurst was left without a host
+or hostess. Mrs. Perkins exerted herself to make the guests comfortable
+and the servants, with which the home was well provided, vied with each
+other in their attendance upon the young ladies. The girls were
+thoroughly enjoying their experience, Hester, perhaps most of all, for
+such a household was new to her. She liked to play lady of the manor.
+
+"Don't you wish you and I could live this way?" she said to Debby Alden,
+during the second day of the enforced visit. Debby Alden looked at the
+questioner and then asked, "Are you not satisfied, Hester, with your own
+little home?"
+
+"Yes, I am!" cried the girl impulsively. "A little house with Aunt Debby
+is better than a mansion without her. I am really satisfied. Yet it does
+seem nice to be here. I feel quite at home."
+
+"I presume a lady feels at home in any cultivated environment," was the
+rejoinder. Debby paused a moment. She was not one to repeat the tales
+which came to her ears; but when, as in this instance, her sympathies
+were touched and she felt that her story might bear with it a moral, it
+might be really worth her while to repeat it to Hester.
+
+"Valehurst is very beautiful, Hester. We recognize that; but it cannot
+bring happiness to those who dwell in it. Mrs. Vail has a great sorrow.
+What it is, I do not know. I did not care to inquire. Robert told me
+that his mother, years ago, had a bereavement from which she has never
+recovered, and to which she has never become reconciled. The servants
+speak as though she were a woman saddened by some dreadful experience."
+
+"But Helen says she is very cheerful and can never do enough to make
+others happy."
+
+"Outwardly, perhaps. From what I have learned, she is one who has
+strength of character enough to keep her sorrows to herself and not
+burden others. Of course, she would try to make Helen and every one else
+happy, even though she were most miserable herself. I would not have
+spoken of the matter, had I not thought you were estimating one's
+happiness by the amount of material wealth one possessed.
+
+"Poor Mrs. Vail! I am a happier woman than she. I have just my little
+home and my girl, but I am very content."
+
+"So am I, Aunt Debby." She pressed Debby Alden's arm closer within her
+hand. Then she added, "Wasn't it a good thing that I was left to you.
+Wouldn't it have been dreadful if I had been taken somewhere else and
+you would have been left alone. Just think how lonely we would have
+been."
+
+"Yes, it would have been hard; but it didn't happen that way. It was
+intended that you should be my girl."
+
+"You mustn't think that I was discontented because I wished that you and
+I lived in a mansion. I am not one bit discontented. I was just
+wishing."
+
+"Learn to be contented. Folks are miserable otherwise. The Aldens,
+taking them as a family, were not complainers or grumblers--except Ezra,
+and how he ever came by it, I do not know. He was never contented. He
+wouldn't go to school, and he wouldn't farm, and he wouldn't be
+satisfied anywhere or with anything."
+
+"Ezra? Who was he, Aunt Debby? I never heard you mention his name
+before."
+
+"He was my oldest brother. He would be a man of sixty if he were living
+now. I never mentioned him, because he is more of a memory than anything
+else. He was only sixteen when he ran off west. He wrote a few times.
+The letters were two or three years apart, and always from different
+sections. At one time he was on a ranch, another time in the gold
+fields. He could not be contented long anywhere."
+
+"Where is he now, Aunt Debby?"
+
+"Dead, Hester. Dead long ago. At least we think so. For years, no
+letters have come from him. When father died, we sent word everywhere,
+but he never replied. We said then that he was dead."
+
+"If he had lived, I'd have had an uncle. I should like an uncle. From
+what I've read, they are very jolly."
+
+"You can not always believe what you read," was the sententious
+rejoinder.
+
+The guests remained at Valehurst three days, during which time neither
+Mrs. Vail nor Robert appeared, although the latter sent many messages to
+the girls, through the medium of his cousin or the housekeeper.
+
+Thursday morning, word came from Doctor Weldon that the students must
+return to school and make ready their belongings to go home.
+Commencement was not to be considered. The graduates would receive their
+diplomas, but there could be no festivities.
+
+The students had been taken care of in the country houses which stood on
+the hills back of Flemington. These were the only places for miles about
+which had not been flooded. As soon as communication with other places
+had been made, Doctor Weldon was kept busy sending and receiving
+telegrams. Each father and mother was distracted when news of the
+flooding of Lockport came.
+
+By Thursday evening, the students had returned. The drift and dirt had
+been removed from the Seminary building, and the campus had been freed
+from logs and driftwood. But some things could never be replaced. The
+old apple trees had been uprooted; the grassy slope which had lain close
+to the river front had been washed out to gravel bottom. The gray bricks
+of the building showed the water mark and at the corner a few misplaced
+ones told the story of how the old lamp post had saved the building.
+
+The once beautiful halls were water-stained; hard-wood floors were
+warped until they stood in little hollows and hills; and the polished
+wood of the doors and balustrades had lost all semblance of beauty.
+
+The girls rushed into one another's arms. They could talk now of the
+flood for the danger had passed from them. The dormitories were a babel
+of voices. A score of girls talked at once and not one listened to
+another.
+
+Miss Burkham from the hall below heard the confusion and retired to her
+own apartments. She had no thought of interfering with the chatter. She
+explained her lack of discipline to Doctor Weldon later. "This will
+never happen again in all their lives. As long as they were talking,
+they were forgetful that the opportunity for the banquet, the play, and
+commencement had been taken from them. I thought it wise to put up with
+the noise, rather than have them feel depressed."
+
+The girls were discussing the play and banquet even then. There were
+confessions on all sides.
+
+"We intended feasting on the senior banquet," cried Erma. "We had bribed
+Belva. He was to lead the caterers up to our third floor. You seniors
+would have sat waiting in the Philo Hall below."
+
+"No, indeed. You reckoned without considering that the senior class were
+not all dullards. We had heard of your plans. Doctor Weldon gave us
+permission to hold the banquet at a hotel in the city. Miss Burkham and
+the Fraulein were to go with us. So while you girls would have been
+sitting in the attic waiting for the banquet, we would have been
+whirling away in cabs to the city." Helen had a smile of triumph as she
+told the story. If the seniors had been robbed of their opportunity to
+outwit the juniors, they at least would not miss the chance of boasting
+of it.
+
+Erma looked at her quizzingly. "Was that really true?" she asked. "Well,
+I have this much to say. If the seniors had outwitted us, we in turn
+outwitted the freshmen. They were gloating over the fact that they had a
+copy of our play."
+
+"We did," cried Hester. "And we had the parts almost learned."
+
+"Yes, I was to be the queen," said Emma. "I knew my part. I was to--."
+
+"You the queen!" said Edna Bucher, with a touch of sarcasm in her voice.
+"I could not possibly conceive of you taking such a part."
+
+"Well, you never did have much imagination. You should cultivate it,"
+was Emma's quick rejoinder.
+
+"Please do not quarrel," said Josephine as she raised her soulful eyes
+and let them rest upon each girl in turn. "This may be our last time
+together. It would be so sweet to carry with us pleasant memories. Let
+us have sweet--."
+
+"Not too much, though," said Emma. "You always were a great girl for
+caramels and fudge, Jo; but you must remember some of the rest of us
+liked olives and pickles."
+
+"Emma's speech in plain English, means that she prefers some wit to too
+much sentiment," said Hester.
+
+"I most assuredly do," was the rejoinder, as Emma sat down on top of the
+trunk which had been brought in ready for packing.
+
+The group of girls had gathered in Sixty-two. During the winter and
+spring terms, this room had been the general gathering place; for Hester
+and Helen were popular with the other students.
+
+"I wish I might finish about the play," cried Erma. "Those miserable
+little freshmen thought they had our play. Yes, I know you took a copy
+from my study-table drawer. It was one I put in there for you to take.
+While you were busy learning that, we had another. So while you girls
+were gloating over the 'East Indian Queen,' we went on in peace and
+practised 'A Roumanian Princess.'"
+
+"Really? Erma Thomas, do you mean it?"
+
+"Do I mean it? I surely do. Oh, wasn't it fun to hear you practise and
+see you slip about with your mysterious airs!"
+
+The door opened and Renee came in. She was robed in a full-length
+kimona.
+
+"You girls sitting here doing nothing! I am packing. I do not intend
+letting it go until morning and then hurrying. My trunk is locked and I
+cannot find the keys. Will you lend me yours, Helen?"
+
+Helen arose to get them from a drawer. Emma sighed as she looked at
+Renee.
+
+"When I go to heaven," she said, "and meet Renee there, I know what she
+will say to me the very first thing."
+
+The girls looked their queries and Emma concluded, "'Emma, please lend
+me your crown. I've mislaid mine.'"
+
+"And Emma will be finding fault with everything. She'll feel dreadful
+because she is forced to be in heaven all the time," said Sara slowly.
+This was a hit direct at the little Dutch doll, for all through the
+year she had been complaining at the restrictions of school, and could
+not understand why Doctor Weldon did not allow the girls to go down to
+the city when they pleased.
+
+During this conversation, Mame Cross had been sitting apart. Now
+Josephine turned to her, and assuming an attitude and expression of
+great solicitation and interest said, "Mame is the only one who feels
+what this evening means to us. Perhaps never again shall we talk
+together. No one knows what the summer will bring. Mame is overcome by
+the thought--."
+
+"I am not. I was not thinking of that at all," Mame replied. "It came to
+me while the girls were talking of the banquet and play and commencement
+that I was almost glad that we were not having any of them."
+
+"Mame Cross, what heresy! The flood has made her mad," cried the girls.
+
+"I have reasons for thinking so. I simply could not have gone to one
+thing. What could I have worn if I had gone? I made up my mind when we
+had our last reception that I would never go to another unless I had
+something decent to wear."
+
+"When I meet Mame in heaven," said Emma, trying to look serious, "the
+very first thing she will say is, 'My robe doesn't hang as well as
+yours, and my harp isn't so bright.'"
+
+"Are you not getting a little irreverent?" said Helen gently. "There are
+so many common things to jest about. Is it not better to use them as the
+butt of our wit, instead of matters beyond our comprehension?"
+
+"Yes, I suppose so, Helen," said Emma. "But, you know I never consider.
+I blurt out just what I wish to say."
+
+The half-hour bell sounded and the girls went to their rooms to make
+ready to appear at the dining-table. The lower halls were yet damp
+although they had been open to the air and sun since the previous
+Sabbath. Doctor Weldon, not wishing to risk the health of the pupils,
+had converted a class-room on the second floor into a dining-hall. Here
+dinner was served informally; the students attending to their own wants,
+for the servants were kept busy carrying the trays from the floor
+below.
+
+At the bringing-in of the last course, Doctor Weldon arose to make the
+announcements. She asked the young ladies to attend to their packing at
+once. Belva and Marshall had already brought down trunks and boxes from
+the store-room. Immediately after breakfast, the following morning, each
+young lady should call at the office when arrangements would be made for
+her going home.
+
+There was too much to be done after dinner to permit of any visiting.
+The girls went to their rooms and began to dismantle them. Hester and
+Helen had much to do, but they contrived to carry on a steady flow of
+talk while they worked.
+
+"Perhaps, we'll never be together again," said Hester, from the depths
+of the closet whither she had gone in search of shoes. "You will not be
+here next year. We may never meet again."
+
+"I think we shall," said Helen. "The world is not a very large place.
+You are to visit me, you know. I shall ask your Aunt Debby when I see
+her."
+
+"And you'll come to visit me. Couldn't you come this summer? You'd like
+Jane Orr and Ralph. He is the nicest boy I ever knew, except Robert
+Vail."
+
+"Rob _is_ nice. Yes, I think I can come. We could have a fine time."
+
+Hester grew eloquent about the walks, picnics and drives they could
+have. Helen was accustomed to life in a mansion with a retinue of
+servants. Hester knew this. She knew also that at her home, Aunt Debby
+and she would perform all the household work and that Aunt Debby would
+set out her own flowers and plant a garden of radishes and lettuce with
+their kindred small garden truck. Helen would have no servants to wait
+upon her. Hester gave no thought to the difference in the household. To
+her, friendship was above all material conditions. As she felt
+concerning such matters, she took it for granted that all right-minded
+people must feel. She could not conceive the thought that Helen, as her
+friend, could be critical of the plain old-fashioned home where she and
+Aunt Debby were the home-makers. It was not training alone which gave
+Hester such impressions. She had within her the instinct of true
+nobility. She gave the best of what was hers without apology or
+explanation. She took it for granted that her offerings would be
+received in the same spirit. They were, for Helen Loraine valued a
+friend higher than the friend's possessions.
+
+"I am very glad I asked you to forgive me, last Saturday," continued
+Helen. She was bending over the drawer of the chiffonier while she
+robbed it of its contents. "I could not have been happy had I gone home
+and not have made friends with you. It was my fault, Hester, that you
+did not play as a substitute on the first team. I thought something, and
+I told Miss Watson that I did not care to have you play. You do not know
+how sorry I have been since."
+
+"Yes, I do. There, I think I have all my shoes ready to pack. Those old
+gym shoes I might as well throw out as rubbish. Yes, I do know, Helen. I
+felt dreadfully about it myself; but I thought you had a good reason. I
+myself despise a girl who prevaricates even a little."
+
+Helen raised her head from her work to look at Hester. She could not
+fully grasp this last remark.
+
+Hester, catching the peculiar expression of her friend's face continued,
+"You did not tell me why you were hurt with me. Of course I knew. It was
+what I said about my father being Aunt Debby's brother. That was it, was
+it not?"
+
+"What an idea, you silly little Hester! Why should I be angry with you
+for saying that? What was it to me whether he was Miss Alden's brother
+or not?"
+
+"I thought you knew and despised me for telling what was not true. I am
+not one bit an Alden. I do not belong to Aunt Debby except through love.
+My mother died at the Alden home. Somehow, I never could quite grasp all
+the story, for no one will tell me all. Somehow, Aunt Debby felt herself
+responsible and she took me and gave me her mother's name. Don't you
+think that very sweet of her? To Aunt Debby, Hester Palmer Alden was the
+name she loved the most and she gave it to me."
+
+"Yes, she must have loved you, too, or she would never have given you
+that name. It was not what you said that caused me to be displeased with
+you. Shall I tell you?"
+
+Hester shook her head slowly. She was yet sitting on the floor near the
+door of the closet. All about her, were odds and ends of her
+possessions.
+
+"No, do not tell me. I know I did not do anything else to make you
+despise me. So please don't tell me what it was. Whatever it was, I did
+not do it and I might feel hurt if I knew that you suspected me of
+anything very bad."
+
+"Very well, little roommate. We'll never talk about the matter. We'll
+clean off our slates and make them clean for the next lesson," said
+Helen. "That is what Miss Mary used to tell us when we went to primary
+grade."
+
+"I always liked to hear you say 'little roommate.' Next year, Helen, you
+will not be here to say it. I wonder who will call me that." The tears
+were near Hester's eyes, but she forced them back and smiled.
+
+"Perhaps, someone nicer than I and someone you will love better."
+
+"That will never be. It couldn't be. But you'll come back to visit?"
+
+"I do not think it will be possible. Father says I may go to an eastern
+college. That will take me far from here. I do not wish to go four
+years. I intend taking special work; for I mean to be a settlement
+worker."
+
+Hester nodded. Just then she could not have said a word if her life had
+depended upon it. She thought that Helen's giving up a life of ease and
+luxury to work among the people of the slums, was a glorious thing;
+although she herself could not have done such a thing and had no desires
+in that direction.
+
+"It will be lovely, Helen," she said at last. "Perhaps when you are
+working somewhere I shall come to visit you."
+
+"Perhaps you may be working with me. Who knows?"
+
+"I know I shall never be that kind of a worker. I intend to be a
+novelist. Perhaps, I shall find a great deal of material when I come
+down to visit you. I think being a great novelist would be glorious."
+
+"Yes, if one could be great and could write life as it is and make
+people better by the writing."
+
+"That is the kind I intend being," said Hester with conviction, and yet
+not conceit. "I shall be a great one or none at all. I never should like
+mere commonplace writing. I should like to imagine; to look at people
+and describe them as they were, and to see even their thoughts."
+
+Helen laughed. Hester had already won a reputation in
+character-description. She had the faculty of describing her friends in
+a few pertinent words which meant as much as an entire paragraph from
+some people.
+
+"I think your character-drawing will be excellent," said Helen. "You
+have a way with you, you know."
+
+"Do you really think so? Aunt Debby says I am critical, but I do not
+mean to be that. People just naturally make me think of different
+things. I see a likeness. I cannot help it that it is there. Aunt Debby
+was once quite indignant when I was telling her about the different
+girls at school. I said Josephine made me think of soft-A sugar. Aunt
+Debby did not like it. But that is what she made me think of. I
+couldn't help it."
+
+Hester was quite serious. Although the remark concerning Josephine was
+her own, she did not fully appreciate her own wit in the application.
+
+Hester arose slowly. "That closet is cleared, thank goodness. I'll see
+to the trifles on the dressing-table. I'd rather pack big things than
+such trifles as hairpins, handkerchiefs, and stockings."
+
+"I am ready to put mine in the trunk," said Helen. As she spoke, she
+drew the trunk from against the wall and lifted out the tray. She gave
+an exclamation as her eyes fell on a quantity of lawn and lace.
+
+"I've hunted everywhere for those waists," she said. "I went to the
+laundry several times to ask Mrs. Pellesee if they had been mislaid. I
+was confident that they had not come back from the laundry."
+
+She made a dive into the depths of the trunk and brought forth the
+shirtwaists.
+
+"I remember now when I put them there. When I got my new one-piece suit
+to wear to dinner, I put these away. It was the night I lost my pin."
+
+"Yes," said Hester without turning her head. Her mind was upon putting
+the contents of her dressing-table in order. She scarcely heard what
+Helen was saying.
+
+Helen gave a second exclamation as her hands seized the fluff of lace
+about one waist; for the pin which she had missed months before was
+fastened to the lace.
+
+"I found my pin!" she exclaimed. "I am glad--so glad! Look, Hester!"
+
+Hester gave a quick indifferent glance toward Helen's upraised hand in
+which this stone glittered like a star.
+
+"I'm glad," she said. "I thought it was very strange what became of it.
+I couldn't understand how it would disappear from the room. I have a pin
+something like that--but mine is just a cheap imitation. Aunt Debby says
+it is the kind one buys at a five-and-ten-cent store."
+
+For a moment, Helen stood silent. She was abashed and ashamed of the
+suspicion which she had long held in her mind. She had done wrong; but
+on the other hand, she had done what she could to make matters right. It
+pleased her even now to know that she had asked Hester's forgiveness and
+had believed in her, before the proofs of her innocence came to hand. It
+is a worthless sort of faith and a poor friendship which needs evidence
+at hand. Faith is faith only when it believes without proof, or against
+proof. These thoughts came to Helen while she stood with the pin in her
+hand. Then she crossed to where Hester stood and laying her hand on
+Hester's shoulder, said, "Little roommate, to-night will be our last
+night together in school. Will you try to think with kindness of the
+roommate who was unjust to you? You have taught me one great big lesson,
+Hester, and that is that one cannot even believe her eyes. Will you
+forget all the unpleasant part of the year, and remember only that I
+really loved you with it all?"
+
+"That will be easy. It will be but thinking kindly of myself. For every
+one says that you are my counterpart."
+
+"A poor imitation, I am afraid. If I predict rightly the years will
+prove me but the reflection of a great and a brighter body. You'll be
+the sun, Hester. The best I'll ever be is a pale little moon." She bent
+to kiss Hester's lips. With that caress all the suspicion and doubt
+vanished and Hester Alden's year at school had closed.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+DOROTHY BROWN
+
+By NINA RHOADES
+
+Illustrated by Elizabeth Withington Large 12mo Cloth $1.50
+
+[Illustration]
+
+This is considerably longer than the other books by this favorite
+writer, and with a more elaborate plot, but it has the same winsome
+quality throughout. It introduces the heroine in New York as a little
+girl of eight, but soon passes over six years and finds her at a select
+family boarding school in Connecticut. An important part of the story
+also takes place at the Profile House in the White Mountains. The charm
+of school-girl friendship is finely brought out, and the kindness of
+heart, good sense and good taste which find constant expression in the
+books by Miss Rhoades do not lack for characters to show these best of
+qualities by their lives. Other less admirable persons of course appear
+to furnish the alluring mystery, which is not all cleared up until the
+very last.
+
+     "There will be no better book than this to put into the
+     hands of a girl in her teens and none that will be better
+     appreciated by her."--_Kennebec Journal._
+
+
+MARION'S VACATION
+
+By NINA RHOADES
+
+Illustrated by Bertha G. Davidson 12mo Cloth $1.25
+
+[Illustration]
+
+This book is for the older girls, Marion being thirteen. She has for ten
+years enjoyed a luxurious home in New York with the kind lady who feels
+that the time has now come for this aristocratic though lovable little
+miss to know her own nearest kindred, who are humble but most excellent
+farming people in a pretty Vermont village. Thither Marion is sent for a
+summer, which proves to be a most important one to her in all its
+lessons.
+
+     "More wholesome reading for half grown girls it would be
+     hard to find; some of the same lessons that proved so
+     helpful in that classic of the last generation 'An Old
+     Fashioned Girl' are brought home to the youthful readers of
+     this sweet and sensible story."--_Milwaukee Free Press._
+
+
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+the publishers_
+
+LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., Boston
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+Illustrated by J. W. Kennedy 12mo Cloth $1.25
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+This is the romantic story of Flora Macdonald, the lassie of Skye, who
+aided in the escape of Charles Stuart, otherwise known as the "Young
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+through her sincerity and attractive personality.
+
+
+_Polly of the Pines_
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Illustrated by Henry Roth Cloth 12 mo $1.25
+
+"Polly of the Pines" was Mary Dunning, a brave girl of the Carolinas,
+and the events of the story occur in the years 1775-82. Polly was an
+orphan living with her mother's family, who were Scotch Highlanders, and
+for the most part intensely loyal to the Crown. Polly finds the glamor
+of royal adherence hard to resist, but her heart turns towards the
+patriots and she does much to aid and encourage them.
+
+
+_For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by
+the publishers_
+
+LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Hester's Counterpart, by Jean K. Baird
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Hester's Counterpart, by Jean K. Baird.
+    </title>
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+            /*  visibility: hidden;  */
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+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hester's Counterpart, by Jean K. Baird
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Hester's Counterpart
+       A Story of Boarding School Life
+
+Author: Jean K. Baird
+
+Illustrator: Adele W. Jones
+
+Release Date: October 20, 2008 [EBook #26973]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HESTER'S COUNTERPART ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Josephine Paolucci
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 395px;">
+<img src="images/i_cover.jpg" width="395" height="600" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p><a name="front" id="front"></a></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 402px;">
+<img src="images/i_004.jpg" width="402" height="600" alt="The water crept up.&mdash;Page 284." title="" />
+<span class="caption">The water crept up.&mdash;<i>Page <a href="#Page_284">284</a>.</i></span>
+</div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h4>THE HESTER BOOKS</h4>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+
+<h1>HESTER'S COUNTERPART</h1>
+
+<h2>A STORY OF BOARDING SCHOOL LIFE</h2>
+
+
+<h3>BY</h3>
+<h2>JEAN K. BAIRD</h2>
+<h4>Author of "The Coming of Hester"</h4>
+
+<h3><i>ILLUSTRATED BY ADELE W. JONES</i></h3>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 122px;">
+<img src="images/i_005.jpg" width="122" height="150" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="center">
+BOSTON<br />
+LOTHROP, LEE &amp; SHEPARD CO.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+Published, August, 1910<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">Copyright, 1910, by Lothrop, Lee &amp; Shepard Co.</span><br />
+<i>All Rights Reserved</i><br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">Hester's Counterpart</span><br />
+<br />
+NORWOOD PRESS<br />
+BERWICK &amp; SMITH CO.<br />
+NORWOOD, MASS.<br />
+U. S. A.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="notes">Trancriber's note: Table of contents created for the HTML version.</p>
+
+<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. -->
+<p>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_I"><b>CHAPTER I</b></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_II"><b>CHAPTER II</b></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_III"><b>CHAPTER III</b></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><b>CHAPTER IV</b></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_V"><b>CHAPTER V</b></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><b>CHAPTER VI</b></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><b>CHAPTER VII</b></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><b>CHAPTER VIII</b></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><b>CHAPTER IX</b></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_X"><b>CHAPTER X</b></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><b>CHAPTER XI</b></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><b>CHAPTER XII</b></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII"><b>CHAPTER XIII</b></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV"><b>CHAPTER XIV</b></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XV"><b>CHAPTER XV</b></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI"><b>CHAPTER XVI</b></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII"><b>CHAPTER XVII</b></a><br />
+</p>
+<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. -->
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
+
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align='left'>The water crept up (Page 284)</td><td align='right'><i><a href="#front">Frontispiece</a></i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>Facing Page</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"I am Helen Loraine"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Again Hester deftly returned it</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"Oh, girls, do you happen to have any cold cream?"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_122">122</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>"You remember me, I see, Miss Alden"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_150">150</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>They held their breath</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_290">290</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>HESTER'S COUNTERPART</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+
+<p>Debby Alden, to use her own adjective in regard to herself, was not
+"slack." To this her friends added another term. Debby was "set." There
+could be no doubt of that.</p>
+
+<p>When Hester was but twelve years old, Debby had decided that the girl
+should have at least one year at the best boarding-school. Four years
+had passed, during which time, Debby's purpose had remained firm,
+although not yet ripe for perfecting.</p>
+
+<p>After the experience with Mary Bowerman's taunts and Abner Stout's
+guile, Debby decided that the time had come for Hester to have a change
+of environment. Miss Richards's advice was again sought. But that old
+friend no longer held the full power in her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> hands. Debby had grown
+alive and alert. She knew the standing of the schools throughout the
+State, and in what particular line of study or discipline each one
+excelled.</p>
+
+<p>For months, she studied catalogues and estimated expenses. She had never
+made a study of psychology; but she understood that Hester had reached
+the most impressionable age of her life. Each thought and word would
+leave its marks upon her. Debby, who believed firmly that tendencies are
+inherited, had always with her the fear that Hester would show the
+tendencies of an alien race. Her one consolation was that much may be
+overcome by training, and too, perhaps, there was in Hester's veins only
+a drop of darker blood.</p>
+
+<p>No one understood the position in which Debby Alden was placed. She
+always held herself responsible for the death of Hester's mother. Duty
+had compelled her to take care of the child, until love had come to her
+as a reward for the fulfillment of duty.</p>
+
+<p>There was no one to whom she could speak concerning Hester and her fears
+in regard to her. One thing she had done and would do;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> she would keep
+the child far removed from any influence which would tend to the
+strengthening of those traits which are supposed rightfully to belong to
+the race of slaves.</p>
+
+<p>Debby consulted principals and teachers and read and re-read catalogues.
+At length, she decided upon Dickinson Seminary as the school which came
+nearest to fulfilling her desires for Hester.</p>
+
+<p>Hester had always been sweet and submissive to Debby Alden. The girl had
+more than love for the woman who was mother and father both to her.
+Mingled with Hester's love for Debby was an inexpressible gratitude.
+Hester realized how much Debby had done and was doing for her. But it
+was not the dainty dresses and good home that touched her most. Debby
+Alden had given the waif her mother's name, and Hester never wrote in
+her big angular hand, Hester Palmer Alden, without feeling a glow of
+pride. She had a name of which to be proud, a name which Debby Alden had
+always held dear.</p>
+
+<p>"It was the very kindest thing Aunt Debby could do," was a thought which
+came often to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> Hester. "She must have loved me even from the first, or
+she would have never given me her own name. She's so proud of being an
+Alden. Their name has never had a bit of shame or disgrace touch it."
+Then she added an afterthought, "and it never will through me."</p>
+
+<p>One day she brought up the subject of the Alden name while in
+conversation with her aunt. Hester expressed herself warmly on the
+subject and the elder woman listened with a lightening heart. The pride
+of the Alden name and family which Hester showed, pleased her. To Debby
+came the thought that only those who had such birthrights could
+comprehend and appreciate the honor of possessing them. For a moment,
+she believed that she might have been mistaken in regard to Hester's
+parentage; but just for a moment. She could not close her eyes to facts.
+She, herself, had seen the purple tinge about the finger nails of the
+woman and had observed the lips and eyes which were peculiar to another
+race.</p>
+
+<p>"It was beautiful of you, Aunt Debby, to give me your name, and I'll
+never, never bring shame to it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Let us talk no more of the subject," was the curt rejoinder. "We have
+much to do before you are ready to go to Dickinson, and we must not
+spend our time in telling what is to be done or not to be done a dozen
+years from now."</p>
+
+<p>Hester was drying the dishes. At the mention of going to school, she
+stopped. Regardless of consequences, she raised her tea-towel in one
+hand like a banner, and Aunt Debby's blue cream jug, a relic of the
+Alden family, high in the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Dickinson Seminary!" she exclaimed in a voice pitched high with
+nervousness. "I'll tell you right this minute, Aunt Debby, I will not
+go."</p>
+
+<p>Had the ceiling fallen down upon her, Debby Alden could not have been
+more surprised. Hester, the obedient, now in the guise of an insurgent.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Will</i> not, Hester Palmer Alden, is not the word to use to me. I am the
+one to decide what is best for you to do or not to do, and I've decided
+upon your going to Dickinson."</p>
+
+<p>The voice of the speaker was strong with the Alden firmness and
+decision. Perhaps, she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> forced herself to unusual firmness lest her
+great love for the girl should make her weak in discipline. She expected
+that Hester, having once made so strong an affirmation, would cling to
+it and perhaps be inclined to disputation. On the contrary, Hester began
+to sob.</p>
+
+<p>Debby turned to look at the girl, down whose cheeks the tears were
+streaming. Then she said with a show of gentleness: "It's only natural
+that you feel bad about leaving home. Everyone does that. I really
+should not feel pleased if you did not feel bad. You can not give up to
+that feeling. I do not mean to permit you to do so. School is the best
+place for you, and you must go. You'll enjoy it after a while."</p>
+
+<p>"I was not thinking about myself, Aunt Debby. I was thinking of you. Do
+you think that I can ever enjoy being away and having a good time while
+you are here alone?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was used to being alone before you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But you are not used to it now. I'll think of you sitting here alone in
+the evening. Every time you leave the house you'll be alone and you'll
+come into a lonely house when you come<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> back. I will not go and leave
+you here, Aunt Debby, and you cannot make me."</p>
+
+<p>"Hester Alden&mdash;." Debby Alden meant to be firm. It was scandalous to
+have a child so express herself to her elder, and that elder as a mother
+to her. Debby Alden would not be weak. She would be firm, and not so
+much as allow Hester to express an opinion.</p>
+
+<p>"Hester Alden," she began, but could say no more because of a queer
+little catch in her voice. She turned back to her dish-pan and fell with
+great vigor to her dishwashing. After a few moments, she felt that she
+could control herself, and turning to Hester, said, "Now, Hester Alden,
+we'll have done with this nonsense right here. I've been alone and stood
+it fairly well and I can stand it again. What does it matter if I am
+alone? I'm no longer a young girl who demands company. I'm just a plain
+old&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Aunt Debby&mdash;you are not. Doesn't everyone say you're beautiful,
+and you're not old&mdash;and you're never going to get old." Hester turned
+and brought her foot down with some vigor, as though she would frighten
+old age and gray hair and loneliness from the house.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Why, Aunt Debby, everyone says you're beautiful. The girls at
+school&mdash;."</p>
+
+<p>Debby's cheeks flushed. There was something very sweet in the assertion,
+although she did not believe it even for a moment. But in all her forty
+years, no one had ever used that word in speaking of Debby. Although she
+felt that even now love, and not facts, was making use of it, she was
+touched. She was a woman after all, and it was sweet to find herself
+beautiful in someone's eyes.</p>
+
+<p>But discipline must be maintained. She turned toward Hester. The girl
+threw her arms about Debby Alden's neck and sobbed, and Debby held up
+her kitchen apron before her eyes and wept silently.</p>
+
+<p>"There, Hester, there!" she said at last. "We're both very silly, very
+silly. You must go to school and that's an end to it."</p>
+
+<p>"No, Aunt Debby. I'll never go and leave you here alone. If I go, you
+must go with me."</p>
+
+<p>"Go with you! That is the veriest nonsense, Hester. Debby Alden in a
+seminary. I'm not in my second childhood yet."</p>
+
+<p>"But you could live in town. Mame Thomas<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> has a cousin who lives in a
+little flat. She's a widow and keeps her girls in school. Couldn't you
+go and live there. We could see each other&mdash;."</p>
+
+<p>"The dish-water is getting cold. Really, Hester, you and I are getting
+slack. I believe that is the first time in my life that I ever stood
+talking and let my dish-water get cold. It isn't a good way of doing.
+Mother never allowed us to be slack about such things. I was not brought
+up to talk first and work afterward. Think of me, a woman my age, doing
+such a thing!"</p>
+
+<p>Taking up the dish-pan, she left the kitchen to empty the water. Hester
+dried her tears. Her heart grew light. She understood Aunt Debby well
+and she knew that the talk about letting the work stand was only a
+chastisement Debby was giving herself, when she felt herself yielding.</p>
+
+<p>The subject was again discussed during the evening. No decision was
+reached. Debby, however, conceded enough to say that she would think the
+matter over and would ask Miss Richards's opinion concerning it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Hester was fully satisfied with this. She knew that her Aunt Debby never
+forgot a promise. Hester knew also that Miss Richards would advise Debby
+Alden to spend a winter in the city.</p>
+
+<p>The following day, after the housework had been finished and the dinner
+dishes put away, Debby Alden dressed and went to call upon her friend.</p>
+
+<p>Hester went with her, as far as Jane Orr's home. "I'll be back shortly,
+Hester. You may stay with Jane until I call for you."</p>
+
+<p>She made her way down the main street of the little country town.</p>
+
+<p>Hester paused as she was about to mount the steps, and turned to look at
+the retreating figure. She could not restrain a smile. "It's certainly
+odd, but Aunt Debby doesn't seem to know how pretty she is."</p>
+
+<p>Hester's adjective was not strong enough to describe Aunt Debby. There
+was something infinitely greater and finer in the woman than mere
+prettiness.</p>
+
+<p>Debby Alden at twenty-five had been scrawny, hard-featured and severe.
+She then had the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> appearance of one who knew only the hard things of
+life, and was giving expression to them in her features and carriage.
+But this new Debby Alden was wholly different. Hester had brought love
+and interest with her. Debby Alden was alive to the world about her, and
+her active interests had given brilliance to her eyes and lightness to
+her steps. The angles of twenty-five years had been softened into
+curves. Debby was no longer hard-featured and scrawny. She had grown
+plump and round.</p>
+
+<p>Some old wise man declares that it is woman's fault if she be not
+handsome at forty years; for then the body is but the reflection of life
+itself. Debby had been so true and faithful and so big-hearted and
+generous, that at forty, beautiful was the only word worthy to describe
+her.</p>
+
+<p>Debby's call upon Miss Richards was short. To-day was one day when all
+things were working toward favoring Hester's project.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Richards was growing old. She did not wish to travel alone or to be
+far from her friends. She was dainty, gracious, and smiling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> as ever,
+but age had laid its finger lightly upon her.</p>
+
+<p>She listened to Debby Alden's plans.</p>
+
+<p>"You are young yet, Debby," she said. "No woman should be content to sit
+at home and not improve her time. With Hester gone, there will be
+nothing to keep you here. The school is but a short distance from town.
+Why not rent a small flat?"</p>
+
+<p>"But what would I do with no responsibilities? Keeping two or three
+rooms in order will not employ my time."</p>
+
+<p>"Lockport is famed for lectures and recitals. Study-clubs are plentiful.
+You could read and study and you might practise your music, Debby. A few
+lessons will do you worlds of good."</p>
+
+<p>"Lessons when I am almost forty years old!"</p>
+
+<p>"Forty years young, my dear girl. Lessons, why not? Life is one long
+school term. The pupil who expects a hundred-mark must be learning and
+moving onward all the time. I am more than twenty years your senior,
+and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> yet I feel as though I was but beginning to learn how to live."</p>
+
+<p>She paused a moment. Her mind dwelt on the things which were past. Then
+with a radiant smile, she turned to her companion. "Be very much alive
+while you are alive, Debby. The interests you have outside yourself will
+add to your own happiness. If you wish to find perfect happiness, fill
+your life with vital interests. Go to Lockport, study, read and work;
+see Hester when your heart longs for her. I&mdash;" she paused, wondering if
+Debby would accept her suggestion.</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to be with you, Debby. I need something new. Each winter
+I have been south for so many years that it is a story oft told. Do you
+think that you and I could be happy together in a little flat? Hester
+then could have two hearts to fill with interest."</p>
+
+<p>She looked wistfully toward Debby. For the first time Debby realized
+that her old friend was alone&mdash;very much alone as far as hearth-ties and
+love were concerned. It was not with thoughts of her own enjoyment that
+Debby's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> heart bounded. As an inspiration, it came to her that she held
+within her hands that which would fill the void in her friend's life.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure we could," said Debby. "We might as well settle the matter
+here, and we'll go to town this very week, attend to selecting Hester's
+room and we'll look up a nice little place for ourselves. We'll not have
+it too far from the school."</p>
+
+<p>Then observing Miss Richards smiling, she added, "I presume you think
+I'm a little hasty; but I don't see it in just that way. Anyone with
+judgment can readily see that it is just the thing for us to do. When
+our minds are made up, there's no use in being slack. We'll go Thursday.
+Hester may stay with Jane Orr. Mrs. Orr will be glad to have her. And
+now, I must go and tell Hester. I don't understand how that child came
+to be so foolishly sentimental. She has taken the notion that she cannot
+be happy anywhere without me. Utter nonsense, of course! I've tried to
+train her to believe that one's happiness never depends on another."</p>
+
+<p>She went her way, leaving her friend smiling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> at the speech. When Debby
+had gone, Miss Richards spoke aloud: "Debby, Debby Alden, how fearfully
+blind you are about yourself and your girl! How could Hester ever think
+other than she does when every bit of happiness in the child's life has
+emanated from you. Hester has sound judgment for one of her years, and
+she knows how much she owes to you."</p>
+
+<p>But Hester did not know the full amount of her debt to her foster aunt
+nor did Miss Richards; for Debby kept her own secret in regard to
+Hester's parentage and no one but herself knew the fearful weight it was
+upon her.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+
+<p>Thursday morning, Miss Richards and Debby Alden started for Lockport.
+This was a small city and the county seat. Its situation made it a
+pleasant place to spend the summer and the population increased and
+diminished with the change of seasons.</p>
+
+<p>The town lay between two ridges of high mountains. On one side the river
+flowed; on the opposite side Beech Creek, the conjunction of the streams
+being at the eastern edge of town. On the brow of the lower hills were
+the summer homes of the city folk. There were acres of lawn and grove
+with natural ravines through which ran little streams and over whose
+banks the laurels grew in wild profusion. Back of these hills, the
+mountains towered like great green giants. On foggy days, their peaks
+were hidden in clouds. They were awe-inspiring, for fog-covered brows
+spoke of mysteries beyond<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> the comprehension of those who dwelt below.</p>
+
+<p>The valley grew narrow toward the western end. Here, nestled close
+between hills, was Dickinson Seminary, one of the most exclusive and
+rigidly-disciplined schools of the State. The campus and grove beyond
+were extensive. Beech Creek lay to the south and was used for bathing
+and boating and skating in their seasons. It was a deep, narrow stream.
+Being fed only by a few short mountain brooks, it was little affected by
+floods.</p>
+
+<p>To the north lay the river. It was serene and powerful, except when its
+waters were swollen. Then it made its way over the banks and encroached
+upon the campus. The seminary folk were pleased than otherwise at this,
+for on the river-soaked campus edge the willows and water birches
+thrived, and made a beautiful protection for the campus. The river was
+at a distance from the building; yet at flood time on a quiet night as
+the girls lay in bed listening, they could hear the noise of its waters.</p>
+
+<p>Debby Alden and Miss Richards reached<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> Lockport just at noon Thursday.
+Debby's first thought was of Hester and her accommodations at school.
+She visited the seminary, attended to matters there, and returned to the
+city. The expenses connected with Hester's education would not be light,
+and Debby knew that she would be compelled eventually to use the little
+money which her father had put by for a rainy day; the interest of which
+had met her living expenses. The woman looked forward and saw the time
+when her money would be gone. But, strange to say, contrary as her
+present mode of action was to all her inheritance and previous training,
+she anticipated no day when she would be reduced to poverty. She
+calculated closely, knowing almost to a dime what the three following
+years would cost her and Hester.</p>
+
+<p>By that time, perhaps, Hester would be prepared for some life-work and
+as for Debby&mdash;. She smiled grimly when she thought of coming to a place
+where she could not take care of herself. "It's not the Alden way to get
+stuck," she repeated to herself.</p>
+
+<p>She mentally reviewed all these conditions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> before she set out with Miss
+Richards in search of a flat suited to their needs. In her look into the
+future, Debby believed herself able to see her way clear for three full
+years.</p>
+
+<p>"And then, if the worst comes to the worst, I can sell the timber land.
+It's never brought in anything."</p>
+
+<p>She put this last thought into words. "Does that mean that you are
+pressed for money, Debby?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet; but I may be before three years are gone, and Hester is
+through with school. I can see my way clear for three years."</p>
+
+<p>"You are fortunate indeed if that be so. A score of things may happen
+that you know nothing of now. I have learned to anticipate neither joy
+nor sorrow but to take each day as it comes."</p>
+
+<p>"But surely one must look ahead. Money matters do not take care of
+themselves. Hester's schooling will cost me almost every cent of my
+ready money. I'll have only my little place and the timber tracts
+beyond."</p>
+
+<p>"You are not scattering your money in sending Hester to school, Debby.
+You are placing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> it where it will draw the greatest interest. Sometime
+you'll draw a big dividend." She smiled reassuringly.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so; but I wasn't thinking of that now. All I want is to have
+Hester prepared for some work&mdash;to take care of herself and be a happy
+useful woman when I'm gone."</p>
+
+<p>"Meanwhile, we'll stop in here and look at this little place. I think,
+Debby, you and I will never be content to shut ourselves up in little
+boxes on a second or third floor."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I want room to breathe and some place outside where I can set my
+foot on the soil. I'm not one who likes the click of my own heels on the
+pavement. There's something about putting your feet on the earth that
+makes you feel that you belong."</p>
+
+<p>The place into which they now turned was a little cottage at the extreme
+east of town near the conjunction of creek and river, yet high on the
+brow of a hill. It was a simple little place, weather-beaten and faded;
+but a strip of sod ran about the front and side. The little low porch
+was shaded with a Virginia creeper, and an old gnarled tree at the
+corner leaned over<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> the roof as though about to rest itself against it.</p>
+
+<p>Its being at the extreme end of town from the seminary was to Debby
+Alden the one thing against it.</p>
+
+<p>"If we were at the west end, Hester could slip in each day. The pupils
+are allowed an hour 'off campus' you know."</p>
+
+<p>"And she would come to you with every thought that troubled her. You
+would be bearing her childish burdens just as you have always done. If
+you live where Hester can talk with you each day, she will lose the
+greatest benefit a year in school can give her."</p>
+
+<p>"I think you are right," said Debby Alden.</p>
+
+<p>"I like the house. I'm used to low ceilings and big porches and vines.
+I'm satisfied with it if you are; and we'll have Hester home but once a
+month."</p>
+
+<p>It was best for Hester to be away and to learn to depend upon herself.
+That fact settled matters for Debby Alden. If it were good for Hester,
+then it should be done and Debby Alden would give no thought to herself
+in this matter.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Miss Richards was pleased with the house and the two friends made
+arrangements with the care-taker to have it ready for them a few days
+before the opening of school. There were papering and painting to be
+done. Had it been within her own home, Debby Alden would have done the
+work herself. Every bit of woodwork in her own home had been done over
+with her own brush, and her paper-hanging had won the admiration of the
+country-side.</p>
+
+<p>The next in the course of events was selecting the articles of furniture
+which might be spared from home. Debby had no idea of dismantling her
+old home. The house had been built and furnished for a large family.
+There were furnished bedrooms which Debby and Hester never entered
+except at cleaning time; below there were the old-fashioned parlor, the
+living-room with its air of comfort, the dining-room, kitchen and what
+in that locality was termed the shanty-kitchen. This last was a great
+room between the woodshed and kitchen proper. It was provided with every
+article for laundry use, and during the canning season<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> was the scene of
+most of the household activities.</p>
+
+<p>Since the early spring days when going away to school had first been
+mentioned, Hester had viewed the event with dread. She knew nothing of
+meeting strangers and imagined there could be nothing pleasant about it.
+During the summer while Debby had talked and planned, Hester had shown
+little interest and had never of herself, brought up the subject. But
+since she had influenced her Aunt Debby to go to the city with her, she
+was almost satisfied to go. Her joy would have been unbounded had it
+been possible for Debby to be with her within the school. That could not
+be. Hester was wise enough to know that. There was one other course that
+could be followed, however. She could live in town with Aunt Debby and
+Miss Richards and be but a parlor student at the seminary. To Hester's
+mind, this would be a very satisfactory arrangement, and she meant to
+bring it to pass. Having been successful in persuading her Aunt Debby to
+live in town, Hester was confident<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> that it would be no difficult matter
+to persuade her to this second course. Hester was naturally a diplomat.
+There was nothing deceptive about her; but, young as she was, she
+intuitively knew that some times are ripe and some are not for
+discussion. The time propitious for bringing up the question of her
+being but a parlor student was not until Debby and Miss Richards were
+established in their little cottage at the east end of Lockport.</p>
+
+<p>Satisfied that she could bring matters to pass in the fashion she
+desired, Hester grew enthusiastic over the preparation for quitting the
+old home. There was much to be done in spite of the fact that Debby was
+never "slack" in the ways of her household. Every cupboard and closet
+was gone over. Bed clothes were aired and laid away where neither mice,
+rust, nor mildew could touch them. China and silver were sorted and
+again sorted before Debby was able to decide what pieces were best to
+take and what best to leave. The flowers were to be potted and put away
+to keep for spring planting. When it came to this, Debby began to
+realize what leaving home meant.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I can take the spotted-leaved geranium," she said to Hester while they
+were making the rounds of the garden. "I always do pot that for a
+house-plant. I suppose it will grow as well at Lockport as here, if I
+see that it is attended to. Fortunately for plants, they have no
+feelings."</p>
+
+<p>The words showed sentiment enough, but the tones of Debby's voice made
+them seem harsh and unfeeling. Hester was not deceived. Debby Alden came
+from a race who had for generations looked upon the expression of love
+and sentiment as a weakness. Whenever Debby felt her emotions conquering
+her, she unconsciously resorted to the ways of her forbears; she lashed
+herself into a semblance of sternness in an endeavor to conceal her real
+feelings.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose I'll not get a look at the asters when they bloom. It would
+be a shame to let them die on the stalk without a soul pulling one. I
+think I'll ask Kate Bowerman to see to them. She might pack up a few and
+send to me. I'm curious to see how that new royal purple turns out. I've
+been suspicious all summer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> that it would turn out a scrub. It looks
+like a scrub."</p>
+
+<p>She was bending over the plants growing along the fence which divided
+her yard-proper from the garden and wood-yards beyond. Debby was proud
+of her collection of asters which were of every variety known throughout
+the country.</p>
+
+<p>"They certainly are scrubs," she repeated as she bent for a closer
+inspection.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know, Aunt Debby? To me, they look like the other plants."</p>
+
+<p>"I just know," said Debby. "I don't know how I know, but I just do.
+Plants show their breed just like people and animals. I've no need when
+I look at old Jim Ramsey's horse to be told it's mighty common stock.
+Yes; it has the same number of legs and hoofs and its eyes are in the
+right place, but it isn't a thoroughbred. Anyone can see that at a
+glance. It is just the same with plants. There's a wide difference.
+Though I suppose it is only ones who work about them and love them that
+see the difference. And with people! Some people are born common stock
+and stay<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> common stock all their lives, even if they've lived in
+mansions and hold a dozen diplomas."</p>
+
+<p>She paused suddenly. "Run and get some more crocks, Hester," she added.
+Debby was annoyed at herself in talking of family in the child's
+presence. With Debby's knowledge of Hester's parentage, it was as though
+she had thrown a taunt in the child's face. When Hester returned,
+bearing in her arms the two, large flower-pots, Debby made a point of
+showing her unusual consideration, asking her opinion as to the best
+flowers to be potted and whether she did not wish a plant for her window
+in school.</p>
+
+<p>From the beginning of these preparations, one duty had been firmly fixed
+in Debby's mind. It was not a pleasant one, yet she did not mean to
+shirk it; but she did put it off to the very last morning when she and
+Hester had brought down the trunks and were preparing to pack their own
+personal belongings.</p>
+
+<p>"There are some things in the attic, Hester, which rightfully belong to
+you. I've never mentioned them to you before, because you were yet such
+a child. But now you are leaving<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> and Providence alone knows what may be
+in store for us. I may not come back. Now, don't begin to cry. I expect
+to live a good many years yet; but there's no telling. I believe in
+doing what Grandmother Alden always said, 'Hope for the best, but be
+prepared for the worst.'</p>
+
+<p>"If anything should happen to me, it is only fair that you should have
+what is yours by rights. Just let your packing go this morning. We'll
+have time to finish this afternoon and not be rushed. I want you to go
+with me and look over the clothes that were yours and your mother's.</p>
+
+<p>"I laid your mother out in the best things I could buy; and I kept every
+stitch she wore when the accident befell her. Somewhere or sometime,
+some of her friends will appear and they may be able to recognize these
+clothes."</p>
+
+<p>Debby lead the way to the attic, climbing up the narrow dark stairway
+which lead from the kitchen bedroom and Hester followed at her heels.</p>
+
+<p>The attic was low and narrow. Except in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> the middle, one could not walk
+without stooping to escape the rafters. Along one side was a long row of
+boxes and trunks in which the Aldens, for generations, had kept their
+heirlooms. So far as money value was considered, there was nothing here
+worth while. A surveyor's compass and staff, a spinning wheel; old blue
+dishes covered with hair-like lines. There was no real lace, and there
+were no handsome gowns. Nevertheless, they meant much to Debby Alden.
+They were family to her.</p>
+
+<p>A little low trunk was at the extreme end of the attic. It was to this
+that Debby directed her steps.</p>
+
+<p>"Everything in this trunk belongs to you, Hester. When I packed it away,
+I put a card inside so that you might know that they were your mother's.
+There's nothing at all of value. Sit down here and we'll go over them."</p>
+
+<p>She knelt before the trunk and opened it. Hester, obedient to Miss
+Debby's wishes, sat down on the floor near the window while the woman
+took out each article and passed it to her companion.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"This is the dress your mother wore. I thought from the material that
+she must have been well-to-do. She had a gentle, nice way of speaking.
+She looked like a woman who had never worked hard and was used to having
+things comfortable. That's why I can't understand how she could
+disappear and no one search for her. We sent notices to all the papers
+for miles about."</p>
+
+<p>Debby Alden paused. She could not justify herself even in her own
+thoughts. By withholding what she knew of Hester's parentage, the
+newspaper accounts of the death of the French woman, had been
+misleading. This was one act of her life that gave her no satisfaction
+in thinking over. She put it from her mind and in nervous haste, passed
+the other articles of clothing to Hester.</p>
+
+<p>"I've saved even her shoes. You see what a little foot she had. Your
+mother was a very pretty woman, Hester. Of course, I saw her only that
+hour at dinner when she sat in the kitchen. She had dark eyes and hair
+and a plump, round figure. You look like her, only there is a
+difference. Your eyes are dark but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> they don't look as your mother's
+did, and your mouth and expression are not as I remember hers to be."</p>
+
+<p>Hester made no comment as she looked over the clothes. She was not at
+all moved by the sight of these things. She was sixteen, and had come to
+the place where she was able to understand much that Debby did not tell
+her.</p>
+
+<p>She knew that something lay back of all this. Why had none of these
+people come for her? What were they that they would leave a little child
+in the world without ever making an effort to find her? They could not
+have been fine people. Hester was confident of that. She had picked up
+Debby's word and mentally set down the people from which she had sprung
+as "poor stock."</p>
+
+<p>"If I ever am anything at all, it will be because of Aunt Debby's
+training," she concluded as the last article of her mother's clothes lay
+in her hands.</p>
+
+<p>"It seems strange that they never came for you."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad they didn't," responded Hester. Her pride was in arms. If her
+own people<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> cared so little for her, she would never grieve for them.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad&mdash;very glad that they didn't," she repeated. "I belong to you.
+I'd rather be your girl than anyone's else and I couldn't be that if
+they had taken me away when I was a baby."</p>
+
+<p>According to tradition, Hester's sentiment was not at all proper. One
+should cherish one's family above all else.</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't right to say such things, Hester. Of course, you and I are
+very near to each other; but you cannot feel toward me as though I was
+your mother."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not. I feel a great deal more." She arose to her feet,
+dropping on the floor, the articles of clothing which had been in her
+lap. "Why, Aunt Debby, I'd treasure an old shoe-lace of yours more than
+those things." She pointed to the heap of clothes on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>Debby meant to be firm. She had intended from the first that
+Hester should be rigidly disciplined. She believed in "the
+speak-when-spoken-to" child. But there are some arguments that cannot be
+questioned. She wanted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> Hester to love her above anyone else. She could
+not chide her for doing that. Debby's discipline went to the winds.</p>
+
+<p>"How very foolish you talk, Hester!" she said reprovingly; but she
+looked up at the girl with such a tender light in her eyes, that Hester
+laughed aloud.</p>
+
+<p>"But you like my foolishness, Aunt Debby. I know you do." She was down
+beside Debby Alden with her hand laid caressingly on the woman's arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Hester, you are&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But you like me to be foolish. You know you do, Aunt Debby."</p>
+
+<p>"I surely do not&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Hester laughed again. Aunt Debby was blushing like a young school-girl.</p>
+
+<p>"You cannot say that you do not like it," cried Hester. "You turn the
+question every time and do not answer directly."</p>
+
+<p>"We'll finish this work and go back to our packing," was the firm
+rejoinder. "Your little baby-clothes are here. Your mother must have
+been a fine needle-woman, for the rolled hems and hemstitching are
+perfect."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The little dresses and petticoats were yellow with age. There was no
+distinguishing mark about them. They were of fine sheer linen, and
+exquisitely made. But thousands of babies over the land might have worn
+just such garments.</p>
+
+<p>"You had a little handkerchief about your neck like a bib," continued
+Debby. "This is it. It was pinned down in front with an odd pin. It's
+rather peculiar and not worth much as far as money goes."</p>
+
+<p>She handed the pin to Hester. It was of yellow metal&mdash;gold, perhaps&mdash;of
+oval shape and about the size of a dime. Inside the outer gold edge was
+woven a narrow strand of hair, and within this was imbedded a peculiar
+yellow stone.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't it pretty!" cried Hester. She held it in her hands and examined
+it eagerly. It was the first interest she had evinced in anything which
+belonged to that time before she entered the Alden home.</p>
+
+<p>"I fancy it isn't gold," continued Debby Alden. "I never knew gold to
+have that peculiar tinge. It was that way when I unpinned it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> from your
+bib. I tried to brighten it a little, but I couldn't. It looks now just
+as it did when I laid it away. That stone, of course, is nothing more
+than a bit of yellow glass of small value."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Hester slowly. Her eyes were fixed upon the queer stone. "I
+never saw a bit of glass look so. When I hold it one way, it looks like
+a spark of fire. It looks as deep as a well, when you look directly into
+the center."</p>
+
+<p>"Cut glass," said Debby. "All cut glass reflects light like that."</p>
+
+<p>Cut glass or something more, it appealed to Hester. Turning it about in
+her hand, she examined it critically.</p>
+
+<p>"There's a little hook here at the end," said Hester. "Did you notice
+that, Aunt Debby?" Debby took the pin in her hand to examine it. "I
+didn't notice that before. It has been an old fashioned earring made
+into a pin. Earrings used to be fashionable. No lady ever dressed
+without them, I've heard my mother say. The breast-pin that I wear with
+my gray silk was made from an earring of Grandmother<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> Palmer's. Dear,
+dear, I wonder who wore these."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going to keep this and wear it, Aunt Debby."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe I would, Hester. Someone might ask you where you got
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"And I shall tell them it was my mother's, and that I wore it when I was
+a little baby. That is true. Isn't it, Aunt Debby?"</p>
+
+<p>"You might lose it&mdash;" Debby began.</p>
+
+<p>"If I do, no one will care except me. I'd dearly love to have it, Aunt
+Debby. Isn't it my own to do with as I please?"</p>
+
+<p>There was no argument to bring against this, and Debby remained silent.
+Hester, pleased with the bauble, pinned it on her dress and then set
+about replacing the other articles in the trunk.</p>
+
+<p>The pin might be cut glass or something better. Neither Debby nor Hester
+knew, nor could they know that it would bring to Hester loss of friends
+and&mdash;but neither the girl or woman could anticipate that. At present,
+all they could do was to admire the glitter of the stone and watch the
+changing lights play upon it.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+
+<p>I was the last week in August when Debby Alden and Miss Richards moved
+into the cottage at the east end of Lockport. The seminary was not to
+open until a week later and Hester was with her friends, assisting in
+every way she could in putting the place to rights.</p>
+
+<p>Thursday evening, the house was immaculate. There was neither fad nor
+fancy about its equipment. Debby had brought down some great
+four-posters, old blue china, and solid silver. Miss Richards had
+several black walnut armchairs that were old enough to have been
+Mayflower Pilgrims, but which were not. There was a rug which Miss
+Richards had picked up in Europe twenty years before and a gay screen
+which Lieutenant Richards had bought a century before in an old junk
+shop in China.</p>
+
+<p>"We look as though we had stepped from a previous century," said Miss
+Richards. "We haven't a modern article about us&mdash;" She<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> glanced toward
+Hester and then added&mdash;"except Hester."</p>
+
+<p>"You really need me," responded the girl. "I'm the only piece of
+twentieth-century furniture you and auntie have. I think I shall remain
+with you. I could study just as well here as shut up in that old stone
+building. I really think I could get my lessons better."</p>
+
+<p>"I think so, too," said Miss Richards, "that is if you refer but to book
+lessons."</p>
+
+<p>"What other kind could there be?"</p>
+
+<p>"The kind that people teach you. They are all sorts of lessons, as
+varied in kind as there are people. The girls at Dickinson will teach
+you many a good lesson."</p>
+
+<p>"I should think you and Aunt Debby could do it better. I've quite made
+up my mind to be but a parlor student."</p>
+
+<p>"There are some things Debby and I cannot teach you. We love you too
+much to give you the very lessons which we know would prove best for
+you. The girls at school will do that for us."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not always quite understand," said Hester. "Mr. Sanderson used to
+declare that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> I was neither philosophical nor mathematical. I do not see
+deeply into matters. I do know, though, which I like. Just now there is
+nothing I should like better than being at home with you and Aunt Debby,
+and I have quite made up my mind to that."</p>
+
+<p>"You had better unmake it, Hester," said Debby who, coming into the
+house at that moment, had overheard their words.</p>
+
+<p>"You will remain at the seminary even over Saturday and Sunday, except
+once each month. Miss Weldon does not approve of pupils coming back and
+forth. I think she is quite right. This flitting about gives a most
+unsettled feeling. You will not know where you belong, and we'll have
+none of it for you."</p>
+
+<p>Hester sighed and turned aside. She was disappointed, only for the time.
+Had she been Debby Alden's own daughter, she could not have partaken
+more strongly of some of Debby's characteristics. When Hester once made
+up her mind, she was quite "set." She had no thought of giving up her
+plans.</p>
+
+<p>"About the time that I'm ready to leave them, they'll both realize how
+much they'll miss<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> me. Then I'll be able to persuade Aunt Debby to allow
+me to board at home."</p>
+
+<p>Confident in her power of persuasion, Hester went about her work as
+happy as though the matter had been adjusted to her satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>There was yet some shopping to be done before Hester's outfit would be
+complete. Miss Debby had purposely delayed buying until she came to
+Lockport where she believed a better selection might be made.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Richards had friends in town and had gone off to spend the day with
+them. After the household duties had been disposed of, Debby and Hester
+set out on their shopping expedition.</p>
+
+<p>The morning was delightful and Debby, who took pleasure in the exercise
+of her muscles, decided to walk. With the exception of the summer homes
+which lay on the outskirts, Lockport was compact. The shopping district
+lay within a few squares. The store windows were tastefully decorated
+and Hester to whom all this was new, lingered to gaze and comment.</p>
+
+<p>"I never knew hats could be so pretty. Did<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> you, Aunt Debby? Why the
+window is a dream&mdash;a poem!" She paused to study the millinery display.</p>
+
+<p>She had grown tall. Her shirt-waist suit of white linen was dainty and
+simple. She had pushed back her hat. When she was interested in
+anything, she was wholly unconscious of herself and what was going on
+about her. Now with bright eyes, and flushed cheeks, she stood before
+the window. She was a very pleasing sight to passers-by. More than one
+person stopped for a backward glance and smiled, well pleased, and
+passed on. Someone in particular found her pleasing. A young man
+hurrying from the store adjoining, paused a moment to look at Hester.
+Her face was in profile. All he could see was the cheek and chin, the
+tall, slender figure and the long braid of hair.</p>
+
+<p>He paused but a moment. Then he smiled with delight and advancing, came
+up beside her. "Hello, honey. I did not know you were in town. Are you
+picking your fall chapeau?"</p>
+
+<p>Hester was startled. She looked about her. Debby Alden had moved on and
+unconscious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> of what was taking place, was studying the display in
+windows several yards distant.</p>
+
+<p>At Hester's alarm, a flush came to the young man's face.</p>
+
+<p>"I humbly crave your pardon," he said, lifting his hat. "I mistook you
+for my cousin Helen. Believe me, I regret exceedingly&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Debby Alden had turned at this moment. She came hurrying up. Hester had
+been alarmed and turned to lay her hand on Debby's arm.</p>
+
+<p>"He thought I was his cousin," said Hester.</p>
+
+<p>Debby turned toward the young man who would have explained had she
+allowed him to do so; but she gave him such a glance that words failed
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Hester, an apology is merely an insult." Hester walked meekly
+along. She was not able to grasp the situation.</p>
+
+<p>"He said he thought I was his cousin, Aunt Debby. He seemed so sorry&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense. He had no idea that you were his cousin or anyone else that
+he knew. He is just a smart, ill-bred young man, Hester, who, thinking
+you a stranger and not used to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> the ways of a city, did what he could to
+annoy you. Never pay any attention to such folk, Hester. Hurry away from
+them as fast as you can. They are never desirable people to know."</p>
+
+<p>"But he looked very nice, Aunt Debby. Did you notice his eyes? I liked
+the way he spoke. I really do believe that he thought that I was his
+cousin."</p>
+
+<p>"It matters little what you think on such matters. Hereafter never give
+anyone time to apologize for speaking to you."</p>
+
+<p>Smith and Winter's was the largest store in Lockport. It was on Pine,
+between Third and Fourth Streets. It was here that Debby Alden intended
+making her purchases.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think you would like a tan jacket better than a blue one,
+Hester?" she asked as the floor-walker was conducting them toward the
+coat department.</p>
+
+<p>"I think so, Auntie. But you select what you think is best."</p>
+
+<p>Debby made known her wants to the sales-woman. Jackets of tan and blue,
+of many sizes and shades were brought forth and tried<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> on Hester. They
+were interrupted in their selection, by one of the girls from the
+alteration department, claiming the attention of the clerk.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Herman, did Mrs. Vail say when she wished her dress?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was to be sent out to-morrow, but she telephoned last evening saying
+that she was called away. We are to send the dress on. She may not come
+back here. Her cottage will close this week."</p>
+
+<p>"That's odd. She promised to come back for another fitting."</p>
+
+<p>"She often does that; but she's not erratic. She always has a reason for
+going off in that way. When you get to know her as I do, you will think
+she's the sweetest woman in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"I wasn't thinking of that&mdash;nor did I mean to criticise her. I wanted to
+know whether or not I should finish her work without another fitting."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I'd wait." The clerk who had been addressed as Miss Herman turned
+to Debby Alden and waited her orders.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Hester thinks the tan will please her best," said Debby. "If you can
+send it out to this address," she gave the woman her card. Miss Herman
+read it and smiled. "I have mistaken you all along for someone else. I
+thought you were Mrs. Loraine. I never met her, but her daughter is a
+seminary student here and often comes into my department. I was sure
+that this young lady was a younger sister of Helen Loraine's."</p>
+
+<p>"No, we are not related. I know nothing of the people," said Debby
+stiffly.</p>
+
+<p>"They are a fine family," said the clerk. "We are always pleased to
+serve them."</p>
+
+<p>Hester would have spoken had not Debby silenced her with a look.</p>
+
+<p>"Auntie, did you not hear that name?" she said as they moved away.
+"Helen Loraine. Isn't that the name of the girl who is to room with me,
+and that young man said his Cousin Helen."</p>
+
+<p>"That young man's cousin exists only in his mind, and as your
+roommate&mdash;she may be a wholly different person. The name Loraine is
+common throughout this section."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But, Aunt Debby, the clerk thought I looked like&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense. Some people never see further than their own nose. If the
+clerk noticed that your hair and eyes were black, she decided that you
+looked like every one else she knew who had the same coloring. I fancy
+she said that but to make conversation."</p>
+
+<p>The following day when Debby Alden suggested that they make ready to go
+to the seminary, Hester brought up again the question of remaining at
+home. Debby listened patiently until the girl had expressed herself and
+had presented every argument in favor of attending the seminary for
+recitations merely. When Hester had finished, Debby Alden said quietly:
+"Please put on your hat and gloves, Hester. We must take the next car if
+I wish to be back home in time to get supper."</p>
+
+<p>Hester felt that the decision was final and nothing could be gained by
+argument. Leaving the room, she soon returned with hat and gloves. These
+last articles she swung in her hands as they went down the walk.</p>
+
+<p>"Hester, when at home we were a little lax<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> about certain customs. Here
+in Lockport and among strangers, we must be more careful. Put on your
+gloves before we leave the house. My mother taught me that a lady must
+finish her toilet before she leaves her home."</p>
+
+<p>She waited until Hester had put on and buttoned the gloves. "It seems a
+trifle," continued Debby, "but it is trifles which mark the difference
+between a cultivated and an uncultivated woman."</p>
+
+<p>When the street car took siding at Williams Street to give right of way
+to the east-bound car, a carriage drew up close to the curb. The
+coachman was in livery. Hester noticed that at once, for at her home no
+distinction in dress was made between the man who drove and he who
+employed him.</p>
+
+<p>Servants in livery were not new to Debby Alden. Her attention was
+attracted to the sweet-faced woman in the carriage. This woman who was
+richly gowned was scarcely older than Debby herself; but her hair was
+white. There was some quality in the face which attracted and held.
+Perhaps it was the power of self-control. The power to smile<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> sweetly
+when the person had cause only for tears. This woman was bending from
+the carriage in conversation with a man and woman on the sidewalk. As
+the car moved, the nervous horses jerked suddenly. The woman in the
+carriage turned her head and met Debby Alden's direct glance. Just for a
+moment, these two women looked into each other's eyes. Then the car
+moved on; the carriage bowled along. With each woman an impression of
+the unusual lingered.</p>
+
+<p>Debby really was troubled. The face of the strange woman was as the face
+of a half-forgotten friend.</p>
+
+<p>"That woman in the carriage made me think of someone," she said to
+Hester. "But I cannot think who. There was something about the turn of
+her head and the way she looked up at me that made me think I have met
+her somewhere."</p>
+
+<p>"I did not see her," said Hester. "I was looking at the coachman. I hope
+that some day I may have matched horses and a man in livery." Then she
+turned toward Debby Alden. "Hasn't this been a peculiar day,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> Auntie.
+Every one thinks I am someone else, and you think every one is some one
+you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Every one? You are putting it a trifle too strong, Hester. I have come
+in contact with a great many people, but I remember but one who made me
+think of someone else. You exaggerate, Hester."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd really rather call it hyperbole," said Hester. "You are a classical
+scholar when you use hyperbole and a 'fibber' when you exaggerate."</p>
+
+<p>Debby smiled at the sally. She and Hester were good friends, with a
+perfect understanding between them.</p>
+
+<p>"Put your effects toward the classical into working order. I catch a
+glimpse of the seminary walls, Hester."</p>
+
+<p>This was the first glimpse Hester had of her new home. There was a long
+stretch of grass, old trees and then the low, long, gray wall of stone.
+The campus crossed the end of the street. It seemed to the occupants of
+the car that they would be carried across the campus and through the
+building. But the line turned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> suddenly and ran along the edge of the
+grounds.</p>
+
+<p>"We get off here, Hester," said Debby leading the way out.</p>
+
+<p>Hester's gay spirits ebbed. Silently, she followed Debby Alden to the
+entrance. The office-boy swung open the great hall door for them to
+enter and escorted them down the long hall to the office.</p>
+
+<p>Hester's eyes grew big. She had not dreamed that any place could be as
+beautiful as this. Her feet sank in the soft, thick carpet. She followed
+Miss Debby's footsteps as silent as a mouse.</p>
+
+<p>Doctor Weldon was in her private office. Into this, Marshall conducted
+the callers. Hester shook hands in silence, and then sank into the
+nearest chair. For the first time in her life, her tongue refused to
+work as it should. It felt now as though it were glued to the roof of
+her mouth. She listened to the conversation between Doctor Weldon and
+Debby, but was not able to grasp what it meant.</p>
+
+<p>Then Debby arose to depart. Marshall was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> sent in search of a hall-girl
+to conduct Miss Hester Palmer Alden to Room Sixty-two. Then Hester
+realized that she and Debby must part.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll go with you to the door, Aunt Debby," she said. No further word
+was said until they stood on the steps and Debby turned for a farewell
+embrace. The tears were very close to Hester's eyes; but she forced them
+back, determined that she would not vex her Aunt Debby by a show of
+feeling.</p>
+
+<p>Debby put her arms about Hester, kissed her warmly and said, "Be a good
+girl, Hester and do as the teachers tell you."</p>
+
+<p>Such had been her words ten years before when she had taken her into the
+primary grade and left her in Miss Carns's care. Hester answered meekly
+now as then, "Yes, Aunt Debby."</p>
+
+<p>Debby went down the winding path. Once she glanced back. Hester was
+standing erect with her head thrown proudly back. It was as though she
+were declaring, "You may kill me, but I shall not cry."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The haughty proud turn of the head! Where had Debby seen that before?
+The experiences of the day rushed over her like a flood. Hester's poise
+and turn of the head were like that of the sweet-faced woman in the
+carriage.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+
+<p>Miss Loraine, so the hall-teacher informed Hester, would be her
+roommate. Miss Loraine, however, was not at the seminary at present. She
+had come the previous day and attended to business matters, put her room
+in order and had then gone out to the home of her aunt who lived at a
+country place called Valehurst.</p>
+
+<p>This information was given to Hester while she was being conducted to
+her room. The seminary and living-rooms were under one roof. The main
+building was a great rectangular block, containing offices, class rooms,
+dining-hall and chapel. From this extended an east dormitory, and one on
+the west. Each suite of rooms consisted of a bedroom and a small study
+or sitting-room. This was occupied by two students. Number Sixty-two
+which Hester was to occupy with Helen Loraine was on the second floor
+just where the dormitory<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> joined the main building. It overlooked the
+front campus and was considered one of the most desirable rooms in the
+school.</p>
+
+<p>Hester, being new to the ways of boarding-school life did not realize
+how fortunate she was in securing so fine a location. Helen Loraine had
+been a seminary girl for two years and knew the "ropes." The previous
+spring, she had put in an application for Number Sixty-two. She had come
+down several days before the opening of school to take possession,
+feeling sure that if she was once placed there, no misunderstanding
+would arise. There had been several instances at Dickinson, where girls
+had moved in their trunks and took possession before the rightful
+occupant of the room appeared.</p>
+
+<p>The hall-teacher escorted Hester to the door and then left her. She
+found that the sitting-room lacked the bareness of dormitory rooms.
+Helen had unpacked her trunk and converted it, by means of a gay cover
+and cushions into a cosy corner. The study table held a few books and a
+candle with a shade. Across one end of the room, gay ribbons had been
+stretched across<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> the wall. These were filled with photographs. The
+second study table held a great number of posters. On top of these,
+Hester found a note addressed to herself.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Roommate-to-be</span>: I have put up enough belongings to
+hold the fort until you arrive. I did not like to do more
+until you came. I was afraid you might not like my style of
+decoration. I shall be back within a day or so. Meanwhile
+make yourself comfortable and do not get homesick.</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Helen Vail Loraine</span>."</p></div>
+
+<p>Hester read the note several times. It was a thoughtful, kind act for
+Miss Loraine to leave the note. Hester was already experiencing the
+first tinge of homesickness; but she had no intention of giving way to
+her feelings. She could do just as Helen had done. She would keep so
+busy that she could not even think of Aunt Debby and Miss Richards
+sitting down together at their evening meal.</p>
+
+<p>She unpacked her trunk and put her clothes in order in the closet and
+drawers. Helen had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> rigidly observed the old time custom of the hall and
+had stretched a blue ribbon from hook to hook, this portioning off equal
+space for herself and roommate.</p>
+
+<p>Hester heard the ten-minute bell ring, but being unused to the ways of
+school, did not know its meaning. She opened the door leading from the
+sitting-room into the hall. She paused a moment to ascertain the reason
+for the bell's ringing. A murmur of voices came from the several rooms
+below. They were beautifully modulated with the intonation of those who
+have been trained to speak carefully.</p>
+
+<p>"Really, I think you are mistaken, Mame. The Fraulein told me that Helen
+had gone to her aunt and would not return until Monday."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not mistaken. Do you think that I do not know Helen Loraine when I
+roomed with her two terms?" This voice had in it a touch of petulant
+decision, as though the speaker was vexed because the responsibility of
+settling all pertinent matters devolved upon her.</p>
+
+<p>"I saw her come across the campus," the speaker continued. "A lady was
+with her; but they went into the private office and remained<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> ever so
+long. I would have waited had not Miss Burkham come along and informed
+me that a public hallway was not the proper place for a young lady."</p>
+
+<p>Hester heard the words and felt the sudden touch of ironical humor in
+them; but she did not know of the smile which passed over the group in
+the room below; neither did she know Miss Burkham.</p>
+
+<p>"I saw her," a third voice took up the conversation. It was a ringing,
+clear, happy voice as though the speaker had always lived in the
+sunshine, and her voice had partaken of its rippling notes. "I saw her
+when she crossed the campus, and was sure it was Helen. I was just about
+to run out and give her a hug&mdash;Helen is the dearest girl in the
+world&mdash;when I saw I was mistaken. She isn't nearly so tall as Helen and
+she doesn't wear her hair in a bun as Helen does. She was an awfully
+sweet-looking thing, though, and looked for all the world like Helen."</p>
+
+<p>"There's a new girl in Sixty-two. She went in there." The voice was
+deliberately low and steady. It was as though the owner had grown<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> weary
+of life, but meant to live it down if she could. "Perhaps she may be
+Helen's sister, who knows?" The tone of voice would have influenced a
+stranger to believe that being sister to Helen Loraine, was a dire
+calamity.</p>
+
+<p>A murmur of amusement rippled over the group. "Sara Summerson, do arouse
+yourself. Life is worth living, and examinations are months away."</p>
+
+<p>"It will be all the same to me. It will be this term as it was last. I
+shall not have time to get out my lessons. When I wasn't getting a drink
+for Erma, I was driving my roommate in from the corridor and getting her
+down to work. When I thought I could get out my 'Unter Linden,' Miss
+Laird would call me to button her waist. If I ever am principal of a
+seminary, I'll have a law passed making it criminal for a teacher to
+wear a dress buttoned in the back. It's bound to distract the attention
+of the pupils from their books." The slow, sad monotone never varied.
+The hearers laughed. A bell rang and there was a sound of a general
+uprising.</p>
+
+<p>Hester, conscious for the first time that she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> had been listening,
+turned into her room and closed the door. She heard the sound of passing
+footsteps, the murmur of voices, and then all grew still.</p>
+
+<p>Alone in the dormitory! It sounded to her as fearful as alone in the
+desert. But Hester had not been trained by Debby Alden without effect.
+She had not the least intention of sitting down and giving way to her
+homesick feeling. The fear that she might give way, aroused her. She
+grew antagonistic with herself. There was some unpacking yet to be done
+and Hester flew at it as though her life depended on having it done a
+certain time and in regular fashion.</p>
+
+<p>The little old-fashioned brooch which her Aunt Debby had given her was
+in a tiny box by itself. Hester took it out and examined it carefully.
+The little bit of cut glass in the center attracted her strongly. In the
+sunlight it gleamed like fire. In the shadow it showed a pale yellow
+tinge like the petal of a faded yellow rose.</p>
+
+<p>Hester had no desire to wear it. It was pleasant, however, to have
+something which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> belonged to one's own people. The Alden home was rich
+in bits of china, linen, and silverware which had been handed down from
+generation to generation; but this little circle of gold, the mat of
+hair and bit of glass, was all that Hester had of which she could say,
+"This belonged to my family."</p>
+
+<p>Helen's note had bade her make herself comfortable. Hester felt
+privileged to inspect the posters, take up the books and to examine the
+photographs.</p>
+
+<p>She was growing hungry. The dinner hour must have passed. Perhaps, the
+bells which she had heard ringing earlier in the evening were to call
+the students to the dining-room. Hester had not understood that, but it
+really made little difference. She would not have ventured alone into
+the dining-hall though she were starving.</p>
+
+<p>The hall-girl from the west dormitory had evidently forgotten her. It
+was the duty of hall-girls to play the part of hostess to new students.
+Fortunately for Hester, there were other persons more thoughtful than
+the hall-girls.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Hester had reached the stage where a good healthy appetite would have
+looked with favor upon crackers and cheese, when a knock came at the
+door. She opened to admit a round-faced, dimple-cheeked girl of sixteen,
+bearing a tray in her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope I am not intruding," she said. It was the same slow droll voice
+which Hester had overheard an hour before in the room below. "I am Sara
+Summerson, one of last year's girls. I did not know until after dinner
+was over that you were here,&mdash;a stranger and starving. The servants are
+in the dining-hall, so I asked Mrs. Hopkins if I might bring your dinner
+here."</p>
+
+<p>"I am so glad!" cried Hester. "Will you come in?"</p>
+
+<p>The invitation was not necessary. The caller was evidently a lady of
+resources, despite the slowness of her speech and movement. She had
+entered, moved back the books from the nearest study table and had set
+down her tray. "I brought you some tea," she said. "Will you not please
+sit down and eat while I fill your cup. We did have cocoa. I did not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>
+know which you like best; but I did know that if one does not like
+cocoa, one cannot bear to taste it."</p>
+
+<p>Hester took her place at the table. Her new acquaintance sat opposite.
+Hester studied her now and came to the conclusion that she could like
+Sara Summerson. She was of Hester's age and physique, but of wholly
+different coloring. Her eyes were gray and calm; while Hester's were
+black and at times snapping. She wore a simple white gown with a Dutch
+neck. She was not at all pretty; but she was good to look at. There was
+a repose and calmness about her that had a good effect on Hester. Her
+droll slow smile gave an expression of humor to her slightest word.</p>
+
+<p>While Hester was eating, the caller made no attempt to converse. When
+Hester had finished her meal, Sara looked across at her, viewed her
+slowly and serenely and said, "I saw you to-day when you came from the
+car. I thought you were Helen Loraine."</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard that several times to-day," said Hester. "Is Helen Loraine
+beautiful?" It was a guileless question and Hester saw no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> compliment to
+herself in the asking. Sara scanned her slowly, deliberately. "If she
+were, I should not tell you. I never spoil people by complimenting
+them&mdash;even though it be over someone's else shoulder. No, she is not
+beautiful. She's more than that. She's distingu&eacute;." She smiled blandly at
+Hester.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid I do not know what you mean. That word is new to me."</p>
+
+<p>"It would not be if you could see it printed. It is no doubt, one of
+your most intimate words. I've given it the French pronunciation. Miss
+Webster declares my French is startling in its originality. You wish to
+know of Helen? She is one of those people that you need to glance at but
+once to know that she is something. She is tall and fine-looking; but
+that is not all. She has an 'air' you know."</p>
+
+<p>Yes; Hester did know. An "air" in this sense meant the same as Debby
+Alden's "stock."</p>
+
+<p>"And I look like her? I was mistaken to-day for her while in a store."</p>
+
+<p>"You look much alike, yet there is a difference. Are you related to
+her?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed. I never heard the name until to-day."</p>
+
+<p>The subject ended there. Sara sat for some time. She told Hester of the
+customs of the hall, the manner of calling and 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.</p>
+
+<p>"It had been known," Sara said, "in that very dormitory that
+freshmen&mdash;girls who had not been in school a month&mdash;had had the audacity
+to invite a senior to their parties. But they never did it a second
+time."</p>
+
+<p>Thus having put Hester on the right track socially, Sara took up her
+tray and departed.</p>
+
+<p>"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.</p>
+
+<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> 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.</p>
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>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;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>
+others were in cap and gown. There were gymnasium costumes and bathing
+suits&mdash;all utilized for the picturing of girls.</p>
+
+<p>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 large and dark.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't she sweet?" said Hester to herself. "She looks as though she
+could eat those children up. She seems so fond of them. Mothers are
+always that way. Mrs. Bowerman looks at Mary as though she was the
+prettiest thing in the world and Mary is homely&mdash;just ordinarily homely,
+and Jane Orr's mother&mdash;." The thought was too much for Hester. Her lips
+quivered, her eyes filled with tears so that she could scarcely
+distinguish the features of the picture which she held in her hand.
+"It's just<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> a way that mothers have," she said again. "I do wish I had
+had a mother!"</p>
+
+<p>Then, as though the thought were unjust to the woman who had taken a
+mother's place to her, she added quickly. "But I wouldn't give up Aunt
+Debby for any mother&mdash;not even Jane Orr's."</p>
+
+<p>She did not realize how long she sat with the picture in her hand,
+studying the mother and children. She was awakened from her reverie by
+the half-hour bell. She was relieved at the sound of it. Now she could
+sleep and forget that she was alone and under a strange roof.</p>
+
+<p>She was very tired and soon fell asleep. An hour passed and in a
+half-conscious way she was aware that the light was on in the
+sitting-room and someone was moving softly about as though not to
+disturb her. She was too far gone in slumber to realize where she was.
+She thought that she was back home and Aunt Debby had slipped in to see
+that she was properly covered. Satisfied that this was so, she fell
+sound asleep. It was broad day when she was awakened by someone bending
+over her.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> She felt the touch of lips on her forehead and the sound of a
+sweet musical voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Wake up, little roommate. The rising-bell rang long ago. You will miss
+breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>Then as Hester opened her eyes wide, she saw bending over her, a tall,
+slender girl enveloped in a soft kimona, and with her dark hair
+streaming like waves over her shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>Beautiful! Hester decided at that instant that she had never seen a
+sweeter face.</p>
+
+<p>"I slipped in last night so that I might not waken you. I am Helen
+Loraine. I hope we shall be good friends, little roommate."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 405px;">
+<img src="images/i_077.jpg" width="405" height="600" alt="&quot;I am Helen Loraine." title="" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;I am Helen Loraine.&quot;&mdash;<i>Page <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.</i></span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+
+<p>After a few days' acquaintance with Helen Loraine, Hester understood
+what Sara meant by saying that Helen had an "air" about her. She was
+always friendly, but never intimate or familiar. The sweep-women in the
+hall were accorded the same courtesy as a teacher. She was sympathetic
+without being gushing. She was just in her treatment of others, generous
+and kind, yet she never allowed herself to be imposed upon. With Hester,
+she divided all things equally; neither giving nor keeping a larger
+part. She was as just to herself as to others. She would have battled
+royally before she would have given up one of her rights. Yet no one
+imposed upon her; for there was that about her which instinctively fixed
+the boundary line. It was not what she did or said, but what she <i>was</i>,
+which caused her to find favor among the students.</p>
+
+<p>During the first week, Helen and Hester spent their spare time in
+arranging their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> rooms. It was really marvelous what could be done with
+cretonne and dotted swiss. Hester had come prepared to do her part in
+the furnishings. Debby Alden, acting upon Miss Richards's suggestion,
+had selected for Hester, fancy covers, cushions and a few pictures.</p>
+
+<p>Hester had not realized the importance of the accessories until the
+"fixing up" fever was apparent. During the first week of school, the
+conversation of the entire dormitory was concerning the arrangement of
+their rooms. There were no calls made. The conventions of the hall
+frowned upon one student calling upon another until that other had time
+to put her rooms in livable condition.</p>
+
+<p>Working together, Helen and Hester soon grew friendly. Before the week
+had ended, Helen knew that Debby Alden was the most remarkable article
+in the aunt line that the age had produced. She knew also that Hester
+had neither sister nor brother; but she did not know that the name Alden
+had been given her by courtesy rather than by right, or that Hester and
+the beloved Aunt Debby held no ties of blood in common.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, Hester learned that Helen was an only child; that she
+had a cousin Robert Vail who was almost as a brother to her; that Robert
+had neither brother nor sister, and that his mother, who was Helen's
+Aunt Harriet, loved Helen and kept her at the Vail home as much as
+possible.</p>
+
+<p>"You would like Aunt Harriet," said Helen in one of the confidences. It
+was Friday evening. The study hour had been short. The girls in kimonas
+and with their hair in braids, sat in their sitting-room. As they
+talked, they gave satisfied admiring glances about the room.</p>
+
+<p>"Aunt Harriet is only forty, yet her hair is white. She had nervous
+trouble and brain fever that caused her to become gray; but in other
+ways she is like a girl. She is most unselfish. The girls in school love
+her. She understands what girls like and is always doing something nice
+for them. I cannot explain to you in what way she is so attractive. When
+you meet her, you'll understand just how she is."</p>
+
+<p>"I may never meet her," said practical Hester.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You will if you remain at Dickinson. When she is at her home, she comes
+to see me very often. Her country home, Valehurst, is back on the hills,
+about three miles from here. It is a charming place. You have noticed
+how the road gradually rises from Susquehanna Avenue. It ends in a
+little plateau and there Aunt Harriet's home stands."</p>
+
+<p>"Her country home? Doesn't she always live there?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, uncle has business which keeps him in the city a great part of the
+time. He must be there during the winter. Generally, the family stay at
+Valehurst until the last of September. Then Aunt Harriet drives or
+motors in each week to see me. She likes her horses best, because they
+are alive. She is very fond of animals and was a fine horsewoman when
+she was younger. She always takes me for a ride, and best of all, takes
+my roommate with me."</p>
+
+<p>"But she does not know me," Hester was tremblingly expectant. At home,
+automobiles were rare, and Hester knew no more of them than the smell of
+the gasoline. To ride in an automobile would be a joy unspeakable. If
+it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> should chance that Mrs. Vail would take her, she would write and
+tell Jane Orr about it and describe the sensations that went with the
+ride.</p>
+
+<p>"But she will know you. She makes a point of knowing all my friends. I
+know just what she will say the instant she comes into this room. She
+has a proud way with her. She carries herself very straight and holds
+her head high." Helen arose and moving toward the door, showed to Hester
+the grand manner of her Aunt Harriet.</p>
+
+<p>"She will say," continued Helen, "'I am very glad to see you, Helen. I
+miss you very much. Have you everything you need for your room and your
+wardrobe? If you haven't, make out a list and I shall see that you are
+provided for, and your roommate, dear. I hope you like her. I should
+like to meet her.'"</p>
+
+<p>Helen came back to her easy chair. She laughed softly as she leaned
+back. "And then you'll be brought in and her heart will warm to you. It
+always does to every girl she meets, and it will to you. Do you know
+what you will do, Hester Palmer Alden?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, about that time, I'll be so embarrassed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> that I shall not be able
+to say a word. If your aunt is haughty and proud, I shall be afraid."</p>
+
+<p>"But she is not that kind of proud. I know what you'll do. You'll do
+just what every girl has done. You'll fall heels over head in love with
+her and before she goes, you'll be ready to declare that she's the
+dearest woman in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"Except Aunt Debby," said Hester with dignity.</p>
+
+<p>"Hester, will you light the alchohol lamp. Let us have a cup of cocoa
+before we go to bed. You set the chafing-dish boiling while I look for
+Aunt Harriet's picture."</p>
+
+<p>Helen began her search among the pictures which had been heaped in a
+basket; for after grave consideration, she and Hester had decided that
+photographs ranged about the wall were out-of-date and not at all in
+harmony with the other fittings of their rooms.</p>
+
+<p>Hester lighted the alchohol burner; suspended the kettle and brought
+forth the cups. This was one of the side-issues of school life on which
+she had not counted. She had been anticipating successive days of hard
+study and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> recitations. Having never experienced it, she could not dream
+of the little social bits which crept in as easy and naturally as they
+did at home; the half hour of confidential chat, the lunches, the visits
+into the rooms of the other girls, the walks and rides; the gymnasium
+stunts and the dances where the tall girls lead.</p>
+
+<p>The kettle was boiling before Helen found the picture.</p>
+
+<p>"Here it is!" she cried triumphantly. "It is really soiled for I have
+kept it out for two or three years. This does not look as Aunt Harriet
+does now. It was taken a long time ago." As she talked she held out the
+card to Hester.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, that is the picture I liked so well. When you were not here&mdash;that
+first evening I was alone, I looked over your pictures. What a sweet
+face she has and what dear little children! Is that little boy your
+cousin Robert?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but he does not look like that now. When I wish to tease him, I
+show him this picture. He thinks it is horrid&mdash;perfectly horrid&mdash;though
+the word he uses is 'beastly.' He declares if he could find the man who
+took such<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> a picture he'd have him in jail&mdash;or have his life."</p>
+
+<p>"What for?" asked Hester.</p>
+
+<p>"Simply for putting out such a picture. Rob says it is libel&mdash;pure and
+simple, to say he ever looked like that."</p>
+
+<p>"I think it is lovely," said Hester. "Is the baby you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; that is Aunt Harriet's little girl. I am a year older than she."</p>
+
+<p>Hester studied the picture attentively. While she did so, her mind
+reviewed the remarks Helen had made in regard to the Vail family. There
+were statements at variance.</p>
+
+<p>"You said Robert had no sisters or brothers," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"He hasn't," was the reply. "They did&mdash;that is&mdash;" Helen was visibly
+embarrassed. She could not equivocate, neither could she go into details
+of a family history. She hesitated a moment and said, "Little Dorothy
+was not with them long&mdash;just a year."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor little baby. It must be dreadful to die when you are little. You
+miss so much. If I had died when I was little, I should have been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> sorry
+all the time thinking about what I had missed."</p>
+
+<p>Hester's new logic caused her not to notice that Helen had made no
+affirmation in regard to the death of the child.</p>
+
+<p>"Little Dorothy," was what Hester called her. From that time on, at odd
+moments, Hester introduced the subject of "little Dorothy," yet never
+became aware that the subject was not a pleasing one to Helen who never
+encouraged or took part in it.</p>
+
+<p>Taking the card, Helen slipped it into the basket.</p>
+
+<p>"Is your cocoa ready, Hester? I am almost famished. I never eat veal, so
+Friday evenings I go hungry. Friday is always veal day at school."</p>
+
+<p>"I was so interested in the picture that I forgot about the cocoa." She
+hurried to the alcohol lamp.</p>
+
+<p>"It is burnt out. It really did not have much in it. I should have
+filled it, I suppose. But I am not accustomed to cooking in this way.
+The water is boiling."</p>
+
+<p>She measured the cocoa and cream into the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> cups and poured the boiling
+water from the kettle upon it.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish your Aunt Harriet would come to see you to-morrow," continued
+Hester. "I liked her picture when I first saw it. I know that I should
+like her almost as much as I do Aunt Debby. Do you think that she will
+come to-morrow?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, not to-morrow. She went away last week. She did not expect to go,
+but she heard something which caused her to go to Canada. Poor Aunt
+Harriet!"</p>
+
+<p>The last words surprised Hester. She could see no just cause for the use
+of that word "poor," in connection with Mrs. Vail. To Hester's mind, a
+woman with a city and country home, automobiles, horses, and servants in
+livery was far from being poor.</p>
+
+<p>The week had been so filled with new experiences that Hester had been
+from her room only for recitations, meals and the required walk about
+the campus. She had met a number of the girls, but with the exception of
+Helen and Sara, could not remember the name of any.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll never know one girl from another.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> They all look alike to me," she
+said to Sara one day.</p>
+
+<p>"Not when you know them. You'll know Renee&mdash;" She stopped in time. She
+was not naturally critical. To express her opinion to Hester concerning
+the girls, was not fair.</p>
+
+<p>"We are all different," she continued slowly. "All with different
+virtues and faults. To be perfectly candid, I'm the only really fine one
+in the set."</p>
+
+<p>They had been walking arm in arm up and down the corridor. As they came
+to the rear door of the dormitory, Sara paused. "More notices, I see.
+Come, Hester, we must know the worst at once. Here is where our dear
+Miss Burkham makes known her by-laws."</p>
+
+<p>For the first time, Hester observed the white cards stuck along the edge
+of the door. Pausing before them, she read aloud.</p>
+
+<p>"The young ladies will not make use of this entrance except to gain
+admittance to the gymnasium. On all other occasions, the front dormitory
+door must be used."</p>
+
+<p>Then Sara explained. "Miss Burkham does not approve of visits at rear
+doors. When the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> girls have on the gym suits, they are not permitted to
+go to the front of the building. If you go out this door, you can enter
+the gymnasium without attracting undue attention."</p>
+
+<p>Sara smiled. Undue attention was Miss Burkham's bugbear. She was always
+endeavoring to instill into the minds of her charges, that a lady never
+attracts undue attention. The word had been in use so frequently that it
+had become a by-word among the students.</p>
+
+<p>"The next card is what makes my mouth water," continued Sara who had
+been reading silently.</p>
+
+<p>"Beginning with the first week of the fall term, the ice-cream man will
+keep to the front side of the east wing. Plates will be put in their
+usual place for Belva to take care of."</p>
+
+<p>"Basket-ball team Number one&mdash;known as the Invincibles will hold a
+business meeting at 10:30 Saturday morning in the gymnasium."</p>
+
+<p>This last notice was signed, "Helen Loraine, Captain."</p>
+
+<p>"She never told me," cried Hester. "I never suspected that she was
+interested."</p>
+
+<p>"Helen never tells anything about herself,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> said Sara. "Sometimes I
+grow quite exasperated about her reticence. She has been on the team
+ever since she was a student here. She played well before she came. Her
+cousin, Rob Vail, was a captain when he was in school and he taught her
+all the tricks of the game."</p>
+
+<p>Hester had no words to express herself. Basket-ball! It was enough to
+send the color to her cheeks. She had seen the boys in the high-school
+play. At home, girls did not indulge in such games. It might be that she
+herself, Hester Alden, could learn to play and be put on one of those
+teams. The thought brightened her cheeks and sent the blood through her
+veins with excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"Who teaches you? How many teams have you, and how can you get on one?
+Does it take long to learn to play?"</p>
+
+<p>Sara looked at her. Sara was deliberate. Her expression now was one of
+sad surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you often talk as fast as that?" she asked. "And do you expect your
+friends to answer with the same velocity? If you do, Hester Alden, never
+come to me with your questions."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Hester laughed. "I always talk fast when I get excited. The words pop
+from my mouth like pop-corn over a hot fire."</p>
+
+<p>"Give me time and I'll answer your questions. Our crack team is the
+Invincibles. They are the only one we allow to play the tournament games
+with outside teams. They play with the girls from the high school, the
+Normal Training School and, with some of the seminary teams. I really do
+not remember how many games were scheduled last year. They have never
+allowed me to play. I'm too&mdash;. Helen Loraine is good enough to say
+'<i>deliberate</i>.' The other girls call it '<i>slow</i>.'</p>
+
+<p>"Then of course there must be a scrub team for the Invincibles to battle
+against. You must play scrub before you can hope to become an
+Invincible. Then the freshies and juniors have substitute teams. They
+practice with each other and fill up on the other teams as they are
+needed."</p>
+
+<p>"I think I could learn to play," said Hester. "I am not&mdash;not very
+deliberate."</p>
+
+<p>"I should say not, if you fly at a ball in the same way you talk. You
+might get on a substitute<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> team. Miss Watson, the physical-culture
+teacher, will hold a meeting soon. The first week of school is generally
+so busy that the gymnasium work is not begun.</p>
+
+<p>"But next week, she will meet the girls and make arrangements for the
+work on the teams and in the gym. If I were you and really wished to
+play, I'd speak to Helen Loraine. She'll get you on if anyone can. You
+need a friend at court, for there are always more applications than
+there are places or times for practice.</p>
+
+<p>"We must turn back. Miss Burkham would campus us, if we were to go out
+at this door." Sara turned and arm in arm, the girls moved toward the
+front entrance. "Listen, do you hear that melodious bell? That is
+Sykes's cow-bell. Come, and I'll treat you."</p>
+
+<p>Hester followed as Sara lead the way from the front dormitory door out
+on to the campus. As they passed the end room, the sound of voices in
+conversation came to them.</p>
+
+<p>"Can you let me have some perfume, Erma, and a fine handkerchief? I
+neglected to put mine in the laundry."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Help yourself," was the reply.</p>
+
+<p>Sara smiled. "Erma Thomas is easily worked. If she does not take a firm
+stand, she'll keep Renee in perfume and other extras for the entire
+year."</p>
+
+<p>Just then the door opened and Renee Loveland came out. She was a tall,
+handsome girl, with the bearing of a princess. She bore in her hands a
+bottle of perfume and two dainty handkerchiefs.</p>
+
+<p>The campus sloped naturally toward the public road; yet it was several
+feet higher. The boundary had been made definite by a low cement coping.
+On this, sat several girls, among which was Berenice Smith. Across the
+road was an ice-cream wagon, surrounded by a score of girls with their
+purses in their hands. The ice-cream man was measuring cream into small
+wooden butter-plates.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's the way we do," said Sara as Hester looked dubiously about in
+search of means with which she might dispose of her cream.</p>
+
+<p>"This is the way." Sara deftly broke off a bit of the dish where it
+curved upward. "These make the best spoons in the world,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> and one never
+need bother keeping them in order."</p>
+
+<p>Soon walking by two's and three's, across the campus, moved the girls,
+each bearing in her hand her wooden dish with ice-cream.</p>
+
+<p>Berenice sat alone on the coping. Hester Alden was not a reader of faces
+and could give no reasons for her pet likes and dislikes. She
+instinctively did not like Berenice, although the acquaintance had gone
+no further than a passing word. Berenice was dark, with coloring which
+inclined to swarthiness; her brow was low, and her eyes small and deeply
+set. She made an effort to be pleasant and invariably made flattering
+remarks to those with whom she conversed. As the girls approached, she
+held out her purse toward Sara.</p>
+
+<p>"Be good and bring me a chocolate and peach cream," she said. "I am as
+far as I am allowed to go."</p>
+
+<p>Taking the purse, Sara performed the commission and returned.</p>
+
+<p>"For how long?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Two weeks. One week is almost over."</p>
+
+<p>This was all Greek to Hester. She looked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> from one to the other; but
+they, taking it for granted that all the school world understood,
+offered neither explanation nor information.</p>
+
+<p>As they crossed the tan-bark, Mame Cross met them. She looked like a
+fashion-plate in a tailored gown and handsome hat.</p>
+
+<p>"I've had permission to go down town," she said. "Do you want me to get
+anything for you?" The question was put to Sara.</p>
+
+<p>"We're out of alcohol. You'd better order some."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you know that Berenice is campused for two weeks? She made fudge
+Monday evening after the study bell rang. Miss Burkham discovered it at
+once. Anyone passing through the hall could smell fudge cooking."</p>
+
+<p>"It seems strange that Miss Burkham should campus her for that. We made
+fudge. It was the first night and no one is expected to observe study
+hours during the first evening."</p>
+
+<p>"But Berenice lied. You know Miss Burkham will not tolerate deception.
+It was not making fudge but the deception that caused the punishment."</p>
+
+<p>Mame moved away. She would have been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> a beautiful girl, had she not
+looked bored and unhappy.</p>
+
+<p>"You're new suit is beautiful, Mame," said Sara over her shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think so? I simply cannot bear it. I never have anything like
+other girls."</p>
+
+<p>"That is Maine's old cry," said Sara when she was beyond hearing. "She
+is the best-dressed girl in school and she has a father who is devoted
+to her. She has everything in the world to make her happy, but she's
+always complaining. Now, Erma is different. She's perfectly satisfied.
+Every dress she owns is a perfect love of a dress."</p>
+
+<p>Hester had said very little during this hour with Sara; but she had
+learned a great deal. There had been no guile or envy in Sara's frank
+expression of the virtues and faults of her friends; and not for an
+instant did she think she was making an error or stepping over the
+border line of kindliness when she told Hester all she knew of those
+students.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+
+<p>Hester was not a girl to condescend to subterfuge to gain a point. She
+was often frank to painfulness. To her mind when one wished a favor, the
+only way was to speak directly and ask for it. She was neither politic
+nor tactful. She had decided that basket-ball was the one game that was
+really worth playing. Tennis was old and did not appeal to her. She and
+Jane Orr had played tennis ever since they had been old enough to hold a
+racquet. But basket-ball! The thought of it sent the blood coursing
+through her veins.</p>
+
+<p>At the first opportunity, she spoke to Helen. She went to the subject
+directly like a bullet to the bull's eye.</p>
+
+<p>"Sara Summerson told me you were captain of the first team and that you
+had a good bit of influence in getting the girls on the other teams. I
+would like to play and I wish you would put me on. Will you?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I cannot put you on the first or even the scrub. I must pick from the
+substitute teams to fill any vacancy. I have nothing at all to do with
+the sub. The physical instructor does that, and of course picks out the
+girls whom she thinks will be able to play the game. But I'll speak to
+her about you."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you would," said Hester. "I'm <i>fairly</i> aching to get into a
+game."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll be <i>completely</i> aching after your first practice," said Helen.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll soon get over it. My muscles were sore for days when I tried to
+skate, but I didn't mind."</p>
+
+<p>The first gymnasium meeting for new students was held Monday afternoon
+and Hester was first girl in the room. Helen had promised to go with her
+to see that she met Miss Watson but Helen was deliberate and Hester
+impatient. So Hester sat alone in the gymnasium for half an hour before
+any one appeared.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Watson was a practical worker. Before many minutes had passed, she
+had the students enrolled, the classes organized and the time appointed
+for meetings. Having dispatched<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> the regular routine work, she began the
+organization of squads for tennis and basket-ball. These were primarily
+to train the girls for work in the first teams which played the
+tournament games with other schools.</p>
+
+<p>Before she began her arrangements, Helen Loraine spoke with her. The
+conversation could not be heard, but Miss Watson looked toward Hester,
+smiled and nodded in affirmation. A few minutes later, she read the
+names. Among the freshmen substitutes were Hester's and Berenice's
+names.</p>
+
+<p>"But Berenice played last year," whispered someone near Hester. "She
+plays a good game, too. Why didn't Miss Watson put her first or scrub?"</p>
+
+<p>The reply came but too low for Hester's ears. Helen was waiting in the
+corridor when Hester came out. "I know; Miss Watson said she would put
+you on. You'll have a good place for passing. You know the game from
+observation. But if I were you, I'd read the rules again and again. If
+you have them fairly fixed in your mind you are not so apt to make a
+foul play. Do your best, and you may work up to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> one of the other teams
+before long. Erma Thomas may not come back after the first of the year.
+That will leave one place for a substitute. She plays right guard. She's
+one of the finest passers we've had, but she gets rattled if she tries
+to make a goal. She's too nervous to play when she is conscious that any
+one is looking at her."</p>
+
+<p>Hester was confident that she would not lose her head if the opportunity
+to make a goal came to her. Following Helen's instructions, she studied
+the book of rules. She was early at the first practice. Miss Watson gave
+the positions; Helen was referee. Hester was given the place of right
+guard.</p>
+
+<p>"Keep your eyes open," said Helen. "I would give a good bit if you could
+make a play to put you on the first team."</p>
+
+<p>Berenice was left guard. A moment before the game was called, she came
+up to Hester and spoke low that the others might not hear. "Helen
+Loraine knows the game, but there's a whole lot of things she never
+sees. Louise Reed is your opponent. She's not at all a suspicious girl.
+You see to it that we win.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> They always pick substitutes from the team
+which wins."</p>
+
+<p>Hester knew little of the subtleties of human nature, and consequently
+could not grasp the full import of the remark Berenice had made.</p>
+
+<p>Renee Loveland and Josephine Moore were captains. To Hester it seemed
+like an hour of intense excitement before the ball was in the air and
+Renee had sent it forward toward her.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't hold it&mdash;don't hold it," was the one thought in Hester's mind,
+for that rule in particular, had made a peculiar impression upon her.
+She was naturally a quick actor. Now the ball was scarcely within her
+clutches until it was out again across the room to Berenice. Hester
+rushed toward the goal, just as Berenice, jerking under the arm of her
+opponent, passed the ball back to Hester. Again Hester deftly returned
+it; making a backward movement just as Louise was about to cover her.
+Again Berenice deftly caught it and dribbled for a yard or more. They
+were near enough to the basket for a goal; but Berenice's opponent
+covered her. The ball went flying direct across the cage. Louise made a
+dash; Hester sprang forward and covered her. In the excitement of the
+play, Hester had put forward two hands. Just as quickly she remembered
+and swung her right arm about Louise, while with her left hand, she
+tossed the ball straight into Renee's clutch. Renee, who knew the game
+and played it well, did not lose her presence of mind. Like a flash, she
+gave a forward leap and sent the ball to goal. But while it curved
+downward in the air, the whistle of the referee was heard.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 409px;">
+<img src="images/i_103.jpg" width="409" height="600" alt="Again Hester deftly returned it.&mdash;Page 92." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Again Hester deftly returned it.&mdash;<i>Page <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</i></span>
+</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Foul on the freshmen," she cried. "Right guard used two hands to
+cover."</p>
+
+<p>"I think you are mistaken," cried Berenice. "I wasn't playing. Hester
+Alden's arm was raised, but it did not touch her opponent."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I did!" cried Hester. "I touched her and then remembered."</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't know. It must have been a very slight touch," said Louise.</p>
+
+<p>"We've scored," cried Berenice.</p>
+
+<p>"I am refereeing the game. Foul on the freshmen." Determination shone in
+Helen's eyes as she gave Berenice a look that would have subdued a
+sensitive person. Turning<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> about, Hester tossed the ball to Louise who
+made a goal from the foul of the freshmen team. The ball went back to
+center and the game again was on.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of the first half, the score stood six to eight in favor of
+the sophomores.</p>
+
+<p>Berenice came up to Hester while she was struggling into her sweater.
+"You see how it is," she whispered. Her eyes were snapping with anger
+and her voice fairly hissed. "You see what a little prude like you can
+do. If you would have sustained me, Renee's goal would have counted us
+two, and Louise would have had no chance to make a goal or foul. It
+would have been 8 to 7 in our favor."</p>
+
+<p>"But I really did touch," said Hester. "It was a foul, all right. I
+suppose I should have remembered in time; but this is my first game, and
+there's a lot to learn."</p>
+
+<p>"There's something that you will never learn," was the retort and
+Berenice turned and walked away.</p>
+
+<p>Hester did not grasp all that Berenice wished to convey. She believed
+the girl was vexed because of the score and attributed Berenice's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> anger
+to righteous indignation at bad playing. Helen came up before the
+beginning of the second half. "What about playing this, Hester?" she
+asked. "You did some hard playing for a new girl. Do you think you can
+stand it for a second half? You'll be stiff to-morrow. I'll ask Renee to
+have Edna Bucher substitute for you."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd rather finish, myself," cried Hester. "Why, I wouldn't stop now for
+worlds!"</p>
+
+<p>"Your own sore muscles be upon yourself then, little roommate," said
+Helen smiling. "I have warned you. All that is left for me is to offer
+the use of my witch-hazel and arnica."</p>
+
+<p>"I will not have Edna Bucher substitute," cried Renee coming up. "I am
+glad Hester has grit enough to keep to it. This evening we must make a
+score."</p>
+
+<p>"And to-morrow there will be wailing and groaning and rubbing of
+muscles," said Helen. The ten minutes was up. Helen moved toward the
+center of the cage.</p>
+
+<p>During the second half, Hester had no active work. She guarded Louise
+and was careful not to make another foul move. Berenice was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> an active
+player, getting so interested in the game that she forgot her special
+work. She never played into another's hand. Although Renee was the
+champion at throwing goals, Berenice risked the score rather than give
+the play to the center. She appeared determined that Hester should not
+come within touch of the ball, and she moved like a flash of light,
+hither and thither, across the cage, seeming to be everywhere at once.</p>
+
+<p>Helen watched the game closely. She was an impartial referee; her one
+desire being to play a fair game. She was aware of Berenice's playing at
+cross purposes and watched her closely. At last she called a foul.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see why," cried Berenice. Her little beady eyes snapped as she
+approached Helen and looked defiantly up at her.</p>
+
+<p>"Two-hand dribble&mdash;the second time you have done the same thing. The
+first I let pass unnoticed just&mdash;to give you time."</p>
+
+<p>"I positively did not two-hand the ball. If that is a foul, I&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I am a referee. Get out of the game. Edna Bucher is called to
+substitute."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I will not&mdash;" began Berenice.</p>
+
+<p>"Get out of the game within a minute or you shall be penalized for all
+the games to follow." There was no disputing Helen. Her manner was calm
+and her voice low, but authority was in her bearing. She stood ready to
+give the signal to play; but before she put the whistle to her lips, she
+said quietly, "While I am managing, we'll play an honest game or we will
+not play at all."</p>
+
+<p>The girls, except Berenice, cheered and clapped. She was making her way
+from the gymnasium. Her heart was filled with anger and a scowl was on
+her face. How she hated Helen Loraine! It was not the first time Helen
+had criticised her.</p>
+
+<p>"And Hester Alden will be another one just like Helen&mdash;too goody-good to
+live," was her thought. Even after Berenice was being disqualified,
+Hester did not understand fully all that had taken place. It was not
+until they were at the baths, that a full understanding came to her.
+Outside the bath, were the lockers. Sara and Renee had come up and
+paused for a moment.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Will you allow Berenice to play next game?" asked Sara.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Watson must settle that. The captain and referee may disqualify
+for one game; but to make it permanent penalizing, the matter must be
+brought before Miss Watson. It is a very difficult matter to explain.
+The best way would be to have Miss Watson referee for one or two games.
+Then she would grasp the subtleties of the situation."</p>
+
+<p>They passed on. When they were almost beyond hearing, Renee's voice
+sounded loud and clear.</p>
+
+<p>"Sara, I do wish you'd let me wear your tan shoes down town to-morrow
+evening. I have permission to go, and I wish to wear my brown suit, but
+I have no tan shoes. I wear the same size as you."</p>
+
+<p>Hester smiled. She had known Renee but ten days, during which time she
+could not remember one instance when the conversation did not conclude
+with "will you lend?"</p>
+
+<p>Hester was deliberate in matters of getting from a gym suit into a
+dress. When she was ready to appear, the corridor leading from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>
+gymnasium baths was deserted except for the sweep-women who were putting
+the finishing touches to their work.</p>
+
+<p>Hester hurried out. As she crossed the campus, she found Josephine Moore
+sitting on the steps leading up to the dormitory. From this place, there
+was an excellent view of the river and the mountain beyond. Josephine
+appeared to be spellbound by it. She was a large girl with quantities of
+brown hair which she drew loosely back and coiled at the back of her
+head. Her eyes were large, lusterless and of a weak and faded blue, but
+Josephine had read novels and knew what speaking eyes meant. She tried
+to make her eyes soulful. She was of a romantic turn of mind, and
+although she would not have prevaricated for the world or done another
+harm by repeating anything to their detriment, she was a dreamer of
+day-dreams. So well did she dream that it was difficult sometimes for
+her to know where truth ended and dreams began.</p>
+
+<p>"Can you not sit a while?" she asked. She moved to make room beside
+herself. Her voice was low and full and had in it a pathetic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> quality
+which was in harmony with her dreams. Hester sat down beside her. Being
+somewhat awed by this magnificent creature with the soulful eyes, Hester
+sat in silence.</p>
+
+<p>"I love this time of day," began Josephine in low rapturous voice. "I
+love the gathering twilight. I think this is the hour when poets must
+sit and dream. The world and work and all horrid things are passing and
+only the tender twilight hangs like a mantle over all." She paused and
+looked at her companion. Hester felt that a reply of some sort was
+expected. She said the first and easiest thing that came to mind. "Yes,
+it is sort of nice."</p>
+
+<p>"'Nice' is scarcely the word. I wish I knew what would exactly express
+the feeling. Sublime, soulful&mdash;" She paused and raised her eyes as
+though to scan the heavens. "I suppose I feel differently from other
+people. They tell me that my singing shows soul. I myself have often
+noticed the difference between myself and other girls. Would you believe
+it? They pass here with laughter and jest. I cannot do that. I always
+pause and look at the trees and river. It seems as though<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> a spell comes
+upon me. I cannot laugh and jest in the midst of such sublime things."</p>
+
+<p>"Is Hester Alden there?" cried a gay voice. "Oh, is that you, Jo?
+Mooning? You had better come in. If you sit on those cold stones, you'll
+take cold and your nose will be red and your eyes watery. You'll not be
+sublime then." The cheer and good-nature in the voice robbed it of
+ill-feeling. Erma laughed as she appeared. No one could take exception
+to anything she said. She was too happy&mdash;too well satisfied with the
+world and the people about her to do anything or say anything in
+bitterness.</p>
+
+<p>Josephine arose slowly as became one of a poetic and soulful
+temperament.</p>
+
+<p>"You are the slowest mortal, Jo. You are wanted up in Philo Hall. You
+haven't fifteen minutes until the first study bell. The girls have been
+looking everywhere for you. You are on the program committee."</p>
+
+<p>"I was carried away&mdash;," began Miss Moore. But Erma had turned her back
+upon the girl. As she was about to speak to Hester, she was diverted
+from her intention by the sound of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> wheels. Both she and Hester turned
+to look as a carriage with a coachman in livery, came from
+porte-cochere, turned down the driveway and passed within a few feet of
+where the girls stood. The carriage passed under an arc light and Erma
+and Hester saw distinctly the features of the woman in the carriage. She
+had a beautiful face, although marked with care. Her hair was white, yet
+her bearing as she sat erect, was that of a young woman.</p>
+
+<p>"What a sweet face!" cried Hester. "That is the carriage that blocked
+our way, the day that Aunt Debby came up to school with me. I remember
+most distinctly."</p>
+
+<p>The occupant of the carriage had not looked in their direction. Even had
+she done so, she could not have distinguished the girls; for they stood
+leaning against the pillars and the moving shadows fell dark upon them.</p>
+
+<p>When the carriage had passed, Erma turned to her companion. "Helen was
+looking for you. I told her if I saw you, I'd tell you to go to your
+room. Helen has had company&mdash;at least I saw someone in her room."</p>
+
+<p>"It may be Aunt Debby," cried Hester. She<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> did not wait to explain. She
+paused not to excuse herself, but went racing down the corridor as fast
+as her feet would carry her. Her heels clattered on the hard wood floors
+and the sound of her labored breathing was audible at a considerable
+distance.</p>
+
+<p>Just as she reached Number Fifteen, the door opened and Hester was taken
+by the arm. This was so unexpected that her first impulse was to jerk
+away, and hurry on. Fortunately a sober second thought overcame the
+impulse.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Alden, is the building burning? Why this haste?" Hester raised her
+eyes to those of the preceptress. Miss Burkham was the acme of all that
+was cultured and elegant. No imagination was strong enough to picture
+her, other than deliberate, low-voiced, serene of countenance. Hester
+who knew more of bluntness than irony, replied fearlessly, "No, there is
+no fire. I wished to get to my room as quickly as possible."</p>
+
+<p>"So I surmised. But I see no necessity for this unladylike haste." Her
+restraining hand was yet upon Hester's shoulder. The girl felt herself
+quivering with the desire to be off down<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> the corridor and up the stairs
+to Number Sixty-two. What if Aunt Debby should really be there waiting
+for her? Her heart beat fast with the thought.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Burkham also felt the quivering of flesh under restraint. She
+delayed Hester yet longer while she made plain to her the unwritten
+by-laws of a lady's conduct.</p>
+
+<p>"No lady races through the halls, in such fashion. It is the manner of a
+tom-boy. You may walk slowly down the corridor. I will stand here to see
+if you comprehend just what I mean by slowly. I trust that I may not be
+compelled to ask you to return in order that I may give you instructions
+in regard to the manner in which a lady walks."</p>
+
+<p>"No, Miss Burkham," replied Hester humbly. She controlled her impatience
+at being thus detained. Miss Burkham released her and Hester moved
+forward as though by well-directed machinery.</p>
+
+<p>On reaching Number Sixty-two, she found Helen standing before her
+dressing-table. She was alone. She turned as Hester entered.</p>
+
+<p>"Little roommate," she said smiling a welcome<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> at Hester. "Little
+roommate, I am vexed with you. I have been sending messengers everywhere
+in the hope of finding you. My dear Aunt Harriet was here and asked for
+you in particular. She waited until the last possible moment. And see
+there."</p>
+
+<p>Helen pointed to a hamper which stood near the doorway. "She has brought
+us fruit, cake, and roasted chickens. No, I did not open the basket.
+Aunt Harriet told me what was there. It is for you as well as for me. I
+know Aunt Harriet, and I know how the basket is arranged. There will be
+a chicken for you and one for me; a box of fudge for you and one for me;
+and so on through the entire menu. Aunt Harriet is very much afraid that
+some girl will have her feelings hurt or feel slighted. Open up the
+basket, Hester. I must take off this waist. The collar hurts me. It
+always was too high. I'll feel more comfortable in a kimona."</p>
+
+<p>She turned to her dressing table. "Aunt Harriet brought me something
+which pleased me. I have an old pin which belonged to mother when she
+was a girl. I thought I had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> lost it, but Aunt Harriet said I left it at
+her home and she brought it with her."</p>
+
+<p>Helen held the pin in her hand while she talked. Then she laid it
+carelessly in a little pin tray on the dresser. It was a pin of unusual
+style, about the size of a dime. The outer band was of a peculiar gold.
+Within this was a yellowish-white stone which reflected the light like a
+flame of fire.</p>
+
+<p>Hester's eyes would have opened wide at the sight of the pin, but she
+did not see it, for her attention was on the hamper she was unpacking.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+
+<p>There was at Dickinson a Doctor Wilbur who had charge of the
+mathematics. He was a man of brilliant mind, sharp tongue, and a poor
+opinion of the mental ability of girls in general. He had been at
+Dickinson two years, not because he loved the class of students, but the
+financial consideration had been the best ever offered to him.</p>
+
+<p>The girls feared him and yet respected him for the power he exercised
+over a class.</p>
+
+<p>He did not hesitate to use sarcastic speech. Scarcely a day passed, but
+some girl came from Class-room C with her feelings deeply wounded.</p>
+
+<p>Hester, who had a way of "speaking up," had borne her share of Doctor
+Wilbur's humor. But she forgot and forgave the instant she left his
+recitation.</p>
+
+<p>One day he had been particularly trying, and the sting of his words had
+lingered. She had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> it in mind to tell Helen of the bitter words Doctor
+Wilbur had hurled at her, simply because she could not explain the
+projection of a perpendicular upon a plane. So far in their school
+life&mdash;two months had passed&mdash;Hester and Helen had spoken to each other
+only of the agreeable things. But now Hester meant to express herself
+and be sympathized with.</p>
+
+<p>But when she reached Sixty-two, she found Edna Bucher awaiting her. Edna
+was tall and slender; long and lank, perhaps would be more nearly her
+description. She was colorless and lifeless. Her one desire seemed to be
+to be ladylike and to go with the best people. In her lexicon, <i>best</i>
+meant those with money or influence. Her hands were always cold, and her
+face expressionless. She posed as being the leader in classes. She was
+literary and musical, if one might believe her own judgment of herself.
+She never played, however, for the practice tired her. When she failed
+to respond to an invitation to recite&mdash;sometimes the invitation was
+quite urgent&mdash;it was not that she was not prepared to recite, but she
+was so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> nervous that she could not control her voice.</p>
+
+<p>"I've been waiting for you for half an hour," she began as Hester
+entered the room. Her tones implied, that although the responsibility be
+on Hester's head, she would be good enough to overlook it.</p>
+
+<p>"Were you?" replied Hester. "You surely knew that the freshies were busy
+until this hour."</p>
+
+<p>"I presume I did so; but it passed entirely from my mind. I was so
+absorbed in my work. I am editor-in-chief of the 'Dickinson Mirror.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," exclaimed Hester. She looked at Miss Bucher again. The glory of
+being editor of the "Mirror" cast a halo about the head of the otherwise
+unattractive girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, the girls selected me. I do not understand why they did. They
+appeared to think I had literary ability. Of course, I do not see that I
+have, but everyone speaks about it."</p>
+
+<p>She had an unpleasant little mannerism of talking through closed teeth
+and but slightly parted lips. In conversation, she used her lips<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> as
+little as possible. It may have been that she wished to keep them from
+wearing out, or perhaps, she considered it unladylike to open her mouth
+more than was absolutely necessary.</p>
+
+<p>"I came to have you help. We always appoint four girls to collect news,
+write special articles and poetry. Of course everything must treat of
+school life. Then, when it is printed&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Printed," cried Hester, her eyes snapping with fire. "Do you really
+have it printed and do the ones who write things have their names in
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly. It is issued four times a year; once during each semester,
+and a special souvenir one for commencement. What do you think you'd
+like to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll write some poetry," said Hester. She had never written any in her
+life, but she had the feeling that she could do it by half trying.</p>
+
+<p>"Poetry, isn't hard," she replied airily to Miss Bucher's look of
+surprise. "Just make out a list of rhymes like this." She took up a
+paper and wrote:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Side<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">wide<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">right<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">might<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">knee<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">me.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"Then you fill them in," she continued. She held the pencil suspended in
+the air. Her brow was puckered with thought. "Of course, it isn't
+supposed to read as sensibly as prose. That is one of the greatest
+differences between them. In poetry one must use imagination and poetic
+license." Then she fell to work upon the paper and wrote steadily and
+laboriously for some minutes. Her eye flashed with triumph. "Listen. Of
+course this is mere rough work. I'll polish up what I write for the
+'Mirror.'</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Imogen was by his side,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">So they wandered far and wide,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The woods and vales stretched left and right,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He loved the girl with all his might,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">So dropping on his bended knee<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He cried, 'Oh, fair one, pity me.'"<br /></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></div></div>
+
+<p>A peal of laughter followed this closing line. It was a merry peal
+without malice or guile. Hester turned. Erma was standing in the
+doorway.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, but that is rich! He dropped on his bended knee. Could he get on
+his knee if it wasn't bended?" She laughed aloud.</p>
+
+<p>"You are so literal!" cried Hester with dignity. "In poetry, one is
+allowed&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Poetry," another merry laugh. "Is that poetry? Take it to Doctor
+Weldon's classes and let her put her seal of approval on it."</p>
+
+<p>Erma had made her way to the door. With a mock courtesy and a sweep of
+her skirts, she vanished. But as she went down the corridor, the girls
+in Sixty-two caught the echo of her laugh and her song, "And dropping on
+his bended knee."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Bucher was a lady who arose to the occasion. She did not give way
+to merriment. Her face was colorless and serene.</p>
+
+<p>"I understand fully, Miss Alden, the point you wish to make. Miss Thomas
+has no literary appreciation." She paused. There is but one thing worse
+in the world than adverse<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> just criticism, and that is praise so faint
+that it is damaging. Miss Bucher paused as though to weigh her words.
+Then she spoke: "Miss Thomas means well enough, but&mdash;well, nature has
+not gifted us all in the same way."</p>
+
+<p>It was fair enough, or seemed to be. Yet Hester felt that intangible
+something to which one cannot respond, because one feels rather than
+knows of its existence.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Bucher arose. She was not given to furbelows. Each line of her
+attire accentuated her angles and height.</p>
+
+<p>"I will go now. I am glad you will help me. Could you have your poem or
+whatever you decide upon ready by Monday?"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall have it ready to give you when we go into chapel. I shall have
+something. Do not fear."</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely had the door closed upon the caller, when Hester was at her
+study-table with pencil and writing-pad. Inspiration had seized her. She
+would write a poem that would be worthy the name. It would appear in the
+"Mirror" with her name below, "Hester Alden." On second thought, decided
+to write<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> it Hester Palmer Alden. The Palmer gave an added dignity to
+her name. How pleased Aunt Debby would be! What a pleasure it would be
+to write! Perhaps in time she might be editor-in-chief. Then when she
+left school&mdash;at that instant a part of Hester Alden which had been
+dormant awoke. The desire for expression came to her. What beautiful
+glorious things she would write&mdash;some day! Just what they would be or
+when she would write them, she knew not. But they were so beautiful that
+the tears came to her eyes as she dreamed of them.</p>
+
+<p>Helen did not come back to her rooms until barely time to dress for
+dinner. She found Hester with her head on the table, and a huge tablet
+before her.</p>
+
+<p>"Sick, little roommate?" asked Helen, bending over her.</p>
+
+<p>"No; I have been writing a poem&mdash;that is, I have begun to write one. I
+have sat here for an hour and all I have written is the first line. It
+was easy."</p>
+
+<p>"First lines usually are," said Helen smiling. In many ways, she was
+more years older<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> than Hester than the calendar gave her credit for.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the first line? May I read it?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Doc Dixon had a Freshman Class.' It begins fairly well; but you will
+startle your leaders with such a sudden burst into facts. Why not lead
+up to the subject and break the news gently?"</p>
+
+<p>"You may all ridicule; but I intend writing a poem. All the ridicule you
+cast upon me will make me but the more determined."</p>
+
+<p>"I believe that. I have observed that trait on several occasions. You
+make me think of Rob Vail in that way."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall finish after dinner," was Hester's sole comment. "I presume I
+had better prepare for it now. Are you wearing a silk dress?" she asked
+as she turned toward Helen and saw that she was getting into a little
+one-piece suit of checked silk instead of her customary white.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, mother thinks I dress too thinly. If I wear the white I cannot
+wear long sleeves. So I have promised to keep to this dark silk, though
+I do not like it nearly so well."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>She had slipped into her dress and was looking about for her pins and
+rings. "I had a little old pin on my dresser. Did you see anything of
+it, Hester?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed. I never presume to touch anything there without your
+permission."</p>
+
+<p>"I did not mean to suggest that, little roommate. I carelessly let it
+lie there several days ago, and now I cannot find it."</p>
+
+<p>"I have not seen it," said Hester. She spoke quickly and perhaps, with
+unusual curtness. At least it seemed so to Helen, who attributed the
+curtness to Hester's being hurt at being asked such a question. She let
+the subject drop and no further word passed between them until they were
+called to dinner.</p>
+
+<p>When study hour came again, Hester pushed aside her text books and fell
+to writing. The door of the study, during this time, was always open and
+no words were permitted between roommates. Helen, observing that her
+roommate was not working at her lessons, gave her several warning
+glances; but Hester was unaffected. The muse had laid its hands upon her
+and she was helpless in its clutches. She<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> wrote and erased, only to
+rewrite and erase again.</p>
+
+<p>It was not until the study period was over that she raised her head and
+with a smile of triumph read aloud:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Doctor Dixon had a freshman class,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Whose minds were soft like snow.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He tried to teach them geometry,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But he could not make it go.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He scolded them in class one day;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He shocked the entire school.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The tears ran down one sweet girl's face,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When he called her a mule."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>A look of surprise flashed over Helen's face. "Surely Hester, he never
+would do that. He is critical and sarcastic, but surely he is a
+gentleman."</p>
+
+<p>"Do what?" asked Hester. "Why surely he is a gentleman."</p>
+
+<p>"Surely, he never would dare address one of the pupils in that way. A
+mule!"</p>
+
+<p>Hester laughed. "You are taking matters seriously. You must remember
+that this is poetry, and allowance must be made. In poetry, one cannot
+describe matters as they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> are. One cannot be too realistic. One must use
+what fits in. I was compelled to use the word mule because it was the
+only one I could think of which rhymed with school. Now listen to the
+rest, please Helen." She continued reading wholly unconscious that her
+roommate was not in sympathy with her.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"And then they ran to him and asked,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">As he came forth from school,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">'Doctor, dear, which is it best to be,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A driver or the mule?'<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"'The mule has the best of it,' he said,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">'So I'm inclined to think,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">It can be driven to the water's edge,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But it can't be made to drink.'"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"There, don't you think that is fine, Helen? That will appear in the
+next issue of the 'Mirror' with my name at the bottom. Aunt Debby will
+be delighted."</p>
+
+<p>There was no enthusiastic response. Hester waited a moment, then looked
+at her roommate, and again asked, "Don't you think she will be
+delighted? She has never suspected that I was poetic. Indeed, I never
+knew it until Miss Bucher asked me to write this."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"If Aunt Debby is the kind of woman I think she is, I am sure she will
+not be at all pleased." Helen spoke slowly. Then at the look of surprise
+in Hester's eyes, she crossed the room, and sitting down on the arm of
+her roommate's chair drew Hester's head close against her and held her
+thus in a tender protective embrace, while she continued.</p>
+
+<p>"No, little roommate, I do not believe she will be pleased. I am not. It
+is fun&mdash;mere fun, I know. Were you and I the only two to know of it, it
+would do no harm at all. But consider, little roommate, the 'Mirror'
+goes out to all the old students. Hundreds read it. Among them, are many
+just as I who took the matter seriously, without considering that the
+poet was put to straits to find some word to rhyme with school.</p>
+
+<p>"They will think that we have grown lax here. Many will wonder what sort
+of man this Doctor Wilbur is that he dare use such terms in addressing a
+student. Do you see now why I wish this would not appear in the
+'Mirror'?"</p>
+
+<p>"I see why you think it should not. But really people are very foolish
+to cavil over such<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> matters. If I might have my way, I would pay no
+attention to them. I would go my way, do as I please and let such people
+think as they please."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a very independent way of doing, but it is not at all practical.
+We must consider public opinion a great many times. We must hedge
+ourselves about with convention when we would be independent, for always
+there are some minds which put evil construction upon the slightest
+careless act."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you are right," said Hester slowly. Before her faded the dreams
+of greatness. Taking up the paper, she deliberately and slowly tore it
+into pieces and threw them into the wastebasket. She expressed no word
+of regret. She expected no expression of admiration for her fortitude.
+She was no weakling. If she believed a thing were right, she would have
+performed it, regardless of the sacrifice to herself. She was the
+expression of Debby Alden's high ideals and rigid discipline.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll get up earlier than usual to-morrow," said Hester lightly. "I
+promised on my word of honor to have a copy ready for Miss Bucher.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> If I
+may not write poetry, at least I can write personals. Let us go to bed
+now before the retiring bell rings."</p>
+
+<p>A hurried knock came to the door. Before either girl could respond,
+Renee entered. She wore a gay kimona of embroidered silk. Her dark wavy
+hair hung over her shoulders. She looked like a goddess as she paused an
+instant on the threshold. Then advancing, she cried, "Oh, girls, do you
+happen to have any cold cream? I'm out and I do need some particularly
+badly."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I have some." Helen took a small box from the dresser and gave it
+to Renee.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you ever so much." Without further words, Renee went her way.</p>
+
+<p>Hester waited until the sound of her footsteps had died away.</p>
+
+<p>"I was thinking," she began slowly. Her brow was puckered as though she
+were greatly perplexed. "I've been thinking that I never heard Renee say
+anything but 'Will you lend me?' Does she not know anything else?"</p>
+
+<p>"I presume she does, but she has allowed the habit to grow. Each year,
+she grows<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> worse. I fancy by the time she graduates, she will borrow our
+diplomas and essays. It may be that by that time, Renee will have
+particular need of them."</p>
+
+<p>Hester had prepared for bed and was sitting on the edge of her own
+little iron cot waiting until Helen was ready to say good-night.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to remain up some time, little roommate. But you need not
+wait for me." She crossed the room and kissed Hester affectionately.
+Somehow Helen had fallen into the older sister attitude toward her
+roommate. Since the first week of school, Hester had never gone to sleep
+without Helen's kiss warm on her lips. This had never been done after
+the fashion of a sentimental school girl who caresses everything which
+comes in her way. Helen was not demonstrative, and what her lips
+touched, touched strongly her affections.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 435px;">
+<img src="images/i_135.jpg" width="435" height="600" alt="&quot;Oh, girls, do you happen to have any cold cream?&quot;&mdash;Page
+121." title="" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;Oh, girls, do you happen to have any cold cream?&quot;&mdash;<i>Page <a href="#Page_121">121</a></i>.</span>
+</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I must make a thorough search for my pin," she said, going back to her
+dressing-table, to begin the search. "I must not lose it. It is a
+peculiar design. It was once an earring belonging to Grandma Hobart. It
+has her hair woven about it. When Aunt Harriet and mama were
+babies&mdash;they were babies at the same time, you know&mdash;grandma had the
+earrings made into pins. Mama wore this for years, and then gave it to
+me. I should feel bad if I should lose it."</p>
+
+<p>Hester scarcely heard what Helen said. Her mind was busy with thoughts
+of the literary work to be ready before chapel. She was running over in
+her mind all the material at hand which could be worked into personals
+to appear in the "Mirror."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+
+<p>Before the midwinter holidays, the report was the round of the
+dormitories that Hester Alden was playing a good game of basket-ball.
+She was alert and quick. Her passing was particularly good and Helen
+praised her highly. Hester was brimming with enthusiasm. The one fly in
+her cup of ointment was that Aunt Debby could not see her play, for the
+games of the substitute teams were never public. If perseverance and
+whole-hearted desire meant anything in winning out, Hester meant to be
+on the second team. Then she ran the chance of substituting.</p>
+
+<p>Berenice could play the game well, but was inclined to use tricks and
+artifices which generally resulted in a foul being called on her own
+team. Consequently her good playing and dishonesty barely averaged as
+much as the fair dealing of the average player.</p>
+
+<p>Three times each week, the gymnasium work<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> was basket-ball. The day
+before Thanksgiving an extra practice was called because the session in
+school had been shortened.</p>
+
+<p>Berenice and Hester were playing right and left guard. Berenice who had
+never forgiven Hester for her attitude in the first game of the year,
+kept the ball as much as possible to herself even risking the game for
+the sake of annoying Hester.</p>
+
+<p>"You're wasting your time on grand-stand plays," said Renee while the
+referee had called time. "Hester plays well at passing. Give her a show.
+You dribble and dribble and half the time make a foul when you might
+have played into Hester's hand."</p>
+
+<p>Berenice shrugged her shoulders; her bead-like eyes snapped; but she
+made no reply.</p>
+
+<p>While this conversation was going on between them, Erma Thomas had
+hurried up to Hester. "Berenice is determined not to play ball into your
+hands. It's pure jealousy. Do some playing, Hester, and make goals. Play
+ball to me when you wish to pass, and I'll pass it to you for a goal."</p>
+
+<p>Helen put up her whistle and the game was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> resumed. The ball was at
+center with Renee and Maud. Berenice's eyes were alight, and every
+muscle quivering with excitement. Scarcely was the ball in air, before
+it was in her hand, and she was moving toward the goal. Her guard was
+upon her, but by a quick movement, Berenice and the ball slipped under
+the outstretched arm, and by deft movements, came close to goal. Making
+a sudden spurt with the ball in hands, she pitched for a goal. But at
+that instant, the whistle sounded.</p>
+
+<p>"That is the third foul you've made in this game," cried Helen, "and we
+have played scarcely ten minutes." She tossed the ball to the opposing
+team. "Foul on the first subs."</p>
+
+<p>Mame Cross caught the ball and took a position before the goal, but
+Berenice would not accept the decision of the referee.</p>
+
+<p>"Helen has a spite against me. How was I foul there?"</p>
+
+<p>Helen was given no opportunity to answer. Renee, who was just and severe
+at times, came forward.</p>
+
+<p>"Foul, of course, it was. It was evident as could be. You are always
+stirring up a fuss<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> and holding back the game. You are the only one on
+the squad who cannot play an honest game. Leave the cage, and remain
+out. Maude may take your place permanently."</p>
+
+<p>With her own captain against her, there was nothing to be done except to
+obey. Already Maud was within the cage and at her place.</p>
+
+<p>The game continued. Mame pitched a goal from Berenice's foul. With the
+ball again back to center, it was evident that Berenice in spite of her
+brilliant playing, had been a drag on the game. Before this, she had
+been the team and the others were mere fillers-in. Now each took a more
+active part.</p>
+
+<p>Maude was not one who played for her own glory, but to score for the
+team. The ball came to her and she passed it to Hester, and hurried
+forward to receive it on its return. She reached the basket and might
+have made a goal, but she was short while Hester was tall and quick in
+movement. Those considerations came to the girl, and quick as a flash
+she passed the ball to Hester. There was a sudden upward movement of
+Hester's long arms, a slowly curving ball and a final goal. It was the
+first<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> score their team had made since the beginning of the game.</p>
+
+<p>This success was like wine in Hester's veins. The desire to make goals
+came upon her. It seized her like a mania. It was impossible to tell
+whether it were luck or skill. But in the second half of the game,
+Hester pitched a goal from every ball which was passed to her. That
+practice game went down in the history of Dickinson as the one in which
+one player made ten successive goals from the field.</p>
+
+<p>The wealth of the Incas was as nothing to Hester in comparison to the
+congratulations of the girls who crowded upon her at the close of the
+game.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll get on the scrub, sure," cried Erma in her high excited tones.
+"Remember your old friends when you rise to glory."</p>
+
+<p>Their praises were very sweet; but sweetest of all was Helen's quiet
+commendation, when after all the excitement had passed, they were back
+in Sixty-two.</p>
+
+<p>"I never saw a better play. I never knew a girl who learned the game so
+quickly, and I have coached a number during my three years.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> If you do
+as well the next game, I'll substitute you on the scrub team. I have one
+girl there who will never learn. She does no better than she did a year
+ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you suppose I might be called then as substitute on the scheduled
+games," cried Hester.</p>
+
+<p>"If you're the best player. I'll pick only the best. I will not risk a
+game even for friendship's sake&mdash;even for your sake, little roommate."</p>
+
+<p>"I mean to be the best player," said Hester quietly. Helen's calmness
+had always the effect of quieting her in her intense excitement.</p>
+
+<p>But Miss Hester had yet to learn that other powers than one's own
+desire, enter into results.</p>
+
+<p>The first team had played eight games, four having been in their own
+gymnasium and the remainder at different schools. On these trips to the
+seminaries and normals, they were treated royally. Hester could imagine
+nothing finer than being met by carriages, whirled away to dormitories
+where the guest-chambers were at their disposal and later to be
+banqueted.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>During the fall term, Dickinson had retained second place. Helen was
+determined that they should move to first and secure the pennant whose
+value was that of the laurel wreaths of the Olympiads. In order to put
+up the best game possible, Helen attended every skirmish and practice,
+determined that her substitutes should be the best. In addition to her
+regular work this self-imposed task of overlooking the substitutes'
+games, gave her little leisure.</p>
+
+<p>Each day, before dinner and lunch, there was a quarter-hour relaxation
+period. To Helen, this was anything but what the name stood for. The
+loss of her pin troubled her. She was confident that it was somewhere in
+her bedroom. She very distinctly remembered removing it from her stock
+and placing it in the cushion which stood on her dresser. There was a
+possibility of its being knocked off, or being caught in ribbon and
+ties, and so might have been dropped somewhere. She began a systematic
+search. One day, she emptied the drawers in the dresser and examined
+every article there, to be sure that the pin was not clinging to it. She
+peered under and about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> each article of furniture. But no pin appeared.
+While she was on her knees searching the corners of the room and edges
+of the rug, Erma appeared in the doorway. She gave a peal of delight.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you turned Moslem; or is it Mohammed who takes long journeys on
+his knees to do penance? I have passed your door twice and each time I
+find you crawling about on all fours like a Teddy Bear."</p>
+
+<p>"I've lost my pin. I am sick about it."</p>
+
+<p>"I wouldn't be. No pin is worth being even half sick about. Buy yourself
+another, or better yet, Christmas is coming. Throw out a few gentle
+hints to your friends. Tell them you have lost your pin. They would be
+very stupid not to understand that it was their duty to replace it.
+Perhaps more than one will respond as becomes friends. You may have a
+half dozen pins in place of one."</p>
+
+<p>"This cannot be replaced. It has belonged to our family for generations.
+The story is that one of the Loraines who were French, for political
+reasons, left his country and went to Brazil. While there, he discovered
+valuable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> mines. Selecting the finest gems, he returned to France and
+presented them to the king, and was immediately restored to favor. Two
+stones of the collection were pushed aside as not worthy so great a
+ruler. Tourie Loraine kept these for himself and had them made into
+rings. Later the rings were made into earrings. I think that was done by
+my great-grandfather as a gift to his bride. Grandmother had twin
+daughters. Earrings were no longer in style and so the stones were made
+into brooches and set about with her hair. Each little girl was given
+one. My mother gave hers to me. The other which belonged to Aunt Harriet
+disappeared years ago."</p>
+
+<p>Erma laughed with delight. She loved romance either in real life or
+between the pages of a book.</p>
+
+<p>"How perfectly lovely to have such glorious things happen in one's
+family! Nothing like that ever happened in our family. My people did
+nothing more exciting than write charters and fight Indians. I think we
+were very commonplace. It is the French people who have the romantic
+blood. Tell me some more, Helen.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> You have no idea how interesting this
+is."</p>
+
+<p>"There is little more to tell. After the stones had been in our family
+for several generations, it was discovered by the merest accident, that
+they were yellow diamonds and very valuable, on account of their size
+and purity. They were not really yellow, you know, but sometimes
+reflected a peculiar yellow light. We were sorry that we knew the value
+of them."</p>
+
+<p>"Sorry! I should think you would have been delighted. I can imagine
+nothing to be sorry for in finding that what you thought was a pretty
+little stone, was really worth a great deal of money."</p>
+
+<p>"Because if it had been worthless, someone would never have been tempted
+as she was. My Aunt Harriet on one of her visits South years before, had
+found a little colored girl who was mistreated. She brought her North
+and gave her a home. She fed and clothed her and trained her to be an
+excellent servant. When she was able to work, Aunt Harriet paid her
+wages. She learned the value of Aunt Harriet's pins and rings. She
+disappeared and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> the jewels with her. There were a whole lot of
+complications which I cannot go into detail about. But it changed Aunt
+Harriet's whole life. I remember Rosa so well. She was a beautiful girl.
+She did not look like a colored woman. She was scarcely darker than I
+am, and she had the most beautiful eyes and hands."</p>
+
+<p>"And nothing has been heard of her?" Erma was eager to know. She could
+have sat there all day to listen and would have forgone both meals and
+lessons.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing. It was surely strange how such a thing could have happened and
+not be found sometime. It is not an easy matter for a woman to disappear
+and all traces of her be lost."</p>
+
+<p>Hester had not been present during this conversation. As Helen finished,
+her roommate came down the corridor and joined the two girls.</p>
+
+<p>"Helen has been telling me the most thrilling tales from her family
+history. It is worth writing to make a story. Don't you know<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> something,
+Hester? Didn't your family do some wonderful things?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," replied Hester. "The Aldens settled down in one place and remained
+there. As Aunt Debby says, they fulfilled their duty to their church and
+to their neighbors, but nothing happened in their lives which was not
+prosaic."</p>
+
+<p>"But your mother's family," persisted Erma. "Surely there must be
+something romantic on her side of the tree."</p>
+
+<p>Hester smiled at the words. There was a little touch of sadness in her
+smile. She had never spoken to the girls of her people. They knew that
+she was an Alden. The name was well known in the central part of the
+State. They knew that an aunt had reared her. That was all the knowledge
+that came to them. When other girls talked together of what their
+parents and grandparents had done as children and repeated the old-time
+stories, which had been handed down to them as part of their family
+history, Hester Alden had only listened and had taken no part in the
+recital. Now, she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> would have evaded Erma's direct question, but Erma
+was not one who would permit her inquiries to go by the board. She
+repeated it. Hester answered slowly.</p>
+
+<p>"When I was a year old I had neither father nor mother. My mother met a
+horrible death. Aunt Debby took me. She never could talk of my parents,
+so I know little of them. Aunt Debby is mother, father, sister, and
+brother to me."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, forgive me, I did not know. I would not have wounded you for the
+world."</p>
+
+<p>Erma was on her feet. Impulsive, loving and quick to act, she put her
+hands on Hester's shoulders and touched her lips warmly and
+affectionately. "But you have friends. I want to be one, Hester. You
+know I've always liked you and I'd love you if you'd give me half a
+chance."</p>
+
+<p>Hester, who responded quickly to affection, returned the embrace. "I'd
+love to have you for a friend. Aunt Debby is always first, for she is my
+friend, too, but you and Helen must be the next best."</p>
+
+<p>The little flow of sentiment might have continued,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> had not Renee at
+that moment, appeared in the doorway.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm awfully sorry to disturb you. But could you lend me your Solid
+Geometry, Helen? Did you get that original? Have you really? Isn't that
+lovely! Would you object to letting me look over it for a moment?"</p>
+
+<p>Helen took the book from the study-table and drawing out an original,
+handed it to Renee who, sitting down, began a thorough study of the
+problem she could not solve for herself.</p>
+
+<p>Barely was Renee disposed of than Josephine came in. She moved
+languidly. Her eyes were opened very wide, but instead of brilliance or
+alertness, they spoke of sentiment and dreaminess. Josephine had made a
+study of looking so. Soulful, she thought it to be; but the girls called
+it by another name not so complimentary and rallied her good-naturedly
+about it.</p>
+
+<p>Renee was quick, in action and thought. Josephine's slowness annoyed
+her. Now, she took her eyes from the paper which she had been studying
+on, and cried brusquely, "If someone would only set a fire under you,
+you'd<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> get somewhere sooner, Jo. Why don't you move, when you move."</p>
+
+<p>Jo was not annoyed. She moved not a whit faster. Gliding in, she seated
+herself on a shirt-waist box and assumed a pose of figure which she
+believed to be artistic. She showed no annoyance at Renee's speech. She
+smiled sweetly and serenely. No matter what was said to her, or done in
+her presence, that smile came to her. Her placidity was exceedingly
+annoying to this set of girls. "If Jo was not always so sugary sweet,"
+was the general complaint. "If she would not always agree to everything.
+If only now and then she would express an opinion, one would know at
+least that she had formed one." These were the only complaints ever made
+against her.</p>
+
+<p>"Has something been troubling you?" she asked Helen. "You appear quite
+disturbed."</p>
+
+<p>"I am. I lost a pin." Helen told how she had placed it that evening she
+had last worn it, and how it had mysteriously disappeared. Both Jo and
+Renee had seen the heirloom, for Helen had worn it at intervals since
+she had entered the hall.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I'd advertise for it. You might have dropped it in the hall somewhere.
+Have Doctor Weldon announce it in chapel; and put a notice on the
+bulletin board in the main hall." It was Renee who made the practical
+suggestion.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure I did not lose it outside this room. I am quite sure of that."</p>
+
+<p>"About as sure as one can be of anything. I've noticed, however, that
+being sure is no proof."</p>
+
+<p>"What a loss it must be to you!" cried Jo softly. "Of course, the money
+value is of little consideration. It is the memories which cling to it
+which make it precious. I know how you feel about such matters. You have
+so much sentiment. I know what trifles may mean to one. I always wear
+this little chain. I have worn it since I was three years old. I never
+could bear to part with it. It seems a tie to bind me to my childhood. I
+feel as though I could never grow old while I wear it. I shall never
+take it off."</p>
+
+<p>Renee shrugged her shoulders. "I'm glad you don't have the same
+sentiment toward your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> collars. What a beautiful sentiment you might
+conjure up about a waist which some dear departed chum had embroidered
+for you; or perhaps she buttoned it up the back the first time you wore
+it and died immediately afterward. I really think the last would be most
+touching. Then you would feel that you could never unbutton the buttons
+which her dear hands had buttoned."</p>
+
+<p>The irony in Renee's voice was strong. While she had been speaking, she
+arose and moved toward the door.</p>
+
+<p>Hester's face had flushed. She feared that Josephine would be angry.
+Erma, however, laughed merrily, and smiled and fluttered about like a
+gay butterfly. She thought Renee's sarcasm was the finest wit in the
+world. If it had been directed toward herself, she would not have cared
+at all, and could conceive of no reason why Jo should be hurt.</p>
+
+<p>Josephine raised her brows languidly and smiled sweetly. "Renee laughs
+at sentiment," she said. "What is it that Shakespeare says about jesting
+at scars because you never felt a wound?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"If I ever do show wounds," cried Renee, "they will not be ones made by
+a tin soldier with a toy pistol. It will take a cannon ball to make me
+know that I've been touched."</p>
+
+<p>She sailed out of the room, her head high and her heels coming down with
+some show of feeling. Erma burst into a fresh peal of laughter.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't Renee dear and doesn't she say the most brilliant things? I often
+wished I could be witty. All I can do is to laugh at the jokes which
+other girls make."</p>
+
+<p>"Why wish to be witty?" asked Josephine. "You're so sweet and womanly
+and tender."</p>
+
+<p>"Am I all that?" cried Erma and she laughed again. "I must go and tell
+Mame. She has known me for years and has never suspected that I am all
+that."</p>
+
+<p>She hurried away. Jo yet lingered.</p>
+
+<p>"I had a letter from Cousin Rob Vail," said Helen to Hester. "He is
+coming down Saturday morning in the touring-car with Aunt Harriet and
+you and I are invited to take a ride and then have dinner down in the
+city. Aunt Harriet is disappointed that she has never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> been able to meet
+you. So be prepared to meet the sweetest woman in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Vail is so sweet!" cried Jo. "I never look at her but there comes
+to my mind the picture of the 'Mater Dolorosa,' she's so sad and
+pensive."</p>
+
+<p>"She looks sad," said Helen, "but I never knew livelier company. One
+cannot be dull with her. She has a sorrow which passes comprehension,
+yet, she never worries another with it. She has trained herself to take
+an interest in others."</p>
+
+<p>"Saturday!" Hester cried and began prancing about the room. "Two days
+until Saturday. I wonder how I shall ever be able to wait until then."</p>
+
+<p>The bell for luncheon rang and the girls moved from the room. As they
+passed down the corridor, a number of the girls spoke to Helen about the
+loss of her pin and expressed the belief that it had only been mislaid
+and would be found.</p>
+
+<p>A number had seen and discussed it. Sara spoke of this. "It was so
+peculiar and unusual that anyone who finds it will know it is yours."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Hester walked ahead without taking part in the conversation. It came to
+Helen then that her little roommate had shown no interest whatever and
+had not assisted in the search or even expressed her sympathy for its
+loss.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+
+<p>Hester was deep in literary work for the Philomathean paper. She was not
+attempting poetry. After Helen's criticism she had not the heart to
+bring her efforts before the public, although she did write in secret.
+It is a long and hard drop from being a poet to a hack-writer scribbling
+down personals. Poets are born, while any one can write personals.</p>
+
+<p>Hester had been cultivating the unpleasant little mannerism of thinking
+aloud or rather in tones under her breath, as she wrote she read. Her
+efforts resulted in this form.</p>
+
+<p>"'Miss Erma Thomas has been excused from classes on account of
+sustaining a sprained ankle.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Sustain.' I wonder if that is the right word. Sustain a sprain. It
+sounds all right. I'll let it be that. If I don't know, the other girls
+will not know either."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Hester, do you realize that you are thinking aloud?" asked Helen after
+this performance had continued some minutes.</p>
+
+<p>"Am I? I did not know; but it does not matter. What I am saying is not
+private and it makes no difference if all the world hears."</p>
+
+<p>"That is not the idea," said Helen. She was sweet, calm, and decided.
+"Has it not come to you that I might wish to study and that monotone is
+anything but pleasant?"</p>
+
+<p>Hester's face flushed crimson. "I beg pardon. I was selfish, Helen."</p>
+
+<p>Helen crossed the room and bending over the abashed, confused Hester,
+said tenderly, "Do not mind my speaking so, little roommate. If it were
+Aunt Debby you would not take it so to heart. Then why should it hurt
+from me? Boarding-schools and roommates serve one great purpose&mdash;they
+rub off the jagged edges of one's manners." She bent and kissed the
+girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Helen Loraine, you are the dearest girl I know. I am so glad I have you
+for a roommate. We have never quarreled and I hope never will."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No, we never will," said Helen. She went back to her work.</p>
+
+<p>In addition to her literary efforts, Hester had other claims upon her.
+The Christmas season was approaching and her gifts were barely in
+preparation. She was embroidering a set of linen collars and cuffs for
+Helen, and the efforts to keep the work hidden was making life strenuous
+for her.</p>
+
+<p>Whenever Helen left the room, Hester took up the work, took a few
+stitches and perhaps was compelled to put it away. There were many
+people passing up and down the dormitory halls. It was not always
+possible to distinguish Helen's step. Then she had to resort to
+subterfuge to get the measure of Helen's collar. She had not
+accomplished that yet, but she had her plans laid and meant to carry
+them out at the first opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>It came to her sooner than she expected. Saturday morning, after a few
+minutes' study, Helen looked at the time, and arose from her work.</p>
+
+<p>"It is almost ten o'clock. Aunt Harriet and Cousin Robert should be
+here. I think I'll walk<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> down to the guests' entrance and see if I can
+find any trace of them. Bob would not be permitted to come to the
+dormitory. Perhaps, Aunt Harriet is waiting with him in the reception
+hall. Marshall may have been sent for us, but you know his failing. He
+may be fulfilling a half-dozen commissions before he comes for us. If
+they are not there, I shall telephone to Auntie."</p>
+
+<p>Hester urged her to be gone. It was with a feeling of relief that Hester
+heard the click of Helen's high heels as they went down the hall.
+Waiting until she believed that Helen would not be interrupted, Hester
+hurried to the wardrobe which they had in common and taking down a waist
+began to measure the collar. She had just completed this when she heard
+the click of Helen's heels. Quick as a flash the dress was hung up.
+Hester was about to close the door when the dress caught. She was
+fussing over it and was very red in the face and visibly embarrassed
+when Helen entered the room.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the trouble?" Helen asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing at all," was the reply given with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> unusual curtness. "What
+should make you think there was any trouble? I was just opening the
+wardrobe door."</p>
+
+<p>Her long speech which was wholly unnecessary and her evident
+embarrassment did not pass unobserved. Helen gave her a quick look.
+Hester was not herself, that was evident.</p>
+
+<p>"I asked the question because your face was red, and you appeared
+excited. That was all. I did not find it necessary to go to the guests'
+entrance. Marshall was coming for us. We are to go to the reception
+hall. You will meet Aunt Harriet at last."</p>
+
+<p>"How strange it seems that I have been here almost four months and yet
+we have not met! She always came when I was home with Aunt Debby, or in
+class. I fancy the Fates do not intend that we shall meet."</p>
+
+<p>"You shall meet in two minutes, or I am not a reliable prophet," was
+Helen's reply.</p>
+
+<p>Two minutes proved that she was not. Robert Vail alone awaited them in
+the reception hall. His mother had not been able to come.</p>
+
+<p>Hester gave a start of surprise when Helen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> presented the cousin to her.
+He was particularly fine-looking and attractive but she was not startled
+at that. He was the young man who had accosted her that day on the
+street and apologized by saying he had mistaken her for his cousin,
+Helen.</p>
+
+<p>"You remember me, I see, Miss Alden. You must have thought I was rude,
+but I was confident that you were Helen. I had not seen her for three
+months."</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad that I met you so that I can explain to Aunt Debby," said
+Hester naively. Then observing his look of surprise, she added, "She
+would not believe that you had really made a mistake. She thought you
+did it just to annoy me."</p>
+
+<p>"How could she?" cried Helen with a show of feeling. "Cousin Rob&mdash;."</p>
+
+<p>"Go slowly, Cousin," laughed the young man. "You must remember that I
+was a stranger to Miss Alden and her aunt. They were fully justified in
+believing that I was rude."</p>
+
+<p>"I did not," said Hester. "I saw you and I knew that you had really
+mistaken me."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"How could your Aunt Debby think of such a thing? Didn't she also see
+Rob?" asked Helen.</p>
+
+<p>"I did not believe you could show such a spirit," laughed Hester. "You
+are always so calm."</p>
+
+<p>"When things touch myself, but not when they touch my friends," said
+Helen.</p>
+
+<p>"Please calm yourself, Helen. You know we made a compact this very
+morning and promised never to quarrel or be angry with each other."</p>
+
+<p>"The same old school-girl fashion," said Robert Vail. "If I am a good
+prophet, you'll be tearing each other's hair before the day is over."</p>
+
+<p>"Why did Aunt Harriet not come?" asked Helen, abruptly changing the
+subject of conversation.</p>
+
+<p>"She went on a little trip into Virginia," he replied. Then observing
+the anxious look which came to Helen's face, he continued, "We tried to
+persuade her not to go, but she said this might be a real clue and she
+could not be satisfied to remain home. Father would have insisted, for
+mother is really worn out, but she was so anxious to go that she and
+father went off last night."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 413px;">
+<img src="images/i_165.jpg" width="413" height="600" alt="&quot;You remember me, I see, Miss Alden.&quot;&mdash;Page 149." title="" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;You remember me, I see, Miss Alden.&quot;&mdash;<i>Page <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.</i></span>
+</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Was there anything new, or merely the same old story as before?" asked
+Helen.</p>
+
+<p>"Who can tell? You know Rosa's mother had been a house-servant in
+Virginia and Rosa had a host of relatives there. Mrs. Mader&mdash;you
+remember the Doctor Mader who sometimes attends mother? Well, Mrs. Mader
+had been West. There she made the acquaintance of a southern woman who
+talked much of a Rosa Williams, who did some work for her. Mrs. Mader
+was interested and asked all sorts of questions. This Rosa Williams, so
+the southern woman said, was a handsome mulatto woman about forty years
+old. She also said that she had several children and that one in
+particular had neither the features nor coloring of a negro."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Aunt Harriet!" said Helen. "If only she would give up hope. She is
+wearing herself out in this way."</p>
+
+<p>Hester was delighted with this new acquaintance. She had known few boys.
+Jane Orr's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> brother, Ralph, had been her ideal of what a boy should be.
+Jane had not let his good qualities pass unnoticed. But Hester was
+inclined to think that Robert Vail surpassed Ralph in every particular.
+Helen had told her much of this one cousin who took the place of brother
+to her. He was in his last year in medical college, and had led his
+class for three full years. Yet he was not a bookish man. He was of a
+social nature, fond of company, and outdoor life, taking as much
+interest in cross-country walks and athletics as he did in his studies.
+Hester was thinking of these matters while Helen and Robert were
+talking. She had been sitting with her eyes upon the floor, listening in
+a half abstracted fashion. She raised her eyes suddenly to find Robert
+Vail's eyes fixed on her in scrutiny. Her cheeks grew crimson and she
+looked away.</p>
+
+<p>"I beg pardon," cried the young man, "I seem destined to annoy you with
+my rudeness. The first time I met you I mistook you for Helen. The
+resemblance is not so marked now that I see you together."</p>
+
+<p>"Yet we are often mistaken for each other,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> said Helen, "if the hall is
+just a little dark, the girls mistake us. Often I am called Hester."</p>
+
+<p>"It would have to be very dark if I were to mistake you now after once
+seeing you together.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish to explain to Miss Alden why I was looking so intently at her
+now. I've seen my mother sitting that way many a time. There was
+something about you which made me think of her."</p>
+
+<p>"You told me she was very beautiful," said Hester, saucily turning
+toward Helen.</p>
+
+<p>"Hester Alden, are you really fishing for compliments?" asked Helen,
+pretending to be shocked at Hester's question.</p>
+
+<p>"There is really no use of fishing when the compliments are floating on
+the surface within your reach," said the young man gallantly.</p>
+
+<p>This was all very pleasing to Hester. She had not been accustomed to
+receiving such compliments or attention and she felt quite grown up and
+elegant.</p>
+
+<p>Robert Vail's gallant manner was of short duration. He looked at Hester
+again, and grew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> quite serious. Very strange ideas came to him. He had a
+queer feeling that somehow his mother had made a mistake in not calling
+at the seminary that morning, and that he stood nearer the truth than he
+had ever stood before. These thoughts prompted him to turn to Hester
+with questions which were pertinent and personal.</p>
+
+<p>"Where do you live, Miss Alden?" Hester told him. She wondered as she
+did so why he had asked the question as though it were of moment.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are your people? Have you always lived there?"</p>
+
+<p>He had touched Hester on the one delicate subject of her life. She had
+pride enough for several girls. Not even Aunt Debby knew how her lack of
+parentage and name had hurt her. She had never permitted herself to
+think of it, lest she should grow depressed and unhappy. And to think
+that now this Robert Vail whom she had liked so much, had presumed to
+question her. Like a flash, it came to her that perhaps he had met Kate
+Bowerman or Abner Stout and they had told him that she had been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> left a
+waif on Debby Alden's hands and that her people had cared so little for
+her that they never came to find her.</p>
+
+<p>For an instant, pride was up in arms. Her one thought was to defend
+herself at whatever cost. All Aunt Debby's precious training was flung
+to the winds. She raised her head proudly and looked directly at him. In
+her eyes was a look of defiance; the crimson of annoyance and shame
+flamed on her cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are my people?" she repeated his question. "As my name is Alden, I
+presume my people also were of that name. My father and mother died when
+I was a babe, and my father's sister, my Aunt Debby Alden reared me."</p>
+
+<p>Her annoyance was evident. Robert Vail was vexed with himself for having
+caused it. "I am always falling into error, Miss Alden. If you forgive
+me this once more, I shall promise not to annoy you again. I fancy my
+question was personal. I asked it because of the resemblance to my
+mother and cousin. It came to me that you might be a relative. Though I
+doubt if you would wish to claim us. We are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> a bad lot. I am really the
+only fair specimen among them."</p>
+
+<p>"Such insufferable conceit," said Helen. "Everyone knows that it keeps
+all the other members of the family taking care of you."</p>
+
+<p>"Which proves what I have just said. I am the family jewel. It behooves
+them to take care of me, lest I be lost or stolen." Turning to Hester,
+he held out his hand. "Am I forgiven?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>Hester, ashamed and abashed, laid her hand within his. "I am sorry I
+spoke so hastily," she said. But the red did not leave her cheeks, nor
+the hurt look from her eyes. She blushed for the statement she had made.
+"'My father was Aunt Debby's brother.' It was a lie&mdash;nothing less than a
+lie," she kept saying to herself and the thought spoiled the entire day
+for her. It spoiled more than that, too. Perhaps, had she told the
+truth, she would never again have need to blush for her lack of name or
+to misunderstand her people for not coming in search for her. Her little
+sin bore its own fruits with it; yet Hester believed she was paying the
+debt by being sorry and ashamed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"About your going with me," Robert turned to his cousin. "Mother said I
+was to play escort and take you anywhere you wished to go."</p>
+
+<p>"Aunt Harriet's not coming may make a difference. The preceptress gave
+me permission to go with the understanding that we were in your mother's
+charge."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall take as good care of you as mother. Better care, I fancy, for
+she would be helpless if she had to manage a machine."</p>
+
+<p>"It is the idea of not living up to the conditions," replied Helen. "If
+you and Hester will excuse me, I will explain to Miss Burkham. Perhaps,
+she will not object to my going with you. She would if you were not a
+cousin."</p>
+
+<p>She went directly to the preceptress and in a few moments returned with
+that lady herself, who listened to the story of the difficulties.</p>
+
+<p>"We intended stopping to see Aunt Debby," said Hester. "I wrote her a
+note yesterday, telling her to expect us."</p>
+
+<p>"You may go under these conditions," said Miss Burkham, "that you go
+directly to Miss Alden's aunt's. If she can accompany you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> further, very
+well. Otherwise you remain at her home until you are ready to return to
+school. Under any circumstances you must be here before five o'clock. Be
+kind enough to set your timepieces with the tower clock. Then there will
+be no excuse for not being here on or before the hour appointed. You may
+get your wraps. I shall entertain Mr. Vail until your return."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Burkham was always exacting. Her speech was frank and sometimes
+even blunt; but she had such a sense of justice and fitness of things,
+that her decisive words were never galling, even to the most sensitive
+of the girls. Her manner was gracious and her smile kindly. She would
+put herself to no end of trouble to add to the happiness of the pupils;
+on the other hand, she would go to no end of trouble to see that the
+rules of the school were rigidly enforced and that the girls under her
+care would do nothing unbecoming a lady or which might bring criticism
+upon their heads.</p>
+
+<p>Soon the three were on their way. For three days, Hester Alden had
+enjoyed the ride in anticipation. But now something had gone<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> from it.
+The buoyancy of spirit which was generally hers and the power of
+enjoying the most trifling affairs had deserted her. She sat silent
+until Helen rallied her. Then she made an effort to be her usual bright
+talkative self; but it was plainly an effort. She was forcing an
+interest in what was going on about her. Her mind dwelt only on the
+statement she had made to Robert Vail.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a lie, a lie," she kept repeating to herself. She was almost
+afraid to meet Aunt Debby. How Aunt Debby despised anything of that
+kind! Hester felt that her clear gray eyes would look straight down into
+her heart and read the lie which had made a mark there.</p>
+
+<p>Robert Vail observed that Hester was more than quiet. She was depressed
+and anxious.</p>
+
+<p>Debby Alden was prepared to receive the guests. She, with Miss Richards,
+had a lunch ready to serve. She had smiled when she arranged her table
+service. She had given it the right touch of daintiness and refinement.
+There had come to her, the remembrance of certain conditions of her life
+and her manner of doing things before Hester had come into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> her life.
+She had spoken her thoughts to Miss Richards.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been a different woman ever since I found Hester," she said.
+"Life holds so much more for me than it did before&mdash;a great deal more
+than I ever hoped to have it hold. I wonder what I would have been had
+Hester gone her way that day and not have come into my life."</p>
+
+<p>"You would have been Debby Alden," said Miss Richards, "a woman of
+conscience and principle. You would have been the same Debby&mdash;only with
+the narrower view of life. You would have been an old woman instead of a
+bright, interesting, beautiful, young girl of forty."</p>
+
+<p>Debby Alden had blushed at the speech.</p>
+
+<p>"You and Hester have conspired to spoil me. I think you are leagued
+together to make me vain and worldly. What one does not think of, the
+other does. It was only last week that Hester wrote me some very silly
+nonsense about not one of the women at the reception, looking half so
+fine as I. Of course, I know the child does it merely to please me."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Miss Richards nodded her head in negation. "You know she means every
+word she says, Debby. Hester could not prevaricate, even to please you.
+As to its being nonsense, you know it is not. We think what we say and
+you like to hear us say it. Why not express ourselves? There is nothing
+in the world that is as great as love. The greatest thing in the world!
+Why then should we go through life with silent lips, or lips which open
+only for criticism while all the time love is really in our hearts? Is
+it not lovelier and kinder to express our love while the loved ones are
+here to listen?"</p>
+
+<p>This had been Miss Richards's philosophy of life. It had been her love
+as well as Hester's which had brightened and developed Debby Alden.
+Their words concerning Debby's being beautiful were not flattering. She
+was beautiful with the beauty which comes from fine principle, high
+ideals, and a warm, love-filled heart. People had turned in the streets
+for a second look at Debby Alden, while she, wholly unconscious that she
+had grown so attractive, moved on her way without knowing of the eyes
+turned in her direction.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Debby went down to the gate to meet her guests. She took Hester in her
+arms. In an instant her intuition told her that something was wrong.</p>
+
+<p>"What is troubling my little girl?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing, Aunt Debby. Nothing at all. Oh, how sweet to be back home!"
+She threw her arms about Debby Alden's neck and hugged her with a
+vehemence which caused that lady to gasp for breath.</p>
+
+<p>Helen and Miss Alden had never met. Debby at once noticed the
+resemblance between Helen and Hester. She greeted the former as she had
+done her own little girl. Then she turned to Robert Vail and holding out
+her hand, said merrily, "I shall forgive and believe now, since I know
+you have a cousin Helen and she does resemble Hester. Until this time, I
+thought it all a myth of your own making, manufactured for the sole
+purpose of annoying two plain country folk."</p>
+
+<p>Rob Vail laughed as he took her hand in his own firm clasp. "I do not
+know whether I shall allow myself to be forgiven under such<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>
+circumstances. You would not have faith in me until I presented the
+proof and that is really no faith at all. I wish to be trusted without
+evidence."</p>
+
+<p>He laughed again and held Miss Debby's hand tight in his own while they
+moved up the walk toward the tiny cottage.</p>
+
+<p>"From this time, I shall have faith in you, though evidence is lacking,"
+she said.</p>
+
+<p>She liked the boy. She had never before been so pleasantly impressed by
+a young man as she had been by him. He was wholesome, clear-eyed and
+unaffected.</p>
+
+<p>Debby Alden recognized these virtues in him and received him at once
+into her home and friendship. She liked his college talk; his bright way
+of making his smile and voice put his words at fault. Yet, while he
+entertained her she was not wholly unconscious of two things&mdash;that
+Hester was not herself, and that the resemblance between the two girls
+was not the result of mere chance. Suddenly she turned to Helen with the
+question:</p>
+
+<p>"Have you any sisters? Did you ever have any?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No, unfortunately, I am an only child," was the reply.</p>
+
+<p>"Which may account for any peculiar little traits of character or
+manner," said Robert Vail. "Only a brother or sister is able to 'comb
+one' thoroughly smooth. They trim the plant of self-esteem; they nip the
+bud of selfishness before it can bloom; they serve their purpose,
+nuisances though they are&mdash;these brothers and sisters."</p>
+
+<p>"How unfortunate that you never had any. You might have been&mdash;" Helen
+left the sentence unfinished, implying by her tone that he might have
+been all that he was not.</p>
+
+<p>"But you served the same purpose, cousin. You have never failed in your
+duty toward me. You are worth a dozen brothers and sisters when it comes
+to 'combing one down.'" They laughed at the sally and might have carried
+it further had not Miss Alden led the way to the lunch table.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+
+<p>Hester Alden barely escaped being campused for dancing her way through
+the main hall and shrieking in wild excess of spirits. To add to the
+enormity of the offense, the day on which this had occurred was the day
+when the ice-cream wagon came in from Flemington and disposed of its
+wares at the front entrance of the campus. At the time of her exhibition
+of high spirits, Hester had held high in her hand a paper butter-dish
+filled with cream, which had melted and was trickling over the edge of
+the dish and down her sleeve. The German teacher had heard the unusual
+commotion and appeared on the scene.</p>
+
+<p>"Ach, Fraulein Alden, what matters it by you? To your room go you at
+once. To Miss Burkham, I such conduct shall report."</p>
+
+<p>Hester in the exuberance of spirit, hugged the little German lady who
+was as fat as a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> dumpling. "Fraulein Franz, you are a dear old soul if
+you do get your English verbs confused. You would dance and laugh and
+spill your ice-cream too, if you were to play on the scrub team."</p>
+
+<p>"Gra-shus," said Fraulein. "Pardon me, I did not know the cause. I
+wonder not that you much rejoice."</p>
+
+<p>She retired to her room. Hester laughed again, but softly this time for
+Miss Burkham's office was not a great distance away.</p>
+
+<p>"The dear old Fraulein! To think of her begging my pardon for
+reprimanding me. I am only too glad it was not Miss Burkham. If she had
+seen me, I'd had two weeks on the campus and someone else would have
+been compelled to carry my cream from the wagon to the coping."</p>
+
+<p>The other east dormitory girls had heard the news and were quite as well
+pleased as Hester. Mame Cross had been forbidden by her father to play
+any but practice games. He thought she grew too excited for her own
+good. It was her place on the second squad which Hester was to fill.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Helen had used her influence in behalf of her roommate; for there were
+ten other players who would have been as well pleased as Hester was, had
+it fallen to their lot to substitute. Fortunately they were a liberal,
+broad-minded set of girls. They were not envious, but rejoiced with
+Hester in her good fortune.</p>
+
+<p>As Hester hurried down the main hall to the dormitory stairs, she found
+her own particular set of friends waiting for her on the landing.</p>
+
+<p>"Here she is!" cried Erma. "We have been looking everywhere for you.
+Isn't it simply grand to think that one of our set got on?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad you've got it, since I couldn't," said Mame. She had always
+the expression of one on whom Fortune had frowned. On the contrary, she
+had fairly basked in that lady's smiles, since the first day of her
+babyhood.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see why father will not let me play. There's no danger of my
+hurting myself, and what if I should? He has an idea that I am such a
+precious article that I should be done up in cotton. One thing, Hester,
+if you play a match game, you'll look better than I do.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> My basket-ball
+suit was a fright; but then, I never do have anything that looks like
+other girls."</p>
+
+<p>Hester was about to express herself contrary to this sentiment, when an
+audacious remark from Erma caused her to fall back in silence.</p>
+
+<p>"You see how it is, Hester," explained Erma later as the two walked arm
+in arm down the hall. "Mame is the best dresser in school. She has the
+best-made clothes and the best taste about choosing them, and you never
+see a pin or hook loose. Yet we never yet have heard her say she was
+satisfied. So we just concluded that we wouldn't encourage her. When she
+begins to complain and find fault with her lot, we'd look as though we
+pitied her. It isn't a bit of use of trying to convince her how lucky
+she is.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, I am always the other way." Here Erma paused long enough to laugh
+merrily. "I'm satisfied with everything. My father is simply grand; I
+just adore this old seminary, and I think the girls on our hall are the
+sweetest things, and I never had a dress in all my life that wasn't
+simply a dream."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The girls rejoiced with Hester, all except Berenice. She went through
+with the form of congratulations, but her voice had a sarcastic touch
+and her eyes had narrowed themselves into mere slits. Her words were a
+little uncertain as to meaning; but Hester to whom all things appeared
+beautiful, was in no mood to take exception.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure I'm glad you're on the scrub," she said slowly. "I'm always
+glad to see people get what they work so hard for."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Berenice. You girls have all been lovely. You do not have a
+bit of jealousy about letting a 'freshie' step in ahead of some who have
+been here two and three years."</p>
+
+<p>"We want to win games," cried Louise Reed. "Whoever makes goals for us,
+suits us whether she's a freshman or a senior. Get the pennant and we'll
+carry you home on our shoulders."</p>
+
+<p>They had come to Sixty-two. Erma and Mame in company with Berenice
+walked on down the corridor.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd love to have been put on; but since I wasn't I am glad that Hester
+was. It was fair, too. She's played better than any other one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> on the
+team. She gets excited but she doesn't lose her head."</p>
+
+<p>Berenice sneered. "To get on the team, one must learn to toady," she
+said. "No doubt if you had played lackey to Helen Loraine, you would
+have been playing scrub."</p>
+
+<p>Erma turned suddenly to look at the speaker. There was no laughter now
+in either her eyes or voice as she, gazing steadily at Berenice, asked,
+"Do you mean to say that Hester Alden plays lackey to Helen? Do you mean
+to say that Helen would permit it if Hester were foolish enough to do
+so, and furthermore do you mean to say that Hester was not chosen for
+the simple reason that she is the steadiest player among the
+substitutes?"</p>
+
+<p>Berenice shrugged her shoulders. Her little beady eyes had their lashes
+drawn down upon them until they had narrowed into a mere slit.</p>
+
+<p>"How you do fly up, Erma! I really did not think you had such a temper;
+but one thing you may rest assured of: it is always you sweet girls who
+fly into a passion at the slightest word."</p>
+
+<p>"I have never posed as being a sweet girl,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> and I am not in a passion
+now. I have asked you a question which you have evaded. You have
+insinuated things about girls who call me their friend and I will never
+let such matters pass. I wish you to answer my question before we go one
+step further."</p>
+
+<p>Erma stood still. The others did as she did. Berenice laughed lightly.
+"How very silly. A perfect tempest in a tea-cup simply because I choose
+to get off a joke."</p>
+
+<p>"If that is a joke, it is in horribly bad taste," was Erma's retort.</p>
+
+<p>"You are unjust, Erma. How many times have I heard you laugh at Helen
+for trying to stand in with the teachers, and for letting Mame copy her
+translations."</p>
+
+<p>"Hundreds of times, but you always heard me laugh and jest when the
+girls themselves were present and when every one who heard, knew that it
+was mere fun. It was mere give and take between every one of our set who
+were present. You have yet to hear me criticise an absent girl, or jest
+about her."</p>
+
+<p>Again Berenice shrugged her shoulders as though she would dismiss the
+subject.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I am glad I am not ugly-tempered," she said and walked away without a
+backward glance at the others. For a moment, Erma was wounded. Then the
+humor of the situation came to her. She laughed until the silvery echoes
+rang from one end of the corridor to the other; and the girls begged to
+be quiet lest the hall-teacher follow in their footsteps and they be
+sentenced to solitary confinement on the campus.</p>
+
+<p>After receiving the congratulations of her friends, Hester had gone to
+her room. Helen was busy preparing a lesson for the session the
+following morning.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, you know what has happened," cried Hester. "Of course you
+do. I can see by your eyes. Miss Watson sent for me to come to her and
+then told me. I knew who proposed my name. It was you, Helen Loraine. I
+cannot possibly thank you, and I never in the world can repay you."</p>
+
+<p>Flinging her arms about her roommate's neck, Hester embraced her warmly
+all the while declaring that she would never be able to repay her.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you surely can," said Helen. "Play a good game and justify my
+recommending you. That will please me best of all."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall do that for your sake, for my own, and for the team's."</p>
+
+<p>Helen stood silent a moment, considering whether she had better tell
+Hester all her plans. She decided that she would and drawing Hester down
+on the cosy corner, which had been improvised from trunks, she
+continued: "For several reasons you must play well the next two weeks.
+Three weeks from next Saturday, we play the girls from Exeter Hall. They
+are the hardest squad we'll meet. Their coach is a college woman and a
+specialist in physical culture and athletics. The Exeter team is the
+best-trained one we'll come up against. We'll take along four
+substitutes. Maud plays well for the first half, but she tires easily. I
+intend to substitute for her on the second half, and if you justify my
+doing it, I'll let you take her place."</p>
+
+<p>"Really?" That one word was all that Hester Alden could command at that
+moment; but it spoke volumes. To the girl it seemed as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> though the one
+ambition of her school life was about to be fulfilled&mdash;to play on the
+first team.</p>
+
+<p>She did not consider herself alone in this. Aunt Debby was always first
+in her thoughts. Ever since Mary Bowerman had taunted her with being a
+waif, Hester had realized how much the foster aunt had done for her, and
+what sacrifice of time and money, she had made. The one way which Hester
+saw to repay the obligation, was to do those things which would reflect
+credit on the Alden name. Playing on the first team would do that very
+thing for never before in the history of Dickinson, had a freshman been
+so honored.</p>
+
+<p>Hester had reached such a degree of happiness that she lacked expression
+either by words or motion. She could but sit still in the cosy corner,
+her hands clasped in her lap and her eyes looking steadily before her.
+So she sat for some minutes but in those minutes, she anticipated every
+play in the coming game. She saw the goals she would make; she could
+hear the referee call out the score and read the figures which the score
+makers were writing down. She could see Aunt Debby sitting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> in the
+gallery; she could hear the applause which swept over the hall.</p>
+
+<p>"Really? Do you really think there is the least chance for me?" she
+asked at last.</p>
+
+<p>"I really think so. I might say I am quite sure," replied Helen. "Miss
+Watson always permits me to choose my substitutes. I would almost
+promise but&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't promise. I would not have you do that. During the next two weeks
+I might lose my head and not play well at all," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not afraid of that," replied Helen. "But it does not seem fair to
+the other girls to have me pledge myself to you, before you have had a
+single practice on the scrub. I try to be just, but sometimes I am
+afraid I am a little partial in choosing the ones I love best. Because
+you are you, I might be unjust to the others. Do you understand why I
+would rather not promise, little roommate?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know."</p>
+
+<p>The subject ended there. Helen went back to her work. Hester tried to
+keep her mind upon her books; but one might as well have tried to charm
+a butterfly. Her thoughts flew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> from the game to Aunt Debby, and back to
+Helen and the attitude she had taken in regard to the game.</p>
+
+<p>Hester had no doubt that Helen had a great affection for her. There had
+been some sweet and gentle evidence of it since the first week of
+school. Hester was beginning to understand what the girls had tried to
+convey to her that first day of school, when Sara had declared that
+Helen had such an air. It was the grace which was the expression of fine
+breeding, intellect and kindliness of heart.</p>
+
+<p>As Hester thought of these things, she could have gone down on her knees
+to Helen just as she would have done to Aunt Debby.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll be friends all our life. Whatever happens, we will never quarrel.
+It is lovely to have a friend like Helen." These were the thoughts which
+came to Hester. Inspired by them to express herself, she opened a
+note-book and under the date of the month and year, she wrote what had
+been in her thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>Helen was one who had much affection in her nature, but was never
+sentimental. She was intensely practical when it came to her work.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>
+After her talk with Hester about the work on the team, her mind turned
+to the petty details, the fulfillment of which meant success.</p>
+
+<p>"I wear my gray basket-ball suit when we play with an outside team," she
+said to Hester. "You have never seen it. It has D. S. in gold and blue
+letters. Dickinson Seminary. It looks well, and the suits are really
+pretty. Mine, however, is beginning to show wear. I have had it for
+three years. The last time we played over at Kermoor, a hook came loose
+on the shoulder where my waist fastens. It was a trifle but it almost
+caused me to lose that game. It pestered me until I could scarcely think
+of anything else. I made up my mind then that I'd never be placed in
+such a position again. While I have it in mind, I am going over those
+hooks and eyes and sew them so tight that they cannot possibly give."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not come out on the campus now, Helen? The girls are going to walk
+along the river's edge as far as the campus reaches and then climb over
+the hill and come back the other way. Miss Watson will come with us."</p>
+
+<p>"If I do I'll neglect those hooks. I had my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> gym work to-day and do not
+need exercise. You run along and I'll discipline myself about the
+hooks." She laughed softly at her own remarks.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well. If you will not, you will not," replied Hester, drawing on
+her red sweater and Tam-o-Shanter. "I'll be off or I'll keep them
+waiting, and you know Miss Watson does not approve of that."</p>
+
+<p>She went her way down the hall. She was a picture good to look at, and
+which would have pleased more eyes than the partial ones of Debby Alden.</p>
+
+<p>Upon Hester's departure, Helen went to her sewing. The gray gymnasium
+suit hung in a public press at the end of the hall, and it took her some
+time to find her own among the others which hung there. Her needles and
+thread were at hand, but hooks and eyes were lacking. She found that the
+waist required several additional hooks and what were in place hung by a
+mere thread.</p>
+
+<p>"I have a card of hooks somewhere," she said to herself. "I remember
+distinctly putting in everything in the line of mending that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> I might
+possibly need. I remember now. What I thought I would not need often, I
+put in the bottom of the closet."</p>
+
+<p>The closet floor held quite an assortment of boxes. Articles which the
+girls used seldom, had been stored here out of the way. Helen remembered
+that a box with hooks and eyes, buttons and glove-silk had been placed
+in there, early in the fall when she had unpacked the trunk.</p>
+
+<p>She and Hester had been careful about not infringing upon each other's
+closet room. Each had her allotted space and number of hooks; but
+keeping the floor divided was not so easy. Boxes had been moved and
+shoved about until it was impossible to know whose they were.</p>
+
+<p>Helen sat down on the floor and began a systematic search; in turn
+opening each box and examining its contents. It required system for the
+boxes were many and the confusion great. There were handkerchief boxes,
+spool, candy, and shoe boxes of all sizes and conditions.</p>
+
+<p>She had opened each one without discovering<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> the articles which she
+needed. She was about to put them back in their places when a little
+dark covered box, hidden deep in the corner, attracted her eyes. Without
+a thought that she might be infringing on someone's else right, she took
+up the box and opened it. She gave a sharp exclamation at the sight of
+its contents. She sat with it opened in her hand, looking at it
+steadily. Then she replaced the lid and put the box with the contents
+just as she had found them, back in the corner. She put the floor of the
+closet in order, and then went back to her work. She found her card of
+hooks and eyes in the bottom of her sewing-bag. She was busy sewing them
+on when Hester came in. They greeted each other as usual, yet Hester was
+conscious that something was different.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you ill, Helen?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"No, Hester."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you worried?"</p>
+
+<p>"What should I have to worry me? You have been gone less than an hour.
+What should happen in that time to make me either ill or anxious? I have
+been putting the floor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> of the closet in order. I am afraid I opened
+some of your boxes, but I did not disturb their contents."</p>
+
+<p>"No matter if you did. I am glad the closet is in order. It surely
+needed some attention." Going to the door she flung it wide. "How nice
+it looks. The boxes piled up like a shoe-store. I wonder how long it
+will remain that way."</p>
+
+<p>Helen watched her closely. Hester must indeed be a capital actor, for
+she had showed neither anxiety nor embarrassment at hearing that Helen
+had opened the boxes.</p>
+
+<p>After dinner that evening, no conversations were carried on between the
+two girls. Helen, contrary to her habit, went directly to her room and
+did not mingle with her friends in the library or parlor. She was in her
+study garb and presumably deep in study when Hester came back to her
+room. She neither spoke nor raised her eyes at Hester's entrance. Her
+eyes were upon the text, but she was not studying. She was reviewing
+certain little incidents of Hester's being with her. A score of trifles
+to which she had then given no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> thought, now appeared in gigantic
+proportion with most pretentious signs. Hester had shown no interest
+whatever when the pin had been lost. She had not helped look for it.
+Just before the holidays, Helen remembered it clearly now, she had found
+Hester in the closet. Hester had blushed and stammered and appeared much
+confused and had replied curtly to Helen's questions. It was really very
+suspicious. Helen did not like to think of such matters. She had no
+desire to think evil of any one; but the evidence was there. She could
+not go past that. She had trusted Hester, and had really loved her.
+Hereafter she would trust and love no one.</p>
+
+<p>Even after the close of the study hour, there was no opportunity for
+conversation; for at the ringing of the half-hour bell, Helen, contrary
+to her habit, went down the hall to the room of one of the seniors. She
+did not ask Hester to accompany her and the latter was hurt by the
+omission. They had been together almost six months and in that time such
+a thing had never before occurred.</p>
+
+<p>Hester slowly made ready for bed. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> fumes of chocolate and fudge in
+the making were wafted to her from the rooms at the lower end of the
+hall, and the chatter and laugh came with them. No one called her to
+come. She felt forsaken and lonely. Such occasions previous to this, she
+had not waited until a special invitation had been given her, but joined
+and helped with the merry-making. She felt that something stood between
+her and Helen. Just what that something was, she did not know, nor could
+she surmise. There was nothing tangible for her thoughts to work upon to
+reach a conclusion. She instinctively felt that something was wrong. In
+this particular case, instinct was stronger than reason. She crept into
+bed, although the retiring bell had not rung. The two little iron cots
+stood side by side with only a narrow space between them. Helen had
+always been the deliberate one of the two. Hester was generally in bed
+before Helen had finished her reading. It had been the latter's habit to
+come to Hester's bed and softly kissing her on the forehead to whisper,
+"Good-night, little roommate."</p>
+
+<p>It was for this good-night that Hester was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> waiting. She would insist
+then upon knowing what troubled Helen or what had gone wrong to cause
+this feeling of alienation. She would have cried had not her pride
+sustained her. The tears were very near the surface but she forced them
+back. She would cry for no one, no matter how that one treated her.</p>
+
+<p>A few moments before the retiring bell, Helen came into the bedroom.
+Knowing that she was late and that the lights would soon be turned off,
+she prepared hastily for bed. She did not once glance toward Hester, but
+that might have been because she was hurried. While Hester lay and
+watched her, the lights went out. She heard Helen laugh softly and say,
+"Just in time. I just gave the last turn to my hair."</p>
+
+<p>Then she moved toward the cot, but she moved toward the outside and not
+near that of her roommate. Hester was overcome with homesickness. Her
+pride took to itself, wings. Raising herself in bed, she turned toward
+Helen.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you forgotten something, Helen? Are you not going to bid me
+good-night?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Surely. Good-night, Hester."</p>
+
+<p>"But not that way, Helen. I mean the way you always have done."</p>
+
+<p>There was silence for an instant. To Hester it seemed as though hours
+had passed before Helen replied gently and firmly, "Not to-night,
+Hester. I&mdash;I&mdash;cannot&mdash;to-night."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+
+
+<p>After this, Hester Alden believed that school could never be as it had
+been. The first day proved that she was wrong. Outwardly, life at
+Dickinson moved on as before. No one appeared to know or care that
+Hester Alden had been touched to the quick, and that she was very
+miserable and unhappy.</p>
+
+<p>Helen was courtesy itself. She was careful to include Hester in all her
+invitations, but it was a carefulness forced upon her from a sense of
+duty and not from love. Hester was not dull. She felt the difference.
+She could be quite as proud as Helen. So she raised her head a trifle
+higher as she walked and drew her shoulders a little more rigid and gave
+back to Helen the same rigid courtesy that she was receiving.</p>
+
+<p>To Hester it was tragic. The alienation was a genuine sorrow to her. To
+one who merely looked on, the two girls were acting foolishly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> A few
+words would have cleared away the misunderstanding and saved them from
+suffering. Helen acted from what she thought was a high sense of
+justice; Hester's action was from pride only.</p>
+
+<p>The other girls in the dormitory knew not the cause of the estrangement,
+for both Helen and Hester had that sense of honor which impelled them to
+keep closed lips on such matters. The intuition of the girls told them
+that affairs between Helen and Hester were not quite the same. That was
+as far as their intuition carried them.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of Hester's unhappiness, matters at Dickinson moved on as
+before. Renee came to borrow; Erma laughed merrily; Mame wept over the
+condition of her clothes which looked as though they were fresh from the
+French tailor; Josephine grew eloquent on moonlight, love-stories, and
+kindred subjects; Mellie Wright came and went like a gentle ray of
+sunshine. The strangest part of all to Hester was that Mellie, who never
+appeared to notice what took place, was first to grasp the situation.
+Before the week had passed, she made an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> occasion to join Hester on the
+campus. No reference at all was made to the state of depression which
+hung over Hester like a cloud, but before the two had parted, the
+younger girl carried with her these impressions:</p>
+
+<p>Everything comes right some day, and that day comes when least expected;
+nothing matters if one continues to do what is right, regardless of
+other people's opinion of one; and if one is blue, the best thing to do
+is to do something and do it quickly.</p>
+
+<p>Mellie did not put her philosophy into those words, nor did she make a
+personal application for her companion. The strongest impressions are
+those which we receive unconsciously. After this talk with Mellie,
+Hester's pride and ambition were aroused. She was indignant with herself
+that she had given way to any show of feeling and vowed to herself that
+from that instant she would not lose control over her emotions.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately for her, basket-ball practice followed close on her
+resolutions and putting her thoughts into action, strengthened her.</p>
+
+<p>She played right guard on the scrub team<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> with Edna Turnbach opposed to
+her. Edna was little, wiry, and active, an opponent that was really
+worth while.</p>
+
+<p>Hester cast her troubles to the wind and went into the game with all her
+energy. Edna was quick, but Hester matched her with cool calculation.
+Her long strides were equal to Edna's quick ones; and she had the
+advantage of length of arms which could be kept beyond Edna's reach.</p>
+
+<p>The left guard on the scrub team was Emma who resembled a little Dutch
+doll wound up and set to moving. Emma had no guile in her disposition
+and was utterly lacking in self-assertion. She admired Hester's playing
+and never failed to play the ball into her hands. Just the moment
+Hester's hand touched the ball, Emma encouraged her with cries of "Show
+them how to play, Hessie. Show them how scrubs play when they once get
+started."</p>
+
+<p>Emma was both an inspiration and an advantage. Hester played with all
+her energy. To watch her, one might believe that all the future depended
+upon the winning of the game.</p>
+
+<p>For the first half, she had the ball the instant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> the captain's hand had
+left it. Passing it on to Emma with a quickness and deftness which was
+almost beyond belief, she rushed forward in position to receive Emma's
+return pass. It was no easy matter for Edna was close at her heels and
+the center stood in her way. But by quick side movements, a sudden jerk
+beneath outstretched arms, the thing was done.</p>
+
+<p>Only once during the first half was the ball worked back to the goal of
+the opposing team; but even then it did not make a score. For three
+minutes, it went from end to end of the cage and at last went from the
+hands of the scrubs on a foul that Emma had made.</p>
+
+<p>During the game, Hester was not only playing right guard. She played the
+game alone with a little assistance from Emma&mdash;a game of solitaire. She
+was the team and made every score.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Watson and Doctor Weldon stood in the gallery looking on.</p>
+
+<p>"Hester Alden is a brilliant person," said Miss Watson. "She will amount
+to something if she continues."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"She can do little in mathematics. She'll pass on about seventy-five per
+cent," said Miss Laird. She had long since erased Hester's name from her
+good books, for Miss Laird knew only angles and equations, fixed values
+and ratios, and had no conception of nor admiration for a mind which was
+not as her own.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Watson laughed at this remark. She was more liberal-minded than
+Miss Laird and was not disappointed to find that her girls were not all
+of the same type.</p>
+
+<p>"You can open an oyster with a pen-knife as well as a chisel," she said.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Laird glanced at the speaker. She was logical but not witty. Seeing
+that she did not grasp the meaning, Miss Watson continued.</p>
+
+<p>"Taking the oyster as each one's little world, you know, Miss Laird. I
+have known men and women who have achieved a wonderful amount of success
+and happiness who could not have made seventy per cent on one of your
+examinations."</p>
+
+<p>Doctor Weldon had listened in silence. She had sat watching Hester
+during that intense<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> first half. She read deeper than either of her
+teachers.</p>
+
+<p>"I am fearful for Hester," she said at last. She spoke so low that only
+Miss Watson heard her. "She is too easily hurt, and she'll fight off
+showing it until she drops from exhaustion. If I know the girl, her good
+playing this evening is not so much for love of the game, as it is to
+hide the fact that something has gone wrong."</p>
+
+<p>"Rather an excellent trait. Do you not think so?" said Miss Watson.
+"Personally, I despise a whiner, and haven't a bit of sympathy for a
+girl who goes about asking for pity. Pride is a good thing when it helps
+us cover up our own bruises."</p>
+
+<p>"It is very fine, if it is not overdone. You know you cannot keep all
+the steam in a boiler under high pressure. There must be a safety valve
+or&mdash;trouble. I hope Hester will not be too intense. Intense folk need
+such a lot of self-control, or they make every one miserable about
+them."</p>
+
+<p>The conversation stopped at this point. The practice game was over and
+Miss Watson went<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> below and into the cage to see that the girls were
+taking the necessary precautions in regard to wraps.</p>
+
+<p>"Hester Alden will play at Exeter," was the general opinion at the close
+of the game.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure of that," said Sara Summerson. "During the game I was where I
+could see Miss Watson. Nothing escaped her. She watched every move
+Hester made. Emma was all right at first, but that foul put her on Miss
+Watson's black list. I could tell that. You know how Miss Watson presses
+her lips together and nods her head when she's pleased. Well, she did
+that every time Hester made a good play."</p>
+
+<p>"I will not get a chance to go," said Emma. "I am sure of that. I'd like
+to, for I know lots of Exeter girls. There's a whole <i>bunch</i> of them
+from up our way."</p>
+
+<p>"You speak as though they were flowers," laughed Erma, as she hurried
+down the steps from the gallery to join the girls. "A bunch of girls and
+a bunch of flowers, I presume that is a figure of speech, but
+nevertheless I would not let Doctor Weldon hear me, if I were you.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> She
+might fail to see how flowery it is, and think you are using slang."</p>
+
+<p>Josephine was leaning against the balustrade. Her cheeks were pressed
+upon her upturned palm and her eyes were raised toward some remote
+region in the direction of the ceiling. Her hair was bound with a Greek
+band. She had seen to it that her short-waisted dress was suggestive of
+Grecian lines of beauty.</p>
+
+<p>"I rather like that term," she said slowly. "We say a bunch of flowers;
+then why not a bunch of girls. Somehow I always think of flowers when I
+see a group of girls together. Do people never make you think of
+flowers? Some seem to me like lilies, others like shy, modest violets."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, cut it out!" said Emma, disregarding the rules in the use of
+language. "Just at present they make me think of a lot of empty vessels
+which will be emptier if they are not out of these duds and into dresses
+before the ten-minute bell rings for dinner."</p>
+
+<p>Emma strode on down the hall, in company with Mame Cross and Edna
+Bucher. Edna had her arm around Emma's waist, although she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> was fully
+six years Emma's senior. But the younger girl's father was a bank
+president, a railroad magnate, and a number of other important persons,
+and Edna believed in cultivating friendship where it would bear fruit
+worth while. Emma was lavish and Edna fell heir to many discarded
+trifles and was never ignored when Emma had a spread or banquet.</p>
+
+<p>"Josephine is too sentimental," said Emma placidly. "If she would only
+waken and talk sense, she would be fine."</p>
+
+<p>"She's such a sweet girl," said Edna. Every woman, girl or child she had
+ever known, came under that general heading in Edna Bucher's good books.
+They were "sweet." That was always the sum and substance of her
+criticism. There might have been a reason for such a general judgment.
+As in the case of Josephine, obligation fixed the limit of Edna's
+expression. She was at that moment, wearing a shirt-waist which
+Josephine had purchased only to find it too small for comfort in
+wearing.</p>
+
+<p>During the three weeks before the game with Exeter, nine practice games
+were played between the first team and the scrubs. In these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> Hester
+Alden played right guard. She had never missed a goal which she had
+attempted and had never made a foul. There had been one or two instances
+when she might have done quicker work in passing and kept the ball from
+the control of the opponent; but they were minor faults which faded into
+insignificance before her more brilliant plays.</p>
+
+<p>During this time, Helen had maintained the letter of courtesy toward her
+roommate. But there was no longer any show of affection or love between
+them. Nothing had been said about the trip to Exeter. However, Hester
+was counting upon it. She knew that her playing had justified Miss
+Watson and Helen in selecting her. Miss Watson was the head of the
+athletics, yet the choice of players in reality rested with Helen.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Watson permitted this because she believed that girls who were in
+sympathy with each other could work together better than where there was
+an unfriendly feeling or antagonism. Hester, relying on being chosen as
+a substitute for the Exeter game, made ready her suit, purchased a new
+pair of gymnasium<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> shoes, and was about to write to Aunt Debby
+concerning the trip.</p>
+
+<p>The games were played on Friday evening, unless the distance was too
+great for the visiting team to reach the school in a few hours. Then
+Saturday afternoon was given over to them. Several days before, Miss
+Watson read out the names of the substitutes and the teacher who would
+go in charge of the girls. This important reading took place immediately
+after the general gymnasium work in the afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>Wednesday morning, Berenice went about with a very wise expression. She
+looked as though she could tell a great deal if she were insisted upon.
+Erma, meeting her in the hall, fell prey to her hints and insisted that
+she tell the secret that was weighing her down.</p>
+
+<p>"I was in the office waiting to see Doctor Weldon," said Berenice. "Miss
+Watson was in the private office talking with the doctor. It was
+something about the players for the Exeter game. You know Miss Watson
+must always give the list to Doctor Weldon before it is announced.
+Something unusual happened, for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> they debated a long time. Of course, I
+could not catch the words. I did not try; but I could not help knowing
+that there was a discussion."</p>
+
+<p>"There generally is," said Erma. "Doctor Weldon will not allow a girl to
+play unless she is up in her work and her conduct. Campused twice, and
+your throat is cut for any work in athletics."</p>
+
+<p>Berenice's face flushed. The reference to being campused touched her.</p>
+
+<p>"This was more than that. It was an argument; Miss Watson held to one
+idea and Doctor Weldon to another." This was growing interesting. A
+group of girls clustered about Berenice to hear the startling news.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you hear who the substitutes were?" asked someone.</p>
+
+<p>"Why ask that?" said Sara Summerson slowly.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not brilliant, nor yet am I observing; but I know who the
+substitutes will be if the choice is according to their playing."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>If</i> it is," said Berenice.</p>
+
+<p>"I think it always is," said Mellie gently. "It would be very foolish to
+have it otherwise;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> to risk our securing the pennant on account of a
+little personal feeling. I do not like to feel that people are unjust.
+They have always treated me fairly."</p>
+
+<p>"They always will," said Erma.</p>
+
+<p>"They have never treated me fairly," said Berenice. "Every one I meet
+always tries to make something from me or treats me unfairly."</p>
+
+<p>Erma laughed and the girls followed her fashion.</p>
+
+<p>"They always will, Berenice," she said. "People always find what they
+are looking for. You always find in every place just what you carry
+there. You are out looking for trouble, and you will find it waiting
+around the corner. If you will persist in going about with a chip on
+your shoulder, you may be sure that someone will take pleasure in
+knocking it off."</p>
+
+<p>"But the players," cried Emma. "Who are they? When will Miss Watson read
+the names?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did not hear the names, but I did hear her say that she intended
+making them public at gym this afternoon."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I intend to ask Doctor Weldon if I may go over with the girls," said
+Emma. "Of course, I know that I will not be allowed to play and I don't
+care much about it. I'd have just as much fun looking on and rooting. I
+know a dandy lot of girls over there."</p>
+
+<p>"You had better see her early then," said Louise Reed. "She will not
+grant more than ten extra permissions and I know a number of girls who
+intend going."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll see her the first thing after luncheon," said Emma. "She will not
+let us come before one-thirty."</p>
+
+<p>"Whatever you do, Emma, do not get excited and tell Doctor Weldon that
+you know some 'dandy' girls at Exeter. She will not allow any of us to
+go if she hears from you that the Exeter girls are of that type. Be
+careful, Emma."</p>
+
+<p>Emma shrugged her shoulders and tried to look serious, but the effort
+was a failure, for the dimples came to her cheeks and rippled into
+smiles. She turned to Mame and asked if she were going.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;going?" exclaimed Mame. "How can I go? I haven't a thing fit to
+wear."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You might wear your new blue broadcloth," suggested Louise Reed.</p>
+
+<p>"New? Why, I had that before the holidays. I never did like it. I shall
+not go with you girls and look shabby. You always look so well and I
+will not put you to shame."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry for you," said Erma. "I'd offer you my tan coat suit which I
+have worn but two years, only I need it myself; it being the only one of
+its kind that I have."</p>
+
+<p>"You may laugh," said Mame. "But I am telling you the truth. I haven't a
+dress fit to wear."</p>
+
+<p>"No congregating in the hall, if you please. If you must talk together
+you will find the parlor open to receive you." Miss Burkham had come
+among them and spoke with a voice of gentle authority.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Miss Burkham," replied six voices together, as the six bowed and
+moved to their rooms.</p>
+
+<p>The rumor that the names of the players would be read that afternoon
+filled the ranks in the gymnasium. A number of girls had received
+permission to be absent, but on hearing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> the rumor, they reconsidered
+and decided that they were able to be present. The period of exercise
+dragged along. The girls went through with the drills with as much
+animation as one might expect from an automatic machine. Their eyes were
+upon the clock whose hands moved provokingly slow. But it came to an
+end, as all things must after a time.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Watson gave a signal to the pianist to stop playing. Then stepping
+to the front, she bade the girls to be seated. They found places on the
+floor, on the horse and the mattresses which lay along the outer edge of
+the floor. A few drew themselves up on the horizontal bars and balanced
+there carefully while Miss Watson drew forth her paper, looked it over
+and then began her preliminary remarks. One could have heard a pin drop,
+so quiet was the room.</p>
+
+<p>"As you know, we play the Exeter team in their gymnasium, Friday
+evening," began Miss Watson in her brisk, business-like way. "The game
+will be called at eight o'clock. We shall have a two-hours' ride to
+reach Exeter. The last train from our station leaves at four<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> o'clock.
+Consequently, the faculty will excuse from lessons Friday afternoon, all
+the girls who play."</p>
+
+<p>"Or root?" finished Emma. She was balanced on the bars. The sound of her
+own voice so startled her that she nearly lost her balance and was saved
+from falling only by Louise's clutching her firmly by the shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Watson turned toward Emma and looked her reprimand. "What have you
+to say concerning the matter, Miss Chase?" she asked. The tones of her
+voice would have disconcerted any one but Emma. Hers was an effervescent
+spirit which could not be suppressed. She smiled upon Miss Watson as she
+replied, "The girls who go along to root&mdash;will they be excused, too? You
+said the players will not have any lessons Friday afternoon. What about
+the girls that root?"</p>
+
+<p>Miss Watson looked her scorn of the question and questioner. One thing
+which had been discountenanced by the faculty and by Miss Watson in
+particular, was the word "rooting" and all it stood for.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Watson ignored the questions and continued,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> "Miss Burkham had
+planned to accompany you&mdash;."</p>
+
+<p>The girls gasped. With Miss Burkham in charge they would not be allowed
+to speak above a whisper. She would compel them to be all that was
+elegant and conventional.</p>
+
+<p>"&mdash;but she has found that to be impossible. Neither Doctor Weldon nor I
+can leave the school, so Fraulein Franz will have you in charge."</p>
+
+<p>There was a relaxation of muscles. An expression of amusement and relief
+spread over the faces of the girls. Dear Fraulein Franz! She would be
+with them like a mother hen with a brood of ducks. With the Fraulein
+they would do much as they pleased, and she would attribute it to the
+peculiar customs of the country.</p>
+
+<p>"The first team will be made up of the regular players. Three
+substitutes will accompany the team. Doctor Weldon thought three would
+be sufficient. I shall read the names of players and substitutes."
+Taking up the paper, she read.</p>
+
+<p>"Captain, Miss Loraine&mdash;Players: Misses<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> Turnbach, Cross, Bucher, and
+Loveland. Substitutes: Misses Reed, Chase, and Thomas."</p>
+
+<p>That was all. Hester's heart had been in her throat at the beginning.
+Now she felt cold and chill. She had been so confident. The girls knew
+that she had expected to be chosen. They knew that she had her suit in
+order, with gay new letters across the blouse. She sat quite silent and
+motionless on the mattress propped against the wall. She could not raise
+her eyes to meet the eyes of the girls. She could not speak to them. The
+girls did the kindest thing they could do. They went off without
+attempting to speak to her, or to offer her condolence or sympathy.</p>
+
+<p>When she raised her eyes, she found that the gymnasium was deserted and
+that she was the only occupant.</p>
+
+<p>She arose and went out into the corridor. She could not go to her room
+and meet Helen. Helen had played her false. Perhaps, the recent
+assumption of dignity on Helen's part had been to prevent any criticism
+of this action.</p>
+
+<p>Hester could not remain alone in the gymnasium, neither in her present
+garb would she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> be permitted to visit the parlor, nor to linger in the
+halls. The only alternative was to go to her room, and meet Helen there.
+The injustice of the choice of substitutes at last appealed to her. Had
+she been an Alden in very truth, she could not have shown the old
+revolutionary spirit more.</p>
+
+<p>Wounded feeling gave way; personal pride took to itself wings. The thing
+was unjust and she would not bear it even from Helen Loraine. Another
+thing she would not bear&mdash;she had borne it too long already&mdash;and that
+was the distant, haughty treatment accorded her by Helen. Hester Alden's
+spirit arose. She would have justice though she had to fight for it.</p>
+
+<p>The feeling of humiliation left her. Now she had no dread of meeting the
+girls. She raised her head proudly. Her eyes flashed, and a flush came
+to her cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>Helen was in the study when she entered. She was evidently doing nothing
+and had been doing nothing for some minutes. Perhaps she dreaded the
+meeting as much as Hester. She<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> looked up when the latter entered and
+spoke, "Well, Hester, are you back from the gym?"</p>
+
+<p>To use Debby's expression, Hester was not one to beat about the bush.
+Now, she brought up the subject at once.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you or Miss Watson choose the substitutes?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I did. That is, I recommended the ones I wished to play, and Miss
+Watson agreed that they were satisfactory."</p>
+
+<p>"Helen Loraine, did you choose ones who played the best, as you have
+boasted that you always do?"</p>
+
+<p>"I took the ones that played well and whom I thought had a right to be
+substituted."</p>
+
+<p>"Answer me this." Hester walked directly before her roommate. Standing
+so, they looked into each other's eyes. "Answer me this. Do I not play a
+better game than either Louise or Emma? Have I not made the score when
+their fouls would have brought it down?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you have. You are a better player than either. To do you justice,
+Hester, you play as well as any girl on the first team."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I do, and yet you passed me over for an inferior player. Is that
+justice to either the team or me?"</p>
+
+<p>"It does not appear so. Yet one cannot judge from appearances alone. I
+believed that I did what was fair and honorable."</p>
+
+<p>"I fail to see it that way," said Hester proudly.</p>
+
+<p>"We do not see it from the same point of view."</p>
+
+<p>"Evidently not. But this much I insist upon. I must know the reason why
+you ignored me when you have acknowledged that I was the best player. I
+demand the reason."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you know, Hester Alden? Don't you really know?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not. There is something else I do not know or understand; that is
+your treatment of me for the last three weeks. Do not for a moment think
+that I am begging for either your love or friendship. I wish nothing
+that does not come to me of its free will. But it was you who first
+wished to be friends. It was you who always made the first advances.
+Time and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> time again, you told me that I was nearer to you than any
+friend you had ever had and that I seemed more like a sister to you."</p>
+
+<p>"I know," said Helen slowly. "And I meant every word. From that first
+night you were here, you were never like a stranger. I meant every word
+I told you."</p>
+
+<p>Her voice was low and sorrowful; but Hester was unmoved. The bitter
+feeling which had filled her heart for three weeks was now bursting
+forth in a torrent.</p>
+
+<p>"Much I care for such affection! If that is the way you treat your
+sister, I am very glad I am not she. Suddenly, without a reason, you
+grow haughty and rude&mdash;."</p>
+
+<p>"Rude! I was never rude, Hester. I was always courteous."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, with the kind of courtesy which made me angry all over. I wish to
+tell you right here, Helen Loraine, that I shall not stand being treated
+so without a reason."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought I had a reason. I think yet I have a reason."</p>
+
+<p>"Then why did you not come to me and tell me point blank? It is far
+better to accuse me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> of something definite than to go about acting and
+looking unutterable things."</p>
+
+<p>"I could not tell you. Even now, if I should tell you and ask for an
+explanation&mdash;."</p>
+
+<p>"I would refuse to give it. It was either your place to come directly to
+me or to trust me implicitly. I would give no explanation now, if I had
+a million of them to give."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Hester, listen. I have been as hurt and miserable about this as
+you. Let me tell you&mdash;."</p>
+
+<p>"Here you are. I knocked once and you didn't hear me. Hester, would you
+just as soon lend me your basket-ball suit? I never gave a thought of
+going to Exeter and I haven't any letters for my blouse." It was Renee
+who had interrupted them.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you may have it," said Hester. She moved away. The talk which
+might have resulted in a reconciliation between her and Helen was not
+resumed and nothing at all came from it.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+
+
+<p>There were but twelve girls who went down from Dickinson to the Exeter
+game; but to the hundred yet remaining, it seemed as though the
+dormitories were vacant. Hester found the afternoon long. Her anger had
+passed. She was not sorry that she had spoken as she did, but that no
+results had come from her show of spirits. She was not in a mood to
+visit with the other girls. Her intimate friends had gone with the
+basket-ball team. No study hour was observed Friday evening. The parlors
+and library were open. Hester, from her room, could hear the sound of
+the piano and the school songs. Instead of enlivening her, it had the
+opposite effect.</p>
+
+<p>The girls who went down to Exeter could not possibly return until
+Saturday evening. That meant another entire day alone. Hester did not
+like to think of that.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I shall pack my suit-case and to-morrow morning, I shall ask Doctor
+Weldon to allow me to go to Aunt Debby."</p>
+
+<p>The decision brought up her spirits. She immediately began to arrange
+her work. The books were put in order and a suit-case taken from the
+shelf in the closet.</p>
+
+<p>"Aunt Debby said she would make new collars for my waists and change the
+sleeves." With this promise in mind, she selected the thin white waists
+which were showing signs of wear. Miss Richards and Miss Debby, with a
+few deft touches, would make these look almost as well as new.</p>
+
+<p>In her rummaging, Hester had the same experience that Helen had had
+three weeks before. She went over the boxes for some article she needed.
+She discovered the little box hidden away in the corner. She opened it
+and exclaimed just as Helen had done.</p>
+
+<p>"My pin! I had forgotten all about that. I think I shall wear it. It
+looks rather pretty against a white dress." Holding it up against her
+waist, she looked down upon it with satisfaction. It surely did look
+pretty, against the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> white! The little bit of cut glass scintillated
+like a bit of fire. Fastening it to her waist, she continued her work.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning, she went down to breakfast wearing the pin. Mellie was
+at the table, and gave a look of surprise when Hester came in. After a
+time she turned to her and said: "Where did Helen find her pin? I am
+glad she has recovered it, for it was valuable in addition to being an
+heirloom."</p>
+
+<p>"I did not know she had found it," said Hester. "She did not mention the
+matter to me."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought&mdash;." Mellie hesitated and did not finish the sentence. Several
+times, Hester found her looking closely at her.</p>
+
+<p>Hester was wearing a soft shirt-waist with a tie. The ends of the tie
+knotted in butterfly fashion had been caught together by the pin which
+was partly hidden by them.</p>
+
+<p>Hester secured permission to visit her Aunt Debby. She was to go down on
+the ten o'clock car and return Monday morning in time for chapel. On her
+way to the car, she met Mellie, Berenice and several girls from the west
+dormitory.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"We'll walk with you to the triangle," said Berenice. "I do not know how
+we will put in our time to-day. It is certainly dull with the girls
+gone. I wonder how the game went last evening?"</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't you hear?" asked one of the others. "They telephoned Miss Watson
+last evening. She's our hall-teacher and she told us at once. It was
+twenty to thirty in favor of Exeter."</p>
+
+<p>"Exeter won!" cried Berenice. "It is poor management on someone's part.
+They never won a game from us before&mdash;not on such a score. Last year
+neither scored, and the year before Exeter was one goal ahead, and they
+would not have made that if the referee had not been partial."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry. I was sure they would win," said Hester. They had come to
+the triangle, the place where the sloping walks meet at an angle.</p>
+
+<p>"They would have won, too, if you had been there. You should have been.
+I, for one, was ready to revolt Wednesday morning, and the other girls
+would have stood by me. We would have done so if you would have shown
+any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> spirit; but you sat there as though the game were nothing to you."</p>
+
+<p>Hester smiled but made no attempt to reply. She was learning to know
+Berenice and the danger of expressing one's opinion in her presence.
+Life at Dickinson was teaching her more than what lay between the covers
+of books. She was learning to meet people, to know them as they were,
+and to hold her tongue under provocation as she was doing now.</p>
+
+<p>Berenice was not easily put aside. "Why, did you not show some spirit
+about it, Hester?"</p>
+
+<p>"Spirit? Why should I? If Miss Watson and Helen thought Emma put up a
+better game than I, why should I complain?"</p>
+
+<p>Berenice shrugged her shoulders. She was about to say more when Erma
+came down the dormitory steps and crossed the campus toward them. Her
+fair hair was piled high on her head in puffs and rolls. She was wrapped
+in a long garnet sweater. She looked like a crimson rose as she moved
+across the snow.</p>
+
+<p>"Drop the subject," cried Berenice. "Here comes Erma. She takes
+exception to everything I say. One cannot express an opinion or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> offer a
+criticism in her presence unless one is taken to task."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps it is just as well to let it drop," said Mellie gently. "It is
+only a game of basket-ball and not worth a heated discussion."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, peaches," cried Erma cheerily accosting Hester. "Are you really
+going home? Won't your Aunt Debby be glad to see you. Tell her I send
+her a thousand hugs and a million kisses. How I wish I were going home
+to see that dear old daddy of mine. Girls, when you want to see the
+grandest man in the world, come home with me and I'll show you my
+daddy."</p>
+
+<p>Berenice looked down over her nose.</p>
+
+<p>"It is well to be satisfied," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"It certainly is," replied Erma. "I am glad I am. There's not a father
+or mother better than mine and my friends are the best in the world. I
+wouldn't exchange them for millions."</p>
+
+<p>She had come close to Hester, and encircling her with her arm, asked,
+"When are you coming back, peaches?"</p>
+
+<p>"Monday morning. There comes my car<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> now." She stooped to lift her
+suit-case which Marshall had brought down from her room and deposited at
+her feet. As she did so, the butterfly end of her tie fluttered,
+displaying her quaint pin whose setting gleamed like a spark of fire.</p>
+
+<p>Its scintillation caught Erma's eye. She was about to remark concerning
+it, but stopped herself in time. But Berenice, who never let anything
+escape her, also caught the sparkle of the stone. More than that, she
+saw the expression which passed quickly over Erma's face, and she read
+it aright. She made no remark until Hester had boarded the car, had
+waved her good-byes and the car had disappeared down the bend of the
+road. Then turning, she slipped her arm into Erma's and Mellie's, and so
+walking between them, moved toward the building.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you notice the pin Hester had on?" she asked suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>Mellie was wise and did not answer. Erma, who was as transparent as a
+ray of light, grew confused and tried to cover it up by asking, "A pin?
+Did she have a pin on? I suppose<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> she did. Girls generally wear pins of
+some sort."</p>
+
+<p>Berenice shrugged her shoulders. "Yes; she had a pin on, Erma Thomas,
+and you observed it as well as I did. You know as well as I do whose pin
+it is."</p>
+
+<p>"You are very much mistaken. I know nothing at all about it. I have
+nothing to do with other people's jewelry."</p>
+
+<p>"You have with this. At least you spent hours in helping to look for it.
+It is that odd one which Helen Loraine wore and which so mysteriously
+disappeared."</p>
+
+<p>"Any disappearance is a mystery. If I lose a collar button, it is a
+mystery to me. If it was not, I would know where it was. The things we
+don't know are always mysterious. If we know, then they are as plain as
+day."</p>
+
+<p>"It seems strange it should disappear for three months and then Hester
+Alden have it on, especially when Helen Loraine is away."</p>
+
+<p>"That is the very time you should wear other people's jewelry and
+clothes. When I am home I always wear my mother's best silk stockings
+and rustling petticoats when I know<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> she's down in the city shopping. Of
+course I always ask her&mdash;when she comes back&mdash;and she never refuses me
+permission. She always says the same thing: 'Well, since you have them
+on&mdash;'"</p>
+
+<p>Erma's attempts to lead the conversation away from Hester and the pin
+was without results. Berenice clung to the subject with a tenacity which
+would have been admirable had the thing been worth while.</p>
+
+<p>"I understand you, Erma. You think just as I do, but you are afraid to
+say so. I suspected from the first where the pin went; but of course I
+did not say so."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you not think it a wise course to follow now&mdash;to say nothing?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is very different now. Before, I was merely suspicious. One may not
+make statements in mere suspicion. Now I have proofs."</p>
+
+<p>"Proofs? Because Hester Alden has the pin on and Helen is away?"</p>
+
+<p>"Let us walk along the edge of the river," said Mellie. She, too, meant
+to change the conversation. "I love the river when it is icebound. I
+should like to cross if I thought it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> were safe. But I fancy we had
+better not. We have had several days of thaw and that always rots the
+ice, and rotten ice is far more dangerous than thin ice."</p>
+
+<p>"I intend to speak my mind," said Berenice. "Mellie and you are very
+much afraid you will express yourselves. You think as I do about the
+matter, but you will not say so. I cannot see the difference between
+thinking a thing and saying it outright."</p>
+
+<p>"The best thing to do is not to think it," said Erma. She laughed long
+and loud and merrily. "That is quite an idea. After this, I shall not
+think things. Perhaps my brain will never wear out. Doesn't the
+physiology say that every thought wears away some of the gray cellular
+tissue? Thank goodness, no one can blame me for destroying mine. I am
+sure I never thought any of mine away." As she spoke a new thought came
+to her. "No doubt, Helen found her pin weeks ago and you are having your
+tempest in a tea-pot all for nothing."</p>
+
+<p>Berenice had not thought of that possibility.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> This was an argument, she
+was not equal to and was the means of causing her to say no more on the
+subject.</p>
+
+<p>She knew from experience that she could not talk with some of the girls.
+They had a sense of loyalty and honor which restrained them from
+discussing anyone who came under the name of friend.</p>
+
+<p>Berenice was unfortunate in her disposition. She was not by nature
+honest or sincere, and she could not conceive of another's being so.
+When Erma and Mellie had refused to listen to her suspicions, she
+attributed not to their high sense of honor, but rather that they were
+deceiving her and would discuss the question between themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Every girl in the hall understood Berenice. They were careful of their
+words while in her presence and they never repeated a tale that she
+carried to them. Many a time had they taken her to task, but she never
+profited by the lessons. When the girls spoke to her plainly, she put
+the fault on them instead of upon herself. Gradually the girls let her
+go her own<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> way, gave no credence to her words and kept a bridle on
+their tongues, when Berenice was within hearing.</p>
+
+<p>Yet, a word dropped here and there, will spring up and bear seed even
+though every one about knows it to be but a poisonous weed. Berenice
+dropped these seeds in plenty. A word fell here and there, although the
+hearers repudiated it, it yet made an impression, before any one was
+conscious that it was so. No one could trace the source from which it
+sprung, but the impression was strong throughout the hall that Hester
+Alden had taken Helen's valuable pin and had hidden it away for months,
+then at the first opportunity when Helen was at Exeter, Hester had worn
+it home.</p>
+
+<p>Hester, wholly unconscious that her action might be misjudged or that it
+should be judged at all, had left the pin at the cottage with Aunt
+Debby. She had put it away in her own tiny bedroom. A feeling of pride
+had restrained her from wearing it at school. The other girls wore pins
+which were not make-believes and Hester did not like the idea of the odd
+metal and cut glass.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Aunt Debby told me it was just a cheap little pin," she said to herself
+as she placed it away. "I shall always keep it because it was my
+mother's, but I shall not wear it. I do not feel just right wearing
+something which pretends to be something else."</p>
+
+<p>When Hester returned to school Monday morning, more than one pair of
+eyes looked eagerly for her coming. Erma and Mellie were hoping that she
+would come in with the pin boldly in evidence, and thus put to rout the
+rumors which had crept into the hall. Berenice, too, watched for
+Hester's coming with a wholly different motive.</p>
+
+<p>"If Hester Alden comes in to class and wears the pin when Helen is
+present, then of course nothing can be said. I shall believe it then
+that Helen found the pin and allowed Hester to wear it. But if Hester
+comes back without it, I shall draw my own conclusions, and I shall feel
+justified in doing so."</p>
+
+<p>She did not dare to say this to Mellie, Erma, or the older girls. It was
+to Emma she spoke, and Emma being youngest of all, and new to school
+life, listened and believed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Hester was expected on the eight o'clock car. It was not by chance that
+some of the girls lingered in the main hall at the time of her coming.</p>
+
+<p>Marshall from the office window, saw the car coming in the distance and
+went down to the triangle to carry up Hester's baggage. The group of
+girls saw him and moved nearer to the door.</p>
+
+<p>"The car is coming. Hester will be on it," said Berenice. Erma was in
+the little group. At the tone in Berenice's voice, Erma flushed. Like a
+flash there came to her a conception of the part she was playing in
+this. If she were Hester Alden's friend, she had no right to question
+her action and no right to wait at the door to find proof of her perfidy
+or her honesty. Erma raised her head proudly, "I think I shall not wait
+here. I shall see Hester later. The dear old honeysuckle that she is! I
+shall be glad to have her back. I missed her dreadfully these two days."
+She turned her back on the group and was about to walk away when Mellie
+moved forward and slipped her hand in Erma's arm. "I shall go with you,"
+she said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> Others, grasping the situation more clearly than they had
+before, followed the example of Erma. So it was, that only Berenice and
+two of the younger girls waited at the doorway.</p>
+
+<p>But a few moments they stood there, when the door opened and Marshall
+ushered Hester into the hall.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall take this case directly to your room, Miss Alden," said
+Marshall.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Marshall," cried Hester. She was her gay, bright self after
+her visit with Aunt Debby. Her eyes were sparkling and her cheeks
+bright. She turned to the girls who stood waiting for her. Ignorant of
+the motive which had brought them here to meet her, she greeted them
+affectionately.</p>
+
+<p>"It was lovely of you girls to come down here to meet me. I had a lovely
+time with Aunt Debby. Yet I am glad to get back to school."</p>
+
+<p>While she had been speaking, she had drawn off her gloves and had thrown
+back her coat. The girls had given no response to her greeting, but
+stood with their eyes fixed upon her. The exclamation which Berenice
+gave sounded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> much like one of exultation; for Hester Alden was not
+wearing a pin.</p>
+
+<p>Hester felt conditions about her. She gave the three girls a quick
+hurried glance as though to grasp the intangible something which she
+felt. Then she continued her way down the corridor. Berenice was not
+easily offended. Catching step with Hester, she walked with her.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you lose your pin, Hester?" she asked. "You had such a pretty pin
+on when you left school Saturday morning. I noticed at once that you
+didn't have it on now. Do you suppose you lost it?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I did not. I left it home purposely."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed. If I had such a pin I am sure I would wear it. There are only
+one or two girls in school who have diamonds. If I had a pin with a
+diamond in it, I am sure I'd be only too anxious to wear it."</p>
+
+<p>"But that did not happen to be a diamond. It is a very cheap little pin
+which belonged to Aunt Debby&mdash;that is, it belonged to me, and I'd rather
+keep it than wear it."</p>
+
+<p>Berenice gave her shoulders a shrug, lowered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> her eyelids until her eyes
+looked like little beads. She would prove to the girls that what she had
+said was true. Every one of Hester's friends had heard the report but
+had refused to discuss it. Erma laughed in derision at the mention of
+it. "Oh, you silly thing," she cried, "to come to me with such a story.
+Don't I know Hester better than that."</p>
+
+<p>And Mellie, Mame, Renee, and Sara stopped the tale-bearers in their
+story. Yet while they tried to be true, in the heart of each one was a
+doubt. Had they not seen the pin many times? Had it not disappeared
+weeks and weeks ago; and had they not seen Hester wear it home, and that
+when Helen was absent? Proof was brought before them and they tried to
+ignore it. They tried to strengthen themselves in their position by
+believing that Helen had found the pin and had neglected to tell them.</p>
+
+<p>Hester's friends would have let the matter pass, giving her the benefit
+of a doubt, but there was in school a different set who were easily
+influenced and stood ready to believe anything that was told them. This
+set with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> Berenice as instigator, took it upon themselves to ostracize
+Hester.</p>
+
+<p>It was the custom of the students to loiter in the parlor after dinner,
+gathering about in groups. Someone talked; others drew about the piano;
+while others arm in arm walked up and down in confidential talk. One
+evening as Hester joined one of these groups, the talk ceased. There was
+an attempt to resume it, but it was fruitless. The group scattered,
+leaving Hester alone. This occurred several times. Hester was not
+supersensitive; neither was she dull. She knew that something had gone
+amiss, and that she had purposely been snubbed. But not by so much as a
+glance did she show that she was conscious of the treatment. She
+lingered a few moments longer, made a pretense of playing a piece and
+then went to her room and took up her books.</p>
+
+<p>"They will not treat me so a second time," she said to herself. "They'll
+never have the satisfaction of knowing that I observed them."</p>
+
+<p>It was all very well to speak bravely, but the sting was deep. She had
+determination and pluck enough not to bewail. She took up her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> lessons
+and vented her energy in getting them out.</p>
+
+<p>She was not alone in observing the conduct of the younger set. The girls
+of her own hall had also seen what had taken place.</p>
+
+<p>Not in this alone, did the younger girls express themselves. At
+recreation hour, which followed the evening study period, they were
+accustomed to gather in little groups in one of the rooms. At these
+times, the chafing-dish was brought into use, and the air was heavy with
+the odor of chocolate. By contriving, the younger set managed that
+Hester no longer made one of the party.</p>
+
+<p>One evening, Erma and Mame took the girls to task on this matter. Emma
+and Louise expressed themselves strongly. Hester had been guilty of the
+greatest dishonesty and they meant to cut her dead.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you taking it upon yourself to mete out judgment?" asked Mellie
+gently. "I should scarcely feel myself equal to such a great work. You
+are not sure that Hester is guilty. You are surmising. Who knows but
+Helen found the pin."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I know," exclaimed Berenice. "I took it upon myself to ask her."</p>
+
+<p>"You must have had&mdash;" Erma began with some show of feeling, but stopped
+herself suddenly and laughed instead. What was the use in turning the
+matter into a tragedy. "Well, if you begin to cut people, you little
+freshmen, bear in mind that other girls can do the same. Hester is my
+friend and will continue to be. If she is not treated as I am treated,
+then I am treated badly."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a case of love me, love my dog, is it?" asked Berenice.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a case of treat my friends as you treat me. If Hester is not at
+the next fudge party, then you may expect me to leave and furthermore,
+you need expect no invitation to any spreads that I have anything to do
+with."</p>
+
+<p>She went her way. The younger girls shrugged their shoulders. It was
+considered very fine to be entertained by the seniors and to be accepted
+by them as friends. The freshmen who had been so favored did not wish to
+forgo these joys. On the other hand, they did not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> like the idea of
+giving up their independence and running at the beck and call of any
+senior.</p>
+
+<p>Berenice's words about asking Helen in regard to finding the pin, had
+put Erma's convictions to rout. She tried to comfort herself in the
+thought that Berenice was not always reliable in her statements. It was
+sorry comfort at the best. A heroic course then presented itself to
+Erma. The thought no sooner presented itself to her than she determined
+to put it into play.</p>
+
+<p>"This evening after study hour, I intend making some hot chocolate.
+Marshall shall buy me some nice fresh wafers when he goes down the
+street."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, I shall be there," said Mame.</p>
+
+<p>"No, you shall not. That is what I wish to speak to you about. The
+moment the half-hour bell rings, I wish you to go down to Hester Alden's
+room and I wish you to keep her there until I call to you and her to
+come. But not for worlds must you let her know that there has been
+anything premeditated about the affairs."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, not for the worlds," said Mame. "I do not quite grasp your idea,
+but I'll do as I am told though I die for it."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll not die, Mamie. The good die young, so I see a long, long life
+for you. You will be rewarded for your goodness. I shall save the
+biggest cup for you and I'll fill it twice without so much as your
+hinting."</p>
+
+<p>"I am your servant from henceforth. Two cups of cocoa to be had not for
+the asking, and big cups at that."</p>
+
+<p>Promptly at the recreation hour, Mame hurried off to see Hester. There
+was something she wished done for the paper and Hester wrote so
+beautifully. Helen went away and left them. The sound of voices came up
+to them from Fifty-four.</p>
+
+<p>"Erma asked me to come down for some hot chocolate," suggested Hester.
+But Mame refused to take the hint.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, she asked me too. She'll call us when it's ready. She knows that I
+am up here. Now, about this editorial. I'd rather write a novel than an
+editorial any time. In novels, something may be done; but in editorials,
+one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> must just think. Would you say this, Hester?"</p>
+
+<p>She began her reading on an abstract subject which was a theme worthy of
+a logician and Hester was compelled to listen.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, down in Fifty-four, a number of girls had gathered. Erma was
+making good use of the chafing-dish while Renee was passing salt wafers
+and blanched almonds. Erma was laughing merrily, as she poured the
+cocoa. In the midst of her activities her brooch fell from her collar on
+to the table.</p>
+
+<p>"Good thing, I heard it," she exclaimed, drawing the attention of the
+entire room to it. "If I had dropped it in the hall or on the campus, I
+might never have found it, just as you did, Helen. You never found your
+pin did you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Helen. Her reply was given curtly as though her mind were on
+other matters.</p>
+
+<p>"I told you so," cried Berenice with a show of exultation, looking from
+one girl to another. They had become suddenly quiet at Helen's reply.</p>
+
+<p>"I told you so," she repeated. Then turning<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> to Helen, she continued. "I
+can tell you where it is. I saw it and so did several of the others. But
+they are afraid to tell."</p>
+
+<p>"Not afraid," said Mellie gently. "Fear was not what kept us silent."</p>
+
+<p>"Hester Alden knows where it is," continued Berenice. "While you were at
+Exeter, Hester went home. I met her in the hall and walked with her to
+the triangle. I saw the pin on her tie. It was partly hidden by the ends
+of her tie. When she came back, she did not have it with her. I was not
+the only girl who saw it. They all feel as I do about it. Hester Alden
+took your pin."</p>
+
+<p>She looked about the room with an air of malicious triumph. What could
+the girls do or say now? The gauntlet had been thrown down and they
+could not fling it back. It must lie there, for Hester could not be
+defended. Gentle, soft-spoken Mellie arose to the occasion. "I hope you
+are happy now, Berenice," she said. "But I do not see how you can be
+after such an act. You have deliberately done what you could to ruin
+Hester's reputation and what have you gained by it? Nothing at all,
+except<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> those who have heard, care just a little less for you."</p>
+
+<p>During these remarks, Helen had sat silent on a heap of cushions piled
+high on the floor. At Berenice's first words, she had grown pale but she
+listened without a word. What could she say or do? While Mellie spoke,
+she decided the course she would take. If the girls misunderstood her
+meaning, well and good. She loved Hester. It was a queer worthless sort
+of love which would make no show of sacrifice for its object. She
+reasoned thus while Mellie was speaking. Then she looked from one girl
+to the other.</p>
+
+<p>"What startling things you say, Berenice. What pin have you reference
+to?"</p>
+
+<p>"Your heirloom with the diamond in it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that," with an air of assumed indifference. "Is that the one that
+you have in mind? Yes, I found that three weeks ago. Where do you think
+I found it?" She looked about at the girls, but gave them no opportunity
+to answer. "I found it in a little box along with some other trinkets.
+The box had been put on the closet floor and got pushed back in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>
+corner. I was hunting about for some hooks and eyes and came across it
+quite by accident."</p>
+
+<p>A sigh of relief was felt. The girls had been sitting with every muscle
+rigid. Now, they relaxed and a buzz of laughter and talk began. Berenice
+was far more discerning than the other girls there. Something in Helen's
+manner was beyond her comprehension.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you really know then that Hester Alden had your pin and was wearing
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>Helen nodded brightly as she replied. No one noticed that she ignored
+the second question that Berenice had put to her.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, certainly, I knew that Hester had it. You take up very strange
+ideas, Berenice. I'd put Hester and the pin from your mind from this
+minute. I give you my word of honor that I knew that Hester had the
+pin."</p>
+
+<p>Erma laughed delightfully. Her voice ran the scale and came back with an
+echo of triumph in it. Her plan had succeeded beyond her most sanguine
+expectations.</p>
+
+<p>"I have forgotten the girls," she said, "and the cocoa almost gone."
+Going to the hall, she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> called to Sixty-two. "Hester Alden, are you and
+Mame going to stay there all night? The bell will ring in a few moments,
+and you will have no chocolate."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+
+
+<p>From this time on, the younger set of girls made a point of being kind
+to Hester. Feeling that they had misjudged her they tried to repay by an
+excess of kindness. Hester was a responsive creature. She had no
+ugliness in her heart. Spite was a quality that had not entered into the
+composition of her character. So when the girls showered her with
+kindness, she responded heartily and put from her heart, the bitter
+thoughts which had been there.</p>
+
+<p>Helen, after the brave stand she had taken in regard to Hester, was
+troubled. She felt that she had been placed by Hester's shortcomings in
+an unpleasant position. She had deceived her girl friends. To be sure,
+she had not told them a word which was not strictly true, but they had
+misunderstood her and she knew it. To make matters worse, she had
+deliberately constructed her sentences that they might be deceived and
+yet she was telling the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> truth. Taking it all in all, it was a paradox.
+She hated deception, and Hester had placed her in such a position that
+she had been compelled to put a double meaning to her words.</p>
+
+<p>So the little plan which Erma had worked out had the effect of widening
+the breach between the occupants of Sixty-two.</p>
+
+<p>Hester had been grieved by the treatment she had received from Helen;
+but after the choice of substitutes, sorrow gave place to anger at the
+injustice accorded her. When the anger had gone, a steadiness of purpose
+came to Hester. She resolved to treat Helen with courtesy, nothing more;
+to be untouched by her in any way. Hester set her lips firmly and raised
+her head proudly. She had caught little mannerisms from Debby Alden,
+just as she had caught the principle which had actuated her conduct: not
+to cry out and let every one know when one is hurt.</p>
+
+<p>When she came back from the two-days' visit with Aunt Debby and Miss
+Richards, she had mastered her feelings to a great extent. She never
+failed to greet Helen upon rising; she bade her a courteous good-night
+when bed-time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> came. They spoke together of little school affairs, but
+the long confidential talks had gone. They were well-bred strangers
+together for a time. They were spoiling the best part of the school year
+by what they pleased to think was their heroism. It would have been far
+easier and more fruitful of good results had they taken each other
+sharply to task, and blurted out what they had against each other. It
+would have been an easy matter, for each would have discovered that
+there existed no cause for an estrangement between them.</p>
+
+<p>Down in the city, Debby Alden was spending the best year of her life.
+She had continued her music until her playing had passed the apprentice
+stage. She read the classics with Miss Richards. The townspeople had
+found her charming in her gracious thought for others. She was practical
+and thoroughgoing, and they filled her hands with church and charity
+work. Debby had not an idle, lonely moment. To do her justice, she gave
+no thought to what people might be thinking of her. She had too many
+thoughts outside herself to give Debby Alden much thought.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>She had proved the statement that it is a woman's own fault if she is
+not beautiful by the time she has forty years to her credit. Debby's
+beauty was of form and feature, and beyond this, the beauty which
+radiates from holding high ideals and living up to them. People did not
+merely like or admire this elder Miss Alden. Those words were weak to
+express the sentiment they held for her. They loved her, perhaps because
+Debby had in her heart an interest and love for every human creature
+that she met. Hester wisely had not mentioned to her aunt the little
+disturbance at school. This was partly due to unselfishness, and partly
+that there had been nothing tangible to tell. It would be very foolish
+to run and cry, "I have had my feelings wounded, but I do not know why."
+Pride, too, was one of the important factors of her silence. She could
+tell no one&mdash;not even her dear aunt&mdash;that the girls had, for some
+reason, held her in disfavor.</p>
+
+<p>But Debby Alden had not lived with Hester sixteen years without
+understanding her. The girl had barely entered the cottage and removed
+her wraps before Debby knew that something<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> had gone wrong. Debby asked
+no questions, according to Hester the same privileges she demanded for
+herself&mdash;to have hurts and wounds without being questioned concerning
+them.</p>
+
+<p>At the sight of Hester's troubled face, Debby Alden's old fears came
+back to her. Had someone at the school brought up the subject of the
+girl's parentage? Had someone told her that she had been thrown upon the
+world a waif, and none of her people had cared to look for her?</p>
+
+<p>Saturday evening, the three of the household gathered about the grate
+fire. Miss Richards had her embroidery and Debby had taken up a book;
+but neither was in the mood for work. Hester was filled to the brim with
+school. She was fairly bubbling over with stories of what the girls had
+done; who had been campused, and who had been called into the office.</p>
+
+<p>Debby Alden listened to the chatter as though it were the profoundest
+wisdom.</p>
+
+<p>"And, Aunt Debby, what do you think? I missed Mrs. Vail again last week.
+She came to take Helen for a ride and intended asking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> me to go with
+them, but Sara and I had gone around the campus and so I missed my ride
+and did not meet Mrs. Vail. Does it not seem strange, Aunt Debby, that I
+should always miss her? I fell in love with her picture, you know, and I
+was very anxious to know her. Don't you think it's very funny?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know that it is funny," replied Debby. "It has just happened
+so. Does the young man come with his mother?"</p>
+
+<p>"Rob? Sometimes he does. He comes very often alone. Several times, Miss
+Burkham permitted me to go down to the reception hall with Helen and
+talk with him. Last week, when we had a reception, he was there, and he
+talked to me a long, long time. I think he is the nicest boy I ever
+knew. I think he is nicer than Ralph Orr. Don't you think so, Aunt
+Debby?"</p>
+
+<p>"You must remember that I met him but once, Hester. I liked him very
+much. He had such a nice boyish manner."</p>
+
+<p>"Boyish. Do you know how old he is?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure he is under seventy," said Debby with a smile.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Surely," said Miss Richards in her droll, quiet way, "he must be
+younger than I am. I am only sixty-three."</p>
+
+<p>Hester laughed. "You are making fun of me. He really isn't a boy. He is
+twenty-one and a senior in a Medical School. My, but he has strong
+nerves! I asked him if it didn't make him tremble to see the surgeons
+cut the flesh from one. He said it never phased him. That was his
+expression&mdash;never 'phased' him. I rather like the expression. It sounds
+just like what you might expect from a college boy. Don't you think so?"</p>
+
+<p>"I never knew college boys," began Debby Alden, but stopped suddenly.
+She remembered in time that James Baker had been a college boy. "&mdash;I
+never knew many, not enough to know what language to expect of them."</p>
+
+<p>Hester had not caught the hesitancy in Miss Alden's speech. Miss
+Richards had and looked up in time to see another Debby Alden than the
+Debby she had always known. This Debby had the flush of sixteen years in
+her cheeks and the tender light of day-dreams in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Just a moment, Debby Alden sat thus. Then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> the woman came back where the
+girl had been. "What more?" she asked Hester. "Of what else does this
+wonderful lad talk?"</p>
+
+<p>"Everything, Aunt Debby. I really do not believe there is a subject that
+he cannot talk upon."</p>
+
+<p>The women could not restrain a smile at this girlish exhibition of the
+confidence of youth.</p>
+
+<p>"He's traveled and he's been in school, and he is an athlete. He told me
+a great deal about school life. That was while we talked together at the
+reception. Helen was surprised that he talked so long to me. She says
+that he generally speaks to everyone for a few minutes and then goes. He
+must have talked to me a half an hour."</p>
+
+<p>"And then he went home?" suggested Debby. Hester blushed. "No, Miss
+Burkham came up and said that I must remember there were other guests
+who demanded some of my time, and I had to excuse myself."</p>
+
+<p>Debby Alden in her thoughts gave thanks to Miss Burkham.</p>
+
+<p>Hester continued her chatter. She needed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> no encouragement for when she
+was once on a subject she generally threshed it so thoroughly that
+nothing but chaff remained.</p>
+
+<p>"But Robert told me that he generally said but a few words to each lady
+present and then went home. But somehow from the very first, he said I
+did not seem a stranger to him. He felt that he had always known me.
+That was why he sat so long and talked with me and I wish that Miss
+Burkham would have attended to something else then, and let me alone."</p>
+
+<p>This was said in the most childlike, guileless manner. Debby Alden
+almost gasped for breath. She was about to remonstrate at the expression
+of such opinions when a glance from Miss Richards restrained her. That
+lady was not at all alarmed, only amused at Hester's talk.</p>
+
+<p>"But Eva does not know all I know," said Debby to herself. "If she did,
+she would find it no laughing matter."</p>
+
+<p>When Hester had gone to bed, leaving Debby and Miss Richards yet at the
+fireside, the latter took up the conversation.</p>
+
+<p>"You are needlessly alarmed, Debby. There<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> is not a bit of danger about
+Hester's having her head turned. She looks upon Robert just as she did
+upon Ralph. He is a good companion. That is all. Perhaps, she is a
+little flattered by having a college boy notice her at all. I remember
+when I went to school, I did the same thing. If a cadet spoke with us,
+we held our heads high and if he asked us to dance, our heads were
+turned. We really cared not at all for the cadets, but the uniforms were
+very handsome. That was fifty years ago, Debby Alden, and girls have not
+changed one whit."</p>
+
+<p>She smiled as she thought of the old school days. She was far enough
+away from them now to know what was mere childish pleasure which had
+left its pleasant fragrance clinging to all the years between.</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless, no one knows what may result from these conversations. I
+shall speak to Hester."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Debby, I beg that you consider and do nothing of the sort.
+Hester is a child with no thought of being anything else. Why should you
+put other thoughts into her head?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> You will do just such a thing if you
+discuss the subject further with her. Let her talk with the young man at
+the reception if she wishes to and Miss Burkham does not object."</p>
+
+<p>"She appeared so much interested. I am afraid&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense. You would hedge Hester about with your fears. It is just a
+wholesome girlish interest which is right and proper for one normal
+young person to show in another. Had it been otherwise, Hester would not
+have talked so freely."</p>
+
+<p>Yet, Debby was not satisfied. "You know that very serious love affairs
+are started in just such a boy-and-girl fashion."</p>
+
+<p>"Surely. I know it. I know also that I do not think it altogether a bad
+fashion. Robert Vail, if I read him right, is an excellent young man.
+The Vails are people who are above reproach. So what cause would you
+have to complain, Debby Alden, if these half-hour talks should be taken
+seriously?"</p>
+
+<p>"In the abstract, your ideas are worth while," said Debby. She could not
+laugh at the matter as Miss Richards was doing. "But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> in the concrete,
+they are wrong from beginning to end, and cannot be applied to Hester's
+case. Hester must never marry. Knowing that, I intend to keep her from
+falling in love, for I would not have her be unhappy."</p>
+
+<p>There was tragedy in her voice which Miss Richards saw fit to ignore.</p>
+
+<p>"At the same time, keep the rain from falling and the days from growing
+shorter. One is as easily done as the other. You will pardon my
+frankness, Debby, but I think you are about to make a mistake with
+Hester. You may restrain and educate her to a certain extent, but you
+cannot control her thoughts or her emotions. No one can do that for
+another. Guide Hester as far as your power lies; advise and admonish
+her, but she must live her own life; make her own mistakes and shed her
+own tears over them. You and your love must not shield her from that.
+She is herself to make of herself what she will.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot understand why you should wish her not to marry. In my mind,
+it is a fitting state for men and women, else the Lord would not have
+sanctioned it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Debby could make no answer to this. Miss Richards bent over her
+needlework. She and Debby in all their years of intimacy, had but once
+before discussed the question. It had been Hester and Hester's future
+which had brought it up. The two women sat in silence for some minutes,
+when Debby said, "You cannot understand in what way life must be
+different for my girl. You do not understand and I cannot explain."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well. But bear this in mind, Debby. You must not take the
+responsibility too heavily upon yourself. You are able to do a limited
+amount. There is a greater power in Hester Alden's life, than you. It is
+omnipotent and has a greater conception of life than your feeble mind
+can grasp."</p>
+
+<p>"I know," said Debby humbly. "I am able to do so little. I cannot save
+my little girl all the bruises and hard places. She must bear them
+herself."</p>
+
+<p>"And you should not if you could. Do not worry about Hester's being able
+to bear them. She has a courageous spirit and indomitable will."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Silence came again. Miss Richards worked on the center-piece she was
+embroidering. Debby leaned back in her chair. Her eyes rested upon the
+dying coals of the grate. Hester's childlike chatter had started her
+thinking on matters she tried to keep back in her memory. She blushed at
+her foolishness. Her practical business-like mind looked with scorn upon
+day-dreams&mdash;such day-dreams as came to her then, as she sat with her
+eyes on the grate. She could not smile at Hester's talk of Rob Vail's
+wonderful attainments. It touched too deeply. She had thought the same
+of Jim Baker that winter he took her to the spelling-bees. He had been a
+rosy-cheeked, blue-eyed boy who had ambitions. She had listened to his
+stories of the work he meant to do and she looked upon him as the most
+wonderful person in the world. But that had happened over twenty years
+ago, and she was very foolish to think of it at all.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Richards worked in silence. At last when Debby Alden brought
+herself back from her day-dreams, her companion addressed her.</p>
+
+<p>"When Miss Loraine was here, Debby, did<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> you observe the resemblance
+between her and Hester?"</p>
+
+<p>"Did I? I most assuredly did. The likeness was so strong that I almost
+exclaimed aloud when Helen stepped from the car. She was my Hester, with
+just a little difference."</p>
+
+<p>"You passed the subject over so lightly that I thought you had not
+observed what I had."</p>
+
+<p>"I passed over it lightly because I did not wish to disturb Hester. She
+knows she does not belong to my people; I would not have her know more,
+nor would I have her disturbed by commenting on the likeness.</p>
+
+<p>"The likeness between her and Helen did not startle me as much as a
+little mannerism which I noticed in her cousin. Did you observe Robert's
+way of looking at one while that one was talking? He had the appearance
+of being absorbed with interest, and so impatient to hear all that was
+to be said that he might be tempted to pull the words from one's mouth."</p>
+
+<p>Debby laughed softly at her words. "That is rather a peculiar way of
+expressing myself, but that is the impression he gave me. I have seen
+Hester sit so, listening. Time and time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> again, I have smiled at her
+intenseness, and I have chided her for it. I have no doubt that Robert
+Vail is an excellent young man. He looks it. If I read him right, he's
+inclined to be 'set' in his way. I do not doubt that if he thought a
+course of action was right and decided to follow it, he would be flayed
+before he could be compelled to give up. I have noticed that same
+tendency in Hester. She is what I call 'set' and always has been."</p>
+
+<p>"Debby, do you think for a moment that Hester had to go far from home to
+find her example? Your dearest enemies could never accuse you of
+vacillating. You are what your people were before you. You're 'set'
+Debby&mdash;quite set.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not a lack of virtue in one. On the contrary, I admire it. I have
+little sympathy for the one who moves with every passing influence. In
+my friendships, I find myself leaning toward folk who are 'set.'"</p>
+
+<p>The gentle kindliness in the speaker's voice and smile made every word
+she said seem like a caress.</p>
+
+<p>"I should be very glad, Debby," continued<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> Miss Richards, "that Hester
+has that virtue. Wax melts under any influence; but if iron is molded
+right you have something stable. You have given Hester high ideals, and
+I have no fear that she will be influenced from them."</p>
+
+<p>"I had no thoughts of criticising," cried Debby quickly. "I am glad that
+my Hester is as she is. I would not have her different. I was remarking
+about the resemblance in manner and disposition between her and Robert
+Vail. She looks like Helen, but she is like Robert."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think there might be relationship, Debby? If there be one,
+Hester would not blush to claim such kin. The Vails and Loraines are
+fine folk&mdash;fine in the highest sense that I can use the word.</p>
+
+<p>"You told me several years ago, that you knew more of Hester's family
+than you had given out. You told me no more than that, and I do not ask
+to know more now. But it came to me that they might be bound to Hester
+by ties of blood. Surely such a resemblance cannot come by mere chance."</p>
+
+<p>"There are no blood ties there," cried Debby<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> Alden. "I am sure of that.
+No, do not misunderstand me. I would not be jealous of them were they
+her kin. I should rejoice to know she was of such a family and the
+anxiety which I have borne in secret would leave me. No, Hester is not
+of the Loraine or Vail blood."</p>
+
+<p>Arising from her place at the grate, she moved away to the end of the
+room and stood looking out on the white earth. After a few minutes'
+struggle with herself, she came back to where Miss Richards sat, "Eva,
+cannot your imagination fill out what I cannot tell? You know there are
+conditions of blood and family which bear a stain which generations
+cannot eradicate. Poor Hester, innocent and brilliant as she is, bears
+that mark. You know why I wish to make her independent and
+self-sustaining. Those from which she sprung are beneath her; and she
+dare not bring the affliction of her people upon those higher. You see
+why I must guard her. She must do as you and I have done&mdash;though not for
+the same reason. She must be alone all her life. I want you to help me
+in this."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"As I have always done, and always will," said her friend. "My
+heartstrings cling about Hester, too. I love her almost as much as you
+do, Debby Alden."</p>
+
+<p>While the conversation was being carried on, Hester Alden lay in the
+room above not wholly unconscious that her aunt and friend were
+discussing her. Now and then a word came to her; but she closed her ears
+tight to shut out the slightest sound.</p>
+
+<p>"Aunt Debby is talking about my people and I must not hear. She said
+once that what she told me was all she cared to have me know, so I must
+not hear this."</p>
+
+<p>She shut the sound of voices from her ears. If Aunt Debby did not wish
+her to know, that ended it as far as Hester's desire to know was
+concerned.</p>
+
+<p>Debby Alden was troubled in her thoughts about Hester all that winter
+term; for she knew that something lay heavy on Hester's heart. The girl
+continued her studies, took her part in the social life of the seminary,
+and played basket-ball with all her energy; yet her heart was sore
+because the breach between<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> Helen and her had not been bridged. The
+seminary life was fine&mdash;but Helen had been the biggest part of it to
+Hester.</p>
+
+<p>The river had been frozen over since the first of the year. The students
+who could skate, used the ice for an outside gymnasium under the
+chaperonage of the little German teacher. Helen did not skate and
+preferred the routine of the regular physical culture course. Hester, on
+the contrary, could have lived on skates, as far as her desire and lack
+of muscular weariness was concerned.</p>
+
+<p>The difference in choice of exercise separated the girls yet further.
+The skating was like a tonic to Hester. She could not be dull,
+depressed, or anxious after an hour on the ice. She missed Helen's
+companionship less than before. While Helen was brought to realize that
+it was not a passing fancy she had held toward Hester, but genuine
+affection and she missed her companionship more and more.</p>
+
+<p>The winter held on until late. The week preceding Easter Sunday, the
+spring thaw set in and the river came up and over the ice.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll have an ice-jam and a good one,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> laughed Erma. "Last spring the
+cakes piled as high as the old apple tree. The ice broke just at
+tea-time and the river was floating with it until morning. Doctor Weldon
+allowed us to watch until bed-time. It was simply gorgeous. Great white
+blocks would rise high in the air and then crumble into powder. I think
+we'll have a bad jam this spring." Erma danced away, overjoyed at the
+prospect of something to break the routine.</p>
+
+<p>The following Saturday, the rain fell all day. The building was gray and
+cheerless. It was the time of year when homesickness is prevalent at
+school. The girls were dull and sat about silent in the parlor or idly
+turning over magazines in the library.</p>
+
+<p>In the chapel a chorus of girls were being drilled. "What are they
+preparing for?" asked Hester of Sara.</p>
+
+<p>"You are new, so I cannot tell you. Wait and find out," was the reply.</p>
+
+<p>At tea-time the same heaviness of spirits hung over the dining-hall.
+Suddenly, a creaking sound was heard and a crush as though of breaking
+timber.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The ice!" cried Erma. Her voice was distinctly heard throughout the
+large dining-hall.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately, they were at the dessert and Doctor Weldon excused them
+immediately. They were warned to fortify themselves with wraps against
+the weather. In a few moments, they had hurried to their rooms and were
+back again in raincoats, overshoes, and Tam-o-Shanters.</p>
+
+<p>The Fraulein loved the storm. She and Miss Laird were the only two of
+the faculty who could be induced to leave the building. The rain was
+falling softly. The Fraulein led the way across the campus to the edge
+of the river. The water had risen six feet since morning, and had
+encroached upon the campus, and gurgled about the trunk of the old
+orchard trees. The ice jammed back on the shore, forcing the girls to
+retreat. Great cakes arose as a perpendicular, balanced for an instant
+and fell to pieces, or crushed against the trees until they groaned and
+bent under the strain. All the while the growling and seething and
+gurgling of the water was heard above all.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> It was glorious. Little
+wonder that Erma had anticipated this with delight.</p>
+
+<p>The lights about the building were the only ones on the campus. The
+shadows were heavy where the girls stood along shore. Hester, to whom
+this scene was never old, although she had seen it every year of her
+life, stood entranced. Her umbrella had been tilted back and the rain
+beat down on her face, but she knew it not. She was unconscious of the
+chatter about her. She could not have talked. The river and noise and
+jamming ice held her spellbound.</p>
+
+<p>Helen observed her as she stood so and believed that she was sad. Going
+up to where Hester was, Helen stood beside her, but no attention
+whatever was paid to her. Then she laid her hand lightly on Hester's
+arm. The result was the same. Hester stood with her eyes fixed upon the
+river, and made no response to the overture of friendship. Then Helen
+turned away, feeling that she had been repulsed.</p>
+
+<p>When the heaviest flow had passed, the Fraulein took the girls back to
+the building.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> Helen went directly to her room to look over the evening
+mail; but Hester lingered with the Fraulein who was vainly trying to
+describe the flood which she had witnessed in her own little German
+village.</p>
+
+<p>When Hester at length entered Sixty-two, Helen had read her letters and
+was standing by the study-table in deep thought. She looked at Hester a
+little wistfully.</p>
+
+<p>"I had a letter from our pastor at home," she said, turning to Hester.
+"You have heard me speak of Dr. James Baker?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I have," replied Hester and took up her work. One could not begin
+a conversation on so little encouragement. Helen took up the letter from
+her pastor and read it a second time. He wrote to her as he did to all
+the absent young people whose church home was his church. He brought to
+their attention, the coming Sabbath, and reminded them that it should
+mean much to them. He suggested that they too, lay aside the old life
+with its troubles and its shortcomings and arise with new ideals and a
+new spirit. He had expressed himself finely. Helen, who was sympathetic,
+was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> touched by his words. She would put aside the old life. She would
+begin that instant to forget all that had passed and begin anew even her
+friendship with Hester.</p>
+
+<p>Hester, fortified by her pride and the resolution she had made some
+weeks before, sat at her table writing. For weeks she had given Helen no
+opportunity for more than a passing word.</p>
+
+<p>"This letter from Doctor Baker is beautiful," began Helen. "He is as
+good as he writes. He has been our pastor for fifteen years&mdash;more
+perhaps. Will you read it, Hester? It may do you good. It has me."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps I do not need it," was the curt reply. "And perhaps Doctor
+Baker might object to a third party reading his letters."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense. He would be delighted. Will you read it?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I thank you," said Hester, proudly. Then she added. "I may be
+beyond being reached, you know."</p>
+
+<p>Her tone was sharp. It caused Helen to cease from further importunity.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, Hester. If you do not wish to,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> I shall not insist." She
+laid the letter aside.</p>
+
+<p>"It will be the very last time, I shall try to make up with Hester," she
+said to herself. "She never really cared for me, or she would see that I
+wish to be friends. But she does not care."</p>
+
+<p>When the half-hour bell rang, the girls began their preparation for bed
+without a word to each other. Since the first days of their
+misunderstanding, their politeness toward each other was so marked as to
+be burdensome.</p>
+
+<p>They excused and begged pardon each time their paths crossed. The same
+formality was continued now. There was no conversation, although both
+were talkers and their heads were buzzing with the things they would
+like to have said.</p>
+
+<p>When the retiring bell sounded, there was a short "Good-night, Hester,"
+and as short a response, "Good-night, Helen."</p>
+
+<p>There were to be sunrise services in the chapel at which every student
+was required to be present. But before that time, Hester was awakened by
+voices far in the distance. She sat up in bed to listen. The gray of the
+Easter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> morning was stealing through the window. The voices came nearer
+and nearer. At last she could distinguish the words.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Christ is Risen. Christ is Risen. He hath burst His bounds in twain.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen! Alleluia, swell the strain."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>It was the chorus of girls. This had long been the custom of the school,
+to wake the pupils by song on Easter morning.</p>
+
+<p>The voices drew nearer. The singers paused at the landing of the stair.
+Hester could distinguish Erma's loud, clear notes which soared upward
+like a bird and floated over all.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Alleluia, Alleluia, swell the strain."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The spirit of the Easter morn came to Hester.</p>
+
+<p>There was peace and joy. She wished for that. She really had not had it
+for weeks. While the song rose and fell, her heart softened toward
+Helen. She would make up with her. She would ask to be forgiven and be
+friends again. She crept out of bed and went to Helen's bed, but Helen
+had gone to make one of the Easter Wakening Chorus.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+
+
+<p>Proserpina had returned to earth again. The evidence of her visit was
+everywhere. The campus had turned into green velvet; the pussy willows
+were soft as chinchillas; the apple trees were in leaf, and just about
+to blossom. These were the signs of spring everywhere. In addition to
+these, the seminary had a sign which appealed to it alone. The man with
+the ice-cream cart had appeared. For several days, his cart had been
+backed against the curb of the campus and the sound of his bell was like
+the music of the hand-organ to the girls. It was a bluebird and a
+robin&mdash;the harbingers of spring to them.</p>
+
+<p>May came and was quickly passing. The girls were talking caps and gowns
+and diplomas. The seniors went about with a superior air; the juniors
+were little better for they had a classday at least. The freshmen and
+sophomores, in the plans for commencement<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> week, were but the fifth
+wheel to a wagon. They were ignored. If they offered suggestions they
+were snubbed, and informed, not too gently, that they could not be
+expected to know anything about such matters&mdash;being new to the ways of
+commencement.</p>
+
+<p>Though they had neither commencement, class day, nor play, the freshmen
+and sophomores did not lose spirit. What was not theirs by rights, they
+meant to make theirs by foul means and strategy.</p>
+
+<p>It had long been the custom of the seniors to follow the commencement
+proper with a banquet. This included only members of the senior class.
+The Alumn&aelig; banquet took place later and was in the hands of old students
+who had long since left the seminary. Among these were the wives of
+judges, physicians, bankers&mdash;people with whom the freshmen and
+sophomores dare not interfere, though it would have been an easy matter
+to have taken this Alumn&aelig; Banquet, for there was no one on hand to guard
+it. The menu and serving were wholly in the hands of a caterer from the
+city.</p>
+
+<p>Knowing that the affairs of the Alumn&aelig;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> must not be tampered with, the
+freshmen turned all their energies toward the seniors and juniors.</p>
+
+<p>The juniors were to give a play. The costumes were to be rented for the
+occasion. The play itself was zealously guarded lest it be stolen. Erma,
+whose talent lay in a histrionic direction, had charge of the copies of
+the drama. Erma had talent but no forethought. She put the pamphlets in
+the place most suited to them. Hester, who had been sent out by her
+class as a scout to find what she could of the plans of the juniors,
+discovered the books the first day; and not only the books but the names
+of the juniors and the parts which each was to take. Hester reported
+immediately the results of her investigation. The following day, while
+Erma was engaged elsewhere the play disappeared, was hurriedly copied by
+the freshmen and replaced. Not a member of the junior class, so the
+freshmen believed, was aware of what took place and was not the wiser
+that the freshmen had begun the preparation of the same play.</p>
+
+<p>"We can outdo them," said Louise at the class-meeting. "The play is
+booked for Tuesday<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> evening. Monday evening is the band concert and
+promenade from seven o'clock until eight-thirty. After that, the
+freshmen class will have the floor and we'll give the play before the
+juniors. Their efforts will fall flat on Tuesday evening."</p>
+
+<p>"But the costumes!" exclaimed Hester. "What will we do for them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Borrow them from the juniors when they are from their rooms. We will
+need them but one evening. We'll return them as fresh as ever the
+following morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Will they lend them?" It was a little first term girl who asked the
+question.</p>
+
+<p>"No, you dear little freshie, they will not lend them if they can help
+themselves. We will ask them Tuesday morning and use them Monday. It is
+the safest way," said Emma, who was exceedingly enthusiastic over this
+part of school life. While at home, she had read volumes on the subject
+of life at a boarding school. From the impression left by those books,
+life at school was one succession of receptions, public meetings, and
+practical jokes. Discipline and lessons were in the undercurrent of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>
+life. Life at Dickinson had been wholly different from what Emma had
+anticipated. This stealing of the junior play and presenting it before
+the juniors had the opportunity, appealed to Emma. This was more in the
+order of the books she had read.</p>
+
+<p>Louise sat up on the rostrum, appointing the students to their parts.
+She looked at Emma quizzingly, "About your part, Emma," she began.</p>
+
+<p>"I know what I want to be. Let me be queen. I'd dearly love to put my
+hair up and wear a train."</p>
+
+<p>"You! The queen!" the girls laughed in scorn. "You never would have
+dignity enough for that. What you should be is a Dutch doll that moves
+with a spring."</p>
+
+<p>"I could do the queen part&mdash;," she began.</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, hush. You are talking too loud. Some one is coming."</p>
+
+<p>Footsteps were heard along the stair. The door opened and Renee put her
+head in.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you there, Louise?" she asked. "Do you object to my taking your
+umbrella? My roommate has gone off leaving mine locked in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> the closet,
+and I've permission to go down town."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, take it," cried Louise. Renee closed the door and
+disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm suspicious of that umbrella," said Edna. "I think Renee was sent up
+here to see what we were about."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I'd be suspicious of any one but Renee. She wished the umbrella. I
+am sure of that."</p>
+
+<p>"But why should she need it this afternoon. There is not the slightest
+suggestion of rain and the sun is not bright."</p>
+
+<p>"Because, she couldn't go without borrowing something," said Louise. "It
+wouldn't be Renee if she could. I suppose she looked about and an
+umbrella was the only thing she did not have at hand, so that was the
+only thing she could borrow."</p>
+
+<p>Eventually the parts were given out and partly learned. The girls had
+planned for a rehearsal the first week in June. The fact that everything
+had to be done under cover from the juniors, made the practice drag.
+They could assemble only at such hours when the juniors were in class,
+and the chapel vacant.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The sophomores, confident that the freshmen alone would be able to
+manage the juniors, turned their attention to the seniors. Their plan
+was to divert the banquet from the dining-hall to one of the society
+halls, and feast upon it while the seniors went wailing in search of it.</p>
+
+<p>Their plans were developing nicely when the weather saw fit to
+interfere. The last day of May, which fell on Tuesday, set in with a
+soft, fine rain. This was nothing alarming in itself, had it performed
+its work and gone its way. But it lingered all day, all night and when
+Wednesday morning broke dull and gray, the volume of water had
+increased, and was coming steadily down. Thursday was but a repetition
+of Wednesday. The rain did not cease for an instant. The sun never
+showed his face.</p>
+
+<p>The river had crept up gradually until the water was licking the trunks
+of the apple trees; but this was not alarming. The ice flood had been
+higher; and further back on the campus were the marks of the flood of
+'48, the highest flood ever known along the river. Even then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> the water
+had not touched the building. There was nothing at all to be alarmed by
+the river's rising.</p>
+
+<p>After the afternoon's recitations, the girls went down to the river's
+edge, although the rain poured down upon them. They were learning the
+tricks of the old river men. They stuck sticks in the edge of the water
+to mark the rise or fall.</p>
+
+<p>"It's risen over a foot since lunch time," cried Erma. "See, there is my
+marker. You can just see it. Think of it&mdash;a foot. What will become of
+us?"</p>
+
+<p>"It will rise twenty feet before we need give it a thought," said
+Hester. She had been reared along the river and had no fear of it. She
+loved it in any form it could assume&mdash;tranquil and quiet&mdash;frozen and
+white&mdash;rolling and bleak and sullen. In every form, she recognized only
+the beautiful and knew no reason to fear.</p>
+
+<p>"But if it should rise twenty-five?" cried Erma. She was running about
+excitedly like a water-sprite. Her red sweater gleamed in the sullen
+gray light. The rain was trickling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> from her Tam-o-Shanter; but she was
+oblivious of all, save the far remote danger.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what if it should come up twenty-five feet!" she continued asking
+as she ran along the shore.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what if the world should come to an end!" retorted the girls in
+derision.</p>
+
+<p>The gong in the main hall sounded.</p>
+
+<p>"I knew it," cried Emma. "I knew Doctor Weldon would not allow us to be
+out long. She's dreadfully careful of us. Now, what harm can a little
+bit of water do to anyone?" Emma shook her bushy, curly locks.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing, when one's hair curls naturally. But it can do a lot when
+one's hair is straight. Look at mine." Mame sighed dismally. "Did you
+ever see such locks? Every one as straight as a poker. I wish, just for
+once, I could look like other girls."</p>
+
+<p>Josephine was standing in the hall, waiting when the little group of
+girls entered.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you been in all the time?" asked Hester. "How could you? The river
+is fine and getting higher and higher each moment. You shouldn't miss
+such a sight as this."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I have not missed it," was the reply, given while the speaker's eyes
+took a soulful upward glance. "I cannot enjoy nature with people
+laughing and talking about me. I must be alone and commune with it. I
+have stood here watching from the window. What a beautiful and yet a
+terrible scene it is. I feel uplifted."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I felt the same way&mdash;uplifted to the extent of two flights of
+stairs," said Hester. She had not meant to be funny, but the girls
+laughed. Josephine turned upon her a hurt, aggrieved look. But just for
+a moment, then she smiled and said gently, "Hester, you little
+water-sprite! How can you jest when nature is at war?"</p>
+
+<p>Edna Bucher was another student who would not brave the elements. She
+stood at the hall window where the stairway makes a turn. She was
+dressed in very somber clothes, guiltless of curves or graces. She did
+not look with favor upon girls' trudging out in the storm. It had in it
+the element of tom-boyism upon which Miss Bucher looked with alarm.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I did not go," she said meekly and apologetically. "I was brought
+up to think it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> wasn't ladylike to go out in all kinds of weather;
+ladies don't do it. It is just what you would expect of a man."</p>
+
+<p>The hearers replied not a word. They did not so much as shrug their
+shoulders or glance at each other. But each girl resolved at that
+minute, if being hearty and hale and fearless were unladylike, from that
+moment they would be that very thing.</p>
+
+<p>The weather soon had its effect upon the spirits of the girls. Gayety in
+the dormitories and parlors was reduced to the minimum. Pupils stood
+silent at windows, gazing out at the steady downpour. Where they did
+gather in groups of three or four, there was no laughing or bright talk.
+Just a word now and then, and a low reply. At intervals, someone grew
+intolerant and expressed herself. "Will this rain never stop?" "I was
+hoping it would clear so that we might go into town."</p>
+
+<p>Their hopes were doomed to disappointment. The rain never ceased for one
+instant during the night and all day Friday.</p>
+
+<p>At lunch time Friday, the girls ran out on the campus to see what had
+become of their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> markers of the evening before. They were gone. The
+water had come over them and moved up in the campus until it touched the
+cannae-beds.</p>
+
+<p>"The flowers will be ruined!" cried the girls. As though to prove the
+truth of the statement, a tongue of water curled itself softly about the
+plants, sucked deep into the roots, and when it went its way, the
+cannaes went with it, and only a hollow was left in the great bed, and
+this was quickly filled with water.</p>
+
+<p>"It has risen three feet since last evening," said Hester, who had been
+standing silent, estimating the distance. There were exclamations of
+wonder, surprise, and fear. To many, three feet of a rise in water meant
+no more than a Greek syllable. They had not been reared near a river,
+and knew nothing of what might be expected in the way of floods.</p>
+
+<p>"Three feet is nothing," said Hester with the air of one who knew all
+there was to know of such matters. "Why, a June flood is generally seven
+feet at home. We do not think much about it. And September floods&mdash;we do
+not always have them, but we wouldn't think<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> of calling it a flood
+unless the river rose at least five feet. Three feet since yesterday!
+That is really nothing at all. I hope it will go five feet higher before
+night."</p>
+
+<p>It was all braggadocio on her part; but it had the desired effect. Erma
+screamed in terror; Emma's eyes grew big; Mame scolded her soundly for
+expressing such a wish. For a while she had a hornet's nest about her
+ears.</p>
+
+<p>Early Friday afternoon, a change came. Before, the rain had come down
+steady and constant. Now it came in a stream, as though the floors from
+a great reservoir had given way and the water had fallen in one great
+body.</p>
+
+<p>There was no going out in this. An umbrella was no protection whatever,
+for the rain came through as water through a sieve. After dinner, the
+girls stood in the windows which overlooked the river and watched the
+water as it crept up, so slowly the eye could not recognize its advance.</p>
+
+<p>The trunks of the apple trees were hidden from view. The water was muddy
+and foaming. The current had increased until the velocity was ten times
+that of normal. There was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> sullen roar, and tearing as though the
+banks were giving way. Some logs were running, but not many. The breast
+of the water was covered with drift. At intervals, large branches of
+trees went down. Once a great oak, roots, trunk and all, sailed close to
+the apple tree and almost tore it from the earth. A walk, a piece of
+fence, a chicken coop, or a dog-kennel went bobbing along their watery
+way. Some distance below, yet in sight of the school, was the county
+bridge. It had been built in the early history of the country. It was a
+big, clumsy-looking affair of wood with a shingled roof and board sides.
+Now, entrances were cut off by a wide stream. It stood alone, like an
+isolated being; its weather-beaten sides, looking gray against the brown
+of the muddy water.</p>
+
+<p>The sight of the river was growing awful, yet it attracted and held the
+girls. The study bell rang unheeded. Miss Burkham came from her room to
+call their attention to the study hours.</p>
+
+<p>As the girls from the east wing crossed the main hall in order to reach
+their rooms, they saw Doctor Weldon in earnest conversation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> with
+Marshall, the office boy; Belva, the man-of-all work, and Herman who
+acted as night-watchman.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not anticipate a bit of trouble," she was saying. "But telegrams
+came into the city from Reno, thirty miles above, that there was a
+twenty-foot flood there and still rising. They've sent warning all down
+the river.</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard that alarm sounded ever since I have been at the seminary.
+It is always a twenty-foot flood and the word always comes from Reno.
+Either those people have no idea of a foot measure or their imaginations
+have been over stimulated." She spoke slowly yet with conviction, as one
+who has been accustomed to having their slightest word obeyed. The three
+men had been at the seminary and in her service for ten years. They
+adored her and accepted her word as final.</p>
+
+<p>"However, Herman, you keep a close watch. Do not let the water reach the
+drive without warning us. We will not run any risks. If you wish to have
+Belva and Marshall with you, well and good. I shall ask the matron to
+have a lunch prepared for you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>There was little possibility of danger. Should the water creep up from
+the river, even to the west side of the dormitory, a great wing extended
+to the east and avenues of escape would remain open.</p>
+
+<p>The girls overheard Doctor Weldon's words. They were not alarmed. They
+understood the conditions perfectly. Should the water come near the west
+wing, a thing which had never yet occurred even in the famous flood of
+'48, there could be no immediate danger. They were excited with the
+prospect of the unusual happening. Since it had rained for five days
+against their express wishes, they would feel themselves aggrieved if no
+compensation, in the form of an unusual experience, was offered them.</p>
+
+<p>The fact that it was Friday night, and that the week had been one which
+had been void of relaxation or amusement in any way, moved the
+preceptress to shorten the study hour and lengthen the time for
+recreation.</p>
+
+<p>But the students would not get away from the weather and the flood.
+Little groups of four and six came together and discussed floods,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> from
+the Noachean down to the one of '48. The girls had no personal knowledge
+of any high water, but they handed down the folk-lore as it had come to
+them.</p>
+
+<p>Some were particularly fine in giving detail, and making weird, strange
+scenes so real that their hearers were deeply affected. Erma had this
+power in a great measure, and Hester, to some extent. By the time they
+had related several stories, the girls in Sixty-two were shivering with
+nervous fear.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you silly little geese!" cried Erma. "Why, you are actually
+shivering over something which happened in my great-grandfather's time!"</p>
+
+<p>"But you make it so real! You and Hester talk as if it happened but
+yesterday," said Mellie.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, that is what we try to do," Erma laughed, and seizing Mellie
+by the hand, drew her up from the floor where she had been sitting.
+"That is what will make us famous. I shall be a great actress and Hester
+a great writer."</p>
+
+<p>Hester heard and blushed. She wondered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> how Erma knew of her day-dreams
+for she had mentioned them to no one.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, peaches," cried Erma. "I'll take you back to your rooms. If I do
+not, you all will have nervous prostration, sitting here listening to
+such stories."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know when Erma is complimenting me," said Mellie as she
+followed. "Sometimes I am 'silly goose' and sometimes I am 'peaches.'
+Now when am I which, and why?"</p>
+
+<p>Erma laughed again. "Oh, you silly goose, don't you know you're peaches
+all the time with me?"</p>
+
+<p>The girls departed. It was yet early, yet Helen and Hester prepared for
+bed. Each was deliberately slow. Their paths crossed and recrossed as
+they moved from one part of the room to the other, yet not a word was
+said until Hester reached to turn off the light. Then came the customary
+good-night.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+
+
+<p>There was no danger of the river rising to such an extent that the
+building would be surrounded and communication cut off. Such a thing
+would be impossible! But Doctor Weldon had forgotten to reckon with the
+creek which flowed on the opposite side of town and joined the river at
+the east end. It had risen as rapidly as the river and had come over the
+banks and was creeping in upon them.</p>
+
+<p>Hester awakened suddenly. It was early morning for the gray lights were
+shining in at the windows. The rain had ceased. The first thought which
+came to her was that of thankfulness. Now they could have a clear
+Saturday and be out of doors without being drenched to the skin.</p>
+
+<p>It was not raining but there was a peculiar gurgling sound of water.
+Helen also heard it and sat up in bed.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you hear that, Hester? What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is something outside, I'll see." As she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> spoke she had left her bed
+and hurried to the window. Her exclamation brought Helen to her. There
+was no need to ask for explanation. Beech Creek had backed in from a
+mile beyond, and was lapping against the stone foundation. The water was
+moving over the campus. Nowhere was it more than an inch deep; but on
+each side lay the greater depths of the river and the creek.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us get dressed at once!" cried Hester.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, let us go downstairs," replied Helen. She was not so excited as
+Hester, yet she was more afraid. Hester knew the river and loved it. Now
+her excitement did not spring from fear, but from a kind of enjoyment.</p>
+
+<p>They slipped into their clothes and made themselves as presentable as
+possible and hurried downstairs. At the front entrance was a group of
+girls. Some were standing on the lower step, which was a single piece of
+granite. The water was lapping but a few inches below. While they talked
+and laughed, some hysterically, the water crept up and lapped upon the
+lower step. The girls moved higher. Five steps led to the entrance,
+which was on the level<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> of the first floor. Then the breakfast bell
+sounded and the girls reluctantly went into the dining-room.</p>
+
+<p>While they were standing with their hands on the back of their
+respective chairs, awaiting the signal from the principal, she addressed
+them.</p>
+
+<p>"Young ladies, you will be served with plain fare this morning. Perhaps,
+you do not know that the butcher, the baker, the milkman, and butter-man
+drive in each morning from Flemington. The road was flooded this morning
+and they could not reach us. The supplies which the steward keeps on
+hand, are in the basement, which was flooded last night. You may be
+seated."</p>
+
+<p>There was no complaint at the bit of bacon and stale bread with which
+each plate had been served. There were excitement and hilarious
+good-humor, as though the flood had come for their especial benefit to
+give them an experience new and unusual. A bit of bacon and stale bread!
+One could get along very well for a few hours on that. But it seemed
+destined that the students were not to have even so little.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Marshall came in and hurried to Doctor Weldon. She appeared cool and
+collected; but one could never tell from her manner whether she were
+anxious or not. The few seniors who remembered when the building had
+been afire, remembered Doctor Weldon had acted just so. Waiting until
+Marshall left the dining-hall, she rang the bell. The buzz of voices
+ceased.</p>
+
+<p>"Take your plates and go up to the parlor on the second floor. You may
+be dismissed in order. Miss Burkham's table first."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Burkham arose and led the way. She was quite as collected as Doctor
+Weldon, although, she, too, had seen the water marks which were
+appearing on the floor from the water in the basement below.</p>
+
+<p>"It is like a picnic. Think of eating bacon and stale bread in a parlor,
+done up in pale-green and silver. I know it will taste better." It was
+Erma who was talking. Her voice rang over all like a silver bell, as
+with merry laugh and light spirits she lead the way to the floor above.</p>
+
+<p>The door leading from the main hall on to the porch was closed, but a
+little stream had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> forced itself in and was trickling over the floor.
+The men-servants were rolling up the rug, preparatory to carrying it to
+the floor above and the women-servants were pinning up window draperies
+and hangings to save them from possible contact with the water.</p>
+
+<p>Doctor Weldon, calm and serene, as though a flood were an everyday
+occurrence and not at all alarming, went about the building instructing
+the servants and teachers in regard to saving what they could of the
+property on the ground floor.</p>
+
+<p>Hester, Helen, Erma, and their friends stood on the landing of the
+stairway and watched the men work. The girls had forgotten that they
+were hungry. Their plates were poised in the air and the bits of bacon
+and stale bread were untouched.</p>
+
+<p>Renee came to the head of the stairway and leaning over the balustrade,
+looked down on the outstretched plates. "Haven't you girls touched a
+bite?" she asked. "I am glad I found you. I wish you'd lend me your
+piece of bacon."</p>
+
+<p>The girls, thus addressed, saw nothing humorous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> in the request. Erma
+was about to hand over her portion when a laugh from the hall above
+caused her to pause. Emma, Edna, and Louise were laughing and ridiculing
+Renee, who turned about and went off in bad humor, explaining as she did
+so that she wanted a piece for Mame Cross who had been complaining that
+she had not been treated as other girls when it came to the distribution
+of bacon.</p>
+
+<p>The men tossed the rugs upon the first landing of the stairway and went
+to the assistance of Marshall, who came in with tables and chairs from
+the kitchen. By much straining and lifting, the pianos were raised upon
+these.</p>
+
+<p>"That is all we can do," said the night-watchman. "We cannot possibly
+take them to the second floor. They are three feet higher now. The water
+can't possibly rise that much more."</p>
+
+<p>Doctor Weldon had taken refuge on the steps for the hall was flooded.
+The girls moved up to the second floor.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us go to the Philo Hall on the third floor," cried Erma. "We can
+see over town from there."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I do not wish to see," said several.</p>
+
+<p>"I do," said Hester and Helen together. The three made their way to the
+hall whose windows opened to the north and east. The current from the
+river was sweeping about the corner of the building with a tremendous
+force. Logs and square timbers, uprooted trees and driftwood were being
+borne down in great quantities.</p>
+
+<p>On the side of the driveway, where the current was strongest, stood an
+iron lamp-post deeply imbedded in a foundation of stone. It had been
+placed there in the early history of the school, when electricity and
+gas were unknown. It had never been removed for the trustees were
+graduates of the school and refused to remove the landmarks of their
+school-days. So there it stood above the muddy, dirty water.</p>
+
+<p>The girls at the open window above could look down upon it.</p>
+
+<p>"See that great timber coming!" cried Helen.</p>
+
+<p>"It is right in the current and making straight for the building. If it
+should strike the corner!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The building was old and not able to stand the force of a heavy timber,
+propelled by such a tremendous force. The girls at the window knew what
+that meant. They held their breath. The timber rushed on, but it turned
+broadside in the current and came up against the iron post. There it
+remained as nicely as though weighed and measured and fixed in place.
+Back of it came logs and drift which piled upon the timber and lamp-post
+until a bulwark was formed which turned the current away from the corner
+and the danger with it.</p>
+
+<p>"It's luck. Did you ever see such luck?" cried Erma. "If that lamp-post
+had not been there, the whole corner of the building would have been
+broken in. It was luck&mdash;pure luck."</p>
+
+<p>"It was Providence," said Helen simply. "I think it was meant that the
+lamp-post should be just where it is."</p>
+
+<p>There were few words said. The scene was so awful that the desire to
+talk was taken away. From the parlors below, the excitement and laughter
+died. A quiet fell over the building. There was nothing to do but to
+watch and wait&mdash;for what or how long, no one could tell.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 405px;">
+<img src="images/i_307.jpg" width="405" height="600" alt="They held their breath.&mdash;Page 290." title="" />
+<span class="caption">They held their breath.&mdash;<i>Page <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.</i></span>
+</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The sun shone out on the water. Below, lay the city. The portion which
+stood low was flooded to the second floor. Hester thought of Aunt Debby
+as her eyes rested on the distant town.</p>
+
+<p>"There is no fear there," said Helen following the glance of her
+roommate's eyes. "Fairview Street is the highest in town. You remember
+there is a terrace with steps where it joins Market. The tops of the
+buildings on Fourth Street will be covered before it comes to the doors
+of Fairview."</p>
+
+<p>Hester knew that this was true. No immediate danger threatened the
+little cottage. The seminary with its old walls and the current from
+both river and creek beating upon it was where fear lay.</p>
+
+<p>"Look!" cried Helen, pointing her finger to midstream. There bobbing
+along like a cork on the current was a stable one side of which had been
+torn away. The mow was filled with hay, and in the stalls beneath was a
+horse feeding from the manger. It bobbed along serenely, as though
+midriver in a high flood were the legitimate place for a stable. Then it
+struck<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> the sides of the bridge. There was the sound of crushing and the
+barn was sucked down under the bridge and disappeared from sight.</p>
+
+<p>The morning passed and the girls sat in the window seats, fascinated by
+the sea before them.</p>
+
+<p>The water continued rising until twelve o'clock. It filled the lower
+halls and crept almost to the second floor. The water-pipes burst and a
+famine of drink as well as food came. Fortunately, the experiences of
+the day had taken away the appetite.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been watching that old tree," said Hester. "When the clock
+struck twelve, the water had just reached the notch at the branches. It
+is one o'clock now and it has not gone higher."</p>
+
+<p>The waters were at a standstill. The worst was over. At three o'clock,
+Hester cried out with delight. "It is falling&mdash;falling! See the trunk of
+the tree shows above the water."</p>
+
+<p>It was slowly receding. The danger-mark had passed, although the signs
+of havoc it had caused, were yet passing on the breast of the river. A
+part of a kitchen went sailing by.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> The watchers saw the upper window of
+a half-submerged house. There was a bed, a cradle, and a sewing-machine
+open and ready for use. There were pathos and tragedy sufficient for a
+lifetime. There was a touch of humor too, for on a long plank, at either
+end, sat a rat and a great black cat. They watched each other
+instinctively, and were unconscious of the danger which threatened them
+both.</p>
+
+<p>Five o'clock came, and the girls had not moved from their positions.
+During the day, but a few sentences had passed between them.</p>
+
+<p>At last hunger came to them. But there was no use going in search of
+food; for the larder was bare. There was not even a cup of water for
+them.</p>
+
+<p>For more than an hour Helen had not moved. Fear of the water had passed.
+A finer feeling than dread inspired her now. Someone from below called
+Erma, and she left the Philo Hall. She neither laughed nor danced. Even
+her effervescent spirits had been under the spell of the waters.</p>
+
+<p>Her departure aroused Helen from her reverie. Arising, she came to where
+Hester<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> sat. Her voice was low. To the old tenderness was added a new
+sweetness and strength, "Little roommate," she said, "listen to me for a
+few minutes. Weeks ago, I believed you guilty of an act I could not
+countenance. I treasured resentment against you, though even while I was
+doing it, I loved you. I did wrong in not going directly to you and
+making known my complaint. May I tell it to you now, or shall we let it
+be as though it never happened, and let all our ugly feeling and
+bitterness go down with the flood?"</p>
+
+<p>"Let it go with the flood, Helen. I do not know how I erred, but I do
+know that I missed your friendship. Let us forget it from this minute."</p>
+
+<p>"And let me give what I denied long ago," said Helen, as she stooped to
+press her lips to Hester's forehead.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2>
+
+
+<p>Little by little, the water receded. So slowly did it fall that the eye
+could not mark it. Over the mud-colored waters, the sun shone brightly
+and made of the spray a million sparkling diamonds.</p>
+
+<p>By evening, the students began to experience the pangs of hunger and
+thirst. There was nothing to satisfy them, for although there was water,
+water, everywhere, there was not a drop to drink. At twilight, the lower
+floors were above the flood, although at intervals, a sudden splash from
+without sent little streams back through the door.</p>
+
+<p>The pupils were yet under the spell of the flood. Unusual quiet reigned
+in the dormitories, when suddenly a cry of delight came from Erma. Her
+voice echoed from one end of the hall to the other, and reached even to
+Miss Burkham's ears; but that lady did not appear to reprimand her. The
+preceptress<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> realized that the girls had been under a nervous strain all
+day and she did not have it in mind to restrain them, even though they
+exceeded the bounds laid down by Seminary law.</p>
+
+<p>"What has happened to Erma?" exclaimed Hester, starting up when the cry
+reached her ears.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be alarmed. It is nothing serious. I can tell from her voice.
+That shriek is Erma's cry of delight."</p>
+
+<p>In an instant, Erma herself tripped down the hall to explain and to
+share. Knocking hastily, she did not wait to be admitted, but flung open
+the door.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you think I found?" she cried. "A half-dozen lemons. I forgot
+that I had them. I bought them last week. Here, we're dividing."</p>
+
+<p>She thrust one out at them. It had already been opened and part of its
+contents extracted.</p>
+
+<p>"There wasn't enough for one a piece. Just take a good long suck from
+it."</p>
+
+<p>The girls did. There was nothing humorous in this passing a lemon about
+among many. Not a drop of liquid had passed their lips since<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> the night
+before. The few drops of juice which they were able to extract, were
+refreshing.</p>
+
+<p>"Doesn't it taste good?" cried Erma. "I never knew before how perfectly
+delicious a cup of cold water is. Wait until I have the opportunity. I
+mean to drink a gallon without stopping. I must go on. The girls in
+Sixty haven't had any yet."</p>
+
+<p>She was gone before Hester and Helen had expressed their thanks. Before
+she reached Sixty, the door opened and Renee came out. "I was looking
+for you, Erma. Someone said you had found some lemons. Can't you lend me
+one?"</p>
+
+<p>"What's left of one. Take it and drain it dry." It was almost that now,
+but Renee received it thankfully.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought I could not stand it another minute. How long will it be
+before we get anything to eat or drink?"</p>
+
+<p>"In a week or so," cried Erma as she passed on.</p>
+
+<p>Sunday morning broke clear and bright. There were no rising or breakfast
+bells, for there was nothing to serve the hungry people.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Doctor Weldon and Miss Burkham had conferred together and decided that
+as long as the girls were sleeping, they would be neither hungry nor
+thirsty, so they allowed them to sleep until they awakened of
+themselves.</p>
+
+<p>The perversity of human nature showed itself in every girl's being awake
+unusually early. At the usual breakfast hour, the upper halls were
+filled. It was the Sabbath, but on the lower floor the servants were at
+hard work. The women were wearing top-boots and short skirts, which
+reached just below the knees. They were dragging out the mud with hoes.
+In the middle of the floors, the sand and mud were fully a foot deep
+while in corners, which had been free from the force of the current, the
+deposit was three times that depth.</p>
+
+<p>In the middle of the main floor, a saw-log lay. A great hole in the
+plaster showed where it had spent its force, and the shattered glass of
+the front door was evidence of its place of entrance. The curtains of
+real lace which had added to the beauty of the reception hall, were
+nothing but dirty rags, discolored, torn, and hung with bits of drift.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The sun beat down upon the water-soaked places, and the steam which
+arose, was foul-smelling. The men who were endeavoring to do the heavier
+portion of clearing, were knee-deep in the drift. The flood had receded,
+but the basement was yet full of water. The conditions were bad and
+would remain so for some time, regardless of the fact that everyone was
+doing his utmost to better them.</p>
+
+<p>There was nothing to be hoped from the city, for it had its own burden.
+The store-houses had been flooded and the food supply cut off.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Burkham went to Doctor Weldon. "What do you think of my taking the
+girls from the building?" she asked. "The hygienic conditions here are
+dreadful. Outside we can find the sunshine, at least. I can take them
+through the city streets&mdash;wherever the streets are open. I think we can
+keep them better satisfied if we keep their attention on something else
+than themselves."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps, it would be better. I have been concerned about them. They
+have been most thoughtful and considerate so far. You may take the
+Fraulein with you&mdash;and the school<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> purse, too, Miss Burkham. You may be
+able to buy something for them."</p>
+
+<p>"While you are gone, I'll try to get into communication with our people
+at Flemington. The telephone and telegraphs are useless. Marshall and
+Herman might be able to walk out and carry something back. It will be
+hours before a delivery wagon can get through to bring us anything."</p>
+
+<p>Following Miss Burkham's instructions, the girls dressed in their
+shortest and shabbiest skirts and put on heavy shoes. It was a dismal,
+hungry-looking party which set forth.</p>
+
+<p>For a square down Main Street, the way was clear. They were often forced
+to leave the sidewalk and make a detour to escape the piles of drift
+which lay in heaps. The mud was over the tops of the rubber shoes, and
+the greater number had discarded overshoes before they had gone far. At
+the corner of Main and Clinton Avenue, they stopped. Their way was cut
+off by a great pile of logs, timbers, and uprooted trees which reached
+above the second story of the houses. Here and there, caught between the
+branches of the trees or the conjunction<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> of timbers, were bits of
+household articles, parts of chairs, window frames or broken beds and
+soggy mattresses.</p>
+
+<p>"We can climb over," suggested Hester. "That will not be much of a
+climb."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Burkham had been hesitating. She feared to go on and yet to go back
+meant dissatisfied, hungry girls shut up in a wet, foul-smelling
+building.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll climb," she said. "But be careful to move slowly, and not bring
+this down upon you."</p>
+
+<p>The feat was not a difficult one. They succeeded in crossing and entered
+the business street. There was not a whole plate-glass window in this
+section. They had been shattered into bits so small that no trace of
+them could be found.</p>
+
+<p>The girls entered what had been the largest and finest grocery store of
+the city. The mud was several feet deep; the show-cases had been
+battered to pieces; canned goods were piled in heaps in the corners and
+covered with refuse. But the combination most surprising, was where a
+large cheese had tumbled down upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> a dead cow which had been washed in
+from some dairy farm far up the river.</p>
+
+<p>Men were already clearing the streets, and shoveling the refuse from the
+stores.</p>
+
+<p>From the business thoroughfare, Miss Burkham led her charges to the
+residence street. Here conditions were the same. The elegant houses bore
+the marks of the flood. Trees were uprooted. Lawns which but a few days
+before were things of beauty, were now but heaps of refuse, or hollows
+filled with water.</p>
+
+<p>Doors and windows stood open wide. Delicate, cultivated women had
+arrayed themselves in overalls and were scraping the mud from their
+homes.</p>
+
+<p>As they made their way eastward, Robert Vail hurried down a side-street
+to meet them.</p>
+
+<p>"I started for school the instant I could," he explained to Miss
+Burkham. "I did not know how bad conditions were, but I expected they
+could not be good.</p>
+
+<p>"I have a tally-ho and horses, but we could not get beyond Fairview
+Street. South Street is a mere chasm. The horses could not have crossed
+there. I did reach Miss Alden and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> Miss Richards. My man took them back
+home while I came in."</p>
+
+<p>Hester grasped his arm. "Auntie&mdash;is Auntie all right?"</p>
+
+<p>"Fine as silk. She was concerned about you until we satisfied her that
+seminary girls could not be gotten rid of so easily. It takes more than
+a flood&mdash;" He spoke lightly to the girls and then turned to Miss
+Burkham. "Our housekeeper said I should fill up the tally-ho and bring
+the girls there. The buildings at school will not be fit to live in for
+some days. We'll take care of eighteen or twenty until you arrange
+matters."</p>
+
+<p>A feeling of relief came to the preceptress. "You have taken a great
+responsibility from Doctor Weldon and me," she said. "We shall never be
+able to thank you. As to the girls, Hester and Helen, of course must go;
+also the Fraulein, for I must not allow the girls to go alone."</p>
+
+<p>She turned to the group about her, and selected the number which would
+fill the tally-ho.</p>
+
+<p>"You girls will go with the Fraulein and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> Mr. Vail, and remain until we
+send you word to return. Berenice, Violet, Edith and I will return to
+school."</p>
+
+<p>"I declare, this is too bad," cried Robert. "I cannot allow you to walk
+back, and without anything to eat."</p>
+
+<p>"You cannot help it. The circumstances are unusual. The elements have
+our fortunes in hand," she replied.</p>
+
+<p>"The instant I get the young ladies home, my man and I will come back
+with all the good things we can carry. Tell Doctor Weldon that we shall
+have a dinner&mdash;perhaps a late one&mdash;for her."</p>
+
+<p>"She has sent messengers to Flemington. They will bring us something for
+one meal at least. Come, girls." She led her little flock toward home.
+There was no hope of finding a bite to eat anywhere in the city. Men and
+women had worked all night and were yet working without a particle of
+food or drop to drink. The preceptress was worn and weak. Her
+responsibility for the last two days had been great; but she did not
+dare give up. She trudged bravely toward school, encouraging the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> girls
+and drawing their attention to any phase of the situation which was not
+burdened with pathos.</p>
+
+<p>Robert Vail led his party down the residence street and then turned down
+an alley. "These narrow passages have less drift," he explained. "My man
+and I discovered this this morning."</p>
+
+<p>By devious ways, he brought them out on High Street which stood above
+the ravages of the flood. Here a tally-ho with four horses stood
+waiting.</p>
+
+<p>Robert assisted the Fraulein and girls to their places and bade the
+coachman drive on. Hester and Helen sat side by side.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, I am really to meet your Aunt Harriet," said Hester. "It is very
+strange. Think of my rooming with you for ten months and never meeting
+her."</p>
+
+<p>"Never met mother?" exclaimed Robert Vail. "Be prepared to meet the
+finest mother in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"There may be some exception," said Helen, "at least Hester may think
+so. She may be vain enough to think that she had the finest mother in
+the world."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no," began Hester hastily and then she paused. She was not dull.
+She had been keen enough to know that there was something not just right
+about a mother and child traveling alone through a strange country and
+no one ever searching for them. But she could not allow any one else to
+know her thoughts. Her face flushed as she continued, "I have never
+known a mother. Aunt Debby is all I ever had. I am sure that no one can
+be finer than she."</p>
+
+<p>"We will make an exception in favor of Miss Alden," continued Robert.
+"With the exception of Miss Debby Alden, you will find my mother the
+finest woman in the world. You'll fall in love with her the instant that
+you meet her."</p>
+
+<p>"I know. I have caught several glimpses of her but I never met her. But,
+perhaps she will not care for me. I should not be pleased if I should
+like your mother very much and she would not like me at all."</p>
+
+<p>Vain little Hester Alden. She knew what speech Robert Vail would make.
+She had heard him express himself on the subject twice<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> before. Because
+his words had pleased her, she called them forth again.</p>
+
+<p>"There'll be no danger of her not liking you. I'll vouch for that.
+Mother and I always like the same people and things. She has the best
+taste in the world."</p>
+
+<p>Helen laughed teasingly. "You like to impress people with the fact that
+you are fond of your mother; but have you ever noticed, Cousin Robert,
+that there is always one compliment for her, and two for you?</p>
+
+<p>"Robert Vail and his mother like the same things. That is the first
+premise. The second is, his mother has excellent taste;
+conclusion&mdash;Robert Vail has excellent taste. I have not studied logic
+for nothing, Cousin Robert."</p>
+
+<p>Robert shrugged his shoulders. "That is a girl's idea of reason," he
+said. "They always go about in a circle, like a lost duck and they never
+lose the personal element in anything."</p>
+
+<p>"Your remarks are not original," said Helen. "I have heard Doctor Baker
+say that same thing."</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard you mention Doctor Baker<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> before. Is he your physician at
+home?" asked Hester. She had forgotten Helen's Easter letter.</p>
+
+<p>"He's our pastor and perfectly lovely, Hester. He has been with us a
+long, long time. I told you once about him, but you were vexed with me
+then and my words fell on deaf ears. Sometime you must come and spend a
+month with me in my home and you shall meet Doctor Baker."</p>
+
+<p>"I never would go and leave Aunt Debby for an entire month. It was bad
+enough to go to school and not be with her," was Hester's reply.</p>
+
+<p>"But Aunt Debby can come along. My father would like her, and she and
+Aunt Harriet would be friends from the moment they met. Maybe we can
+arrange it for this summer. Sometimes Doctor Baker comes to visit us,
+too. He gets very lonely. I should think any one living alone would be
+lonely."</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't he married?" asked Hester. "I thought ministers were always
+married. Why doesn't he get married?"</p>
+
+<p>"You think a marriage certificate goes with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> the manse," said Robert.
+"His case is a paradox. He is always marrying, and yet never is married.
+Quite a riddle isn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>Helen's face lighted up. She was like Hester in that both delighted to
+hear romantic stories.</p>
+
+<p>"He had a love affair, a long time ago," she said softly as though the
+subject were one too sacred for full tones to play upon. "But he went to
+college, and when he came back his sweetheart did not care for him. But
+he has never forgotten her."</p>
+
+<p>Hester gave a sigh of contentment. She would remember and tell her Aunt
+Debby about this. While her Aunt Debby had chided her about repeating
+these little romantic tales which came to her ears, Hester had a feeling
+that the elder Miss Alden was not wholly unsympathetic.</p>
+
+<p>Josephine, who was sitting in the front of the tally-ho, caught the last
+of Helen's speech. She sighed, and leaning forward that all might catch
+her words, said: "How lovely! Such persons appeal to me. There is
+nothing in the world which is so beautiful to me as faithfulness.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> How
+perfectly lovely! I always&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hester, lend me a pin, please. I see you have one in the front of your
+coat and I need one to fasten the ends of my tie," it was Renee who
+broke in upon Josephine's flow of sentiment.</p>
+
+<p>"We shall soon be there now," said Robert. "The house stands back of
+those trees." He pointed to a small elevation which was about a mile
+distant. The girls exclaimed with delight except Mame Cross who looked
+down upon her short skirt and mud-stained shoes with a mortified
+expression.</p>
+
+<p>"Really, Mr. Vail, I simply cannot enter your home, looking like this.
+Your mother would refuse to receive me."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not understand why," he replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Mame, do please forget about it," laughed Erma. "My shoes are muddy; my
+skirt is shabby; I am hungry&mdash;so hungry that I'll fairly snatch at
+anything to eat. I look like a fright, I know I do. But what's the use
+of thinking about it. It can't be helped. So why not pretend that we do
+not notice it?"</p>
+
+<p>"We must make up for our looks by being<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> so nice that Mrs. Vail will not
+notice that we are not immaculate." It was Mellie who offered this
+suggestion.</p>
+
+<p>"That is all very well for you girls to speak so," said Mame. "But you
+do not look as I do. You girls look nice, considering what you have gone
+through; but me&mdash;I always look the worst. I never look like other
+girls."</p>
+
+<p>"Then give up trying, Mame. You never will look like other girls, you
+know. So make the best of matters which cannot be helped, and be
+cheerful and gay." Erma's words were supposed to be ironical; but her
+happy little laugh and dainty little touch upon Mame's hand, robbed them
+of their sting.</p>
+
+<p>"Here we are!" exclaimed Robert Vail, as the horses turned from the main
+road into a private drive. Hester opened her eyes in astonishment. She
+had seen the beautiful homes near Lockport, but this surpassed any. The
+house was in the midst of a great park; there were lawn, forest, and
+flowers. The house was large, but not imposing. It had rather the look
+of a home than of a mansion. Never before had Hester seen such beauty of
+surroundings.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> Nature and cultivation had worked together to make the
+best of this.</p>
+
+<p>As the girls stepped from the tally-ho, Hester grasped Helen by the arm,
+"I am afraid&mdash;afraid," she whispered.</p>
+
+<p>"To meet Aunt Harriet? Why, little roommate, she is not a bit
+formidable. You will love her."</p>
+
+<p>"I think it is not just that&mdash;" she began again. She could not finish.
+Aunt Debby and Miss Richards had come to meet them. Back of these two,
+stood a large, wiry woman in a dark dress and an extensive white apron.</p>
+
+<p>"My little girl," cried Debby, clasping Hester in her arms. "I have been
+very anxious about you."</p>
+
+<p>"I was safe, Aunt Debby. Perfectly safe, but so hungry."</p>
+
+<p>Robert Vail escorted his guests to the door.</p>
+
+<p>"This is Mrs. Perkins, young ladies," he said, indicating to the big
+woman. "She will see that you have something to eat at once."</p>
+
+<p>"I have been waiting dinner. If the ladies wish to come at once&mdash;" She
+led the way. The guests were weak from hunger. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> odor of the food
+aroused their appetites afresh.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you ever think bread and butter was so gloriously fine?" said Emma
+after her first mouthful. "Do you realize that we have had nothing since
+Friday evening."</p>
+
+<p>"I do; but I do not intend talking about it&mdash;now," said Hester. "I have
+greater things to do."</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, they all had that. They had kept up bravely under strenuous
+conditions. There had been no word of complaint. Erma especially, had
+been cheerful and gay as long as those two qualities were needed to
+sustain herself and her friends. Now, she was the first to give way.
+After a few morsels had been eaten, she realized that she was tired&mdash;so
+tired that she believed that ever being rested again would be an
+impossibility. She made an effort to keep up. She tried to laugh, but
+ended with a nervous giggle. Then to the amazement of all, she began to
+cry and sob.</p>
+
+<p>"I am so tired. I am too tired to live. I never could go through with
+this again."</p>
+
+<p>"And you will not need to&mdash;never again," said Miss Debby, going to the
+girl's aid.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Let her cry. It will do her good," she continued as the others were
+about to leave their dinner. "Let her cry, it will do her good."</p>
+
+<p>At this Renee began to giggle. Mame looked at her and straightway did as
+Renee. Mellie and Josephine made a brave effort to control themselves,
+but after a few minutes they were following Erma's example and were
+sobbing as though their hearts would break.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Richards and Miss Debby took matters into their hands. There was no
+help to be expected from the Fraulein, for she was as wearied as the
+girls.</p>
+
+<p>The housekeeper made ready the rooms and the girls were forced to go to
+bed.</p>
+
+<p>"Each young lady ate a little something, I observed," said Mrs. Perkins.
+"Let them rest a while, then I shall take some refreshments to them."</p>
+
+<p>"It was so beautiful what they behaved yet to this time," cried the
+Fraulein. "Never no word, no fuss, all smiles, all funs, no cross or
+nothing until now." She was much disturbed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> lest the women would
+discredit her for the girls' behavior.</p>
+
+<p>"We understand," said Debby Alden. "It is not your fault, Fraulein. You
+are going to rest now, too. We intend treating you like a little girl;
+send you to bed and send your bread and jelly to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Ach," the little German teacher tried to look self-reliant and
+sufficient to take care of herself. But there was something in Debby
+Alden's manner which touched her. The Fraulein was a stranger in a
+strange land. Many and many were the times when she longed for the
+tenderness of those who were bound to her by the ties of love and blood.
+She was but a little homesick girl, herself and wished to be mothered
+like other girls. But she was brave enough with all her longing. She
+shrugged her shoulders; but Debby laid her hand affectionately on the
+girl's shoulder. That settled it. In an instant, the German teacher
+rested her head against Debby; her eyes filled; she touched Debby's
+cheeks tenderly; "I vill go. The Fraulein is so kind. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> Fraulein has
+a heart in her breast." Without a word of demur, the little German
+teacher followed the girls and rested while the housekeeper and Debby
+Alden waited upon them with the most kindly attention.</p>
+
+<p>Robert Vail and his man had returned at once to the city taking with
+them a supply of necessities. The housekeeper came to Miss Debby with
+the explanation and apology. Thought of others had caused Robert to
+neglect his duty as host. Here Mrs. Perkins looked mournful and as
+though she might say much if she chose, and added that Mrs. Vail had
+left early that morning, having driven over the hills to an adjoining
+town where railroad communications had not been cut off. She had
+received news which had caused her some anxiety and she had set forth at
+once.</p>
+
+<p>The housekeeper was in the mood to speak freely; but Debby Alden was not
+one who discussed with the maid the affairs of the mistress. She
+accepted the explanation and went her way. So many incidents of life
+turn as a straw in the wind. This was a time and place propitious for
+much clearing-up of uncertain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> matters; but Debby Alden had not been in
+the mood to listen; and the mistress of the house was traveling over the
+country after a will-of-the-wisp which had led her many a long,
+unfruitful journey.</p>
+
+<p>Robert Vail, greatly fatigued with his day's work, came back to
+Valehurst just at dusk. By this time, the nervous tension had been
+greatly relieved. The girls had had a nap and a substantial evening
+meal, and were prepared to look at the experiences of the last few days
+in a more cheerful light.</p>
+
+<p>Robert brought with him the good news that the hucksters from Flemington
+had driven in over the hill and had brought food with them to the
+seminary. The teachers and pupils were preparing to return with them to
+the farmhouses which stood high enough to be out of the way of the river
+and creek.</p>
+
+<p>Marshall and Belva with a set of workmen were remaining at school to put
+the place in order; to build fires that the building might be dried
+rapidly and to protect the grounds and buildings from vandalism. Doctor
+Weldon had sent word that the young ladies who were with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> the Fraulein
+at Valehurst were to remain there until she recalled them.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Debby and Miss Richards, with the little group of girls, had
+gathered about Robert on the lawn, anxious and eager to hear about their
+friends. When the message had been received and the good news told, the
+crowd separated into little groups. Helen and Hester, in company with
+Robert, moved toward the house.</p>
+
+<p>"I had no opportunity of asking you about Aunt Harriet," said Helen,
+"and I do not like to put such questions to Mrs. Perkins. You said that
+Auntie would be here, Robert." She looked up at him and waited as though
+expecting an explanation.</p>
+
+<p>"So I thought. We made ready before daylight this morning to go for you
+girls. Mother came down to see us off. In fact it was she who prepared
+the lunches to give to any one in distress. But Perkins tells me that
+quite early someone called her up on the 'phone. She talked a long time.
+Then she called Ryder and told him to get out the grays and the light
+carriage. Then she went off. She didn't even<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> leave word where she went.
+I called up father's office. He knew nothing about it."</p>
+
+<p>"And don't you know?" There was anxiety in Helen's voice. Her eyes had a
+pained, distressed look.</p>
+
+<p>"She telephoned to Perkins that she had gone to Minnequa, a little
+factory town where an old colored woman had the care of a young white
+girl. The message came from those people who had found such a 'sure
+thing,' before and then failed to make good when the time came."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't mean that horrid man and his son? What was their
+name&mdash;Stroat&mdash;Strout?"</p>
+
+<p>"Stout, if I remember right. Before it was a mere scheme to extort
+money, and I do not doubt that it will be the same now. Poor mother, she
+will be worn out with the journey and have nothing but disappointment
+for it all. I mean to talk with her on the wires to-night. If she does
+not intend coming home at once, I shall go to Minnequa and be with her.
+I may start early and shall not see you in the morning.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> Will you
+explain to Miss Debby and the girls? I am not running away, but I must
+not let my mother stay there alone."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you must go. Do not give a thought about us. We shall be very well
+taken care of here. Poor Aunt Harriet! How I wish I might fill that
+empty place in her heart!"</p>
+
+<p>Hester had been walking a few steps in advance; but had heard the
+conversation. Why should Helen always speak of her aunt as though she
+were to be pitied? Mrs. Vail had everything that a woman could desire&mdash;a
+beautiful home with trained service, a husband and son who considered no
+one but her. It was strange. Hester could not understand why Helen
+should always speak of Mrs. Vail as "poor Aunt Harriet."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2>
+
+
+<p>How fine it would be if one could foresee the result of every action!
+Hester Alden's slight prevarication to Robert Vail, when she told him
+that her father had been Miss Debby's brother, carried with it a long
+series of misunderstandings. Had Robert Vail known the facts&mdash;but he did
+not.</p>
+
+<p>Hester, bearing within her heart the consciousness of her own fault,
+spent not a few unhappy moments with herself. To it, she attributed the
+former entanglement, between herself and Helen. She reached this
+conclusion because she knew of nothing else on account of which Helen
+might have misjudged her. Several times, she decided to speak of the
+matter to Helen and confess that she had misrepresented matters when she
+had declared that she belonged to the Alden family; but each time, her
+courage failed her, and her pride prevented. It is not an easy matter
+for one to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> confess that she has, in her statements, deviated from the
+truth.</p>
+
+<p>The morning following the coming of the girls to Valehurst, Robert Vail
+left home early and by a hard drive over the mountains at length reached
+the junction where railroad communication had not been cut off.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Perkins expected him to return with his mother the following day;
+but they were detained by business. So Valehurst was left without a host
+or hostess. Mrs. Perkins exerted herself to make the guests comfortable
+and the servants, with which the home was well provided, vied with each
+other in their attendance upon the young ladies. The girls were
+thoroughly enjoying their experience, Hester, perhaps most of all, for
+such a household was new to her. She liked to play lady of the manor.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you wish you and I could live this way?" she said to Debby Alden,
+during the second day of the enforced visit. Debby Alden looked at the
+questioner and then asked, "Are you not satisfied, Hester, with your own
+little home?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I am!" cried the girl impulsively. "A little house with Aunt Debby
+is better than a mansion without her. I am really satisfied. Yet it does
+seem nice to be here. I feel quite at home."</p>
+
+<p>"I presume a lady feels at home in any cultivated environment," was the
+rejoinder. Debby paused a moment. She was not one to repeat the tales
+which came to her ears; but when, as in this instance, her sympathies
+were touched and she felt that her story might bear with it a moral, it
+might be really worth her while to repeat it to Hester.</p>
+
+<p>"Valehurst is very beautiful, Hester. We recognize that; but it cannot
+bring happiness to those who dwell in it. Mrs. Vail has a great sorrow.
+What it is, I do not know. I did not care to inquire. Robert told me
+that his mother, years ago, had a bereavement from which she has never
+recovered, and to which she has never become reconciled. The servants
+speak as though she were a woman saddened by some dreadful experience."</p>
+
+<p>"But Helen says she is very cheerful and can never do enough to make
+others happy."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Outwardly, perhaps. From what I have learned, she is one who has
+strength of character enough to keep her sorrows to herself and not
+burden others. Of course, she would try to make Helen and every one else
+happy, even though she were most miserable herself. I would not have
+spoken of the matter, had I not thought you were estimating one's
+happiness by the amount of material wealth one possessed.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Mrs. Vail! I am a happier woman than she. I have just my little
+home and my girl, but I am very content."</p>
+
+<p>"So am I, Aunt Debby." She pressed Debby Alden's arm closer within her
+hand. Then she added, "Wasn't it a good thing that I was left to you.
+Wouldn't it have been dreadful if I had been taken somewhere else and
+you would have been left alone. Just think how lonely we would have
+been."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it would have been hard; but it didn't happen that way. It was
+intended that you should be my girl."</p>
+
+<p>"You mustn't think that I was discontented because I wished that you and
+I lived in a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> mansion. I am not one bit discontented. I was just
+wishing."</p>
+
+<p>"Learn to be contented. Folks are miserable otherwise. The Aldens,
+taking them as a family, were not complainers or grumblers&mdash;except Ezra,
+and how he ever came by it, I do not know. He was never contented. He
+wouldn't go to school, and he wouldn't farm, and he wouldn't be
+satisfied anywhere or with anything."</p>
+
+<p>"Ezra? Who was he, Aunt Debby? I never heard you mention his name
+before."</p>
+
+<p>"He was my oldest brother. He would be a man of sixty if he were living
+now. I never mentioned him, because he is more of a memory than anything
+else. He was only sixteen when he ran off west. He wrote a few times.
+The letters were two or three years apart, and always from different
+sections. At one time he was on a ranch, another time in the gold
+fields. He could not be contented long anywhere."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is he now, Aunt Debby?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dead, Hester. Dead long ago. At least we think so. For years, no
+letters have come from him. When father died, we sent word<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> everywhere,
+but he never replied. We said then that he was dead."</p>
+
+<p>"If he had lived, I'd have had an uncle. I should like an uncle. From
+what I've read, they are very jolly."</p>
+
+<p>"You can not always believe what you read," was the sententious
+rejoinder.</p>
+
+<p>The guests remained at Valehurst three days, during which time neither
+Mrs. Vail nor Robert appeared, although the latter sent many messages to
+the girls, through the medium of his cousin or the housekeeper.</p>
+
+<p>Thursday morning, word came from Doctor Weldon that the students must
+return to school and make ready their belongings to go home.
+Commencement was not to be considered. The graduates would receive their
+diplomas, but there could be no festivities.</p>
+
+<p>The students had been taken care of in the country houses which stood on
+the hills back of Flemington. These were the only places for miles about
+which had not been flooded. As soon as communication with other places
+had been made, Doctor Weldon was kept busy sending and receiving
+telegrams. Each father and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> mother was distracted when news of the
+flooding of Lockport came.</p>
+
+<p>By Thursday evening, the students had returned. The drift and dirt had
+been removed from the Seminary building, and the campus had been freed
+from logs and driftwood. But some things could never be replaced. The
+old apple trees had been uprooted; the grassy slope which had lain close
+to the river front had been washed out to gravel bottom. The gray bricks
+of the building showed the water mark and at the corner a few misplaced
+ones told the story of how the old lamp post had saved the building.</p>
+
+<p>The once beautiful halls were water-stained; hard-wood floors were
+warped until they stood in little hollows and hills; and the polished
+wood of the doors and balustrades had lost all semblance of beauty.</p>
+
+<p>The girls rushed into one another's arms. They could talk now of the
+flood for the danger had passed from them. The dormitories were a babel
+of voices. A score of girls talked at once and not one listened to
+another.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Burkham from the hall below heard the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> confusion and retired to her
+own apartments. She had no thought of interfering with the chatter. She
+explained her lack of discipline to Doctor Weldon later. "This will
+never happen again in all their lives. As long as they were talking,
+they were forgetful that the opportunity for the banquet, the play, and
+commencement had been taken from them. I thought it wise to put up with
+the noise, rather than have them feel depressed."</p>
+
+<p>The girls were discussing the play and banquet even then. There were
+confessions on all sides.</p>
+
+<p>"We intended feasting on the senior banquet," cried Erma. "We had bribed
+Belva. He was to lead the caterers up to our third floor. You seniors
+would have sat waiting in the Philo Hall below."</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed. You reckoned without considering that the senior class were
+not all dullards. We had heard of your plans. Doctor Weldon gave us
+permission to hold the banquet at a hotel in the city. Miss Burkham and
+the Fraulein were to go with us. So while you girls would have been
+sitting in the attic waiting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> for the banquet, we would have been
+whirling away in cabs to the city." Helen had a smile of triumph as she
+told the story. If the seniors had been robbed of their opportunity to
+outwit the juniors, they at least would not miss the chance of boasting
+of it.</p>
+
+<p>Erma looked at her quizzingly. "Was that really true?" she asked. "Well,
+I have this much to say. If the seniors had outwitted us, we in turn
+outwitted the freshmen. They were gloating over the fact that they had a
+copy of our play."</p>
+
+<p>"We did," cried Hester. "And we had the parts almost learned."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I was to be the queen," said Emma. "I knew my part. I was to&mdash;."</p>
+
+<p>"You the queen!" said Edna Bucher, with a touch of sarcasm in her voice.
+"I could not possibly conceive of you taking such a part."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you never did have much imagination. You should cultivate it,"
+was Emma's quick rejoinder.</p>
+
+<p>"Please do not quarrel," said Josephine as she raised her soulful eyes
+and let them rest upon each girl in turn. "This may be our last<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> time
+together. It would be so sweet to carry with us pleasant memories. Let
+us have sweet&mdash;."</p>
+
+<p>"Not too much, though," said Emma. "You always were a great girl for
+caramels and fudge, Jo; but you must remember some of the rest of us
+liked olives and pickles."</p>
+
+<p>"Emma's speech in plain English, means that she prefers some wit to too
+much sentiment," said Hester.</p>
+
+<p>"I most assuredly do," was the rejoinder, as Emma sat down on top of the
+trunk which had been brought in ready for packing.</p>
+
+<p>The group of girls had gathered in Sixty-two. During the winter and
+spring terms, this room had been the general gathering place; for Hester
+and Helen were popular with the other students.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I might finish about the play," cried Erma. "Those miserable
+little freshmen thought they had our play. Yes, I know you took a copy
+from my study-table drawer. It was one I put in there for you to take.
+While you were busy learning that, we had another. So while you girls
+were gloating over the 'East<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> Indian Queen,' we went on in peace and
+practised 'A Roumanian Princess.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Really? Erma Thomas, do you mean it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do I mean it? I surely do. Oh, wasn't it fun to hear you practise and
+see you slip about with your mysterious airs!"</p>
+
+<p>The door opened and Renee came in. She was robed in a full-length
+kimona.</p>
+
+<p>"You girls sitting here doing nothing! I am packing. I do not intend
+letting it go until morning and then hurrying. My trunk is locked and I
+cannot find the keys. Will you lend me yours, Helen?"</p>
+
+<p>Helen arose to get them from a drawer. Emma sighed as she looked at
+Renee.</p>
+
+<p>"When I go to heaven," she said, "and meet Renee there, I know what she
+will say to me the very first thing."</p>
+
+<p>The girls looked their queries and Emma concluded, "'Emma, please lend
+me your crown. I've mislaid mine.'"</p>
+
+<p>"And Emma will be finding fault with everything. She'll feel dreadful
+because she is forced to be in heaven all the time," said Sara slowly.
+This was a hit direct at the little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span> Dutch doll, for all through the
+year she had been complaining at the restrictions of school, and could
+not understand why Doctor Weldon did not allow the girls to go down to
+the city when they pleased.</p>
+
+<p>During this conversation, Mame Cross had been sitting apart. Now
+Josephine turned to her, and assuming an attitude and expression of
+great solicitation and interest said, "Mame is the only one who feels
+what this evening means to us. Perhaps never again shall we talk
+together. No one knows what the summer will bring. Mame is overcome by
+the thought&mdash;."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not. I was not thinking of that at all," Mame replied. "It came to
+me while the girls were talking of the banquet and play and commencement
+that I was almost glad that we were not having any of them."</p>
+
+<p>"Mame Cross, what heresy! The flood has made her mad," cried the girls.</p>
+
+<p>"I have reasons for thinking so. I simply could not have gone to one
+thing. What could I have worn if I had gone? I made up my mind when we
+had our last reception that I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> would never go to another unless I had
+something decent to wear."</p>
+
+<p>"When I meet Mame in heaven," said Emma, trying to look serious, "the
+very first thing she will say is, 'My robe doesn't hang as well as
+yours, and my harp isn't so bright.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Are you not getting a little irreverent?" said Helen gently. "There are
+so many common things to jest about. Is it not better to use them as the
+butt of our wit, instead of matters beyond our comprehension?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I suppose so, Helen," said Emma. "But, you know I never consider.
+I blurt out just what I wish to say."</p>
+
+<p>The half-hour bell sounded and the girls went to their rooms to make
+ready to appear at the dining-table. The lower halls were yet damp
+although they had been open to the air and sun since the previous
+Sabbath. Doctor Weldon, not wishing to risk the health of the pupils,
+had converted a class-room on the second floor into a dining-hall. Here
+dinner was served informally; the students attending to their own wants,
+for the servants were kept busy carrying the trays from the floor
+below.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At the bringing-in of the last course, Doctor Weldon arose to make the
+announcements. She asked the young ladies to attend to their packing at
+once. Belva and Marshall had already brought down trunks and boxes from
+the store-room. Immediately after breakfast, the following morning, each
+young lady should call at the office when arrangements would be made for
+her going home.</p>
+
+<p>There was too much to be done after dinner to permit of any visiting.
+The girls went to their rooms and began to dismantle them. Hester and
+Helen had much to do, but they contrived to carry on a steady flow of
+talk while they worked.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps, we'll never be together again," said Hester, from the depths
+of the closet whither she had gone in search of shoes. "You will not be
+here next year. We may never meet again."</p>
+
+<p>"I think we shall," said Helen. "The world is not a very large place.
+You are to visit me, you know. I shall ask your Aunt Debby when I see
+her."</p>
+
+<p>"And you'll come to visit me. Couldn't you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span> come this summer? You'd like
+Jane Orr and Ralph. He is the nicest boy I ever knew, except Robert
+Vail."</p>
+
+<p>"Rob <i>is</i> nice. Yes, I think I can come. We could have a fine time."</p>
+
+<p>Hester grew eloquent about the walks, picnics and drives they could
+have. Helen was accustomed to life in a mansion with a retinue of
+servants. Hester knew this. She knew also that at her home, Aunt Debby
+and she would perform all the household work and that Aunt Debby would
+set out her own flowers and plant a garden of radishes and lettuce with
+their kindred small garden truck. Helen would have no servants to wait
+upon her. Hester gave no thought to the difference in the household. To
+her, friendship was above all material conditions. As she felt
+concerning such matters, she took it for granted that all right-minded
+people must feel. She could not conceive the thought that Helen, as her
+friend, could be critical of the plain old-fashioned home where she and
+Aunt Debby were the home-makers. It was not training alone which gave
+Hester such impressions. She had within her the instinct<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span> of true
+nobility. She gave the best of what was hers without apology or
+explanation. She took it for granted that her offerings would be
+received in the same spirit. They were, for Helen Loraine valued a
+friend higher than the friend's possessions.</p>
+
+<p>"I am very glad I asked you to forgive me, last Saturday," continued
+Helen. She was bending over the drawer of the chiffonier while she
+robbed it of its contents. "I could not have been happy had I gone home
+and not have made friends with you. It was my fault, Hester, that you
+did not play as a substitute on the first team. I thought something, and
+I told Miss Watson that I did not care to have you play. You do not know
+how sorry I have been since."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I do. There, I think I have all my shoes ready to pack. Those old
+gym shoes I might as well throw out as rubbish. Yes, I do know, Helen. I
+felt dreadfully about it myself; but I thought you had a good reason. I
+myself despise a girl who prevaricates even a little."</p>
+
+<p>Helen raised her head from her work to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span> look at Hester. She could not
+fully grasp this last remark.</p>
+
+<p>Hester, catching the peculiar expression of her friend's face continued,
+"You did not tell me why you were hurt with me. Of course I knew. It was
+what I said about my father being Aunt Debby's brother. That was it, was
+it not?"</p>
+
+<p>"What an idea, you silly little Hester! Why should I be angry with you
+for saying that? What was it to me whether he was Miss Alden's brother
+or not?"</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you knew and despised me for telling what was not true. I am
+not one bit an Alden. I do not belong to Aunt Debby except through love.
+My mother died at the Alden home. Somehow, I never could quite grasp all
+the story, for no one will tell me all. Somehow, Aunt Debby felt herself
+responsible and she took me and gave me her mother's name. Don't you
+think that very sweet of her? To Aunt Debby, Hester Palmer Alden was the
+name she loved the most and she gave it to me."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, she must have loved you, too, or she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span> would never have given you
+that name. It was not what you said that caused me to be displeased with
+you. Shall I tell you?"</p>
+
+<p>Hester shook her head slowly. She was yet sitting on the floor near the
+door of the closet. All about her, were odds and ends of her
+possessions.</p>
+
+<p>"No, do not tell me. I know I did not do anything else to make you
+despise me. So please don't tell me what it was. Whatever it was, I did
+not do it and I might feel hurt if I knew that you suspected me of
+anything very bad."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, little roommate. We'll never talk about the matter. We'll
+clean off our slates and make them clean for the next lesson," said
+Helen. "That is what Miss Mary used to tell us when we went to primary
+grade."</p>
+
+<p>"I always liked to hear you say 'little roommate.' Next year, Helen, you
+will not be here to say it. I wonder who will call me that." The tears
+were near Hester's eyes, but she forced them back and smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps, someone nicer than I and someone you will love better."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"That will never be. It couldn't be. But you'll come back to visit?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not think it will be possible. Father says I may go to an eastern
+college. That will take me far from here. I do not wish to go four
+years. I intend taking special work; for I mean to be a settlement
+worker."</p>
+
+<p>Hester nodded. Just then she could not have said a word if her life had
+depended upon it. She thought that Helen's giving up a life of ease and
+luxury to work among the people of the slums, was a glorious thing;
+although she herself could not have done such a thing and had no desires
+in that direction.</p>
+
+<p>"It will be lovely, Helen," she said at last. "Perhaps when you are
+working somewhere I shall come to visit you."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you may be working with me. Who knows?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know I shall never be that kind of a worker. I intend to be a
+novelist. Perhaps, I shall find a great deal of material when I come
+down to visit you. I think being a great novelist would be glorious."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, if one could be great and could write<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span> life as it is and make
+people better by the writing."</p>
+
+<p>"That is the kind I intend being," said Hester with conviction, and yet
+not conceit. "I shall be a great one or none at all. I never should like
+mere commonplace writing. I should like to imagine; to look at people
+and describe them as they were, and to see even their thoughts."</p>
+
+<p>Helen laughed. Hester had already won a reputation in
+character-description. She had the faculty of describing her friends in
+a few pertinent words which meant as much as an entire paragraph from
+some people.</p>
+
+<p>"I think your character-drawing will be excellent," said Helen. "You
+have a way with you, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you really think so? Aunt Debby says I am critical, but I do not
+mean to be that. People just naturally make me think of different
+things. I see a likeness. I cannot help it that it is there. Aunt Debby
+was once quite indignant when I was telling her about the different
+girls at school. I said Josephine made me think of soft-A sugar. Aunt
+Debby did not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span> like it. But that is what she made me think of. I
+couldn't help it."</p>
+
+<p>Hester was quite serious. Although the remark concerning Josephine was
+her own, she did not fully appreciate her own wit in the application.</p>
+
+<p>Hester arose slowly. "That closet is cleared, thank goodness. I'll see
+to the trifles on the dressing-table. I'd rather pack big things than
+such trifles as hairpins, handkerchiefs, and stockings."</p>
+
+<p>"I am ready to put mine in the trunk," said Helen. As she spoke, she
+drew the trunk from against the wall and lifted out the tray. She gave
+an exclamation as her eyes fell on a quantity of lawn and lace.</p>
+
+<p>"I've hunted everywhere for those waists," she said. "I went to the
+laundry several times to ask Mrs. Pellesee if they had been mislaid. I
+was confident that they had not come back from the laundry."</p>
+
+<p>She made a dive into the depths of the trunk and brought forth the
+shirtwaists.</p>
+
+<p>"I remember now when I put them there. When I got my new one-piece suit
+to wear to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> dinner, I put these away. It was the night I lost my pin."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Hester without turning her head. Her mind was upon putting
+the contents of her dressing-table in order. She scarcely heard what
+Helen was saying.</p>
+
+<p>Helen gave a second exclamation as her hands seized the fluff of lace
+about one waist; for the pin which she had missed months before was
+fastened to the lace.</p>
+
+<p>"I found my pin!" she exclaimed. "I am glad&mdash;so glad! Look, Hester!"</p>
+
+<p>Hester gave a quick indifferent glance toward Helen's upraised hand in
+which this stone glittered like a star.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad," she said. "I thought it was very strange what became of it.
+I couldn't understand how it would disappear from the room. I have a pin
+something like that&mdash;but mine is just a cheap imitation. Aunt Debby says
+it is the kind one buys at a five-and-ten-cent store."</p>
+
+<p>For a moment, Helen stood silent. She was abashed and ashamed of the
+suspicion which she had long held in her mind. She had done<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> wrong; but
+on the other hand, she had done what she could to make matters right. It
+pleased her even now to know that she had asked Hester's forgiveness and
+had believed in her, before the proofs of her innocence came to hand. It
+is a worthless sort of faith and a poor friendship which needs evidence
+at hand. Faith is faith only when it believes without proof, or against
+proof. These thoughts came to Helen while she stood with the pin in her
+hand. Then she crossed to where Hester stood and laying her hand on
+Hester's shoulder, said, "Little roommate, to-night will be our last
+night together in school. Will you try to think with kindness of the
+roommate who was unjust to you? You have taught me one great big lesson,
+Hester, and that is that one cannot even believe her eyes. Will you
+forget all the unpleasant part of the year, and remember only that I
+really loved you with it all?"</p>
+
+<p>"That will be easy. It will be but thinking kindly of myself. For every
+one says that you are my counterpart."</p>
+
+<p>"A poor imitation, I am afraid. If I predict rightly the years will
+prove me but the reflection<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> of a great and a brighter body. You'll be
+the sun, Hester. The best I'll ever be is a pale little moon." She bent
+to kiss Hester's lips. With that caress all the suspicion and doubt
+vanished and Hester Alden's year at school had closed.</p>
+
+
+<h4>THE END</h4>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3>DOROTHY BROWN</h3>
+
+<h3>By NINA RHOADES</h3>
+
+<h4>Illustrated by Elizabeth Withington Large 12mo Cloth $1.50</h4>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 112px;">
+<img src="images/i_363a.jpg" width="112" height="150" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>This is considerably longer than the other books by this favorite
+writer, and with a more elaborate plot, but it has the same winsome
+quality throughout. It introduces the heroine in New York as a little
+girl of eight, but soon passes over six years and finds her at a select
+family boarding school in Connecticut. An important part of the story
+also takes place at the Profile House in the White Mountains. The charm
+of school-girl friendship is finely brought out, and the kindness of
+heart, good sense and good taste which find constant expression in the
+books by Miss Rhoades do not lack for characters to show these best of
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+to furnish the alluring mystery, which is not all cleared up until the
+very last.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"There will be no better book than this to put into the
+hands of a girl in her teens and none that will be better
+appreciated by her."&mdash;<i>Kennebec Journal.</i></p></div>
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+<h4>MARION'S VACATION</h4>
+
+<h4>By NINA RHOADES</h4>
+
+<h4>Illustrated by Bertha G. Davidson 12mo Cloth $1.25</h4>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 109px;">
+<img src="images/i_363b.jpg" width="109" height="150" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>This book is for the older girls, Marion being thirteen. She has for ten
+years enjoyed a luxurious home in New York with the kind lady who feels
+that the time has now come for this aristocratic though lovable little
+miss to know her own nearest kindred, who are humble but most excellent
+farming people in a pretty Vermont village. Thither Marion is sent for a
+summer, which proves to be a most important one to her in all its
+lessons.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"More wholesome reading for half grown girls it would be
+hard to find; some of the same lessons that proved so
+helpful in that classic of the last generation 'An Old
+Fashioned Girl' are brought home to the youthful readers of
+this sweet and sensible story."&mdash;<i>Milwaukee Free Press.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<p><i>For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by
+the publishers</i></p>
+
+<p class="center">LOTHROP, LEE &amp; SHEPARD CO., Boston</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3>BRAVE HEART SERIES</h3>
+
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+
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+
+
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+
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+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 110px;">
+<img src="images/i_364a.jpg" width="110" height="150" alt="" title="" />
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+
+<p>This is the romantic story of Flora Macdonald, the lassie of Skye, who
+aided in the escape of Charles Stuart, otherwise known as the "Young
+Pretender," for which she suffered arrest, but which led to signal honor
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+
+
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+
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+<p>"Polly of the Pines" was Mary Dunning, a brave girl of the Carolinas,
+and the events of the story occur in the years 1775-82. Polly was an
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+for the most part intensely loyal to the Crown. Polly finds the glamor
+of royal adherence hard to resist, but her heart turns towards the
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+
+
+<p><i>For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by
+the publishers</i></p>
+
+<p class="center">LOTHROP, LEE &amp; SHEPARD CO., BOSTON</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Hester's Counterpart, by Jean K. Baird
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@@ -0,0 +1,7605 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hester's Counterpart, by Jean K. Baird
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Hester's Counterpart
+       A Story of Boarding School Life
+
+Author: Jean K. Baird
+
+Illustrator: Adele W. Jones
+
+Release Date: October 20, 2008 [EBook #26973]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HESTER'S COUNTERPART ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Josephine Paolucci
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+HESTER'S COUNTERPART
+
+[Illustration: THE WATER CREPT UP.--_Page 284._]
+
+THE HESTER BOOKS
+
+
+HESTER'S COUNTERPART
+
+A STORY OF BOARDING SCHOOL LIFE
+
+BY
+JEAN K. BAIRD
+Author of "The Coming of Hester"
+
+_ILLUSTRATED BY ADELE W. JONES_
+
+[Illustration]
+
+BOSTON
+LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.
+
+Published, August, 1910
+
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.
+_All Rights Reserved_
+
+HESTER'S COUNTERPART
+
+NORWOOD PRESS
+BERWICK & SMITH CO.
+NORWOOD, MASS.
+U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+The water crept up (Page 284)                        _Frontispiece_
+
+                                                       FACING PAGE
+
+"I am Helen Loraine"                                         68
+
+Again Hester deftly returned it                              92
+
+"Oh, girls, do you happen to have any cold cream?"          122
+
+"You remember me, I see, Miss Alden"                        150
+
+They held their breath                                      290
+
+
+
+
+HESTER'S COUNTERPART
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+Debby Alden, to use her own adjective in regard to herself, was not
+"slack." To this her friends added another term. Debby was "set." There
+could be no doubt of that.
+
+When Hester was but twelve years old, Debby had decided that the girl
+should have at least one year at the best boarding-school. Four years
+had passed, during which time, Debby's purpose had remained firm,
+although not yet ripe for perfecting.
+
+After the experience with Mary Bowerman's taunts and Abner Stout's
+guile, Debby decided that the time had come for Hester to have a change
+of environment. Miss Richards's advice was again sought. But that old
+friend no longer held the full power in her hands. Debby had grown
+alive and alert. She knew the standing of the schools throughout the
+State, and in what particular line of study or discipline each one
+excelled.
+
+For months, she studied catalogues and estimated expenses. She had never
+made a study of psychology; but she understood that Hester had reached
+the most impressionable age of her life. Each thought and word would
+leave its marks upon her. Debby, who believed firmly that tendencies are
+inherited, had always with her the fear that Hester would show the
+tendencies of an alien race. Her one consolation was that much may be
+overcome by training, and too, perhaps, there was in Hester's veins only
+a drop of darker blood.
+
+No one understood the position in which Debby Alden was placed. She
+always held herself responsible for the death of Hester's mother. Duty
+had compelled her to take care of the child, until love had come to her
+as a reward for the fulfillment of duty.
+
+There was no one to whom she could speak concerning Hester and her fears
+in regard to her. One thing she had done and would do; she would keep
+the child far removed from any influence which would tend to the
+strengthening of those traits which are supposed rightfully to belong to
+the race of slaves.
+
+Debby consulted principals and teachers and read and re-read catalogues.
+At length, she decided upon Dickinson Seminary as the school which came
+nearest to fulfilling her desires for Hester.
+
+Hester had always been sweet and submissive to Debby Alden. The girl had
+more than love for the woman who was mother and father both to her.
+Mingled with Hester's love for Debby was an inexpressible gratitude.
+Hester realized how much Debby had done and was doing for her. But it
+was not the dainty dresses and good home that touched her most. Debby
+Alden had given the waif her mother's name, and Hester never wrote in
+her big angular hand, Hester Palmer Alden, without feeling a glow of
+pride. She had a name of which to be proud, a name which Debby Alden had
+always held dear.
+
+"It was the very kindest thing Aunt Debby could do," was a thought which
+came often to Hester. "She must have loved me even from the first, or
+she would have never given me her own name. She's so proud of being an
+Alden. Their name has never had a bit of shame or disgrace touch it."
+Then she added an afterthought, "and it never will through me."
+
+One day she brought up the subject of the Alden name while in
+conversation with her aunt. Hester expressed herself warmly on the
+subject and the elder woman listened with a lightening heart. The pride
+of the Alden name and family which Hester showed, pleased her. To Debby
+came the thought that only those who had such birthrights could
+comprehend and appreciate the honor of possessing them. For a moment,
+she believed that she might have been mistaken in regard to Hester's
+parentage; but just for a moment. She could not close her eyes to facts.
+She, herself, had seen the purple tinge about the finger nails of the
+woman and had observed the lips and eyes which were peculiar to another
+race.
+
+"It was beautiful of you, Aunt Debby, to give me your name, and I'll
+never, never bring shame to it."
+
+"Let us talk no more of the subject," was the curt rejoinder. "We have
+much to do before you are ready to go to Dickinson, and we must not
+spend our time in telling what is to be done or not to be done a dozen
+years from now."
+
+Hester was drying the dishes. At the mention of going to school, she
+stopped. Regardless of consequences, she raised her tea-towel in one
+hand like a banner, and Aunt Debby's blue cream jug, a relic of the
+Alden family, high in the other.
+
+"Dickinson Seminary!" she exclaimed in a voice pitched high with
+nervousness. "I'll tell you right this minute, Aunt Debby, I will not
+go."
+
+Had the ceiling fallen down upon her, Debby Alden could not have been
+more surprised. Hester, the obedient, now in the guise of an insurgent.
+
+"_Will_ not, Hester Palmer Alden, is not the word to use to me. I am the
+one to decide what is best for you to do or not to do, and I've decided
+upon your going to Dickinson."
+
+The voice of the speaker was strong with the Alden firmness and
+decision. Perhaps, she forced herself to unusual firmness lest her
+great love for the girl should make her weak in discipline. She expected
+that Hester, having once made so strong an affirmation, would cling to
+it and perhaps be inclined to disputation. On the contrary, Hester began
+to sob.
+
+Debby turned to look at the girl, down whose cheeks the tears were
+streaming. Then she said with a show of gentleness: "It's only natural
+that you feel bad about leaving home. Everyone does that. I really
+should not feel pleased if you did not feel bad. You can not give up to
+that feeling. I do not mean to permit you to do so. School is the best
+place for you, and you must go. You'll enjoy it after a while."
+
+"I was not thinking about myself, Aunt Debby. I was thinking of you. Do
+you think that I can ever enjoy being away and having a good time while
+you are here alone?"
+
+"I was used to being alone before you--"
+
+"But you are not used to it now. I'll think of you sitting here alone in
+the evening. Every time you leave the house you'll be alone and you'll
+come into a lonely house when you come back. I will not go and leave
+you here, Aunt Debby, and you cannot make me."
+
+"Hester Alden--." Debby Alden meant to be firm. It was scandalous to
+have a child so express herself to her elder, and that elder as a mother
+to her. Debby Alden would not be weak. She would be firm, and not so
+much as allow Hester to express an opinion.
+
+"Hester Alden," she began, but could say no more because of a queer
+little catch in her voice. She turned back to her dish-pan and fell with
+great vigor to her dishwashing. After a few moments, she felt that she
+could control herself, and turning to Hester, said, "Now, Hester Alden,
+we'll have done with this nonsense right here. I've been alone and stood
+it fairly well and I can stand it again. What does it matter if I am
+alone? I'm no longer a young girl who demands company. I'm just a plain
+old--"
+
+"Why, Aunt Debby--you are not. Doesn't everyone say you're beautiful,
+and you're not old--and you're never going to get old." Hester turned
+and brought her foot down with some vigor, as though she would frighten
+old age and gray hair and loneliness from the house.
+
+"Why, Aunt Debby, everyone says you're beautiful. The girls at
+school--."
+
+Debby's cheeks flushed. There was something very sweet in the assertion,
+although she did not believe it even for a moment. But in all her forty
+years, no one had ever used that word in speaking of Debby. Although she
+felt that even now love, and not facts, was making use of it, she was
+touched. She was a woman after all, and it was sweet to find herself
+beautiful in someone's eyes.
+
+But discipline must be maintained. She turned toward Hester. The girl
+threw her arms about Debby Alden's neck and sobbed, and Debby held up
+her kitchen apron before her eyes and wept silently.
+
+"There, Hester, there!" she said at last. "We're both very silly, very
+silly. You must go to school and that's an end to it."
+
+"No, Aunt Debby. I'll never go and leave you here alone. If I go, you
+must go with me."
+
+"Go with you! That is the veriest nonsense, Hester. Debby Alden in a
+seminary. I'm not in my second childhood yet."
+
+"But you could live in town. Mame Thomas has a cousin who lives in a
+little flat. She's a widow and keeps her girls in school. Couldn't you
+go and live there. We could see each other--."
+
+"The dish-water is getting cold. Really, Hester, you and I are getting
+slack. I believe that is the first time in my life that I ever stood
+talking and let my dish-water get cold. It isn't a good way of doing.
+Mother never allowed us to be slack about such things. I was not brought
+up to talk first and work afterward. Think of me, a woman my age, doing
+such a thing!"
+
+Taking up the dish-pan, she left the kitchen to empty the water. Hester
+dried her tears. Her heart grew light. She understood Aunt Debby well
+and she knew that the talk about letting the work stand was only a
+chastisement Debby was giving herself, when she felt herself yielding.
+
+The subject was again discussed during the evening. No decision was
+reached. Debby, however, conceded enough to say that she would think the
+matter over and would ask Miss Richards's opinion concerning it.
+
+Hester was fully satisfied with this. She knew that her Aunt Debby never
+forgot a promise. Hester knew also that Miss Richards would advise Debby
+Alden to spend a winter in the city.
+
+The following day, after the housework had been finished and the dinner
+dishes put away, Debby Alden dressed and went to call upon her friend.
+
+Hester went with her, as far as Jane Orr's home. "I'll be back shortly,
+Hester. You may stay with Jane until I call for you."
+
+She made her way down the main street of the little country town.
+
+Hester paused as she was about to mount the steps, and turned to look at
+the retreating figure. She could not restrain a smile. "It's certainly
+odd, but Aunt Debby doesn't seem to know how pretty she is."
+
+Hester's adjective was not strong enough to describe Aunt Debby. There
+was something infinitely greater and finer in the woman than mere
+prettiness.
+
+Debby Alden at twenty-five had been scrawny, hard-featured and severe.
+She then had the appearance of one who knew only the hard things of
+life, and was giving expression to them in her features and carriage.
+But this new Debby Alden was wholly different. Hester had brought love
+and interest with her. Debby Alden was alive to the world about her, and
+her active interests had given brilliance to her eyes and lightness to
+her steps. The angles of twenty-five years had been softened into
+curves. Debby was no longer hard-featured and scrawny. She had grown
+plump and round.
+
+Some old wise man declares that it is woman's fault if she be not
+handsome at forty years; for then the body is but the reflection of life
+itself. Debby had been so true and faithful and so big-hearted and
+generous, that at forty, beautiful was the only word worthy to describe
+her.
+
+Debby's call upon Miss Richards was short. To-day was one day when all
+things were working toward favoring Hester's project.
+
+Miss Richards was growing old. She did not wish to travel alone or to be
+far from her friends. She was dainty, gracious, and smiling as ever,
+but age had laid its finger lightly upon her.
+
+She listened to Debby Alden's plans.
+
+"You are young yet, Debby," she said. "No woman should be content to sit
+at home and not improve her time. With Hester gone, there will be
+nothing to keep you here. The school is but a short distance from town.
+Why not rent a small flat?"
+
+"But what would I do with no responsibilities? Keeping two or three
+rooms in order will not employ my time."
+
+"Lockport is famed for lectures and recitals. Study-clubs are plentiful.
+You could read and study and you might practise your music, Debby. A few
+lessons will do you worlds of good."
+
+"Lessons when I am almost forty years old!"
+
+"Forty years young, my dear girl. Lessons, why not? Life is one long
+school term. The pupil who expects a hundred-mark must be learning and
+moving onward all the time. I am more than twenty years your senior,
+and yet I feel as though I was but beginning to learn how to live."
+
+She paused a moment. Her mind dwelt on the things which were past. Then
+with a radiant smile, she turned to her companion. "Be very much alive
+while you are alive, Debby. The interests you have outside yourself will
+add to your own happiness. If you wish to find perfect happiness, fill
+your life with vital interests. Go to Lockport, study, read and work;
+see Hester when your heart longs for her. I--" she paused, wondering if
+Debby would accept her suggestion.
+
+"I should like to be with you, Debby. I need something new. Each winter
+I have been south for so many years that it is a story oft told. Do you
+think that you and I could be happy together in a little flat? Hester
+then could have two hearts to fill with interest."
+
+She looked wistfully toward Debby. For the first time Debby realized
+that her old friend was alone--very much alone as far as hearth-ties and
+love were concerned. It was not with thoughts of her own enjoyment that
+Debby's heart bounded. As an inspiration, it came to her that she held
+within her hands that which would fill the void in her friend's life.
+
+"I am sure we could," said Debby. "We might as well settle the matter
+here, and we'll go to town this very week, attend to selecting Hester's
+room and we'll look up a nice little place for ourselves. We'll not have
+it too far from the school."
+
+Then observing Miss Richards smiling, she added, "I presume you think
+I'm a little hasty; but I don't see it in just that way. Anyone with
+judgment can readily see that it is just the thing for us to do. When
+our minds are made up, there's no use in being slack. We'll go Thursday.
+Hester may stay with Jane Orr. Mrs. Orr will be glad to have her. And
+now, I must go and tell Hester. I don't understand how that child came
+to be so foolishly sentimental. She has taken the notion that she cannot
+be happy anywhere without me. Utter nonsense, of course! I've tried to
+train her to believe that one's happiness never depends on another."
+
+She went her way, leaving her friend smiling at the speech. When Debby
+had gone, Miss Richards spoke aloud: "Debby, Debby Alden, how fearfully
+blind you are about yourself and your girl! How could Hester ever think
+other than she does when every bit of happiness in the child's life has
+emanated from you. Hester has sound judgment for one of her years, and
+she knows how much she owes to you."
+
+But Hester did not know the full amount of her debt to her foster aunt
+nor did Miss Richards; for Debby kept her own secret in regard to
+Hester's parentage and no one but herself knew the fearful weight it was
+upon her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+Thursday morning, Miss Richards and Debby Alden started for Lockport.
+This was a small city and the county seat. Its situation made it a
+pleasant place to spend the summer and the population increased and
+diminished with the change of seasons.
+
+The town lay between two ridges of high mountains. On one side the river
+flowed; on the opposite side Beech Creek, the conjunction of the streams
+being at the eastern edge of town. On the brow of the lower hills were
+the summer homes of the city folk. There were acres of lawn and grove
+with natural ravines through which ran little streams and over whose
+banks the laurels grew in wild profusion. Back of these hills, the
+mountains towered like great green giants. On foggy days, their peaks
+were hidden in clouds. They were awe-inspiring, for fog-covered brows
+spoke of mysteries beyond the comprehension of those who dwelt below.
+
+The valley grew narrow toward the western end. Here, nestled close
+between hills, was Dickinson Seminary, one of the most exclusive and
+rigidly-disciplined schools of the State. The campus and grove beyond
+were extensive. Beech Creek lay to the south and was used for bathing
+and boating and skating in their seasons. It was a deep, narrow stream.
+Being fed only by a few short mountain brooks, it was little affected by
+floods.
+
+To the north lay the river. It was serene and powerful, except when its
+waters were swollen. Then it made its way over the banks and encroached
+upon the campus. The seminary folk were pleased than otherwise at this,
+for on the river-soaked campus edge the willows and water birches
+thrived, and made a beautiful protection for the campus. The river was
+at a distance from the building; yet at flood time on a quiet night as
+the girls lay in bed listening, they could hear the noise of its waters.
+
+Debby Alden and Miss Richards reached Lockport just at noon Thursday.
+Debby's first thought was of Hester and her accommodations at school.
+She visited the seminary, attended to matters there, and returned to the
+city. The expenses connected with Hester's education would not be light,
+and Debby knew that she would be compelled eventually to use the little
+money which her father had put by for a rainy day; the interest of which
+had met her living expenses. The woman looked forward and saw the time
+when her money would be gone. But, strange to say, contrary as her
+present mode of action was to all her inheritance and previous training,
+she anticipated no day when she would be reduced to poverty. She
+calculated closely, knowing almost to a dime what the three following
+years would cost her and Hester.
+
+By that time, perhaps, Hester would be prepared for some life-work and
+as for Debby--. She smiled grimly when she thought of coming to a place
+where she could not take care of herself. "It's not the Alden way to get
+stuck," she repeated to herself.
+
+She mentally reviewed all these conditions before she set out with Miss
+Richards in search of a flat suited to their needs. In her look into the
+future, Debby believed herself able to see her way clear for three full
+years.
+
+"And then, if the worst comes to the worst, I can sell the timber land.
+It's never brought in anything."
+
+She put this last thought into words. "Does that mean that you are
+pressed for money, Debby?"
+
+"Not yet; but I may be before three years are gone, and Hester is
+through with school. I can see my way clear for three years."
+
+"You are fortunate indeed if that be so. A score of things may happen
+that you know nothing of now. I have learned to anticipate neither joy
+nor sorrow but to take each day as it comes."
+
+"But surely one must look ahead. Money matters do not take care of
+themselves. Hester's schooling will cost me almost every cent of my
+ready money. I'll have only my little place and the timber tracts
+beyond."
+
+"You are not scattering your money in sending Hester to school, Debby.
+You are placing it where it will draw the greatest interest. Sometime
+you'll draw a big dividend." She smiled reassuringly.
+
+"I hope so; but I wasn't thinking of that now. All I want is to have
+Hester prepared for some work--to take care of herself and be a happy
+useful woman when I'm gone."
+
+"Meanwhile, we'll stop in here and look at this little place. I think,
+Debby, you and I will never be content to shut ourselves up in little
+boxes on a second or third floor."
+
+"No, I want room to breathe and some place outside where I can set my
+foot on the soil. I'm not one who likes the click of my own heels on the
+pavement. There's something about putting your feet on the earth that
+makes you feel that you belong."
+
+The place into which they now turned was a little cottage at the extreme
+east of town near the conjunction of creek and river, yet high on the
+brow of a hill. It was a simple little place, weather-beaten and faded;
+but a strip of sod ran about the front and side. The little low porch
+was shaded with a Virginia creeper, and an old gnarled tree at the
+corner leaned over the roof as though about to rest itself against it.
+
+Its being at the extreme end of town from the seminary was to Debby
+Alden the one thing against it.
+
+"If we were at the west end, Hester could slip in each day. The pupils
+are allowed an hour 'off campus' you know."
+
+"And she would come to you with every thought that troubled her. You
+would be bearing her childish burdens just as you have always done. If
+you live where Hester can talk with you each day, she will lose the
+greatest benefit a year in school can give her."
+
+"I think you are right," said Debby Alden.
+
+"I like the house. I'm used to low ceilings and big porches and vines.
+I'm satisfied with it if you are; and we'll have Hester home but once a
+month."
+
+It was best for Hester to be away and to learn to depend upon herself.
+That fact settled matters for Debby Alden. If it were good for Hester,
+then it should be done and Debby Alden would give no thought to herself
+in this matter.
+
+Miss Richards was pleased with the house and the two friends made
+arrangements with the care-taker to have it ready for them a few days
+before the opening of school. There were papering and painting to be
+done. Had it been within her own home, Debby Alden would have done the
+work herself. Every bit of woodwork in her own home had been done over
+with her own brush, and her paper-hanging had won the admiration of the
+country-side.
+
+The next in the course of events was selecting the articles of furniture
+which might be spared from home. Debby had no idea of dismantling her
+old home. The house had been built and furnished for a large family.
+There were furnished bedrooms which Debby and Hester never entered
+except at cleaning time; below there were the old-fashioned parlor, the
+living-room with its air of comfort, the dining-room, kitchen and what
+in that locality was termed the shanty-kitchen. This last was a great
+room between the woodshed and kitchen proper. It was provided with every
+article for laundry use, and during the canning season was the scene of
+most of the household activities.
+
+Since the early spring days when going away to school had first been
+mentioned, Hester had viewed the event with dread. She knew nothing of
+meeting strangers and imagined there could be nothing pleasant about it.
+During the summer while Debby had talked and planned, Hester had shown
+little interest and had never of herself, brought up the subject. But
+since she had influenced her Aunt Debby to go to the city with her, she
+was almost satisfied to go. Her joy would have been unbounded had it
+been possible for Debby to be with her within the school. That could not
+be. Hester was wise enough to know that. There was one other course that
+could be followed, however. She could live in town with Aunt Debby and
+Miss Richards and be but a parlor student at the seminary. To Hester's
+mind, this would be a very satisfactory arrangement, and she meant to
+bring it to pass. Having been successful in persuading her Aunt Debby to
+live in town, Hester was confident that it would be no difficult matter
+to persuade her to this second course. Hester was naturally a diplomat.
+There was nothing deceptive about her; but, young as she was, she
+intuitively knew that some times are ripe and some are not for
+discussion. The time propitious for bringing up the question of her
+being but a parlor student was not until Debby and Miss Richards were
+established in their little cottage at the east end of Lockport.
+
+Satisfied that she could bring matters to pass in the fashion she
+desired, Hester grew enthusiastic over the preparation for quitting the
+old home. There was much to be done in spite of the fact that Debby was
+never "slack" in the ways of her household. Every cupboard and closet
+was gone over. Bed clothes were aired and laid away where neither mice,
+rust, nor mildew could touch them. China and silver were sorted and
+again sorted before Debby was able to decide what pieces were best to
+take and what best to leave. The flowers were to be potted and put away
+to keep for spring planting. When it came to this, Debby began to
+realize what leaving home meant.
+
+"I can take the spotted-leaved geranium," she said to Hester while they
+were making the rounds of the garden. "I always do pot that for a
+house-plant. I suppose it will grow as well at Lockport as here, if I
+see that it is attended to. Fortunately for plants, they have no
+feelings."
+
+The words showed sentiment enough, but the tones of Debby's voice made
+them seem harsh and unfeeling. Hester was not deceived. Debby Alden came
+from a race who had for generations looked upon the expression of love
+and sentiment as a weakness. Whenever Debby felt her emotions conquering
+her, she unconsciously resorted to the ways of her forbears; she lashed
+herself into a semblance of sternness in an endeavor to conceal her real
+feelings.
+
+"I suppose I'll not get a look at the asters when they bloom. It would
+be a shame to let them die on the stalk without a soul pulling one. I
+think I'll ask Kate Bowerman to see to them. She might pack up a few and
+send to me. I'm curious to see how that new royal purple turns out. I've
+been suspicious all summer that it would turn out a scrub. It looks
+like a scrub."
+
+She was bending over the plants growing along the fence which divided
+her yard-proper from the garden and wood-yards beyond. Debby was proud
+of her collection of asters which were of every variety known throughout
+the country.
+
+"They certainly are scrubs," she repeated as she bent for a closer
+inspection.
+
+"How do you know, Aunt Debby? To me, they look like the other plants."
+
+"I just know," said Debby. "I don't know how I know, but I just do.
+Plants show their breed just like people and animals. I've no need when
+I look at old Jim Ramsey's horse to be told it's mighty common stock.
+Yes; it has the same number of legs and hoofs and its eyes are in the
+right place, but it isn't a thoroughbred. Anyone can see that at a
+glance. It is just the same with plants. There's a wide difference.
+Though I suppose it is only ones who work about them and love them that
+see the difference. And with people! Some people are born common stock
+and stay common stock all their lives, even if they've lived in
+mansions and hold a dozen diplomas."
+
+She paused suddenly. "Run and get some more crocks, Hester," she added.
+Debby was annoyed at herself in talking of family in the child's
+presence. With Debby's knowledge of Hester's parentage, it was as though
+she had thrown a taunt in the child's face. When Hester returned,
+bearing in her arms the two, large flower-pots, Debby made a point of
+showing her unusual consideration, asking her opinion as to the best
+flowers to be potted and whether she did not wish a plant for her window
+in school.
+
+From the beginning of these preparations, one duty had been firmly fixed
+in Debby's mind. It was not a pleasant one, yet she did not mean to
+shirk it; but she did put it off to the very last morning when she and
+Hester had brought down the trunks and were preparing to pack their own
+personal belongings.
+
+"There are some things in the attic, Hester, which rightfully belong to
+you. I've never mentioned them to you before, because you were yet such
+a child. But now you are leaving and Providence alone knows what may be
+in store for us. I may not come back. Now, don't begin to cry. I expect
+to live a good many years yet; but there's no telling. I believe in
+doing what Grandmother Alden always said, 'Hope for the best, but be
+prepared for the worst.'
+
+"If anything should happen to me, it is only fair that you should have
+what is yours by rights. Just let your packing go this morning. We'll
+have time to finish this afternoon and not be rushed. I want you to go
+with me and look over the clothes that were yours and your mother's.
+
+"I laid your mother out in the best things I could buy; and I kept every
+stitch she wore when the accident befell her. Somewhere or sometime,
+some of her friends will appear and they may be able to recognize these
+clothes."
+
+Debby lead the way to the attic, climbing up the narrow dark stairway
+which lead from the kitchen bedroom and Hester followed at her heels.
+
+The attic was low and narrow. Except in the middle, one could not walk
+without stooping to escape the rafters. Along one side was a long row of
+boxes and trunks in which the Aldens, for generations, had kept their
+heirlooms. So far as money value was considered, there was nothing here
+worth while. A surveyor's compass and staff, a spinning wheel; old blue
+dishes covered with hair-like lines. There was no real lace, and there
+were no handsome gowns. Nevertheless, they meant much to Debby Alden.
+They were family to her.
+
+A little low trunk was at the extreme end of the attic. It was to this
+that Debby directed her steps.
+
+"Everything in this trunk belongs to you, Hester. When I packed it away,
+I put a card inside so that you might know that they were your mother's.
+There's nothing at all of value. Sit down here and we'll go over them."
+
+She knelt before the trunk and opened it. Hester, obedient to Miss
+Debby's wishes, sat down on the floor near the window while the woman
+took out each article and passed it to her companion.
+
+"This is the dress your mother wore. I thought from the material that
+she must have been well-to-do. She had a gentle, nice way of speaking.
+She looked like a woman who had never worked hard and was used to having
+things comfortable. That's why I can't understand how she could
+disappear and no one search for her. We sent notices to all the papers
+for miles about."
+
+Debby Alden paused. She could not justify herself even in her own
+thoughts. By withholding what she knew of Hester's parentage, the
+newspaper accounts of the death of the French woman, had been
+misleading. This was one act of her life that gave her no satisfaction
+in thinking over. She put it from her mind and in nervous haste, passed
+the other articles of clothing to Hester.
+
+"I've saved even her shoes. You see what a little foot she had. Your
+mother was a very pretty woman, Hester. Of course, I saw her only that
+hour at dinner when she sat in the kitchen. She had dark eyes and hair
+and a plump, round figure. You look like her, only there is a
+difference. Your eyes are dark but they don't look as your mother's
+did, and your mouth and expression are not as I remember hers to be."
+
+Hester made no comment as she looked over the clothes. She was not at
+all moved by the sight of these things. She was sixteen, and had come to
+the place where she was able to understand much that Debby did not tell
+her.
+
+She knew that something lay back of all this. Why had none of these
+people come for her? What were they that they would leave a little child
+in the world without ever making an effort to find her? They could not
+have been fine people. Hester was confident of that. She had picked up
+Debby's word and mentally set down the people from which she had sprung
+as "poor stock."
+
+"If I ever am anything at all, it will be because of Aunt Debby's
+training," she concluded as the last article of her mother's clothes lay
+in her hands.
+
+"It seems strange that they never came for you."
+
+"I'm glad they didn't," responded Hester. Her pride was in arms. If her
+own people cared so little for her, she would never grieve for them.
+
+"I am glad--very glad that they didn't," she repeated. "I belong to you.
+I'd rather be your girl than anyone's else and I couldn't be that if
+they had taken me away when I was a baby."
+
+According to tradition, Hester's sentiment was not at all proper. One
+should cherish one's family above all else.
+
+"It isn't right to say such things, Hester. Of course, you and I are
+very near to each other; but you cannot feel toward me as though I was
+your mother."
+
+"Of course not. I feel a great deal more." She arose to her feet,
+dropping on the floor, the articles of clothing which had been in her
+lap. "Why, Aunt Debby, I'd treasure an old shoe-lace of yours more than
+those things." She pointed to the heap of clothes on the floor.
+
+Debby meant to be firm. She had intended from the first that
+Hester should be rigidly disciplined. She believed in "the
+speak-when-spoken-to" child. But there are some arguments that cannot be
+questioned. She wanted Hester to love her above anyone else. She could
+not chide her for doing that. Debby's discipline went to the winds.
+
+"How very foolish you talk, Hester!" she said reprovingly; but she
+looked up at the girl with such a tender light in her eyes, that Hester
+laughed aloud.
+
+"But you like my foolishness, Aunt Debby. I know you do." She was down
+beside Debby Alden with her hand laid caressingly on the woman's arm.
+
+"Now, Hester, you are--"
+
+"But you like me to be foolish. You know you do, Aunt Debby."
+
+"I surely do not--"
+
+Hester laughed again. Aunt Debby was blushing like a young school-girl.
+
+"You cannot say that you do not like it," cried Hester. "You turn the
+question every time and do not answer directly."
+
+"We'll finish this work and go back to our packing," was the firm
+rejoinder. "Your little baby-clothes are here. Your mother must have
+been a fine needle-woman, for the rolled hems and hemstitching are
+perfect."
+
+The little dresses and petticoats were yellow with age. There was no
+distinguishing mark about them. They were of fine sheer linen, and
+exquisitely made. But thousands of babies over the land might have worn
+just such garments.
+
+"You had a little handkerchief about your neck like a bib," continued
+Debby. "This is it. It was pinned down in front with an odd pin. It's
+rather peculiar and not worth much as far as money goes."
+
+She handed the pin to Hester. It was of yellow metal--gold, perhaps--of
+oval shape and about the size of a dime. Inside the outer gold edge was
+woven a narrow strand of hair, and within this was imbedded a peculiar
+yellow stone.
+
+"Isn't it pretty!" cried Hester. She held it in her hands and examined
+it eagerly. It was the first interest she had evinced in anything which
+belonged to that time before she entered the Alden home.
+
+"I fancy it isn't gold," continued Debby Alden. "I never knew gold to
+have that peculiar tinge. It was that way when I unpinned it from your
+bib. I tried to brighten it a little, but I couldn't. It looks now just
+as it did when I laid it away. That stone, of course, is nothing more
+than a bit of yellow glass of small value."
+
+"Yes," said Hester slowly. Her eyes were fixed upon the queer stone. "I
+never saw a bit of glass look so. When I hold it one way, it looks like
+a spark of fire. It looks as deep as a well, when you look directly into
+the center."
+
+"Cut glass," said Debby. "All cut glass reflects light like that."
+
+Cut glass or something more, it appealed to Hester. Turning it about in
+her hand, she examined it critically.
+
+"There's a little hook here at the end," said Hester. "Did you notice
+that, Aunt Debby?" Debby took the pin in her hand to examine it. "I
+didn't notice that before. It has been an old fashioned earring made
+into a pin. Earrings used to be fashionable. No lady ever dressed
+without them, I've heard my mother say. The breast-pin that I wear with
+my gray silk was made from an earring of Grandmother Palmer's. Dear,
+dear, I wonder who wore these."
+
+"I'm going to keep this and wear it, Aunt Debby."
+
+"I don't believe I would, Hester. Someone might ask you where you got
+it."
+
+"And I shall tell them it was my mother's, and that I wore it when I was
+a little baby. That is true. Isn't it, Aunt Debby?"
+
+"You might lose it--" Debby began.
+
+"If I do, no one will care except me. I'd dearly love to have it, Aunt
+Debby. Isn't it my own to do with as I please?"
+
+There was no argument to bring against this, and Debby remained silent.
+Hester, pleased with the bauble, pinned it on her dress and then set
+about replacing the other articles in the trunk.
+
+The pin might be cut glass or something better. Neither Debby nor Hester
+knew, nor could they know that it would bring to Hester loss of friends
+and--but neither the girl or woman could anticipate that. At present,
+all they could do was to admire the glitter of the stone and watch the
+changing lights play upon it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+I was the last week in August when Debby Alden and Miss Richards moved
+into the cottage at the east end of Lockport. The seminary was not to
+open until a week later and Hester was with her friends, assisting in
+every way she could in putting the place to rights.
+
+Thursday evening, the house was immaculate. There was neither fad nor
+fancy about its equipment. Debby had brought down some great
+four-posters, old blue china, and solid silver. Miss Richards had
+several black walnut armchairs that were old enough to have been
+Mayflower Pilgrims, but which were not. There was a rug which Miss
+Richards had picked up in Europe twenty years before and a gay screen
+which Lieutenant Richards had bought a century before in an old junk
+shop in China.
+
+"We look as though we had stepped from a previous century," said Miss
+Richards. "We haven't a modern article about us--" She glanced toward
+Hester and then added--"except Hester."
+
+"You really need me," responded the girl. "I'm the only piece of
+twentieth-century furniture you and auntie have. I think I shall remain
+with you. I could study just as well here as shut up in that old stone
+building. I really think I could get my lessons better."
+
+"I think so, too," said Miss Richards, "that is if you refer but to book
+lessons."
+
+"What other kind could there be?"
+
+"The kind that people teach you. They are all sorts of lessons, as
+varied in kind as there are people. The girls at Dickinson will teach
+you many a good lesson."
+
+"I should think you and Aunt Debby could do it better. I've quite made
+up my mind to be but a parlor student."
+
+"There are some things Debby and I cannot teach you. We love you too
+much to give you the very lessons which we know would prove best for
+you. The girls at school will do that for us."
+
+"I do not always quite understand," said Hester. "Mr. Sanderson used to
+declare that I was neither philosophical nor mathematical. I do not see
+deeply into matters. I do know, though, which I like. Just now there is
+nothing I should like better than being at home with you and Aunt Debby,
+and I have quite made up my mind to that."
+
+"You had better unmake it, Hester," said Debby who, coming into the
+house at that moment, had overheard their words.
+
+"You will remain at the seminary even over Saturday and Sunday, except
+once each month. Miss Weldon does not approve of pupils coming back and
+forth. I think she is quite right. This flitting about gives a most
+unsettled feeling. You will not know where you belong, and we'll have
+none of it for you."
+
+Hester sighed and turned aside. She was disappointed, only for the time.
+Had she been Debby Alden's own daughter, she could not have partaken
+more strongly of some of Debby's characteristics. When Hester once made
+up her mind, she was quite "set." She had no thought of giving up her
+plans.
+
+"About the time that I'm ready to leave them, they'll both realize how
+much they'll miss me. Then I'll be able to persuade Aunt Debby to allow
+me to board at home."
+
+Confident in her power of persuasion, Hester went about her work as
+happy as though the matter had been adjusted to her satisfaction.
+
+There was yet some shopping to be done before Hester's outfit would be
+complete. Miss Debby had purposely delayed buying until she came to
+Lockport where she believed a better selection might be made.
+
+Miss Richards had friends in town and had gone off to spend the day with
+them. After the household duties had been disposed of, Debby and Hester
+set out on their shopping expedition.
+
+The morning was delightful and Debby, who took pleasure in the exercise
+of her muscles, decided to walk. With the exception of the summer homes
+which lay on the outskirts, Lockport was compact. The shopping district
+lay within a few squares. The store windows were tastefully decorated
+and Hester to whom all this was new, lingered to gaze and comment.
+
+"I never knew hats could be so pretty. Did you, Aunt Debby? Why the
+window is a dream--a poem!" She paused to study the millinery display.
+
+She had grown tall. Her shirt-waist suit of white linen was dainty and
+simple. She had pushed back her hat. When she was interested in
+anything, she was wholly unconscious of herself and what was going on
+about her. Now with bright eyes, and flushed cheeks, she stood before
+the window. She was a very pleasing sight to passers-by. More than one
+person stopped for a backward glance and smiled, well pleased, and
+passed on. Someone in particular found her pleasing. A young man
+hurrying from the store adjoining, paused a moment to look at Hester.
+Her face was in profile. All he could see was the cheek and chin, the
+tall, slender figure and the long braid of hair.
+
+He paused but a moment. Then he smiled with delight and advancing, came
+up beside her. "Hello, honey. I did not know you were in town. Are you
+picking your fall chapeau?"
+
+Hester was startled. She looked about her. Debby Alden had moved on and
+unconscious of what was taking place, was studying the display in
+windows several yards distant.
+
+At Hester's alarm, a flush came to the young man's face.
+
+"I humbly crave your pardon," he said, lifting his hat. "I mistook you
+for my cousin Helen. Believe me, I regret exceedingly--"
+
+Debby Alden had turned at this moment. She came hurrying up. Hester had
+been alarmed and turned to lay her hand on Debby's arm.
+
+"He thought I was his cousin," said Hester.
+
+Debby turned toward the young man who would have explained had she
+allowed him to do so; but she gave him such a glance that words failed
+him.
+
+"Come, Hester, an apology is merely an insult." Hester walked meekly
+along. She was not able to grasp the situation.
+
+"He said he thought I was his cousin, Aunt Debby. He seemed so sorry--"
+
+"Nonsense. He had no idea that you were his cousin or anyone else that
+he knew. He is just a smart, ill-bred young man, Hester, who, thinking
+you a stranger and not used to the ways of a city, did what he could to
+annoy you. Never pay any attention to such folk, Hester. Hurry away from
+them as fast as you can. They are never desirable people to know."
+
+"But he looked very nice, Aunt Debby. Did you notice his eyes? I liked
+the way he spoke. I really do believe that he thought that I was his
+cousin."
+
+"It matters little what you think on such matters. Hereafter never give
+anyone time to apologize for speaking to you."
+
+Smith and Winter's was the largest store in Lockport. It was on Pine,
+between Third and Fourth Streets. It was here that Debby Alden intended
+making her purchases.
+
+"Do you think you would like a tan jacket better than a blue one,
+Hester?" she asked as the floor-walker was conducting them toward the
+coat department.
+
+"I think so, Auntie. But you select what you think is best."
+
+Debby made known her wants to the sales-woman. Jackets of tan and blue,
+of many sizes and shades were brought forth and tried on Hester. They
+were interrupted in their selection, by one of the girls from the
+alteration department, claiming the attention of the clerk.
+
+"Miss Herman, did Mrs. Vail say when she wished her dress?"
+
+"It was to be sent out to-morrow, but she telephoned last evening saying
+that she was called away. We are to send the dress on. She may not come
+back here. Her cottage will close this week."
+
+"That's odd. She promised to come back for another fitting."
+
+"She often does that; but she's not erratic. She always has a reason for
+going off in that way. When you get to know her as I do, you will think
+she's the sweetest woman in the world."
+
+"I wasn't thinking of that--nor did I mean to criticise her. I wanted to
+know whether or not I should finish her work without another fitting."
+
+"No, I'd wait." The clerk who had been addressed as Miss Herman turned
+to Debby Alden and waited her orders.
+
+"Hester thinks the tan will please her best," said Debby. "If you can
+send it out to this address," she gave the woman her card. Miss Herman
+read it and smiled. "I have mistaken you all along for someone else. I
+thought you were Mrs. Loraine. I never met her, but her daughter is a
+seminary student here and often comes into my department. I was sure
+that this young lady was a younger sister of Helen Loraine's."
+
+"No, we are not related. I know nothing of the people," said Debby
+stiffly.
+
+"They are a fine family," said the clerk. "We are always pleased to
+serve them."
+
+Hester would have spoken had not Debby silenced her with a look.
+
+"Auntie, did you not hear that name?" she said as they moved away.
+"Helen Loraine. Isn't that the name of the girl who is to room with me,
+and that young man said his Cousin Helen."
+
+"That young man's cousin exists only in his mind, and as your
+roommate--she may be a wholly different person. The name Loraine is
+common throughout this section."
+
+"But, Aunt Debby, the clerk thought I looked like--"
+
+"Nonsense. Some people never see further than their own nose. If the
+clerk noticed that your hair and eyes were black, she decided that you
+looked like every one else she knew who had the same coloring. I fancy
+she said that but to make conversation."
+
+The following day when Debby Alden suggested that they make ready to go
+to the seminary, Hester brought up again the question of remaining at
+home. Debby listened patiently until the girl had expressed herself and
+had presented every argument in favor of attending the seminary for
+recitations merely. When Hester had finished, Debby Alden said quietly:
+"Please put on your hat and gloves, Hester. We must take the next car if
+I wish to be back home in time to get supper."
+
+Hester felt that the decision was final and nothing could be gained by
+argument. Leaving the room, she soon returned with hat and gloves. These
+last articles she swung in her hands as they went down the walk.
+
+"Hester, when at home we were a little lax about certain customs. Here
+in Lockport and among strangers, we must be more careful. Put on your
+gloves before we leave the house. My mother taught me that a lady must
+finish her toilet before she leaves her home."
+
+She waited until Hester had put on and buttoned the gloves. "It seems a
+trifle," continued Debby, "but it is trifles which mark the difference
+between a cultivated and an uncultivated woman."
+
+When the street car took siding at Williams Street to give right of way
+to the east-bound car, a carriage drew up close to the curb. The
+coachman was in livery. Hester noticed that at once, for at her home no
+distinction in dress was made between the man who drove and he who
+employed him.
+
+Servants in livery were not new to Debby Alden. Her attention was
+attracted to the sweet-faced woman in the carriage. This woman who was
+richly gowned was scarcely older than Debby herself; but her hair was
+white. There was some quality in the face which attracted and held.
+Perhaps it was the power of self-control. The power to smile sweetly
+when the person had cause only for tears. This woman was bending from
+the carriage in conversation with a man and woman on the sidewalk. As
+the car moved, the nervous horses jerked suddenly. The woman in the
+carriage turned her head and met Debby Alden's direct glance. Just for a
+moment, these two women looked into each other's eyes. Then the car
+moved on; the carriage bowled along. With each woman an impression of
+the unusual lingered.
+
+Debby really was troubled. The face of the strange woman was as the face
+of a half-forgotten friend.
+
+"That woman in the carriage made me think of someone," she said to
+Hester. "But I cannot think who. There was something about the turn of
+her head and the way she looked up at me that made me think I have met
+her somewhere."
+
+"I did not see her," said Hester. "I was looking at the coachman. I hope
+that some day I may have matched horses and a man in livery." Then she
+turned toward Debby Alden. "Hasn't this been a peculiar day, Auntie.
+Every one thinks I am someone else, and you think every one is some one
+you know."
+
+"Every one? You are putting it a trifle too strong, Hester. I have come
+in contact with a great many people, but I remember but one who made me
+think of someone else. You exaggerate, Hester."
+
+"I'd really rather call it hyperbole," said Hester. "You are a classical
+scholar when you use hyperbole and a 'fibber' when you exaggerate."
+
+Debby smiled at the sally. She and Hester were good friends, with a
+perfect understanding between them.
+
+"Put your effects toward the classical into working order. I catch a
+glimpse of the seminary walls, Hester."
+
+This was the first glimpse Hester had of her new home. There was a long
+stretch of grass, old trees and then the low, long, gray wall of stone.
+The campus crossed the end of the street. It seemed to the occupants of
+the car that they would be carried across the campus and through the
+building. But the line turned suddenly and ran along the edge of the
+grounds.
+
+"We get off here, Hester," said Debby leading the way out.
+
+Hester's gay spirits ebbed. Silently, she followed Debby Alden to the
+entrance. The office-boy swung open the great hall door for them to
+enter and escorted them down the long hall to the office.
+
+Hester's eyes grew big. She had not dreamed that any place could be as
+beautiful as this. Her feet sank in the soft, thick carpet. She followed
+Miss Debby's footsteps as silent as a mouse.
+
+Doctor Weldon was in her private office. Into this, Marshall conducted
+the callers. Hester shook hands in silence, and then sank into the
+nearest chair. For the first time in her life, her tongue refused to
+work as it should. It felt now as though it were glued to the roof of
+her mouth. She listened to the conversation between Doctor Weldon and
+Debby, but was not able to grasp what it meant.
+
+Then Debby arose to depart. Marshall was sent in search of a hall-girl
+to conduct Miss Hester Palmer Alden to Room Sixty-two. Then Hester
+realized that she and Debby must part.
+
+"I'll go with you to the door, Aunt Debby," she said. No further word
+was said until they stood on the steps and Debby turned for a farewell
+embrace. The tears were very close to Hester's eyes; but she forced them
+back, determined that she would not vex her Aunt Debby by a show of
+feeling.
+
+Debby put her arms about Hester, kissed her warmly and said, "Be a good
+girl, Hester and do as the teachers tell you."
+
+Such had been her words ten years before when she had taken her into the
+primary grade and left her in Miss Carns's care. Hester answered meekly
+now as then, "Yes, Aunt Debby."
+
+Debby went down the winding path. Once she glanced back. Hester was
+standing erect with her head thrown proudly back. It was as though she
+were declaring, "You may kill me, but I shall not cry."
+
+The haughty proud turn of the head! Where had Debby seen that before?
+The experiences of the day rushed over her like a flood. Hester's poise
+and turn of the head were like that of the sweet-faced woman in the
+carriage.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+Miss Loraine, so the hall-teacher informed Hester, would be her
+roommate. Miss Loraine, however, was not at the seminary at present. She
+had come the previous day and attended to business matters, put her room
+in order and had then gone out to the home of her aunt who lived at a
+country place called Valehurst.
+
+This information was given to Hester while she was being conducted to
+her room. The seminary and living-rooms were under one roof. The main
+building was a great rectangular block, containing offices, class rooms,
+dining-hall and chapel. From this extended an east dormitory, and one on
+the west. Each suite of rooms consisted of a bedroom and a small study
+or sitting-room. This was occupied by two students. Number Sixty-two
+which Hester was to occupy with Helen Loraine was on the second floor
+just where the dormitory joined the main building. It overlooked the
+front campus and was considered one of the most desirable rooms in the
+school.
+
+Hester, being new to the ways of boarding-school life did not realize
+how fortunate she was in securing so fine a location. Helen Loraine had
+been a seminary girl for two years and knew the "ropes." The previous
+spring, she had put in an application for Number Sixty-two. She had come
+down several days before the opening of school to take possession,
+feeling sure that if she was once placed there, no misunderstanding
+would arise. There had been several instances at Dickinson, where girls
+had moved in their trunks and took possession before the rightful
+occupant of the room appeared.
+
+The hall-teacher escorted Hester to the door and then left her. She
+found that the sitting-room lacked the bareness of dormitory rooms.
+Helen had unpacked her trunk and converted it, by means of a gay cover
+and cushions into a cosy corner. The study table held a few books and a
+candle with a shade. Across one end of the room, gay ribbons had been
+stretched across the wall. These were filled with photographs. The
+second study table held a great number of posters. On top of these,
+Hester found a note addressed to herself.
+
+     "DEAR ROOMMATE-TO-BE: I have put up enough belongings to
+     hold the fort until you arrive. I did not like to do more
+     until you came. I was afraid you might not like my style of
+     decoration. I shall be back within a day or so. Meanwhile
+     make yourself comfortable and do not get homesick.
+
+     "HELEN VAIL LORAINE."
+
+Hester read the note several times. It was a thoughtful, kind act for
+Miss Loraine to leave the note. Hester was already experiencing the
+first tinge of homesickness; but she had no intention of giving way to
+her feelings. She could do just as Helen had done. She would keep so
+busy that she could not even think of Aunt Debby and Miss Richards
+sitting down together at their evening meal.
+
+She unpacked her trunk and put her clothes in order in the closet and
+drawers. Helen had rigidly observed the old time custom of the hall and
+had stretched a blue ribbon from hook to hook, this portioning off equal
+space for herself and roommate.
+
+Hester heard the ten-minute bell ring, but being unused to the ways of
+school, did not know its meaning. She opened the door leading from the
+sitting-room into the hall. She paused a moment to ascertain the reason
+for the bell's ringing. A murmur of voices came from the several rooms
+below. They were beautifully modulated with the intonation of those who
+have been trained to speak carefully.
+
+"Really, I think you are mistaken, Mame. The Fraulein told me that Helen
+had gone to her aunt and would not return until Monday."
+
+"I am not mistaken. Do you think that I do not know Helen Loraine when I
+roomed with her two terms?" This voice had in it a touch of petulant
+decision, as though the speaker was vexed because the responsibility of
+settling all pertinent matters devolved upon her.
+
+"I saw her come across the campus," the speaker continued. "A lady was
+with her; but they went into the private office and remained ever so
+long. I would have waited had not Miss Burkham come along and informed
+me that a public hallway was not the proper place for a young lady."
+
+Hester heard the words and felt the sudden touch of ironical humor in
+them; but she did not know of the smile which passed over the group in
+the room below; neither did she know Miss Burkham.
+
+"I saw her," a third voice took up the conversation. It was a ringing,
+clear, happy voice as though the speaker had always lived in the
+sunshine, and her voice had partaken of its rippling notes. "I saw her
+when she crossed the campus, and was sure it was Helen. I was just about
+to run out and give her a hug--Helen is the dearest girl in the
+world--when I saw I was mistaken. She isn't nearly so tall as Helen and
+she doesn't wear her hair in a bun as Helen does. She was an awfully
+sweet-looking thing, though, and looked for all the world like Helen."
+
+"There's a new girl in Sixty-two. She went in there." The voice was
+deliberately low and steady. It was as though the owner had grown weary
+of life, but meant to live it down if she could. "Perhaps she may be
+Helen's sister, who knows?" The tone of voice would have influenced a
+stranger to believe that being sister to Helen Loraine, was a dire
+calamity.
+
+A murmur of amusement rippled over the group. "Sara Summerson, do arouse
+yourself. Life is worth living, and examinations are months away."
+
+"It will be all the same to me. It will be this term as it was last. I
+shall not have time to get out my lessons. When I wasn't getting a drink
+for Erma, I was driving my roommate in from the corridor and getting her
+down to work. When I thought I could get out my 'Unter Linden,' Miss
+Laird would call me to button her waist. If I ever am principal of a
+seminary, I'll have a law passed making it criminal for a teacher to
+wear a dress buttoned in the back. It's bound to distract the attention
+of the pupils from their books." The slow, sad monotone never varied.
+The hearers laughed. A bell rang and there was a sound of a general
+uprising.
+
+Hester, conscious for the first time that she had been listening,
+turned into her room and closed the door. She heard the sound of passing
+footsteps, the murmur of voices, and then all grew still.
+
+Alone in the dormitory! It sounded to her as fearful as alone in the
+desert. But Hester had not been trained by Debby Alden without effect.
+She had not the least intention of sitting down and giving way to her
+homesick feeling. The fear that she might give way, aroused her. She
+grew antagonistic with herself. There was some unpacking yet to be done
+and Hester flew at it as though her life depended on having it done a
+certain time and in regular fashion.
+
+The little old-fashioned brooch which her Aunt Debby had given her was
+in a tiny box by itself. Hester took it out and examined it carefully.
+The little bit of cut glass in the center attracted her strongly. In the
+sunlight it gleamed like fire. In the shadow it showed a pale yellow
+tinge like the petal of a faded yellow rose.
+
+Hester had no desire to wear it. It was pleasant, however, to have
+something which belonged to one's own people. The Alden home was rich
+in bits of china, linen, and silverware which had been handed down from
+generation to generation; but this little circle of gold, the mat of
+hair and bit of glass, was all that Hester had of which she could say,
+"This belonged to my family."
+
+Helen's note had bade her make herself comfortable. Hester felt
+privileged to inspect the posters, take up the books and to examine the
+photographs.
+
+She was growing hungry. The dinner hour must have passed. Perhaps, the
+bells which she had heard ringing earlier in the evening were to call
+the students to the dining-room. Hester had not understood that, but it
+really made little difference. She would not have ventured alone into
+the dining-hall though she were starving.
+
+The hall-girl from the west dormitory had evidently forgotten her. It
+was the duty of hall-girls to play the part of hostess to new students.
+Fortunately for Hester, there were other persons more thoughtful than
+the hall-girls.
+
+Hester had reached the stage where a good healthy appetite would have
+looked with favor upon crackers and cheese, when a knock came at the
+door. She opened to admit a round-faced, dimple-cheeked girl of sixteen,
+bearing a tray in her hand.
+
+"I hope I am not intruding," she said. It was the same slow droll voice
+which Hester had overheard an hour before in the room below. "I am Sara
+Summerson, one of last year's girls. I did not know until after dinner
+was over that you were here,--a stranger and starving. The servants are
+in the dining-hall, so I asked Mrs. Hopkins if I might bring your dinner
+here."
+
+"I am so glad!" cried Hester. "Will you come in?"
+
+The invitation was not necessary. The caller was evidently a lady of
+resources, despite the slowness of her speech and movement. She had
+entered, moved back the books from the nearest study table and had set
+down her tray. "I brought you some tea," she said. "Will you not please
+sit down and eat while I fill your cup. We did have cocoa. I did not
+know which you like best; but I did know that if one does not like
+cocoa, one cannot bear to taste it."
+
+Hester took her place at the table. Her new acquaintance sat opposite.
+Hester studied her now and came to the conclusion that she could like
+Sara Summerson. She was of Hester's age and physique, but of wholly
+different coloring. Her eyes were gray and calm; while Hester's were
+black and at times snapping. She wore a simple white gown with a Dutch
+neck. She was not at all pretty; but she was good to look at. There was
+a repose and calmness about her that had a good effect on Hester. Her
+droll slow smile gave an expression of humor to her slightest word.
+
+While Hester was eating, the caller made no attempt to converse. When
+Hester had finished her meal, Sara looked across at her, viewed her
+slowly and serenely and said, "I saw you to-day when you came from the
+car. I thought you were Helen Loraine."
+
+"I have heard that several times to-day," said Hester. "Is Helen Loraine
+beautiful?" It was a guileless question and Hester saw no compliment to
+herself in the asking. Sara scanned her slowly, deliberately. "If she
+were, I should not tell you. I never spoil people by complimenting
+them--even though it be over someone's else shoulder. No, she is not
+beautiful. She's more than that. She's distingue." She smiled blandly at
+Hester.
+
+"I'm afraid I do not know what you mean. That word is new to me."
+
+"It would not be if you could see it printed. It is no doubt, one of
+your most intimate words. I've given it the French pronunciation. Miss
+Webster declares my French is startling in its originality. You wish to
+know of Helen? She is one of those people that you need to glance at but
+once to know that she is something. She is tall and fine-looking; but
+that is not all. She has an 'air' you know."
+
+Yes; Hester did know. An "air" in this sense meant the same as Debby
+Alden's "stock."
+
+"And I look like her? I was mistaken to-day for her while in a store."
+
+"You look much alike, yet there is a difference. Are you related to
+her?"
+
+"No, indeed. I never heard the name until to-day."
+
+The subject ended there. Sara sat for some time. She told Hester of the
+customs of the hall, the manner of calling and 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 large and dark.
+
+"Isn't she sweet?" said Hester to herself. "She looks as though she
+could eat those children up. She seems so fond of them. Mothers are
+always that way. Mrs. Bowerman looks at Mary as though she was the
+prettiest thing in the world and Mary is homely--just ordinarily homely,
+and Jane Orr's mother--." The thought was too much for Hester. Her lips
+quivered, her eyes filled with tears so that she could scarcely
+distinguish the features of the picture which she held in her hand.
+"It's just a way that mothers have," she said again. "I do wish I had
+had a mother!"
+
+Then, as though the thought were unjust to the woman who had taken a
+mother's place to her, she added quickly. "But I wouldn't give up Aunt
+Debby for any mother--not even Jane Orr's."
+
+She did not realize how long she sat with the picture in her hand,
+studying the mother and children. She was awakened from her reverie by
+the half-hour bell. She was relieved at the sound of it. Now she could
+sleep and forget that she was alone and under a strange roof.
+
+She was very tired and soon fell asleep. An hour passed and in a
+half-conscious way she was aware that the light was on in the
+sitting-room and someone was moving softly about as though not to
+disturb her. She was too far gone in slumber to realize where she was.
+She thought that she was back home and Aunt Debby had slipped in to see
+that she was properly covered. Satisfied that this was so, she fell
+sound asleep. It was broad day when she was awakened by someone bending
+over her. She felt the touch of lips on her forehead and the sound of a
+sweet musical voice.
+
+"Wake up, little roommate. The rising-bell rang long ago. You will miss
+breakfast."
+
+Then as Hester opened her eyes wide, she saw bending over her, a tall,
+slender girl enveloped in a soft kimona, and with her dark hair
+streaming like waves over her shoulders.
+
+Beautiful! Hester decided at that instant that she had never seen a
+sweeter face.
+
+"I slipped in last night so that I might not waken you. I am Helen
+Loraine. I hope we shall be good friends, little roommate."
+
+[Illustration: "I AM HELEN LORAINE."--_Page 68._]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+After a few days' acquaintance with Helen Loraine, Hester understood
+what Sara meant by saying that Helen had an "air" about her. She was
+always friendly, but never intimate or familiar. The sweep-women in the
+hall were accorded the same courtesy as a teacher. She was sympathetic
+without being gushing. She was just in her treatment of others, generous
+and kind, yet she never allowed herself to be imposed upon. With Hester,
+she divided all things equally; neither giving nor keeping a larger
+part. She was as just to herself as to others. She would have battled
+royally before she would have given up one of her rights. Yet no one
+imposed upon her; for there was that about her which instinctively fixed
+the boundary line. It was not what she did or said, but what she _was_,
+which caused her to find favor among the students.
+
+During the first week, Helen and Hester spent their spare time in
+arranging their rooms. It was really marvelous what could be done with
+cretonne and dotted swiss. Hester had come prepared to do her part in
+the furnishings. Debby Alden, acting upon Miss Richards's suggestion,
+had selected for Hester, fancy covers, cushions and a few pictures.
+
+Hester had not realized the importance of the accessories until the
+"fixing up" fever was apparent. During the first week of school, the
+conversation of the entire dormitory was concerning the arrangement of
+their rooms. There were no calls made. The conventions of the hall
+frowned upon one student calling upon another until that other had time
+to put her rooms in livable condition.
+
+Working together, Helen and Hester soon grew friendly. Before the week
+had ended, Helen knew that Debby Alden was the most remarkable article
+in the aunt line that the age had produced. She knew also that Hester
+had neither sister nor brother; but she did not know that the name Alden
+had been given her by courtesy rather than by right, or that Hester and
+the beloved Aunt Debby held no ties of blood in common.
+
+On the other hand, Hester learned that Helen was an only child; that she
+had a cousin Robert Vail who was almost as a brother to her; that Robert
+had neither brother nor sister, and that his mother, who was Helen's
+Aunt Harriet, loved Helen and kept her at the Vail home as much as
+possible.
+
+"You would like Aunt Harriet," said Helen in one of the confidences. It
+was Friday evening. The study hour had been short. The girls in kimonas
+and with their hair in braids, sat in their sitting-room. As they
+talked, they gave satisfied admiring glances about the room.
+
+"Aunt Harriet is only forty, yet her hair is white. She had nervous
+trouble and brain fever that caused her to become gray; but in other
+ways she is like a girl. She is most unselfish. The girls in school love
+her. She understands what girls like and is always doing something nice
+for them. I cannot explain to you in what way she is so attractive. When
+you meet her, you'll understand just how she is."
+
+"I may never meet her," said practical Hester.
+
+"You will if you remain at Dickinson. When she is at her home, she comes
+to see me very often. Her country home, Valehurst, is back on the hills,
+about three miles from here. It is a charming place. You have noticed
+how the road gradually rises from Susquehanna Avenue. It ends in a
+little plateau and there Aunt Harriet's home stands."
+
+"Her country home? Doesn't she always live there?"
+
+"No, uncle has business which keeps him in the city a great part of the
+time. He must be there during the winter. Generally, the family stay at
+Valehurst until the last of September. Then Aunt Harriet drives or
+motors in each week to see me. She likes her horses best, because they
+are alive. She is very fond of animals and was a fine horsewoman when
+she was younger. She always takes me for a ride, and best of all, takes
+my roommate with me."
+
+"But she does not know me," Hester was tremblingly expectant. At home,
+automobiles were rare, and Hester knew no more of them than the smell of
+the gasoline. To ride in an automobile would be a joy unspeakable. If
+it should chance that Mrs. Vail would take her, she would write and
+tell Jane Orr about it and describe the sensations that went with the
+ride.
+
+"But she will know you. She makes a point of knowing all my friends. I
+know just what she will say the instant she comes into this room. She
+has a proud way with her. She carries herself very straight and holds
+her head high." Helen arose and moving toward the door, showed to Hester
+the grand manner of her Aunt Harriet.
+
+"She will say," continued Helen, "'I am very glad to see you, Helen. I
+miss you very much. Have you everything you need for your room and your
+wardrobe? If you haven't, make out a list and I shall see that you are
+provided for, and your roommate, dear. I hope you like her. I should
+like to meet her.'"
+
+Helen came back to her easy chair. She laughed softly as she leaned
+back. "And then you'll be brought in and her heart will warm to you. It
+always does to every girl she meets, and it will to you. Do you know
+what you will do, Hester Palmer Alden?"
+
+"No, about that time, I'll be so embarrassed that I shall not be able
+to say a word. If your aunt is haughty and proud, I shall be afraid."
+
+"But she is not that kind of proud. I know what you'll do. You'll do
+just what every girl has done. You'll fall heels over head in love with
+her and before she goes, you'll be ready to declare that she's the
+dearest woman in the world."
+
+"Except Aunt Debby," said Hester with dignity.
+
+"Hester, will you light the alchohol lamp. Let us have a cup of cocoa
+before we go to bed. You set the chafing-dish boiling while I look for
+Aunt Harriet's picture."
+
+Helen began her search among the pictures which had been heaped in a
+basket; for after grave consideration, she and Hester had decided that
+photographs ranged about the wall were out-of-date and not at all in
+harmony with the other fittings of their rooms.
+
+Hester lighted the alchohol burner; suspended the kettle and brought
+forth the cups. This was one of the side-issues of school life on which
+she had not counted. She had been anticipating successive days of hard
+study and recitations. Having never experienced it, she could not dream
+of the little social bits which crept in as easy and naturally as they
+did at home; the half hour of confidential chat, the lunches, the visits
+into the rooms of the other girls, the walks and rides; the gymnasium
+stunts and the dances where the tall girls lead.
+
+The kettle was boiling before Helen found the picture.
+
+"Here it is!" she cried triumphantly. "It is really soiled for I have
+kept it out for two or three years. This does not look as Aunt Harriet
+does now. It was taken a long time ago." As she talked she held out the
+card to Hester.
+
+"Why, that is the picture I liked so well. When you were not here--that
+first evening I was alone, I looked over your pictures. What a sweet
+face she has and what dear little children! Is that little boy your
+cousin Robert?"
+
+"Yes, but he does not look like that now. When I wish to tease him, I
+show him this picture. He thinks it is horrid--perfectly horrid--though
+the word he uses is 'beastly.' He declares if he could find the man who
+took such a picture he'd have him in jail--or have his life."
+
+"What for?" asked Hester.
+
+"Simply for putting out such a picture. Rob says it is libel--pure and
+simple, to say he ever looked like that."
+
+"I think it is lovely," said Hester. "Is the baby you?"
+
+"No; that is Aunt Harriet's little girl. I am a year older than she."
+
+Hester studied the picture attentively. While she did so, her mind
+reviewed the remarks Helen had made in regard to the Vail family. There
+were statements at variance.
+
+"You said Robert had no sisters or brothers," she said.
+
+"He hasn't," was the reply. "They did--that is--" Helen was visibly
+embarrassed. She could not equivocate, neither could she go into details
+of a family history. She hesitated a moment and said, "Little Dorothy
+was not with them long--just a year."
+
+"Poor little baby. It must be dreadful to die when you are little. You
+miss so much. If I had died when I was little, I should have been sorry
+all the time thinking about what I had missed."
+
+Hester's new logic caused her not to notice that Helen had made no
+affirmation in regard to the death of the child.
+
+"Little Dorothy," was what Hester called her. From that time on, at odd
+moments, Hester introduced the subject of "little Dorothy," yet never
+became aware that the subject was not a pleasing one to Helen who never
+encouraged or took part in it.
+
+Taking the card, Helen slipped it into the basket.
+
+"Is your cocoa ready, Hester? I am almost famished. I never eat veal, so
+Friday evenings I go hungry. Friday is always veal day at school."
+
+"I was so interested in the picture that I forgot about the cocoa." She
+hurried to the alcohol lamp.
+
+"It is burnt out. It really did not have much in it. I should have
+filled it, I suppose. But I am not accustomed to cooking in this way.
+The water is boiling."
+
+She measured the cocoa and cream into the cups and poured the boiling
+water from the kettle upon it.
+
+"I wish your Aunt Harriet would come to see you to-morrow," continued
+Hester. "I liked her picture when I first saw it. I know that I should
+like her almost as much as I do Aunt Debby. Do you think that she will
+come to-morrow?"
+
+"No, not to-morrow. She went away last week. She did not expect to go,
+but she heard something which caused her to go to Canada. Poor Aunt
+Harriet!"
+
+The last words surprised Hester. She could see no just cause for the use
+of that word "poor," in connection with Mrs. Vail. To Hester's mind, a
+woman with a city and country home, automobiles, horses, and servants in
+livery was far from being poor.
+
+The week had been so filled with new experiences that Hester had been
+from her room only for recitations, meals and the required walk about
+the campus. She had met a number of the girls, but with the exception of
+Helen and Sara, could not remember the name of any.
+
+"I'll never know one girl from another. They all look alike to me," she
+said to Sara one day.
+
+"Not when you know them. You'll know Renee--" She stopped in time. She
+was not naturally critical. To express her opinion to Hester concerning
+the girls, was not fair.
+
+"We are all different," she continued slowly. "All with different
+virtues and faults. To be perfectly candid, I'm the only really fine one
+in the set."
+
+They had been walking arm in arm up and down the corridor. As they came
+to the rear door of the dormitory, Sara paused. "More notices, I see.
+Come, Hester, we must know the worst at once. Here is where our dear
+Miss Burkham makes known her by-laws."
+
+For the first time, Hester observed the white cards stuck along the edge
+of the door. Pausing before them, she read aloud.
+
+"The young ladies will not make use of this entrance except to gain
+admittance to the gymnasium. On all other occasions, the front dormitory
+door must be used."
+
+Then Sara explained. "Miss Burkham does not approve of visits at rear
+doors. When the girls have on the gym suits, they are not permitted to
+go to the front of the building. If you go out this door, you can enter
+the gymnasium without attracting undue attention."
+
+Sara smiled. Undue attention was Miss Burkham's bugbear. She was always
+endeavoring to instill into the minds of her charges, that a lady never
+attracts undue attention. The word had been in use so frequently that it
+had become a by-word among the students.
+
+"The next card is what makes my mouth water," continued Sara who had
+been reading silently.
+
+"Beginning with the first week of the fall term, the ice-cream man will
+keep to the front side of the east wing. Plates will be put in their
+usual place for Belva to take care of."
+
+"Basket-ball team Number one--known as the Invincibles will hold a
+business meeting at 10:30 Saturday morning in the gymnasium."
+
+This last notice was signed, "Helen Loraine, Captain."
+
+"She never told me," cried Hester. "I never suspected that she was
+interested."
+
+"Helen never tells anything about herself," said Sara. "Sometimes I
+grow quite exasperated about her reticence. She has been on the team
+ever since she was a student here. She played well before she came. Her
+cousin, Rob Vail, was a captain when he was in school and he taught her
+all the tricks of the game."
+
+Hester had no words to express herself. Basket-ball! It was enough to
+send the color to her cheeks. She had seen the boys in the high-school
+play. At home, girls did not indulge in such games. It might be that she
+herself, Hester Alden, could learn to play and be put on one of those
+teams. The thought brightened her cheeks and sent the blood through her
+veins with excitement.
+
+"Who teaches you? How many teams have you, and how can you get on one?
+Does it take long to learn to play?"
+
+Sara looked at her. Sara was deliberate. Her expression now was one of
+sad surprise.
+
+"Do you often talk as fast as that?" she asked. "And do you expect your
+friends to answer with the same velocity? If you do, Hester Alden, never
+come to me with your questions."
+
+Hester laughed. "I always talk fast when I get excited. The words pop
+from my mouth like pop-corn over a hot fire."
+
+"Give me time and I'll answer your questions. Our crack team is the
+Invincibles. They are the only one we allow to play the tournament games
+with outside teams. They play with the girls from the high school, the
+Normal Training School and, with some of the seminary teams. I really do
+not remember how many games were scheduled last year. They have never
+allowed me to play. I'm too--. Helen Loraine is good enough to say
+'_deliberate_.' The other girls call it '_slow_.'
+
+"Then of course there must be a scrub team for the Invincibles to battle
+against. You must play scrub before you can hope to become an
+Invincible. Then the freshies and juniors have substitute teams. They
+practice with each other and fill up on the other teams as they are
+needed."
+
+"I think I could learn to play," said Hester. "I am not--not very
+deliberate."
+
+"I should say not, if you fly at a ball in the same way you talk. You
+might get on a substitute team. Miss Watson, the physical-culture
+teacher, will hold a meeting soon. The first week of school is generally
+so busy that the gymnasium work is not begun.
+
+"But next week, she will meet the girls and make arrangements for the
+work on the teams and in the gym. If I were you and really wished to
+play, I'd speak to Helen Loraine. She'll get you on if anyone can. You
+need a friend at court, for there are always more applications than
+there are places or times for practice.
+
+"We must turn back. Miss Burkham would campus us, if we were to go out
+at this door." Sara turned and arm in arm, the girls moved toward the
+front entrance. "Listen, do you hear that melodious bell? That is
+Sykes's cow-bell. Come, and I'll treat you."
+
+Hester followed as Sara lead the way from the front dormitory door out
+on to the campus. As they passed the end room, the sound of voices in
+conversation came to them.
+
+"Can you let me have some perfume, Erma, and a fine handkerchief? I
+neglected to put mine in the laundry."
+
+"Help yourself," was the reply.
+
+Sara smiled. "Erma Thomas is easily worked. If she does not take a firm
+stand, she'll keep Renee in perfume and other extras for the entire
+year."
+
+Just then the door opened and Renee Loveland came out. She was a tall,
+handsome girl, with the bearing of a princess. She bore in her hands a
+bottle of perfume and two dainty handkerchiefs.
+
+The campus sloped naturally toward the public road; yet it was several
+feet higher. The boundary had been made definite by a low cement coping.
+On this, sat several girls, among which was Berenice Smith. Across the
+road was an ice-cream wagon, surrounded by a score of girls with their
+purses in their hands. The ice-cream man was measuring cream into small
+wooden butter-plates.
+
+"Here's the way we do," said Sara as Hester looked dubiously about in
+search of means with which she might dispose of her cream.
+
+"This is the way." Sara deftly broke off a bit of the dish where it
+curved upward. "These make the best spoons in the world, and one never
+need bother keeping them in order."
+
+Soon walking by two's and three's, across the campus, moved the girls,
+each bearing in her hand her wooden dish with ice-cream.
+
+Berenice sat alone on the coping. Hester Alden was not a reader of faces
+and could give no reasons for her pet likes and dislikes. She
+instinctively did not like Berenice, although the acquaintance had gone
+no further than a passing word. Berenice was dark, with coloring which
+inclined to swarthiness; her brow was low, and her eyes small and deeply
+set. She made an effort to be pleasant and invariably made flattering
+remarks to those with whom she conversed. As the girls approached, she
+held out her purse toward Sara.
+
+"Be good and bring me a chocolate and peach cream," she said. "I am as
+far as I am allowed to go."
+
+Taking the purse, Sara performed the commission and returned.
+
+"For how long?" she asked.
+
+"Two weeks. One week is almost over."
+
+This was all Greek to Hester. She looked from one to the other; but
+they, taking it for granted that all the school world understood,
+offered neither explanation nor information.
+
+As they crossed the tan-bark, Mame Cross met them. She looked like a
+fashion-plate in a tailored gown and handsome hat.
+
+"I've had permission to go down town," she said. "Do you want me to get
+anything for you?" The question was put to Sara.
+
+"We're out of alcohol. You'd better order some."
+
+"Did you know that Berenice is campused for two weeks? She made fudge
+Monday evening after the study bell rang. Miss Burkham discovered it at
+once. Anyone passing through the hall could smell fudge cooking."
+
+"It seems strange that Miss Burkham should campus her for that. We made
+fudge. It was the first night and no one is expected to observe study
+hours during the first evening."
+
+"But Berenice lied. You know Miss Burkham will not tolerate deception.
+It was not making fudge but the deception that caused the punishment."
+
+Mame moved away. She would have been a beautiful girl, had she not
+looked bored and unhappy.
+
+"You're new suit is beautiful, Mame," said Sara over her shoulder.
+
+"Do you think so? I simply cannot bear it. I never have anything like
+other girls."
+
+"That is Maine's old cry," said Sara when she was beyond hearing. "She
+is the best-dressed girl in school and she has a father who is devoted
+to her. She has everything in the world to make her happy, but she's
+always complaining. Now, Erma is different. She's perfectly satisfied.
+Every dress she owns is a perfect love of a dress."
+
+Hester had said very little during this hour with Sara; but she had
+learned a great deal. There had been no guile or envy in Sara's frank
+expression of the virtues and faults of her friends; and not for an
+instant did she think she was making an error or stepping over the
+border line of kindliness when she told Hester all she knew of those
+students.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+Hester was not a girl to condescend to subterfuge to gain a point. She
+was often frank to painfulness. To her mind when one wished a favor, the
+only way was to speak directly and ask for it. She was neither politic
+nor tactful. She had decided that basket-ball was the one game that was
+really worth playing. Tennis was old and did not appeal to her. She and
+Jane Orr had played tennis ever since they had been old enough to hold a
+racquet. But basket-ball! The thought of it sent the blood coursing
+through her veins.
+
+At the first opportunity, she spoke to Helen. She went to the subject
+directly like a bullet to the bull's eye.
+
+"Sara Summerson told me you were captain of the first team and that you
+had a good bit of influence in getting the girls on the other teams. I
+would like to play and I wish you would put me on. Will you?"
+
+"I cannot put you on the first or even the scrub. I must pick from the
+substitute teams to fill any vacancy. I have nothing at all to do with
+the sub. The physical instructor does that, and of course picks out the
+girls whom she thinks will be able to play the game. But I'll speak to
+her about you."
+
+"I wish you would," said Hester. "I'm _fairly_ aching to get into a
+game."
+
+"You'll be _completely_ aching after your first practice," said Helen.
+
+"I'll soon get over it. My muscles were sore for days when I tried to
+skate, but I didn't mind."
+
+The first gymnasium meeting for new students was held Monday afternoon
+and Hester was first girl in the room. Helen had promised to go with her
+to see that she met Miss Watson but Helen was deliberate and Hester
+impatient. So Hester sat alone in the gymnasium for half an hour before
+any one appeared.
+
+Miss Watson was a practical worker. Before many minutes had passed, she
+had the students enrolled, the classes organized and the time appointed
+for meetings. Having dispatched the regular routine work, she began the
+organization of squads for tennis and basket-ball. These were primarily
+to train the girls for work in the first teams which played the
+tournament games with other schools.
+
+Before she began her arrangements, Helen Loraine spoke with her. The
+conversation could not be heard, but Miss Watson looked toward Hester,
+smiled and nodded in affirmation. A few minutes later, she read the
+names. Among the freshmen substitutes were Hester's and Berenice's
+names.
+
+"But Berenice played last year," whispered someone near Hester. "She
+plays a good game, too. Why didn't Miss Watson put her first or scrub?"
+
+The reply came but too low for Hester's ears. Helen was waiting in the
+corridor when Hester came out. "I know; Miss Watson said she would put
+you on. You'll have a good place for passing. You know the game from
+observation. But if I were you, I'd read the rules again and again. If
+you have them fairly fixed in your mind you are not so apt to make a
+foul play. Do your best, and you may work up to one of the other teams
+before long. Erma Thomas may not come back after the first of the year.
+That will leave one place for a substitute. She plays right guard. She's
+one of the finest passers we've had, but she gets rattled if she tries
+to make a goal. She's too nervous to play when she is conscious that any
+one is looking at her."
+
+Hester was confident that she would not lose her head if the opportunity
+to make a goal came to her. Following Helen's instructions, she studied
+the book of rules. She was early at the first practice. Miss Watson gave
+the positions; Helen was referee. Hester was given the place of right
+guard.
+
+"Keep your eyes open," said Helen. "I would give a good bit if you could
+make a play to put you on the first team."
+
+Berenice was left guard. A moment before the game was called, she came
+up to Hester and spoke low that the others might not hear. "Helen
+Loraine knows the game, but there's a whole lot of things she never
+sees. Louise Reed is your opponent. She's not at all a suspicious girl.
+You see to it that we win. They always pick substitutes from the team
+which wins."
+
+Hester knew little of the subtleties of human nature, and consequently
+could not grasp the full import of the remark Berenice had made.
+
+Renee Loveland and Josephine Moore were captains. To Hester it seemed
+like an hour of intense excitement before the ball was in the air and
+Renee had sent it forward toward her.
+
+"Don't hold it--don't hold it," was the one thought in Hester's mind,
+for that rule in particular, had made a peculiar impression upon her.
+She was naturally a quick actor. Now the ball was scarcely within her
+clutches until it was out again across the room to Berenice. Hester
+rushed toward the goal, just as Berenice, jerking under the arm of her
+opponent, passed the ball back to Hester. Again Hester deftly returned
+it; making a backward movement just as Louise was about to cover her.
+Again Berenice deftly caught it and dribbled for a yard or more. They
+were near enough to the basket for a goal; but Berenice's opponent
+covered her. The ball went flying direct across the cage. Louise made a
+dash; Hester sprang forward and covered her. In the excitement of the
+play, Hester had put forward two hands. Just as quickly she remembered
+and swung her right arm about Louise, while with her left hand, she
+tossed the ball straight into Renee's clutch. Renee, who knew the game
+and played it well, did not lose her presence of mind. Like a flash, she
+gave a forward leap and sent the ball to goal. But while it curved
+downward in the air, the whistle of the referee was heard.
+
+[Illustration: AGAIN HESTER DEFTLY RETURNED IT.--_Page 92._]
+
+"Foul on the freshmen," she cried. "Right guard used two hands to
+cover."
+
+"I think you are mistaken," cried Berenice. "I wasn't playing. Hester
+Alden's arm was raised, but it did not touch her opponent."
+
+"Yes; I did!" cried Hester. "I touched her and then remembered."
+
+"I didn't know. It must have been a very slight touch," said Louise.
+
+"We've scored," cried Berenice.
+
+"I am refereeing the game. Foul on the freshmen." Determination shone in
+Helen's eyes as she gave Berenice a look that would have subdued a
+sensitive person. Turning about, Hester tossed the ball to Louise who
+made a goal from the foul of the freshmen team. The ball went back to
+center and the game again was on.
+
+At the end of the first half, the score stood six to eight in favor of
+the sophomores.
+
+Berenice came up to Hester while she was struggling into her sweater.
+"You see how it is," she whispered. Her eyes were snapping with anger
+and her voice fairly hissed. "You see what a little prude like you can
+do. If you would have sustained me, Renee's goal would have counted us
+two, and Louise would have had no chance to make a goal or foul. It
+would have been 8 to 7 in our favor."
+
+"But I really did touch," said Hester. "It was a foul, all right. I
+suppose I should have remembered in time; but this is my first game, and
+there's a lot to learn."
+
+"There's something that you will never learn," was the retort and
+Berenice turned and walked away.
+
+Hester did not grasp all that Berenice wished to convey. She believed
+the girl was vexed because of the score and attributed Berenice's anger
+to righteous indignation at bad playing. Helen came up before the
+beginning of the second half. "What about playing this, Hester?" she
+asked. "You did some hard playing for a new girl. Do you think you can
+stand it for a second half? You'll be stiff to-morrow. I'll ask Renee to
+have Edna Bucher substitute for you."
+
+"I'd rather finish, myself," cried Hester. "Why, I wouldn't stop now for
+worlds!"
+
+"Your own sore muscles be upon yourself then, little roommate," said
+Helen smiling. "I have warned you. All that is left for me is to offer
+the use of my witch-hazel and arnica."
+
+"I will not have Edna Bucher substitute," cried Renee coming up. "I am
+glad Hester has grit enough to keep to it. This evening we must make a
+score."
+
+"And to-morrow there will be wailing and groaning and rubbing of
+muscles," said Helen. The ten minutes was up. Helen moved toward the
+center of the cage.
+
+During the second half, Hester had no active work. She guarded Louise
+and was careful not to make another foul move. Berenice was an active
+player, getting so interested in the game that she forgot her special
+work. She never played into another's hand. Although Renee was the
+champion at throwing goals, Berenice risked the score rather than give
+the play to the center. She appeared determined that Hester should not
+come within touch of the ball, and she moved like a flash of light,
+hither and thither, across the cage, seeming to be everywhere at once.
+
+Helen watched the game closely. She was an impartial referee; her one
+desire being to play a fair game. She was aware of Berenice's playing at
+cross purposes and watched her closely. At last she called a foul.
+
+"I don't see why," cried Berenice. Her little beady eyes snapped as she
+approached Helen and looked defiantly up at her.
+
+"Two-hand dribble--the second time you have done the same thing. The
+first I let pass unnoticed just--to give you time."
+
+"I positively did not two-hand the ball. If that is a foul, I--"
+
+"I am a referee. Get out of the game. Edna Bucher is called to
+substitute."
+
+"I will not--" began Berenice.
+
+"Get out of the game within a minute or you shall be penalized for all
+the games to follow." There was no disputing Helen. Her manner was calm
+and her voice low, but authority was in her bearing. She stood ready to
+give the signal to play; but before she put the whistle to her lips, she
+said quietly, "While I am managing, we'll play an honest game or we will
+not play at all."
+
+The girls, except Berenice, cheered and clapped. She was making her way
+from the gymnasium. Her heart was filled with anger and a scowl was on
+her face. How she hated Helen Loraine! It was not the first time Helen
+had criticised her.
+
+"And Hester Alden will be another one just like Helen--too goody-good to
+live," was her thought. Even after Berenice was being disqualified,
+Hester did not understand fully all that had taken place. It was not
+until they were at the baths, that a full understanding came to her.
+Outside the bath, were the lockers. Sara and Renee had come up and
+paused for a moment.
+
+"Will you allow Berenice to play next game?" asked Sara.
+
+"Miss Watson must settle that. The captain and referee may disqualify
+for one game; but to make it permanent penalizing, the matter must be
+brought before Miss Watson. It is a very difficult matter to explain.
+The best way would be to have Miss Watson referee for one or two games.
+Then she would grasp the subtleties of the situation."
+
+They passed on. When they were almost beyond hearing, Renee's voice
+sounded loud and clear.
+
+"Sara, I do wish you'd let me wear your tan shoes down town to-morrow
+evening. I have permission to go, and I wish to wear my brown suit, but
+I have no tan shoes. I wear the same size as you."
+
+Hester smiled. She had known Renee but ten days, during which time she
+could not remember one instance when the conversation did not conclude
+with "will you lend?"
+
+Hester was deliberate in matters of getting from a gym suit into a
+dress. When she was ready to appear, the corridor leading from the
+gymnasium baths was deserted except for the sweep-women who were putting
+the finishing touches to their work.
+
+Hester hurried out. As she crossed the campus, she found Josephine Moore
+sitting on the steps leading up to the dormitory. From this place, there
+was an excellent view of the river and the mountain beyond. Josephine
+appeared to be spellbound by it. She was a large girl with quantities of
+brown hair which she drew loosely back and coiled at the back of her
+head. Her eyes were large, lusterless and of a weak and faded blue, but
+Josephine had read novels and knew what speaking eyes meant. She tried
+to make her eyes soulful. She was of a romantic turn of mind, and
+although she would not have prevaricated for the world or done another
+harm by repeating anything to their detriment, she was a dreamer of
+day-dreams. So well did she dream that it was difficult sometimes for
+her to know where truth ended and dreams began.
+
+"Can you not sit a while?" she asked. She moved to make room beside
+herself. Her voice was low and full and had in it a pathetic quality
+which was in harmony with her dreams. Hester sat down beside her. Being
+somewhat awed by this magnificent creature with the soulful eyes, Hester
+sat in silence.
+
+"I love this time of day," began Josephine in low rapturous voice. "I
+love the gathering twilight. I think this is the hour when poets must
+sit and dream. The world and work and all horrid things are passing and
+only the tender twilight hangs like a mantle over all." She paused and
+looked at her companion. Hester felt that a reply of some sort was
+expected. She said the first and easiest thing that came to mind. "Yes,
+it is sort of nice."
+
+"'Nice' is scarcely the word. I wish I knew what would exactly express
+the feeling. Sublime, soulful--" She paused and raised her eyes as
+though to scan the heavens. "I suppose I feel differently from other
+people. They tell me that my singing shows soul. I myself have often
+noticed the difference between myself and other girls. Would you believe
+it? They pass here with laughter and jest. I cannot do that. I always
+pause and look at the trees and river. It seems as though a spell comes
+upon me. I cannot laugh and jest in the midst of such sublime things."
+
+"Is Hester Alden there?" cried a gay voice. "Oh, is that you, Jo?
+Mooning? You had better come in. If you sit on those cold stones, you'll
+take cold and your nose will be red and your eyes watery. You'll not be
+sublime then." The cheer and good-nature in the voice robbed it of
+ill-feeling. Erma laughed as she appeared. No one could take exception
+to anything she said. She was too happy--too well satisfied with the
+world and the people about her to do anything or say anything in
+bitterness.
+
+Josephine arose slowly as became one of a poetic and soulful
+temperament.
+
+"You are the slowest mortal, Jo. You are wanted up in Philo Hall. You
+haven't fifteen minutes until the first study bell. The girls have been
+looking everywhere for you. You are on the program committee."
+
+"I was carried away--," began Miss Moore. But Erma had turned her back
+upon the girl. As she was about to speak to Hester, she was diverted
+from her intention by the sound of wheels. Both she and Hester turned
+to look as a carriage with a coachman in livery, came from
+porte-cochere, turned down the driveway and passed within a few feet of
+where the girls stood. The carriage passed under an arc light and Erma
+and Hester saw distinctly the features of the woman in the carriage. She
+had a beautiful face, although marked with care. Her hair was white, yet
+her bearing as she sat erect, was that of a young woman.
+
+"What a sweet face!" cried Hester. "That is the carriage that blocked
+our way, the day that Aunt Debby came up to school with me. I remember
+most distinctly."
+
+The occupant of the carriage had not looked in their direction. Even had
+she done so, she could not have distinguished the girls; for they stood
+leaning against the pillars and the moving shadows fell dark upon them.
+
+When the carriage had passed, Erma turned to her companion. "Helen was
+looking for you. I told her if I saw you, I'd tell you to go to your
+room. Helen has had company--at least I saw someone in her room."
+
+"It may be Aunt Debby," cried Hester. She did not wait to explain. She
+paused not to excuse herself, but went racing down the corridor as fast
+as her feet would carry her. Her heels clattered on the hard wood floors
+and the sound of her labored breathing was audible at a considerable
+distance.
+
+Just as she reached Number Fifteen, the door opened and Hester was taken
+by the arm. This was so unexpected that her first impulse was to jerk
+away, and hurry on. Fortunately a sober second thought overcame the
+impulse.
+
+"Miss Alden, is the building burning? Why this haste?" Hester raised her
+eyes to those of the preceptress. Miss Burkham was the acme of all that
+was cultured and elegant. No imagination was strong enough to picture
+her, other than deliberate, low-voiced, serene of countenance. Hester
+who knew more of bluntness than irony, replied fearlessly, "No, there is
+no fire. I wished to get to my room as quickly as possible."
+
+"So I surmised. But I see no necessity for this unladylike haste." Her
+restraining hand was yet upon Hester's shoulder. The girl felt herself
+quivering with the desire to be off down the corridor and up the stairs
+to Number Sixty-two. What if Aunt Debby should really be there waiting
+for her? Her heart beat fast with the thought.
+
+Miss Burkham also felt the quivering of flesh under restraint. She
+delayed Hester yet longer while she made plain to her the unwritten
+by-laws of a lady's conduct.
+
+"No lady races through the halls, in such fashion. It is the manner of a
+tom-boy. You may walk slowly down the corridor. I will stand here to see
+if you comprehend just what I mean by slowly. I trust that I may not be
+compelled to ask you to return in order that I may give you instructions
+in regard to the manner in which a lady walks."
+
+"No, Miss Burkham," replied Hester humbly. She controlled her impatience
+at being thus detained. Miss Burkham released her and Hester moved
+forward as though by well-directed machinery.
+
+On reaching Number Sixty-two, she found Helen standing before her
+dressing-table. She was alone. She turned as Hester entered.
+
+"Little roommate," she said smiling a welcome at Hester. "Little
+roommate, I am vexed with you. I have been sending messengers everywhere
+in the hope of finding you. My dear Aunt Harriet was here and asked for
+you in particular. She waited until the last possible moment. And see
+there."
+
+Helen pointed to a hamper which stood near the doorway. "She has brought
+us fruit, cake, and roasted chickens. No, I did not open the basket.
+Aunt Harriet told me what was there. It is for you as well as for me. I
+know Aunt Harriet, and I know how the basket is arranged. There will be
+a chicken for you and one for me; a box of fudge for you and one for me;
+and so on through the entire menu. Aunt Harriet is very much afraid that
+some girl will have her feelings hurt or feel slighted. Open up the
+basket, Hester. I must take off this waist. The collar hurts me. It
+always was too high. I'll feel more comfortable in a kimona."
+
+She turned to her dressing table. "Aunt Harriet brought me something
+which pleased me. I have an old pin which belonged to mother when she
+was a girl. I thought I had lost it, but Aunt Harriet said I left it at
+her home and she brought it with her."
+
+Helen held the pin in her hand while she talked. Then she laid it
+carelessly in a little pin tray on the dresser. It was a pin of unusual
+style, about the size of a dime. The outer band was of a peculiar gold.
+Within this was a yellowish-white stone which reflected the light like a
+flame of fire.
+
+Hester's eyes would have opened wide at the sight of the pin, but she
+did not see it, for her attention was on the hamper she was unpacking.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+There was at Dickinson a Doctor Wilbur who had charge of the
+mathematics. He was a man of brilliant mind, sharp tongue, and a poor
+opinion of the mental ability of girls in general. He had been at
+Dickinson two years, not because he loved the class of students, but the
+financial consideration had been the best ever offered to him.
+
+The girls feared him and yet respected him for the power he exercised
+over a class.
+
+He did not hesitate to use sarcastic speech. Scarcely a day passed, but
+some girl came from Class-room C with her feelings deeply wounded.
+
+Hester, who had a way of "speaking up," had borne her share of Doctor
+Wilbur's humor. But she forgot and forgave the instant she left his
+recitation.
+
+One day he had been particularly trying, and the sting of his words had
+lingered. She had it in mind to tell Helen of the bitter words Doctor
+Wilbur had hurled at her, simply because she could not explain the
+projection of a perpendicular upon a plane. So far in their school
+life--two months had passed--Hester and Helen had spoken to each other
+only of the agreeable things. But now Hester meant to express herself
+and be sympathized with.
+
+But when she reached Sixty-two, she found Edna Bucher awaiting her. Edna
+was tall and slender; long and lank, perhaps would be more nearly her
+description. She was colorless and lifeless. Her one desire seemed to be
+to be ladylike and to go with the best people. In her lexicon, _best_
+meant those with money or influence. Her hands were always cold, and her
+face expressionless. She posed as being the leader in classes. She was
+literary and musical, if one might believe her own judgment of herself.
+She never played, however, for the practice tired her. When she failed
+to respond to an invitation to recite--sometimes the invitation was
+quite urgent--it was not that she was not prepared to recite, but she
+was so nervous that she could not control her voice.
+
+"I've been waiting for you for half an hour," she began as Hester
+entered the room. Her tones implied, that although the responsibility be
+on Hester's head, she would be good enough to overlook it.
+
+"Were you?" replied Hester. "You surely knew that the freshies were busy
+until this hour."
+
+"I presume I did so; but it passed entirely from my mind. I was so
+absorbed in my work. I am editor-in-chief of the 'Dickinson Mirror.'"
+
+"Oh," exclaimed Hester. She looked at Miss Bucher again. The glory of
+being editor of the "Mirror" cast a halo about the head of the otherwise
+unattractive girl.
+
+"Yes, the girls selected me. I do not understand why they did. They
+appeared to think I had literary ability. Of course, I do not see that I
+have, but everyone speaks about it."
+
+She had an unpleasant little mannerism of talking through closed teeth
+and but slightly parted lips. In conversation, she used her lips as
+little as possible. It may have been that she wished to keep them from
+wearing out, or perhaps, she considered it unladylike to open her mouth
+more than was absolutely necessary.
+
+"I came to have you help. We always appoint four girls to collect news,
+write special articles and poetry. Of course everything must treat of
+school life. Then, when it is printed--"
+
+"Printed," cried Hester, her eyes snapping with fire. "Do you really
+have it printed and do the ones who write things have their names in
+it?"
+
+"Certainly. It is issued four times a year; once during each semester,
+and a special souvenir one for commencement. What do you think you'd
+like to do?"
+
+"I'll write some poetry," said Hester. She had never written any in her
+life, but she had the feeling that she could do it by half trying.
+
+"Poetry, isn't hard," she replied airily to Miss Bucher's look of
+surprise. "Just make out a list of rhymes like this." She took up a
+paper and wrote:
+
+    Side
+    wide
+    right
+    might
+    knee
+    me.
+
+"Then you fill them in," she continued. She held the pencil suspended in
+the air. Her brow was puckered with thought. "Of course, it isn't
+supposed to read as sensibly as prose. That is one of the greatest
+differences between them. In poetry one must use imagination and poetic
+license." Then she fell to work upon the paper and wrote steadily and
+laboriously for some minutes. Her eye flashed with triumph. "Listen. Of
+course this is mere rough work. I'll polish up what I write for the
+'Mirror.'
+
+    "Imogen was by his side,
+    So they wandered far and wide,
+    The woods and vales stretched left and right,
+    He loved the girl with all his might,
+    So dropping on his bended knee
+    He cried, 'Oh, fair one, pity me.'"
+
+A peal of laughter followed this closing line. It was a merry peal
+without malice or guile. Hester turned. Erma was standing in the
+doorway.
+
+"Oh, but that is rich! He dropped on his bended knee. Could he get on
+his knee if it wasn't bended?" She laughed aloud.
+
+"You are so literal!" cried Hester with dignity. "In poetry, one is
+allowed--"
+
+"Poetry," another merry laugh. "Is that poetry? Take it to Doctor
+Weldon's classes and let her put her seal of approval on it."
+
+Erma had made her way to the door. With a mock courtesy and a sweep of
+her skirts, she vanished. But as she went down the corridor, the girls
+in Sixty-two caught the echo of her laugh and her song, "And dropping on
+his bended knee."
+
+Miss Bucher was a lady who arose to the occasion. She did not give way
+to merriment. Her face was colorless and serene.
+
+"I understand fully, Miss Alden, the point you wish to make. Miss Thomas
+has no literary appreciation." She paused. There is but one thing worse
+in the world than adverse just criticism, and that is praise so faint
+that it is damaging. Miss Bucher paused as though to weigh her words.
+Then she spoke: "Miss Thomas means well enough, but--well, nature has
+not gifted us all in the same way."
+
+It was fair enough, or seemed to be. Yet Hester felt that intangible
+something to which one cannot respond, because one feels rather than
+knows of its existence.
+
+Miss Bucher arose. She was not given to furbelows. Each line of her
+attire accentuated her angles and height.
+
+"I will go now. I am glad you will help me. Could you have your poem or
+whatever you decide upon ready by Monday?"
+
+"I shall have it ready to give you when we go into chapel. I shall have
+something. Do not fear."
+
+Scarcely had the door closed upon the caller, when Hester was at her
+study-table with pencil and writing-pad. Inspiration had seized her. She
+would write a poem that would be worthy the name. It would appear in the
+"Mirror" with her name below, "Hester Alden." On second thought, decided
+to write it Hester Palmer Alden. The Palmer gave an added dignity to
+her name. How pleased Aunt Debby would be! What a pleasure it would be
+to write! Perhaps in time she might be editor-in-chief. Then when she
+left school--at that instant a part of Hester Alden which had been
+dormant awoke. The desire for expression came to her. What beautiful
+glorious things she would write--some day! Just what they would be or
+when she would write them, she knew not. But they were so beautiful that
+the tears came to her eyes as she dreamed of them.
+
+Helen did not come back to her rooms until barely time to dress for
+dinner. She found Hester with her head on the table, and a huge tablet
+before her.
+
+"Sick, little roommate?" asked Helen, bending over her.
+
+"No; I have been writing a poem--that is, I have begun to write one. I
+have sat here for an hour and all I have written is the first line. It
+was easy."
+
+"First lines usually are," said Helen smiling. In many ways, she was
+more years older than Hester than the calendar gave her credit for.
+
+"What is the first line? May I read it?"
+
+"'Doc Dixon had a Freshman Class.' It begins fairly well; but you will
+startle your leaders with such a sudden burst into facts. Why not lead
+up to the subject and break the news gently?"
+
+"You may all ridicule; but I intend writing a poem. All the ridicule you
+cast upon me will make me but the more determined."
+
+"I believe that. I have observed that trait on several occasions. You
+make me think of Rob Vail in that way."
+
+"I shall finish after dinner," was Hester's sole comment. "I presume I
+had better prepare for it now. Are you wearing a silk dress?" she asked
+as she turned toward Helen and saw that she was getting into a little
+one-piece suit of checked silk instead of her customary white.
+
+"Yes, mother thinks I dress too thinly. If I wear the white I cannot
+wear long sleeves. So I have promised to keep to this dark silk, though
+I do not like it nearly so well."
+
+She had slipped into her dress and was looking about for her pins and
+rings. "I had a little old pin on my dresser. Did you see anything of
+it, Hester?"
+
+"No, indeed. I never presume to touch anything there without your
+permission."
+
+"I did not mean to suggest that, little roommate. I carelessly let it
+lie there several days ago, and now I cannot find it."
+
+"I have not seen it," said Hester. She spoke quickly and perhaps, with
+unusual curtness. At least it seemed so to Helen, who attributed the
+curtness to Hester's being hurt at being asked such a question. She let
+the subject drop and no further word passed between them until they were
+called to dinner.
+
+When study hour came again, Hester pushed aside her text books and fell
+to writing. The door of the study, during this time, was always open and
+no words were permitted between roommates. Helen, observing that her
+roommate was not working at her lessons, gave her several warning
+glances; but Hester was unaffected. The muse had laid its hands upon her
+and she was helpless in its clutches. She wrote and erased, only to
+rewrite and erase again.
+
+It was not until the study period was over that she raised her head and
+with a smile of triumph read aloud:
+
+    "Doctor Dixon had a freshman class,
+    Whose minds were soft like snow.
+    He tried to teach them geometry,
+    But he could not make it go.
+    He scolded them in class one day;
+    He shocked the entire school.
+    The tears ran down one sweet girl's face,
+    When he called her a mule."
+
+A look of surprise flashed over Helen's face. "Surely Hester, he never
+would do that. He is critical and sarcastic, but surely he is a
+gentleman."
+
+"Do what?" asked Hester. "Why surely he is a gentleman."
+
+"Surely, he never would dare address one of the pupils in that way. A
+mule!"
+
+Hester laughed. "You are taking matters seriously. You must remember
+that this is poetry, and allowance must be made. In poetry, one cannot
+describe matters as they are. One cannot be too realistic. One must use
+what fits in. I was compelled to use the word mule because it was the
+only one I could think of which rhymed with school. Now listen to the
+rest, please Helen." She continued reading wholly unconscious that her
+roommate was not in sympathy with her.
+
+    "And then they ran to him and asked,
+    As he came forth from school,
+    'Doctor, dear, which is it best to be,
+    A driver or the mule?'
+
+    "'The mule has the best of it,' he said,
+    'So I'm inclined to think,
+    It can be driven to the water's edge,
+    But it can't be made to drink.'"
+
+"There, don't you think that is fine, Helen? That will appear in the
+next issue of the 'Mirror' with my name at the bottom. Aunt Debby will
+be delighted."
+
+There was no enthusiastic response. Hester waited a moment, then looked
+at her roommate, and again asked, "Don't you think she will be
+delighted? She has never suspected that I was poetic. Indeed, I never
+knew it until Miss Bucher asked me to write this."
+
+"If Aunt Debby is the kind of woman I think she is, I am sure she will
+not be at all pleased." Helen spoke slowly. Then at the look of surprise
+in Hester's eyes, she crossed the room, and sitting down on the arm of
+her roommate's chair drew Hester's head close against her and held her
+thus in a tender protective embrace, while she continued.
+
+"No, little roommate, I do not believe she will be pleased. I am not. It
+is fun--mere fun, I know. Were you and I the only two to know of it, it
+would do no harm at all. But consider, little roommate, the 'Mirror'
+goes out to all the old students. Hundreds read it. Among them, are many
+just as I who took the matter seriously, without considering that the
+poet was put to straits to find some word to rhyme with school.
+
+"They will think that we have grown lax here. Many will wonder what sort
+of man this Doctor Wilbur is that he dare use such terms in addressing a
+student. Do you see now why I wish this would not appear in the
+'Mirror'?"
+
+"I see why you think it should not. But really people are very foolish
+to cavil over such matters. If I might have my way, I would pay no
+attention to them. I would go my way, do as I please and let such people
+think as they please."
+
+"It is a very independent way of doing, but it is not at all practical.
+We must consider public opinion a great many times. We must hedge
+ourselves about with convention when we would be independent, for always
+there are some minds which put evil construction upon the slightest
+careless act."
+
+"Perhaps you are right," said Hester slowly. Before her faded the dreams
+of greatness. Taking up the paper, she deliberately and slowly tore it
+into pieces and threw them into the wastebasket. She expressed no word
+of regret. She expected no expression of admiration for her fortitude.
+She was no weakling. If she believed a thing were right, she would have
+performed it, regardless of the sacrifice to herself. She was the
+expression of Debby Alden's high ideals and rigid discipline.
+
+"I'll get up earlier than usual to-morrow," said Hester lightly. "I
+promised on my word of honor to have a copy ready for Miss Bucher. If I
+may not write poetry, at least I can write personals. Let us go to bed
+now before the retiring bell rings."
+
+A hurried knock came to the door. Before either girl could respond,
+Renee entered. She wore a gay kimona of embroidered silk. Her dark wavy
+hair hung over her shoulders. She looked like a goddess as she paused an
+instant on the threshold. Then advancing, she cried, "Oh, girls, do you
+happen to have any cold cream? I'm out and I do need some particularly
+badly."
+
+"Yes, I have some." Helen took a small box from the dresser and gave it
+to Renee.
+
+"Thank you ever so much." Without further words, Renee went her way.
+
+Hester waited until the sound of her footsteps had died away.
+
+"I was thinking," she began slowly. Her brow was puckered as though she
+were greatly perplexed. "I've been thinking that I never heard Renee say
+anything but 'Will you lend me?' Does she not know anything else?"
+
+"I presume she does, but she has allowed the habit to grow. Each year,
+she grows worse. I fancy by the time she graduates, she will borrow our
+diplomas and essays. It may be that by that time, Renee will have
+particular need of them."
+
+Hester had prepared for bed and was sitting on the edge of her own
+little iron cot waiting until Helen was ready to say good-night.
+
+"I am going to remain up some time, little roommate. But you need not
+wait for me." She crossed the room and kissed Hester affectionately.
+Somehow Helen had fallen into the older sister attitude toward her
+roommate. Since the first week of school, Hester had never gone to sleep
+without Helen's kiss warm on her lips. This had never been done after
+the fashion of a sentimental school girl who caresses everything which
+comes in her way. Helen was not demonstrative, and what her lips
+touched, touched strongly her affections.
+
+[Illustration: "OH, GIRLS, DO YOU HAPPEN TO HAVE ANY COLD CREAM?"--_Page
+121._]
+
+"I must make a thorough search for my pin," she said, going back to her
+dressing-table, to begin the search. "I must not lose it. It is a
+peculiar design. It was once an earring belonging to Grandma Hobart. It
+has her hair woven about it. When Aunt Harriet and mama were
+babies--they were babies at the same time, you know--grandma had the
+earrings made into pins. Mama wore this for years, and then gave it to
+me. I should feel bad if I should lose it."
+
+Hester scarcely heard what Helen said. Her mind was busy with thoughts
+of the literary work to be ready before chapel. She was running over in
+her mind all the material at hand which could be worked into personals
+to appear in the "Mirror."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+Before the midwinter holidays, the report was the round of the
+dormitories that Hester Alden was playing a good game of basket-ball.
+She was alert and quick. Her passing was particularly good and Helen
+praised her highly. Hester was brimming with enthusiasm. The one fly in
+her cup of ointment was that Aunt Debby could not see her play, for the
+games of the substitute teams were never public. If perseverance and
+whole-hearted desire meant anything in winning out, Hester meant to be
+on the second team. Then she ran the chance of substituting.
+
+Berenice could play the game well, but was inclined to use tricks and
+artifices which generally resulted in a foul being called on her own
+team. Consequently her good playing and dishonesty barely averaged as
+much as the fair dealing of the average player.
+
+Three times each week, the gymnasium work was basket-ball. The day
+before Thanksgiving an extra practice was called because the session in
+school had been shortened.
+
+Berenice and Hester were playing right and left guard. Berenice who had
+never forgiven Hester for her attitude in the first game of the year,
+kept the ball as much as possible to herself even risking the game for
+the sake of annoying Hester.
+
+"You're wasting your time on grand-stand plays," said Renee while the
+referee had called time. "Hester plays well at passing. Give her a show.
+You dribble and dribble and half the time make a foul when you might
+have played into Hester's hand."
+
+Berenice shrugged her shoulders; her bead-like eyes snapped; but she
+made no reply.
+
+While this conversation was going on between them, Erma Thomas had
+hurried up to Hester. "Berenice is determined not to play ball into your
+hands. It's pure jealousy. Do some playing, Hester, and make goals. Play
+ball to me when you wish to pass, and I'll pass it to you for a goal."
+
+Helen put up her whistle and the game was resumed. The ball was at
+center with Renee and Maud. Berenice's eyes were alight, and every
+muscle quivering with excitement. Scarcely was the ball in air, before
+it was in her hand, and she was moving toward the goal. Her guard was
+upon her, but by a quick movement, Berenice and the ball slipped under
+the outstretched arm, and by deft movements, came close to goal. Making
+a sudden spurt with the ball in hands, she pitched for a goal. But at
+that instant, the whistle sounded.
+
+"That is the third foul you've made in this game," cried Helen, "and we
+have played scarcely ten minutes." She tossed the ball to the opposing
+team. "Foul on the first subs."
+
+Mame Cross caught the ball and took a position before the goal, but
+Berenice would not accept the decision of the referee.
+
+"Helen has a spite against me. How was I foul there?"
+
+Helen was given no opportunity to answer. Renee, who was just and severe
+at times, came forward.
+
+"Foul, of course, it was. It was evident as could be. You are always
+stirring up a fuss and holding back the game. You are the only one on
+the squad who cannot play an honest game. Leave the cage, and remain
+out. Maude may take your place permanently."
+
+With her own captain against her, there was nothing to be done except to
+obey. Already Maud was within the cage and at her place.
+
+The game continued. Mame pitched a goal from Berenice's foul. With the
+ball again back to center, it was evident that Berenice in spite of her
+brilliant playing, had been a drag on the game. Before this, she had
+been the team and the others were mere fillers-in. Now each took a more
+active part.
+
+Maude was not one who played for her own glory, but to score for the
+team. The ball came to her and she passed it to Hester, and hurried
+forward to receive it on its return. She reached the basket and might
+have made a goal, but she was short while Hester was tall and quick in
+movement. Those considerations came to the girl, and quick as a flash
+she passed the ball to Hester. There was a sudden upward movement of
+Hester's long arms, a slowly curving ball and a final goal. It was the
+first score their team had made since the beginning of the game.
+
+This success was like wine in Hester's veins. The desire to make goals
+came upon her. It seized her like a mania. It was impossible to tell
+whether it were luck or skill. But in the second half of the game,
+Hester pitched a goal from every ball which was passed to her. That
+practice game went down in the history of Dickinson as the one in which
+one player made ten successive goals from the field.
+
+The wealth of the Incas was as nothing to Hester in comparison to the
+congratulations of the girls who crowded upon her at the close of the
+game.
+
+"You'll get on the scrub, sure," cried Erma in her high excited tones.
+"Remember your old friends when you rise to glory."
+
+Their praises were very sweet; but sweetest of all was Helen's quiet
+commendation, when after all the excitement had passed, they were back
+in Sixty-two.
+
+"I never saw a better play. I never knew a girl who learned the game so
+quickly, and I have coached a number during my three years. If you do
+as well the next game, I'll substitute you on the scrub team. I have one
+girl there who will never learn. She does no better than she did a year
+ago."
+
+"Do you suppose I might be called then as substitute on the scheduled
+games," cried Hester.
+
+"If you're the best player. I'll pick only the best. I will not risk a
+game even for friendship's sake--even for your sake, little roommate."
+
+"I mean to be the best player," said Hester quietly. Helen's calmness
+had always the effect of quieting her in her intense excitement.
+
+But Miss Hester had yet to learn that other powers than one's own
+desire, enter into results.
+
+The first team had played eight games, four having been in their own
+gymnasium and the remainder at different schools. On these trips to the
+seminaries and normals, they were treated royally. Hester could imagine
+nothing finer than being met by carriages, whirled away to dormitories
+where the guest-chambers were at their disposal and later to be
+banqueted.
+
+During the fall term, Dickinson had retained second place. Helen was
+determined that they should move to first and secure the pennant whose
+value was that of the laurel wreaths of the Olympiads. In order to put
+up the best game possible, Helen attended every skirmish and practice,
+determined that her substitutes should be the best. In addition to her
+regular work this self-imposed task of overlooking the substitutes'
+games, gave her little leisure.
+
+Each day, before dinner and lunch, there was a quarter-hour relaxation
+period. To Helen, this was anything but what the name stood for. The
+loss of her pin troubled her. She was confident that it was somewhere in
+her bedroom. She very distinctly remembered removing it from her stock
+and placing it in the cushion which stood on her dresser. There was a
+possibility of its being knocked off, or being caught in ribbon and
+ties, and so might have been dropped somewhere. She began a systematic
+search. One day, she emptied the drawers in the dresser and examined
+every article there, to be sure that the pin was not clinging to it. She
+peered under and about each article of furniture. But no pin appeared.
+While she was on her knees searching the corners of the room and edges
+of the rug, Erma appeared in the doorway. She gave a peal of delight.
+
+"Have you turned Moslem; or is it Mohammed who takes long journeys on
+his knees to do penance? I have passed your door twice and each time I
+find you crawling about on all fours like a Teddy Bear."
+
+"I've lost my pin. I am sick about it."
+
+"I wouldn't be. No pin is worth being even half sick about. Buy yourself
+another, or better yet, Christmas is coming. Throw out a few gentle
+hints to your friends. Tell them you have lost your pin. They would be
+very stupid not to understand that it was their duty to replace it.
+Perhaps more than one will respond as becomes friends. You may have a
+half dozen pins in place of one."
+
+"This cannot be replaced. It has belonged to our family for generations.
+The story is that one of the Loraines who were French, for political
+reasons, left his country and went to Brazil. While there, he discovered
+valuable mines. Selecting the finest gems, he returned to France and
+presented them to the king, and was immediately restored to favor. Two
+stones of the collection were pushed aside as not worthy so great a
+ruler. Tourie Loraine kept these for himself and had them made into
+rings. Later the rings were made into earrings. I think that was done by
+my great-grandfather as a gift to his bride. Grandmother had twin
+daughters. Earrings were no longer in style and so the stones were made
+into brooches and set about with her hair. Each little girl was given
+one. My mother gave hers to me. The other which belonged to Aunt Harriet
+disappeared years ago."
+
+Erma laughed with delight. She loved romance either in real life or
+between the pages of a book.
+
+"How perfectly lovely to have such glorious things happen in one's
+family! Nothing like that ever happened in our family. My people did
+nothing more exciting than write charters and fight Indians. I think we
+were very commonplace. It is the French people who have the romantic
+blood. Tell me some more, Helen. You have no idea how interesting this
+is."
+
+"There is little more to tell. After the stones had been in our family
+for several generations, it was discovered by the merest accident, that
+they were yellow diamonds and very valuable, on account of their size
+and purity. They were not really yellow, you know, but sometimes
+reflected a peculiar yellow light. We were sorry that we knew the value
+of them."
+
+"Sorry! I should think you would have been delighted. I can imagine
+nothing to be sorry for in finding that what you thought was a pretty
+little stone, was really worth a great deal of money."
+
+"Because if it had been worthless, someone would never have been tempted
+as she was. My Aunt Harriet on one of her visits South years before, had
+found a little colored girl who was mistreated. She brought her North
+and gave her a home. She fed and clothed her and trained her to be an
+excellent servant. When she was able to work, Aunt Harriet paid her
+wages. She learned the value of Aunt Harriet's pins and rings. She
+disappeared and the jewels with her. There were a whole lot of
+complications which I cannot go into detail about. But it changed Aunt
+Harriet's whole life. I remember Rosa so well. She was a beautiful girl.
+She did not look like a colored woman. She was scarcely darker than I
+am, and she had the most beautiful eyes and hands."
+
+"And nothing has been heard of her?" Erma was eager to know. She could
+have sat there all day to listen and would have forgone both meals and
+lessons.
+
+"Nothing. It was surely strange how such a thing could have happened and
+not be found sometime. It is not an easy matter for a woman to disappear
+and all traces of her be lost."
+
+Hester had not been present during this conversation. As Helen finished,
+her roommate came down the corridor and joined the two girls.
+
+"Helen has been telling me the most thrilling tales from her family
+history. It is worth writing to make a story. Don't you know something,
+Hester? Didn't your family do some wonderful things?"
+
+"No," replied Hester. "The Aldens settled down in one place and remained
+there. As Aunt Debby says, they fulfilled their duty to their church and
+to their neighbors, but nothing happened in their lives which was not
+prosaic."
+
+"But your mother's family," persisted Erma. "Surely there must be
+something romantic on her side of the tree."
+
+Hester smiled at the words. There was a little touch of sadness in her
+smile. She had never spoken to the girls of her people. They knew that
+she was an Alden. The name was well known in the central part of the
+State. They knew that an aunt had reared her. That was all the knowledge
+that came to them. When other girls talked together of what their
+parents and grandparents had done as children and repeated the old-time
+stories, which had been handed down to them as part of their family
+history, Hester Alden had only listened and had taken no part in the
+recital. Now, she would have evaded Erma's direct question, but Erma
+was not one who would permit her inquiries to go by the board. She
+repeated it. Hester answered slowly.
+
+"When I was a year old I had neither father nor mother. My mother met a
+horrible death. Aunt Debby took me. She never could talk of my parents,
+so I know little of them. Aunt Debby is mother, father, sister, and
+brother to me."
+
+"Oh, forgive me, I did not know. I would not have wounded you for the
+world."
+
+Erma was on her feet. Impulsive, loving and quick to act, she put her
+hands on Hester's shoulders and touched her lips warmly and
+affectionately. "But you have friends. I want to be one, Hester. You
+know I've always liked you and I'd love you if you'd give me half a
+chance."
+
+Hester, who responded quickly to affection, returned the embrace. "I'd
+love to have you for a friend. Aunt Debby is always first, for she is my
+friend, too, but you and Helen must be the next best."
+
+The little flow of sentiment might have continued, had not Renee at
+that moment, appeared in the doorway.
+
+"I'm awfully sorry to disturb you. But could you lend me your Solid
+Geometry, Helen? Did you get that original? Have you really? Isn't that
+lovely! Would you object to letting me look over it for a moment?"
+
+Helen took the book from the study-table and drawing out an original,
+handed it to Renee who, sitting down, began a thorough study of the
+problem she could not solve for herself.
+
+Barely was Renee disposed of than Josephine came in. She moved
+languidly. Her eyes were opened very wide, but instead of brilliance or
+alertness, they spoke of sentiment and dreaminess. Josephine had made a
+study of looking so. Soulful, she thought it to be; but the girls called
+it by another name not so complimentary and rallied her good-naturedly
+about it.
+
+Renee was quick, in action and thought. Josephine's slowness annoyed
+her. Now, she took her eyes from the paper which she had been studying
+on, and cried brusquely, "If someone would only set a fire under you,
+you'd get somewhere sooner, Jo. Why don't you move, when you move."
+
+Jo was not annoyed. She moved not a whit faster. Gliding in, she seated
+herself on a shirt-waist box and assumed a pose of figure which she
+believed to be artistic. She showed no annoyance at Renee's speech. She
+smiled sweetly and serenely. No matter what was said to her, or done in
+her presence, that smile came to her. Her placidity was exceedingly
+annoying to this set of girls. "If Jo was not always so sugary sweet,"
+was the general complaint. "If she would not always agree to everything.
+If only now and then she would express an opinion, one would know at
+least that she had formed one." These were the only complaints ever made
+against her.
+
+"Has something been troubling you?" she asked Helen. "You appear quite
+disturbed."
+
+"I am. I lost a pin." Helen told how she had placed it that evening she
+had last worn it, and how it had mysteriously disappeared. Both Jo and
+Renee had seen the heirloom, for Helen had worn it at intervals since
+she had entered the hall.
+
+"I'd advertise for it. You might have dropped it in the hall somewhere.
+Have Doctor Weldon announce it in chapel; and put a notice on the
+bulletin board in the main hall." It was Renee who made the practical
+suggestion.
+
+"I'm sure I did not lose it outside this room. I am quite sure of that."
+
+"About as sure as one can be of anything. I've noticed, however, that
+being sure is no proof."
+
+"What a loss it must be to you!" cried Jo softly. "Of course, the money
+value is of little consideration. It is the memories which cling to it
+which make it precious. I know how you feel about such matters. You have
+so much sentiment. I know what trifles may mean to one. I always wear
+this little chain. I have worn it since I was three years old. I never
+could bear to part with it. It seems a tie to bind me to my childhood. I
+feel as though I could never grow old while I wear it. I shall never
+take it off."
+
+Renee shrugged her shoulders. "I'm glad you don't have the same
+sentiment toward your collars. What a beautiful sentiment you might
+conjure up about a waist which some dear departed chum had embroidered
+for you; or perhaps she buttoned it up the back the first time you wore
+it and died immediately afterward. I really think the last would be most
+touching. Then you would feel that you could never unbutton the buttons
+which her dear hands had buttoned."
+
+The irony in Renee's voice was strong. While she had been speaking, she
+arose and moved toward the door.
+
+Hester's face had flushed. She feared that Josephine would be angry.
+Erma, however, laughed merrily, and smiled and fluttered about like a
+gay butterfly. She thought Renee's sarcasm was the finest wit in the
+world. If it had been directed toward herself, she would not have cared
+at all, and could conceive of no reason why Jo should be hurt.
+
+Josephine raised her brows languidly and smiled sweetly. "Renee laughs
+at sentiment," she said. "What is it that Shakespeare says about jesting
+at scars because you never felt a wound?"
+
+"If I ever do show wounds," cried Renee, "they will not be ones made by
+a tin soldier with a toy pistol. It will take a cannon ball to make me
+know that I've been touched."
+
+She sailed out of the room, her head high and her heels coming down with
+some show of feeling. Erma burst into a fresh peal of laughter.
+
+"Isn't Renee dear and doesn't she say the most brilliant things? I often
+wished I could be witty. All I can do is to laugh at the jokes which
+other girls make."
+
+"Why wish to be witty?" asked Josephine. "You're so sweet and womanly
+and tender."
+
+"Am I all that?" cried Erma and she laughed again. "I must go and tell
+Mame. She has known me for years and has never suspected that I am all
+that."
+
+She hurried away. Jo yet lingered.
+
+"I had a letter from Cousin Rob Vail," said Helen to Hester. "He is
+coming down Saturday morning in the touring-car with Aunt Harriet and
+you and I are invited to take a ride and then have dinner down in the
+city. Aunt Harriet is disappointed that she has never been able to meet
+you. So be prepared to meet the sweetest woman in the world."
+
+"Mrs. Vail is so sweet!" cried Jo. "I never look at her but there comes
+to my mind the picture of the 'Mater Dolorosa,' she's so sad and
+pensive."
+
+"She looks sad," said Helen, "but I never knew livelier company. One
+cannot be dull with her. She has a sorrow which passes comprehension,
+yet, she never worries another with it. She has trained herself to take
+an interest in others."
+
+"Saturday!" Hester cried and began prancing about the room. "Two days
+until Saturday. I wonder how I shall ever be able to wait until then."
+
+The bell for luncheon rang and the girls moved from the room. As they
+passed down the corridor, a number of the girls spoke to Helen about the
+loss of her pin and expressed the belief that it had only been mislaid
+and would be found.
+
+A number had seen and discussed it. Sara spoke of this. "It was so
+peculiar and unusual that anyone who finds it will know it is yours."
+
+Hester walked ahead without taking part in the conversation. It came to
+Helen then that her little roommate had shown no interest whatever and
+had not assisted in the search or even expressed her sympathy for its
+loss.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+Hester was deep in literary work for the Philomathean paper. She was not
+attempting poetry. After Helen's criticism she had not the heart to
+bring her efforts before the public, although she did write in secret.
+It is a long and hard drop from being a poet to a hack-writer scribbling
+down personals. Poets are born, while any one can write personals.
+
+Hester had been cultivating the unpleasant little mannerism of thinking
+aloud or rather in tones under her breath, as she wrote she read. Her
+efforts resulted in this form.
+
+"'Miss Erma Thomas has been excused from classes on account of
+sustaining a sprained ankle.'
+
+"'Sustain.' I wonder if that is the right word. Sustain a sprain. It
+sounds all right. I'll let it be that. If I don't know, the other girls
+will not know either."
+
+"Hester, do you realize that you are thinking aloud?" asked Helen after
+this performance had continued some minutes.
+
+"Am I? I did not know; but it does not matter. What I am saying is not
+private and it makes no difference if all the world hears."
+
+"That is not the idea," said Helen. She was sweet, calm, and decided.
+"Has it not come to you that I might wish to study and that monotone is
+anything but pleasant?"
+
+Hester's face flushed crimson. "I beg pardon. I was selfish, Helen."
+
+Helen crossed the room and bending over the abashed, confused Hester,
+said tenderly, "Do not mind my speaking so, little roommate. If it were
+Aunt Debby you would not take it so to heart. Then why should it hurt
+from me? Boarding-schools and roommates serve one great purpose--they
+rub off the jagged edges of one's manners." She bent and kissed the
+girl.
+
+"Helen Loraine, you are the dearest girl I know. I am so glad I have you
+for a roommate. We have never quarreled and I hope never will."
+
+"No, we never will," said Helen. She went back to her work.
+
+In addition to her literary efforts, Hester had other claims upon her.
+The Christmas season was approaching and her gifts were barely in
+preparation. She was embroidering a set of linen collars and cuffs for
+Helen, and the efforts to keep the work hidden was making life strenuous
+for her.
+
+Whenever Helen left the room, Hester took up the work, took a few
+stitches and perhaps was compelled to put it away. There were many
+people passing up and down the dormitory halls. It was not always
+possible to distinguish Helen's step. Then she had to resort to
+subterfuge to get the measure of Helen's collar. She had not
+accomplished that yet, but she had her plans laid and meant to carry
+them out at the first opportunity.
+
+It came to her sooner than she expected. Saturday morning, after a few
+minutes' study, Helen looked at the time, and arose from her work.
+
+"It is almost ten o'clock. Aunt Harriet and Cousin Robert should be
+here. I think I'll walk down to the guests' entrance and see if I can
+find any trace of them. Bob would not be permitted to come to the
+dormitory. Perhaps, Aunt Harriet is waiting with him in the reception
+hall. Marshall may have been sent for us, but you know his failing. He
+may be fulfilling a half-dozen commissions before he comes for us. If
+they are not there, I shall telephone to Auntie."
+
+Hester urged her to be gone. It was with a feeling of relief that Hester
+heard the click of Helen's high heels as they went down the hall.
+Waiting until she believed that Helen would not be interrupted, Hester
+hurried to the wardrobe which they had in common and taking down a waist
+began to measure the collar. She had just completed this when she heard
+the click of Helen's heels. Quick as a flash the dress was hung up.
+Hester was about to close the door when the dress caught. She was
+fussing over it and was very red in the face and visibly embarrassed
+when Helen entered the room.
+
+"What is the trouble?" Helen asked.
+
+"Nothing at all," was the reply given with unusual curtness. "What
+should make you think there was any trouble? I was just opening the
+wardrobe door."
+
+Her long speech which was wholly unnecessary and her evident
+embarrassment did not pass unobserved. Helen gave her a quick look.
+Hester was not herself, that was evident.
+
+"I asked the question because your face was red, and you appeared
+excited. That was all. I did not find it necessary to go to the guests'
+entrance. Marshall was coming for us. We are to go to the reception
+hall. You will meet Aunt Harriet at last."
+
+"How strange it seems that I have been here almost four months and yet
+we have not met! She always came when I was home with Aunt Debby, or in
+class. I fancy the Fates do not intend that we shall meet."
+
+"You shall meet in two minutes, or I am not a reliable prophet," was
+Helen's reply.
+
+Two minutes proved that she was not. Robert Vail alone awaited them in
+the reception hall. His mother had not been able to come.
+
+Hester gave a start of surprise when Helen presented the cousin to her.
+He was particularly fine-looking and attractive but she was not startled
+at that. He was the young man who had accosted her that day on the
+street and apologized by saying he had mistaken her for his cousin,
+Helen.
+
+"You remember me, I see, Miss Alden. You must have thought I was rude,
+but I was confident that you were Helen. I had not seen her for three
+months."
+
+"I am glad that I met you so that I can explain to Aunt Debby," said
+Hester naively. Then observing his look of surprise, she added, "She
+would not believe that you had really made a mistake. She thought you
+did it just to annoy me."
+
+"How could she?" cried Helen with a show of feeling. "Cousin Rob--."
+
+"Go slowly, Cousin," laughed the young man. "You must remember that I
+was a stranger to Miss Alden and her aunt. They were fully justified in
+believing that I was rude."
+
+"I did not," said Hester. "I saw you and I knew that you had really
+mistaken me."
+
+"How could your Aunt Debby think of such a thing? Didn't she also see
+Rob?" asked Helen.
+
+"I did not believe you could show such a spirit," laughed Hester. "You
+are always so calm."
+
+"When things touch myself, but not when they touch my friends," said
+Helen.
+
+"Please calm yourself, Helen. You know we made a compact this very
+morning and promised never to quarrel or be angry with each other."
+
+"The same old school-girl fashion," said Robert Vail. "If I am a good
+prophet, you'll be tearing each other's hair before the day is over."
+
+"Why did Aunt Harriet not come?" asked Helen, abruptly changing the
+subject of conversation.
+
+"She went on a little trip into Virginia," he replied. Then observing
+the anxious look which came to Helen's face, he continued, "We tried to
+persuade her not to go, but she said this might be a real clue and she
+could not be satisfied to remain home. Father would have insisted, for
+mother is really worn out, but she was so anxious to go that she and
+father went off last night."
+
+[Illustration: "YOU REMEMBER ME, I SEE, MISS ALDEN."--_Page 149._]
+
+"Was there anything new, or merely the same old story as before?" asked
+Helen.
+
+"Who can tell? You know Rosa's mother had been a house-servant in
+Virginia and Rosa had a host of relatives there. Mrs. Mader--you
+remember the Doctor Mader who sometimes attends mother? Well, Mrs. Mader
+had been West. There she made the acquaintance of a southern woman who
+talked much of a Rosa Williams, who did some work for her. Mrs. Mader
+was interested and asked all sorts of questions. This Rosa Williams, so
+the southern woman said, was a handsome mulatto woman about forty years
+old. She also said that she had several children and that one in
+particular had neither the features nor coloring of a negro."
+
+"Poor Aunt Harriet!" said Helen. "If only she would give up hope. She is
+wearing herself out in this way."
+
+Hester was delighted with this new acquaintance. She had known few boys.
+Jane Orr's brother, Ralph, had been her ideal of what a boy should be.
+Jane had not let his good qualities pass unnoticed. But Hester was
+inclined to think that Robert Vail surpassed Ralph in every particular.
+Helen had told her much of this one cousin who took the place of brother
+to her. He was in his last year in medical college, and had led his
+class for three full years. Yet he was not a bookish man. He was of a
+social nature, fond of company, and outdoor life, taking as much
+interest in cross-country walks and athletics as he did in his studies.
+Hester was thinking of these matters while Helen and Robert were
+talking. She had been sitting with her eyes upon the floor, listening in
+a half abstracted fashion. She raised her eyes suddenly to find Robert
+Vail's eyes fixed on her in scrutiny. Her cheeks grew crimson and she
+looked away.
+
+"I beg pardon," cried the young man, "I seem destined to annoy you with
+my rudeness. The first time I met you I mistook you for Helen. The
+resemblance is not so marked now that I see you together."
+
+"Yet we are often mistaken for each other," said Helen, "if the hall is
+just a little dark, the girls mistake us. Often I am called Hester."
+
+"It would have to be very dark if I were to mistake you now after once
+seeing you together.
+
+"I wish to explain to Miss Alden why I was looking so intently at her
+now. I've seen my mother sitting that way many a time. There was
+something about you which made me think of her."
+
+"You told me she was very beautiful," said Hester, saucily turning
+toward Helen.
+
+"Hester Alden, are you really fishing for compliments?" asked Helen,
+pretending to be shocked at Hester's question.
+
+"There is really no use of fishing when the compliments are floating on
+the surface within your reach," said the young man gallantly.
+
+This was all very pleasing to Hester. She had not been accustomed to
+receiving such compliments or attention and she felt quite grown up and
+elegant.
+
+Robert Vail's gallant manner was of short duration. He looked at Hester
+again, and grew quite serious. Very strange ideas came to him. He had a
+queer feeling that somehow his mother had made a mistake in not calling
+at the seminary that morning, and that he stood nearer the truth than he
+had ever stood before. These thoughts prompted him to turn to Hester
+with questions which were pertinent and personal.
+
+"Where do you live, Miss Alden?" Hester told him. She wondered as she
+did so why he had asked the question as though it were of moment.
+
+"Who are your people? Have you always lived there?"
+
+He had touched Hester on the one delicate subject of her life. She had
+pride enough for several girls. Not even Aunt Debby knew how her lack of
+parentage and name had hurt her. She had never permitted herself to
+think of it, lest she should grow depressed and unhappy. And to think
+that now this Robert Vail whom she had liked so much, had presumed to
+question her. Like a flash, it came to her that perhaps he had met Kate
+Bowerman or Abner Stout and they had told him that she had been left a
+waif on Debby Alden's hands and that her people had cared so little for
+her that they never came to find her.
+
+For an instant, pride was up in arms. Her one thought was to defend
+herself at whatever cost. All Aunt Debby's precious training was flung
+to the winds. She raised her head proudly and looked directly at him. In
+her eyes was a look of defiance; the crimson of annoyance and shame
+flamed on her cheeks.
+
+"Who are my people?" she repeated his question. "As my name is Alden, I
+presume my people also were of that name. My father and mother died when
+I was a babe, and my father's sister, my Aunt Debby Alden reared me."
+
+Her annoyance was evident. Robert Vail was vexed with himself for having
+caused it. "I am always falling into error, Miss Alden. If you forgive
+me this once more, I shall promise not to annoy you again. I fancy my
+question was personal. I asked it because of the resemblance to my
+mother and cousin. It came to me that you might be a relative. Though I
+doubt if you would wish to claim us. We are a bad lot. I am really the
+only fair specimen among them."
+
+"Such insufferable conceit," said Helen. "Everyone knows that it keeps
+all the other members of the family taking care of you."
+
+"Which proves what I have just said. I am the family jewel. It behooves
+them to take care of me, lest I be lost or stolen." Turning to Hester,
+he held out his hand. "Am I forgiven?" he asked.
+
+Hester, ashamed and abashed, laid her hand within his. "I am sorry I
+spoke so hastily," she said. But the red did not leave her cheeks, nor
+the hurt look from her eyes. She blushed for the statement she had made.
+"'My father was Aunt Debby's brother.' It was a lie--nothing less than a
+lie," she kept saying to herself and the thought spoiled the entire day
+for her. It spoiled more than that, too. Perhaps, had she told the
+truth, she would never again have need to blush for her lack of name or
+to misunderstand her people for not coming in search for her. Her little
+sin bore its own fruits with it; yet Hester believed she was paying the
+debt by being sorry and ashamed.
+
+"About your going with me," Robert turned to his cousin. "Mother said I
+was to play escort and take you anywhere you wished to go."
+
+"Aunt Harriet's not coming may make a difference. The preceptress gave
+me permission to go with the understanding that we were in your mother's
+charge."
+
+"I shall take as good care of you as mother. Better care, I fancy, for
+she would be helpless if she had to manage a machine."
+
+"It is the idea of not living up to the conditions," replied Helen. "If
+you and Hester will excuse me, I will explain to Miss Burkham. Perhaps,
+she will not object to my going with you. She would if you were not a
+cousin."
+
+She went directly to the preceptress and in a few moments returned with
+that lady herself, who listened to the story of the difficulties.
+
+"We intended stopping to see Aunt Debby," said Hester. "I wrote her a
+note yesterday, telling her to expect us."
+
+"You may go under these conditions," said Miss Burkham, "that you go
+directly to Miss Alden's aunt's. If she can accompany you further, very
+well. Otherwise you remain at her home until you are ready to return to
+school. Under any circumstances you must be here before five o'clock. Be
+kind enough to set your timepieces with the tower clock. Then there will
+be no excuse for not being here on or before the hour appointed. You may
+get your wraps. I shall entertain Mr. Vail until your return."
+
+Miss Burkham was always exacting. Her speech was frank and sometimes
+even blunt; but she had such a sense of justice and fitness of things,
+that her decisive words were never galling, even to the most sensitive
+of the girls. Her manner was gracious and her smile kindly. She would
+put herself to no end of trouble to add to the happiness of the pupils;
+on the other hand, she would go to no end of trouble to see that the
+rules of the school were rigidly enforced and that the girls under her
+care would do nothing unbecoming a lady or which might bring criticism
+upon their heads.
+
+Soon the three were on their way. For three days, Hester Alden had
+enjoyed the ride in anticipation. But now something had gone from it.
+The buoyancy of spirit which was generally hers and the power of
+enjoying the most trifling affairs had deserted her. She sat silent
+until Helen rallied her. Then she made an effort to be her usual bright
+talkative self; but it was plainly an effort. She was forcing an
+interest in what was going on about her. Her mind dwelt only on the
+statement she had made to Robert Vail.
+
+"It was a lie, a lie," she kept repeating to herself. She was almost
+afraid to meet Aunt Debby. How Aunt Debby despised anything of that
+kind! Hester felt that her clear gray eyes would look straight down into
+her heart and read the lie which had made a mark there.
+
+Robert Vail observed that Hester was more than quiet. She was depressed
+and anxious.
+
+Debby Alden was prepared to receive the guests. She, with Miss Richards,
+had a lunch ready to serve. She had smiled when she arranged her table
+service. She had given it the right touch of daintiness and refinement.
+There had come to her, the remembrance of certain conditions of her life
+and her manner of doing things before Hester had come into her life.
+She had spoken her thoughts to Miss Richards.
+
+"I have been a different woman ever since I found Hester," she said.
+"Life holds so much more for me than it did before--a great deal more
+than I ever hoped to have it hold. I wonder what I would have been had
+Hester gone her way that day and not have come into my life."
+
+"You would have been Debby Alden," said Miss Richards, "a woman of
+conscience and principle. You would have been the same Debby--only with
+the narrower view of life. You would have been an old woman instead of a
+bright, interesting, beautiful, young girl of forty."
+
+Debby Alden had blushed at the speech.
+
+"You and Hester have conspired to spoil me. I think you are leagued
+together to make me vain and worldly. What one does not think of, the
+other does. It was only last week that Hester wrote me some very silly
+nonsense about not one of the women at the reception, looking half so
+fine as I. Of course, I know the child does it merely to please me."
+
+Miss Richards nodded her head in negation. "You know she means every
+word she says, Debby. Hester could not prevaricate, even to please you.
+As to its being nonsense, you know it is not. We think what we say and
+you like to hear us say it. Why not express ourselves? There is nothing
+in the world that is as great as love. The greatest thing in the world!
+Why then should we go through life with silent lips, or lips which open
+only for criticism while all the time love is really in our hearts? Is
+it not lovelier and kinder to express our love while the loved ones are
+here to listen?"
+
+This had been Miss Richards's philosophy of life. It had been her love
+as well as Hester's which had brightened and developed Debby Alden.
+Their words concerning Debby's being beautiful were not flattering. She
+was beautiful with the beauty which comes from fine principle, high
+ideals, and a warm, love-filled heart. People had turned in the streets
+for a second look at Debby Alden, while she, wholly unconscious that she
+had grown so attractive, moved on her way without knowing of the eyes
+turned in her direction.
+
+Debby went down to the gate to meet her guests. She took Hester in her
+arms. In an instant her intuition told her that something was wrong.
+
+"What is troubling my little girl?" she asked.
+
+"Nothing, Aunt Debby. Nothing at all. Oh, how sweet to be back home!"
+She threw her arms about Debby Alden's neck and hugged her with a
+vehemence which caused that lady to gasp for breath.
+
+Helen and Miss Alden had never met. Debby at once noticed the
+resemblance between Helen and Hester. She greeted the former as she had
+done her own little girl. Then she turned to Robert Vail and holding out
+her hand, said merrily, "I shall forgive and believe now, since I know
+you have a cousin Helen and she does resemble Hester. Until this time, I
+thought it all a myth of your own making, manufactured for the sole
+purpose of annoying two plain country folk."
+
+Rob Vail laughed as he took her hand in his own firm clasp. "I do not
+know whether I shall allow myself to be forgiven under such
+circumstances. You would not have faith in me until I presented the
+proof and that is really no faith at all. I wish to be trusted without
+evidence."
+
+He laughed again and held Miss Debby's hand tight in his own while they
+moved up the walk toward the tiny cottage.
+
+"From this time, I shall have faith in you, though evidence is lacking,"
+she said.
+
+She liked the boy. She had never before been so pleasantly impressed by
+a young man as she had been by him. He was wholesome, clear-eyed and
+unaffected.
+
+Debby Alden recognized these virtues in him and received him at once
+into her home and friendship. She liked his college talk; his bright way
+of making his smile and voice put his words at fault. Yet, while he
+entertained her she was not wholly unconscious of two things--that
+Hester was not herself, and that the resemblance between the two girls
+was not the result of mere chance. Suddenly she turned to Helen with the
+question:
+
+"Have you any sisters? Did you ever have any?"
+
+"No, unfortunately, I am an only child," was the reply.
+
+"Which may account for any peculiar little traits of character or
+manner," said Robert Vail. "Only a brother or sister is able to 'comb
+one' thoroughly smooth. They trim the plant of self-esteem; they nip the
+bud of selfishness before it can bloom; they serve their purpose,
+nuisances though they are--these brothers and sisters."
+
+"How unfortunate that you never had any. You might have been--" Helen
+left the sentence unfinished, implying by her tone that he might have
+been all that he was not.
+
+"But you served the same purpose, cousin. You have never failed in your
+duty toward me. You are worth a dozen brothers and sisters when it comes
+to 'combing one down.'" They laughed at the sally and might have carried
+it further had not Miss Alden led the way to the lunch table.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+Hester Alden barely escaped being campused for dancing her way through
+the main hall and shrieking in wild excess of spirits. To add to the
+enormity of the offense, the day on which this had occurred was the day
+when the ice-cream wagon came in from Flemington and disposed of its
+wares at the front entrance of the campus. At the time of her exhibition
+of high spirits, Hester had held high in her hand a paper butter-dish
+filled with cream, which had melted and was trickling over the edge of
+the dish and down her sleeve. The German teacher had heard the unusual
+commotion and appeared on the scene.
+
+"Ach, Fraulein Alden, what matters it by you? To your room go you at
+once. To Miss Burkham, I such conduct shall report."
+
+Hester in the exuberance of spirit, hugged the little German lady who
+was as fat as a dumpling. "Fraulein Franz, you are a dear old soul if
+you do get your English verbs confused. You would dance and laugh and
+spill your ice-cream too, if you were to play on the scrub team."
+
+"Gra-shus," said Fraulein. "Pardon me, I did not know the cause. I
+wonder not that you much rejoice."
+
+She retired to her room. Hester laughed again, but softly this time for
+Miss Burkham's office was not a great distance away.
+
+"The dear old Fraulein! To think of her begging my pardon for
+reprimanding me. I am only too glad it was not Miss Burkham. If she had
+seen me, I'd had two weeks on the campus and someone else would have
+been compelled to carry my cream from the wagon to the coping."
+
+The other east dormitory girls had heard the news and were quite as well
+pleased as Hester. Mame Cross had been forbidden by her father to play
+any but practice games. He thought she grew too excited for her own
+good. It was her place on the second squad which Hester was to fill.
+
+Helen had used her influence in behalf of her roommate; for there were
+ten other players who would have been as well pleased as Hester was, had
+it fallen to their lot to substitute. Fortunately they were a liberal,
+broad-minded set of girls. They were not envious, but rejoiced with
+Hester in her good fortune.
+
+As Hester hurried down the main hall to the dormitory stairs, she found
+her own particular set of friends waiting for her on the landing.
+
+"Here she is!" cried Erma. "We have been looking everywhere for you.
+Isn't it simply grand to think that one of our set got on?"
+
+"I'm glad you've got it, since I couldn't," said Mame. She had always
+the expression of one on whom Fortune had frowned. On the contrary, she
+had fairly basked in that lady's smiles, since the first day of her
+babyhood.
+
+"I don't see why father will not let me play. There's no danger of my
+hurting myself, and what if I should? He has an idea that I am such a
+precious article that I should be done up in cotton. One thing, Hester,
+if you play a match game, you'll look better than I do. My basket-ball
+suit was a fright; but then, I never do have anything that looks like
+other girls."
+
+Hester was about to express herself contrary to this sentiment, when an
+audacious remark from Erma caused her to fall back in silence.
+
+"You see how it is, Hester," explained Erma later as the two walked arm
+in arm down the hall. "Mame is the best dresser in school. She has the
+best-made clothes and the best taste about choosing them, and you never
+see a pin or hook loose. Yet we never yet have heard her say she was
+satisfied. So we just concluded that we wouldn't encourage her. When she
+begins to complain and find fault with her lot, we'd look as though we
+pitied her. It isn't a bit of use of trying to convince her how lucky
+she is.
+
+"Now, I am always the other way." Here Erma paused long enough to laugh
+merrily. "I'm satisfied with everything. My father is simply grand; I
+just adore this old seminary, and I think the girls on our hall are the
+sweetest things, and I never had a dress in all my life that wasn't
+simply a dream."
+
+The girls rejoiced with Hester, all except Berenice. She went through
+with the form of congratulations, but her voice had a sarcastic touch
+and her eyes had narrowed themselves into mere slits. Her words were a
+little uncertain as to meaning; but Hester to whom all things appeared
+beautiful, was in no mood to take exception.
+
+"I'm sure I'm glad you're on the scrub," she said slowly. "I'm always
+glad to see people get what they work so hard for."
+
+"Thank you, Berenice. You girls have all been lovely. You do not have a
+bit of jealousy about letting a 'freshie' step in ahead of some who have
+been here two and three years."
+
+"We want to win games," cried Louise Reed. "Whoever makes goals for us,
+suits us whether she's a freshman or a senior. Get the pennant and we'll
+carry you home on our shoulders."
+
+They had come to Sixty-two. Erma and Mame in company with Berenice
+walked on down the corridor.
+
+"I'd love to have been put on; but since I wasn't I am glad that Hester
+was. It was fair, too. She's played better than any other one on the
+team. She gets excited but she doesn't lose her head."
+
+Berenice sneered. "To get on the team, one must learn to toady," she
+said. "No doubt if you had played lackey to Helen Loraine, you would
+have been playing scrub."
+
+Erma turned suddenly to look at the speaker. There was no laughter now
+in either her eyes or voice as she, gazing steadily at Berenice, asked,
+"Do you mean to say that Hester Alden plays lackey to Helen? Do you mean
+to say that Helen would permit it if Hester were foolish enough to do
+so, and furthermore do you mean to say that Hester was not chosen for
+the simple reason that she is the steadiest player among the
+substitutes?"
+
+Berenice shrugged her shoulders. Her little beady eyes had their lashes
+drawn down upon them until they had narrowed into a mere slit.
+
+"How you do fly up, Erma! I really did not think you had such a temper;
+but one thing you may rest assured of: it is always you sweet girls who
+fly into a passion at the slightest word."
+
+"I have never posed as being a sweet girl, and I am not in a passion
+now. I have asked you a question which you have evaded. You have
+insinuated things about girls who call me their friend and I will never
+let such matters pass. I wish you to answer my question before we go one
+step further."
+
+Erma stood still. The others did as she did. Berenice laughed lightly.
+"How very silly. A perfect tempest in a tea-cup simply because I choose
+to get off a joke."
+
+"If that is a joke, it is in horribly bad taste," was Erma's retort.
+
+"You are unjust, Erma. How many times have I heard you laugh at Helen
+for trying to stand in with the teachers, and for letting Mame copy her
+translations."
+
+"Hundreds of times, but you always heard me laugh and jest when the
+girls themselves were present and when every one who heard, knew that it
+was mere fun. It was mere give and take between every one of our set who
+were present. You have yet to hear me criticise an absent girl, or jest
+about her."
+
+Again Berenice shrugged her shoulders as though she would dismiss the
+subject.
+
+"I am glad I am not ugly-tempered," she said and walked away without a
+backward glance at the others. For a moment, Erma was wounded. Then the
+humor of the situation came to her. She laughed until the silvery echoes
+rang from one end of the corridor to the other; and the girls begged to
+be quiet lest the hall-teacher follow in their footsteps and they be
+sentenced to solitary confinement on the campus.
+
+After receiving the congratulations of her friends, Hester had gone to
+her room. Helen was busy preparing a lesson for the session the
+following morning.
+
+"Of course, you know what has happened," cried Hester. "Of course you
+do. I can see by your eyes. Miss Watson sent for me to come to her and
+then told me. I knew who proposed my name. It was you, Helen Loraine. I
+cannot possibly thank you, and I never in the world can repay you."
+
+Flinging her arms about her roommate's neck, Hester embraced her warmly
+all the while declaring that she would never be able to repay her.
+
+"Yes, you surely can," said Helen. "Play a good game and justify my
+recommending you. That will please me best of all."
+
+"I shall do that for your sake, for my own, and for the team's."
+
+Helen stood silent a moment, considering whether she had better tell
+Hester all her plans. She decided that she would and drawing Hester down
+on the cosy corner, which had been improvised from trunks, she
+continued: "For several reasons you must play well the next two weeks.
+Three weeks from next Saturday, we play the girls from Exeter Hall. They
+are the hardest squad we'll meet. Their coach is a college woman and a
+specialist in physical culture and athletics. The Exeter team is the
+best-trained one we'll come up against. We'll take along four
+substitutes. Maud plays well for the first half, but she tires easily. I
+intend to substitute for her on the second half, and if you justify my
+doing it, I'll let you take her place."
+
+"Really?" That one word was all that Hester Alden could command at that
+moment; but it spoke volumes. To the girl it seemed as though the one
+ambition of her school life was about to be fulfilled--to play on the
+first team.
+
+She did not consider herself alone in this. Aunt Debby was always first
+in her thoughts. Ever since Mary Bowerman had taunted her with being a
+waif, Hester had realized how much the foster aunt had done for her, and
+what sacrifice of time and money, she had made. The one way which Hester
+saw to repay the obligation, was to do those things which would reflect
+credit on the Alden name. Playing on the first team would do that very
+thing for never before in the history of Dickinson, had a freshman been
+so honored.
+
+Hester had reached such a degree of happiness that she lacked expression
+either by words or motion. She could but sit still in the cosy corner,
+her hands clasped in her lap and her eyes looking steadily before her.
+So she sat for some minutes but in those minutes, she anticipated every
+play in the coming game. She saw the goals she would make; she could
+hear the referee call out the score and read the figures which the score
+makers were writing down. She could see Aunt Debby sitting in the
+gallery; she could hear the applause which swept over the hall.
+
+"Really? Do you really think there is the least chance for me?" she
+asked at last.
+
+"I really think so. I might say I am quite sure," replied Helen. "Miss
+Watson always permits me to choose my substitutes. I would almost
+promise but--"
+
+"Don't promise. I would not have you do that. During the next two weeks
+I might lose my head and not play well at all," she said.
+
+"I'm not afraid of that," replied Helen. "But it does not seem fair to
+the other girls to have me pledge myself to you, before you have had a
+single practice on the scrub. I try to be just, but sometimes I am
+afraid I am a little partial in choosing the ones I love best. Because
+you are you, I might be unjust to the others. Do you understand why I
+would rather not promise, little roommate?"
+
+"Yes, I know."
+
+The subject ended there. Helen went back to her work. Hester tried to
+keep her mind upon her books; but one might as well have tried to charm
+a butterfly. Her thoughts flew from the game to Aunt Debby, and back to
+Helen and the attitude she had taken in regard to the game.
+
+Hester had no doubt that Helen had a great affection for her. There had
+been some sweet and gentle evidence of it since the first week of
+school. Hester was beginning to understand what the girls had tried to
+convey to her that first day of school, when Sara had declared that
+Helen had such an air. It was the grace which was the expression of fine
+breeding, intellect and kindliness of heart.
+
+As Hester thought of these things, she could have gone down on her knees
+to Helen just as she would have done to Aunt Debby.
+
+"We'll be friends all our life. Whatever happens, we will never quarrel.
+It is lovely to have a friend like Helen." These were the thoughts which
+came to Hester. Inspired by them to express herself, she opened a
+note-book and under the date of the month and year, she wrote what had
+been in her thoughts.
+
+Helen was one who had much affection in her nature, but was never
+sentimental. She was intensely practical when it came to her work.
+After her talk with Hester about the work on the team, her mind turned
+to the petty details, the fulfillment of which meant success.
+
+"I wear my gray basket-ball suit when we play with an outside team," she
+said to Hester. "You have never seen it. It has D. S. in gold and blue
+letters. Dickinson Seminary. It looks well, and the suits are really
+pretty. Mine, however, is beginning to show wear. I have had it for
+three years. The last time we played over at Kermoor, a hook came loose
+on the shoulder where my waist fastens. It was a trifle but it almost
+caused me to lose that game. It pestered me until I could scarcely think
+of anything else. I made up my mind then that I'd never be placed in
+such a position again. While I have it in mind, I am going over those
+hooks and eyes and sew them so tight that they cannot possibly give."
+
+"Why not come out on the campus now, Helen? The girls are going to walk
+along the river's edge as far as the campus reaches and then climb over
+the hill and come back the other way. Miss Watson will come with us."
+
+"If I do I'll neglect those hooks. I had my gym work to-day and do not
+need exercise. You run along and I'll discipline myself about the
+hooks." She laughed softly at her own remarks.
+
+"Very well. If you will not, you will not," replied Hester, drawing on
+her red sweater and Tam-o-Shanter. "I'll be off or I'll keep them
+waiting, and you know Miss Watson does not approve of that."
+
+She went her way down the hall. She was a picture good to look at, and
+which would have pleased more eyes than the partial ones of Debby Alden.
+
+Upon Hester's departure, Helen went to her sewing. The gray gymnasium
+suit hung in a public press at the end of the hall, and it took her some
+time to find her own among the others which hung there. Her needles and
+thread were at hand, but hooks and eyes were lacking. She found that the
+waist required several additional hooks and what were in place hung by a
+mere thread.
+
+"I have a card of hooks somewhere," she said to herself. "I remember
+distinctly putting in everything in the line of mending that I might
+possibly need. I remember now. What I thought I would not need often, I
+put in the bottom of the closet."
+
+The closet floor held quite an assortment of boxes. Articles which the
+girls used seldom, had been stored here out of the way. Helen remembered
+that a box with hooks and eyes, buttons and glove-silk had been placed
+in there, early in the fall when she had unpacked the trunk.
+
+She and Hester had been careful about not infringing upon each other's
+closet room. Each had her allotted space and number of hooks; but
+keeping the floor divided was not so easy. Boxes had been moved and
+shoved about until it was impossible to know whose they were.
+
+Helen sat down on the floor and began a systematic search; in turn
+opening each box and examining its contents. It required system for the
+boxes were many and the confusion great. There were handkerchief boxes,
+spool, candy, and shoe boxes of all sizes and conditions.
+
+She had opened each one without discovering the articles which she
+needed. She was about to put them back in their places when a little
+dark covered box, hidden deep in the corner, attracted her eyes. Without
+a thought that she might be infringing on someone's else right, she took
+up the box and opened it. She gave a sharp exclamation at the sight of
+its contents. She sat with it opened in her hand, looking at it
+steadily. Then she replaced the lid and put the box with the contents
+just as she had found them, back in the corner. She put the floor of the
+closet in order, and then went back to her work. She found her card of
+hooks and eyes in the bottom of her sewing-bag. She was busy sewing them
+on when Hester came in. They greeted each other as usual, yet Hester was
+conscious that something was different.
+
+"Are you ill, Helen?" she asked.
+
+"No, Hester."
+
+"Are you worried?"
+
+"What should I have to worry me? You have been gone less than an hour.
+What should happen in that time to make me either ill or anxious? I have
+been putting the floor of the closet in order. I am afraid I opened
+some of your boxes, but I did not disturb their contents."
+
+"No matter if you did. I am glad the closet is in order. It surely
+needed some attention." Going to the door she flung it wide. "How nice
+it looks. The boxes piled up like a shoe-store. I wonder how long it
+will remain that way."
+
+Helen watched her closely. Hester must indeed be a capital actor, for
+she had showed neither anxiety nor embarrassment at hearing that Helen
+had opened the boxes.
+
+After dinner that evening, no conversations were carried on between the
+two girls. Helen, contrary to her habit, went directly to her room and
+did not mingle with her friends in the library or parlor. She was in her
+study garb and presumably deep in study when Hester came back to her
+room. She neither spoke nor raised her eyes at Hester's entrance. Her
+eyes were upon the text, but she was not studying. She was reviewing
+certain little incidents of Hester's being with her. A score of trifles
+to which she had then given no thought, now appeared in gigantic
+proportion with most pretentious signs. Hester had shown no interest
+whatever when the pin had been lost. She had not helped look for it.
+Just before the holidays, Helen remembered it clearly now, she had found
+Hester in the closet. Hester had blushed and stammered and appeared much
+confused and had replied curtly to Helen's questions. It was really very
+suspicious. Helen did not like to think of such matters. She had no
+desire to think evil of any one; but the evidence was there. She could
+not go past that. She had trusted Hester, and had really loved her.
+Hereafter she would trust and love no one.
+
+Even after the close of the study hour, there was no opportunity for
+conversation; for at the ringing of the half-hour bell, Helen, contrary
+to her habit, went down the hall to the room of one of the seniors. She
+did not ask Hester to accompany her and the latter was hurt by the
+omission. They had been together almost six months and in that time such
+a thing had never before occurred.
+
+Hester slowly made ready for bed. The fumes of chocolate and fudge in
+the making were wafted to her from the rooms at the lower end of the
+hall, and the chatter and laugh came with them. No one called her to
+come. She felt forsaken and lonely. Such occasions previous to this, she
+had not waited until a special invitation had been given her, but joined
+and helped with the merry-making. She felt that something stood between
+her and Helen. Just what that something was, she did not know, nor could
+she surmise. There was nothing tangible for her thoughts to work upon to
+reach a conclusion. She instinctively felt that something was wrong. In
+this particular case, instinct was stronger than reason. She crept into
+bed, although the retiring bell had not rung. The two little iron cots
+stood side by side with only a narrow space between them. Helen had
+always been the deliberate one of the two. Hester was generally in bed
+before Helen had finished her reading. It had been the latter's habit to
+come to Hester's bed and softly kissing her on the forehead to whisper,
+"Good-night, little roommate."
+
+It was for this good-night that Hester was waiting. She would insist
+then upon knowing what troubled Helen or what had gone wrong to cause
+this feeling of alienation. She would have cried had not her pride
+sustained her. The tears were very near the surface but she forced them
+back. She would cry for no one, no matter how that one treated her.
+
+A few moments before the retiring bell, Helen came into the bedroom.
+Knowing that she was late and that the lights would soon be turned off,
+she prepared hastily for bed. She did not once glance toward Hester, but
+that might have been because she was hurried. While Hester lay and
+watched her, the lights went out. She heard Helen laugh softly and say,
+"Just in time. I just gave the last turn to my hair."
+
+Then she moved toward the cot, but she moved toward the outside and not
+near that of her roommate. Hester was overcome with homesickness. Her
+pride took to itself, wings. Raising herself in bed, she turned toward
+Helen.
+
+"Have you forgotten something, Helen? Are you not going to bid me
+good-night?"
+
+"Surely. Good-night, Hester."
+
+"But not that way, Helen. I mean the way you always have done."
+
+There was silence for an instant. To Hester it seemed as though hours
+had passed before Helen replied gently and firmly, "Not to-night,
+Hester. I--I--cannot--to-night."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+After this, Hester Alden believed that school could never be as it had
+been. The first day proved that she was wrong. Outwardly, life at
+Dickinson moved on as before. No one appeared to know or care that
+Hester Alden had been touched to the quick, and that she was very
+miserable and unhappy.
+
+Helen was courtesy itself. She was careful to include Hester in all her
+invitations, but it was a carefulness forced upon her from a sense of
+duty and not from love. Hester was not dull. She felt the difference.
+She could be quite as proud as Helen. So she raised her head a trifle
+higher as she walked and drew her shoulders a little more rigid and gave
+back to Helen the same rigid courtesy that she was receiving.
+
+To Hester it was tragic. The alienation was a genuine sorrow to her. To
+one who merely looked on, the two girls were acting foolishly. A few
+words would have cleared away the misunderstanding and saved them from
+suffering. Helen acted from what she thought was a high sense of
+justice; Hester's action was from pride only.
+
+The other girls in the dormitory knew not the cause of the estrangement,
+for both Helen and Hester had that sense of honor which impelled them to
+keep closed lips on such matters. The intuition of the girls told them
+that affairs between Helen and Hester were not quite the same. That was
+as far as their intuition carried them.
+
+In spite of Hester's unhappiness, matters at Dickinson moved on as
+before. Renee came to borrow; Erma laughed merrily; Mame wept over the
+condition of her clothes which looked as though they were fresh from the
+French tailor; Josephine grew eloquent on moonlight, love-stories, and
+kindred subjects; Mellie Wright came and went like a gentle ray of
+sunshine. The strangest part of all to Hester was that Mellie, who never
+appeared to notice what took place, was first to grasp the situation.
+Before the week had passed, she made an occasion to join Hester on the
+campus. No reference at all was made to the state of depression which
+hung over Hester like a cloud, but before the two had parted, the
+younger girl carried with her these impressions:
+
+Everything comes right some day, and that day comes when least expected;
+nothing matters if one continues to do what is right, regardless of
+other people's opinion of one; and if one is blue, the best thing to do
+is to do something and do it quickly.
+
+Mellie did not put her philosophy into those words, nor did she make a
+personal application for her companion. The strongest impressions are
+those which we receive unconsciously. After this talk with Mellie,
+Hester's pride and ambition were aroused. She was indignant with herself
+that she had given way to any show of feeling and vowed to herself that
+from that instant she would not lose control over her emotions.
+
+Fortunately for her, basket-ball practice followed close on her
+resolutions and putting her thoughts into action, strengthened her.
+
+She played right guard on the scrub team with Edna Turnbach opposed to
+her. Edna was little, wiry, and active, an opponent that was really
+worth while.
+
+Hester cast her troubles to the wind and went into the game with all her
+energy. Edna was quick, but Hester matched her with cool calculation.
+Her long strides were equal to Edna's quick ones; and she had the
+advantage of length of arms which could be kept beyond Edna's reach.
+
+The left guard on the scrub team was Emma who resembled a little Dutch
+doll wound up and set to moving. Emma had no guile in her disposition
+and was utterly lacking in self-assertion. She admired Hester's playing
+and never failed to play the ball into her hands. Just the moment
+Hester's hand touched the ball, Emma encouraged her with cries of "Show
+them how to play, Hessie. Show them how scrubs play when they once get
+started."
+
+Emma was both an inspiration and an advantage. Hester played with all
+her energy. To watch her, one might believe that all the future depended
+upon the winning of the game.
+
+For the first half, she had the ball the instant the captain's hand had
+left it. Passing it on to Emma with a quickness and deftness which was
+almost beyond belief, she rushed forward in position to receive Emma's
+return pass. It was no easy matter for Edna was close at her heels and
+the center stood in her way. But by quick side movements, a sudden jerk
+beneath outstretched arms, the thing was done.
+
+Only once during the first half was the ball worked back to the goal of
+the opposing team; but even then it did not make a score. For three
+minutes, it went from end to end of the cage and at last went from the
+hands of the scrubs on a foul that Emma had made.
+
+During the game, Hester was not only playing right guard. She played the
+game alone with a little assistance from Emma--a game of solitaire. She
+was the team and made every score.
+
+Miss Watson and Doctor Weldon stood in the gallery looking on.
+
+"Hester Alden is a brilliant person," said Miss Watson. "She will amount
+to something if she continues."
+
+"She can do little in mathematics. She'll pass on about seventy-five per
+cent," said Miss Laird. She had long since erased Hester's name from her
+good books, for Miss Laird knew only angles and equations, fixed values
+and ratios, and had no conception of nor admiration for a mind which was
+not as her own.
+
+Miss Watson laughed at this remark. She was more liberal-minded than
+Miss Laird and was not disappointed to find that her girls were not all
+of the same type.
+
+"You can open an oyster with a pen-knife as well as a chisel," she said.
+
+Miss Laird glanced at the speaker. She was logical but not witty. Seeing
+that she did not grasp the meaning, Miss Watson continued.
+
+"Taking the oyster as each one's little world, you know, Miss Laird. I
+have known men and women who have achieved a wonderful amount of success
+and happiness who could not have made seventy per cent on one of your
+examinations."
+
+Doctor Weldon had listened in silence. She had sat watching Hester
+during that intense first half. She read deeper than either of her
+teachers.
+
+"I am fearful for Hester," she said at last. She spoke so low that only
+Miss Watson heard her. "She is too easily hurt, and she'll fight off
+showing it until she drops from exhaustion. If I know the girl, her good
+playing this evening is not so much for love of the game, as it is to
+hide the fact that something has gone wrong."
+
+"Rather an excellent trait. Do you not think so?" said Miss Watson.
+"Personally, I despise a whiner, and haven't a bit of sympathy for a
+girl who goes about asking for pity. Pride is a good thing when it helps
+us cover up our own bruises."
+
+"It is very fine, if it is not overdone. You know you cannot keep all
+the steam in a boiler under high pressure. There must be a safety valve
+or--trouble. I hope Hester will not be too intense. Intense folk need
+such a lot of self-control, or they make every one miserable about
+them."
+
+The conversation stopped at this point. The practice game was over and
+Miss Watson went below and into the cage to see that the girls were
+taking the necessary precautions in regard to wraps.
+
+"Hester Alden will play at Exeter," was the general opinion at the close
+of the game.
+
+"I am sure of that," said Sara Summerson. "During the game I was where I
+could see Miss Watson. Nothing escaped her. She watched every move
+Hester made. Emma was all right at first, but that foul put her on Miss
+Watson's black list. I could tell that. You know how Miss Watson presses
+her lips together and nods her head when she's pleased. Well, she did
+that every time Hester made a good play."
+
+"I will not get a chance to go," said Emma. "I am sure of that. I'd like
+to, for I know lots of Exeter girls. There's a whole _bunch_ of them
+from up our way."
+
+"You speak as though they were flowers," laughed Erma, as she hurried
+down the steps from the gallery to join the girls. "A bunch of girls and
+a bunch of flowers, I presume that is a figure of speech, but
+nevertheless I would not let Doctor Weldon hear me, if I were you. She
+might fail to see how flowery it is, and think you are using slang."
+
+Josephine was leaning against the balustrade. Her cheeks were pressed
+upon her upturned palm and her eyes were raised toward some remote
+region in the direction of the ceiling. Her hair was bound with a Greek
+band. She had seen to it that her short-waisted dress was suggestive of
+Grecian lines of beauty.
+
+"I rather like that term," she said slowly. "We say a bunch of flowers;
+then why not a bunch of girls. Somehow I always think of flowers when I
+see a group of girls together. Do people never make you think of
+flowers? Some seem to me like lilies, others like shy, modest violets."
+
+"Oh, cut it out!" said Emma, disregarding the rules in the use of
+language. "Just at present they make me think of a lot of empty vessels
+which will be emptier if they are not out of these duds and into dresses
+before the ten-minute bell rings for dinner."
+
+Emma strode on down the hall, in company with Mame Cross and Edna
+Bucher. Edna had her arm around Emma's waist, although she was fully
+six years Emma's senior. But the younger girl's father was a bank
+president, a railroad magnate, and a number of other important persons,
+and Edna believed in cultivating friendship where it would bear fruit
+worth while. Emma was lavish and Edna fell heir to many discarded
+trifles and was never ignored when Emma had a spread or banquet.
+
+"Josephine is too sentimental," said Emma placidly. "If she would only
+waken and talk sense, she would be fine."
+
+"She's such a sweet girl," said Edna. Every woman, girl or child she had
+ever known, came under that general heading in Edna Bucher's good books.
+They were "sweet." That was always the sum and substance of her
+criticism. There might have been a reason for such a general judgment.
+As in the case of Josephine, obligation fixed the limit of Edna's
+expression. She was at that moment, wearing a shirt-waist which
+Josephine had purchased only to find it too small for comfort in
+wearing.
+
+During the three weeks before the game with Exeter, nine practice games
+were played between the first team and the scrubs. In these Hester
+Alden played right guard. She had never missed a goal which she had
+attempted and had never made a foul. There had been one or two instances
+when she might have done quicker work in passing and kept the ball from
+the control of the opponent; but they were minor faults which faded into
+insignificance before her more brilliant plays.
+
+During this time, Helen had maintained the letter of courtesy toward her
+roommate. But there was no longer any show of affection or love between
+them. Nothing had been said about the trip to Exeter. However, Hester
+was counting upon it. She knew that her playing had justified Miss
+Watson and Helen in selecting her. Miss Watson was the head of the
+athletics, yet the choice of players in reality rested with Helen.
+
+Miss Watson permitted this because she believed that girls who were in
+sympathy with each other could work together better than where there was
+an unfriendly feeling or antagonism. Hester, relying on being chosen as
+a substitute for the Exeter game, made ready her suit, purchased a new
+pair of gymnasium shoes, and was about to write to Aunt Debby
+concerning the trip.
+
+The games were played on Friday evening, unless the distance was too
+great for the visiting team to reach the school in a few hours. Then
+Saturday afternoon was given over to them. Several days before, Miss
+Watson read out the names of the substitutes and the teacher who would
+go in charge of the girls. This important reading took place immediately
+after the general gymnasium work in the afternoon.
+
+Wednesday morning, Berenice went about with a very wise expression. She
+looked as though she could tell a great deal if she were insisted upon.
+Erma, meeting her in the hall, fell prey to her hints and insisted that
+she tell the secret that was weighing her down.
+
+"I was in the office waiting to see Doctor Weldon," said Berenice. "Miss
+Watson was in the private office talking with the doctor. It was
+something about the players for the Exeter game. You know Miss Watson
+must always give the list to Doctor Weldon before it is announced.
+Something unusual happened, for they debated a long time. Of course, I
+could not catch the words. I did not try; but I could not help knowing
+that there was a discussion."
+
+"There generally is," said Erma. "Doctor Weldon will not allow a girl to
+play unless she is up in her work and her conduct. Campused twice, and
+your throat is cut for any work in athletics."
+
+Berenice's face flushed. The reference to being campused touched her.
+
+"This was more than that. It was an argument; Miss Watson held to one
+idea and Doctor Weldon to another." This was growing interesting. A
+group of girls clustered about Berenice to hear the startling news.
+
+"Did you hear who the substitutes were?" asked someone.
+
+"Why ask that?" said Sara Summerson slowly.
+
+"I am not brilliant, nor yet am I observing; but I know who the
+substitutes will be if the choice is according to their playing."
+
+"_If_ it is," said Berenice.
+
+"I think it always is," said Mellie gently. "It would be very foolish to
+have it otherwise; to risk our securing the pennant on account of a
+little personal feeling. I do not like to feel that people are unjust.
+They have always treated me fairly."
+
+"They always will," said Erma.
+
+"They have never treated me fairly," said Berenice. "Every one I meet
+always tries to make something from me or treats me unfairly."
+
+Erma laughed and the girls followed her fashion.
+
+"They always will, Berenice," she said. "People always find what they
+are looking for. You always find in every place just what you carry
+there. You are out looking for trouble, and you will find it waiting
+around the corner. If you will persist in going about with a chip on
+your shoulder, you may be sure that someone will take pleasure in
+knocking it off."
+
+"But the players," cried Emma. "Who are they? When will Miss Watson read
+the names?"
+
+"I did not hear the names, but I did hear her say that she intended
+making them public at gym this afternoon."
+
+"I intend to ask Doctor Weldon if I may go over with the girls," said
+Emma. "Of course, I know that I will not be allowed to play and I don't
+care much about it. I'd have just as much fun looking on and rooting. I
+know a dandy lot of girls over there."
+
+"You had better see her early then," said Louise Reed. "She will not
+grant more than ten extra permissions and I know a number of girls who
+intend going."
+
+"I'll see her the first thing after luncheon," said Emma. "She will not
+let us come before one-thirty."
+
+"Whatever you do, Emma, do not get excited and tell Doctor Weldon that
+you know some 'dandy' girls at Exeter. She will not allow any of us to
+go if she hears from you that the Exeter girls are of that type. Be
+careful, Emma."
+
+Emma shrugged her shoulders and tried to look serious, but the effort
+was a failure, for the dimples came to her cheeks and rippled into
+smiles. She turned to Mame and asked if she were going.
+
+"I--going?" exclaimed Mame. "How can I go? I haven't a thing fit to
+wear."
+
+"You might wear your new blue broadcloth," suggested Louise Reed.
+
+"New? Why, I had that before the holidays. I never did like it. I shall
+not go with you girls and look shabby. You always look so well and I
+will not put you to shame."
+
+"I am sorry for you," said Erma. "I'd offer you my tan coat suit which I
+have worn but two years, only I need it myself; it being the only one of
+its kind that I have."
+
+"You may laugh," said Mame. "But I am telling you the truth. I haven't a
+dress fit to wear."
+
+"No congregating in the hall, if you please. If you must talk together
+you will find the parlor open to receive you." Miss Burkham had come
+among them and spoke with a voice of gentle authority.
+
+"Yes, Miss Burkham," replied six voices together, as the six bowed and
+moved to their rooms.
+
+The rumor that the names of the players would be read that afternoon
+filled the ranks in the gymnasium. A number of girls had received
+permission to be absent, but on hearing the rumor, they reconsidered
+and decided that they were able to be present. The period of exercise
+dragged along. The girls went through with the drills with as much
+animation as one might expect from an automatic machine. Their eyes were
+upon the clock whose hands moved provokingly slow. But it came to an
+end, as all things must after a time.
+
+Miss Watson gave a signal to the pianist to stop playing. Then stepping
+to the front, she bade the girls to be seated. They found places on the
+floor, on the horse and the mattresses which lay along the outer edge of
+the floor. A few drew themselves up on the horizontal bars and balanced
+there carefully while Miss Watson drew forth her paper, looked it over
+and then began her preliminary remarks. One could have heard a pin drop,
+so quiet was the room.
+
+"As you know, we play the Exeter team in their gymnasium, Friday
+evening," began Miss Watson in her brisk, business-like way. "The game
+will be called at eight o'clock. We shall have a two-hours' ride to
+reach Exeter. The last train from our station leaves at four o'clock.
+Consequently, the faculty will excuse from lessons Friday afternoon, all
+the girls who play."
+
+"Or root?" finished Emma. She was balanced on the bars. The sound of her
+own voice so startled her that she nearly lost her balance and was saved
+from falling only by Louise's clutching her firmly by the shoulder.
+
+Miss Watson turned toward Emma and looked her reprimand. "What have you
+to say concerning the matter, Miss Chase?" she asked. The tones of her
+voice would have disconcerted any one but Emma. Hers was an effervescent
+spirit which could not be suppressed. She smiled upon Miss Watson as she
+replied, "The girls who go along to root--will they be excused, too? You
+said the players will not have any lessons Friday afternoon. What about
+the girls that root?"
+
+Miss Watson looked her scorn of the question and questioner. One thing
+which had been discountenanced by the faculty and by Miss Watson in
+particular, was the word "rooting" and all it stood for.
+
+Miss Watson ignored the questions and continued, "Miss Burkham had
+planned to accompany you--."
+
+The girls gasped. With Miss Burkham in charge they would not be allowed
+to speak above a whisper. She would compel them to be all that was
+elegant and conventional.
+
+"--but she has found that to be impossible. Neither Doctor Weldon nor I
+can leave the school, so Fraulein Franz will have you in charge."
+
+There was a relaxation of muscles. An expression of amusement and relief
+spread over the faces of the girls. Dear Fraulein Franz! She would be
+with them like a mother hen with a brood of ducks. With the Fraulein
+they would do much as they pleased, and she would attribute it to the
+peculiar customs of the country.
+
+"The first team will be made up of the regular players. Three
+substitutes will accompany the team. Doctor Weldon thought three would
+be sufficient. I shall read the names of players and substitutes."
+Taking up the paper, she read.
+
+"Captain, Miss Loraine--Players: Misses Turnbach, Cross, Bucher, and
+Loveland. Substitutes: Misses Reed, Chase, and Thomas."
+
+That was all. Hester's heart had been in her throat at the beginning.
+Now she felt cold and chill. She had been so confident. The girls knew
+that she had expected to be chosen. They knew that she had her suit in
+order, with gay new letters across the blouse. She sat quite silent and
+motionless on the mattress propped against the wall. She could not raise
+her eyes to meet the eyes of the girls. She could not speak to them. The
+girls did the kindest thing they could do. They went off without
+attempting to speak to her, or to offer her condolence or sympathy.
+
+When she raised her eyes, she found that the gymnasium was deserted and
+that she was the only occupant.
+
+She arose and went out into the corridor. She could not go to her room
+and meet Helen. Helen had played her false. Perhaps, the recent
+assumption of dignity on Helen's part had been to prevent any criticism
+of this action.
+
+Hester could not remain alone in the gymnasium, neither in her present
+garb would she be permitted to visit the parlor, nor to linger in the
+halls. The only alternative was to go to her room, and meet Helen there.
+The injustice of the choice of substitutes at last appealed to her. Had
+she been an Alden in very truth, she could not have shown the old
+revolutionary spirit more.
+
+Wounded feeling gave way; personal pride took to itself wings. The thing
+was unjust and she would not bear it even from Helen Loraine. Another
+thing she would not bear--she had borne it too long already--and that
+was the distant, haughty treatment accorded her by Helen. Hester Alden's
+spirit arose. She would have justice though she had to fight for it.
+
+The feeling of humiliation left her. Now she had no dread of meeting the
+girls. She raised her head proudly. Her eyes flashed, and a flush came
+to her cheeks.
+
+Helen was in the study when she entered. She was evidently doing nothing
+and had been doing nothing for some minutes. Perhaps she dreaded the
+meeting as much as Hester. She looked up when the latter entered and
+spoke, "Well, Hester, are you back from the gym?"
+
+To use Debby's expression, Hester was not one to beat about the bush.
+Now, she brought up the subject at once.
+
+"Did you or Miss Watson choose the substitutes?" she asked.
+
+"Why, I did. That is, I recommended the ones I wished to play, and Miss
+Watson agreed that they were satisfactory."
+
+"Helen Loraine, did you choose ones who played the best, as you have
+boasted that you always do?"
+
+"I took the ones that played well and whom I thought had a right to be
+substituted."
+
+"Answer me this." Hester walked directly before her roommate. Standing
+so, they looked into each other's eyes. "Answer me this. Do I not play a
+better game than either Louise or Emma? Have I not made the score when
+their fouls would have brought it down?"
+
+"Yes, you have. You are a better player than either. To do you justice,
+Hester, you play as well as any girl on the first team."
+
+"I do, and yet you passed me over for an inferior player. Is that
+justice to either the team or me?"
+
+"It does not appear so. Yet one cannot judge from appearances alone. I
+believed that I did what was fair and honorable."
+
+"I fail to see it that way," said Hester proudly.
+
+"We do not see it from the same point of view."
+
+"Evidently not. But this much I insist upon. I must know the reason why
+you ignored me when you have acknowledged that I was the best player. I
+demand the reason."
+
+"Don't you know, Hester Alden? Don't you really know?"
+
+"I do not. There is something else I do not know or understand; that is
+your treatment of me for the last three weeks. Do not for a moment think
+that I am begging for either your love or friendship. I wish nothing
+that does not come to me of its free will. But it was you who first
+wished to be friends. It was you who always made the first advances.
+Time and time again, you told me that I was nearer to you than any
+friend you had ever had and that I seemed more like a sister to you."
+
+"I know," said Helen slowly. "And I meant every word. From that first
+night you were here, you were never like a stranger. I meant every word
+I told you."
+
+Her voice was low and sorrowful; but Hester was unmoved. The bitter
+feeling which had filled her heart for three weeks was now bursting
+forth in a torrent.
+
+"Much I care for such affection! If that is the way you treat your
+sister, I am very glad I am not she. Suddenly, without a reason, you
+grow haughty and rude--."
+
+"Rude! I was never rude, Hester. I was always courteous."
+
+"Yes, with the kind of courtesy which made me angry all over. I wish to
+tell you right here, Helen Loraine, that I shall not stand being treated
+so without a reason."
+
+"I thought I had a reason. I think yet I have a reason."
+
+"Then why did you not come to me and tell me point blank? It is far
+better to accuse me of something definite than to go about acting and
+looking unutterable things."
+
+"I could not tell you. Even now, if I should tell you and ask for an
+explanation--."
+
+"I would refuse to give it. It was either your place to come directly to
+me or to trust me implicitly. I would give no explanation now, if I had
+a million of them to give."
+
+"But, Hester, listen. I have been as hurt and miserable about this as
+you. Let me tell you--."
+
+"Here you are. I knocked once and you didn't hear me. Hester, would you
+just as soon lend me your basket-ball suit? I never gave a thought of
+going to Exeter and I haven't any letters for my blouse." It was Renee
+who had interrupted them.
+
+"Yes, you may have it," said Hester. She moved away. The talk which
+might have resulted in a reconciliation between her and Helen was not
+resumed and nothing at all came from it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+There were but twelve girls who went down from Dickinson to the Exeter
+game; but to the hundred yet remaining, it seemed as though the
+dormitories were vacant. Hester found the afternoon long. Her anger had
+passed. She was not sorry that she had spoken as she did, but that no
+results had come from her show of spirits. She was not in a mood to
+visit with the other girls. Her intimate friends had gone with the
+basket-ball team. No study hour was observed Friday evening. The parlors
+and library were open. Hester, from her room, could hear the sound of
+the piano and the school songs. Instead of enlivening her, it had the
+opposite effect.
+
+The girls who went down to Exeter could not possibly return until
+Saturday evening. That meant another entire day alone. Hester did not
+like to think of that.
+
+"I shall pack my suit-case and to-morrow morning, I shall ask Doctor
+Weldon to allow me to go to Aunt Debby."
+
+The decision brought up her spirits. She immediately began to arrange
+her work. The books were put in order and a suit-case taken from the
+shelf in the closet.
+
+"Aunt Debby said she would make new collars for my waists and change the
+sleeves." With this promise in mind, she selected the thin white waists
+which were showing signs of wear. Miss Richards and Miss Debby, with a
+few deft touches, would make these look almost as well as new.
+
+In her rummaging, Hester had the same experience that Helen had had
+three weeks before. She went over the boxes for some article she needed.
+She discovered the little box hidden away in the corner. She opened it
+and exclaimed just as Helen had done.
+
+"My pin! I had forgotten all about that. I think I shall wear it. It
+looks rather pretty against a white dress." Holding it up against her
+waist, she looked down upon it with satisfaction. It surely did look
+pretty, against the white! The little bit of cut glass scintillated
+like a bit of fire. Fastening it to her waist, she continued her work.
+
+The next morning, she went down to breakfast wearing the pin. Mellie was
+at the table, and gave a look of surprise when Hester came in. After a
+time she turned to her and said: "Where did Helen find her pin? I am
+glad she has recovered it, for it was valuable in addition to being an
+heirloom."
+
+"I did not know she had found it," said Hester. "She did not mention the
+matter to me."
+
+"I thought--." Mellie hesitated and did not finish the sentence. Several
+times, Hester found her looking closely at her.
+
+Hester was wearing a soft shirt-waist with a tie. The ends of the tie
+knotted in butterfly fashion had been caught together by the pin which
+was partly hidden by them.
+
+Hester secured permission to visit her Aunt Debby. She was to go down on
+the ten o'clock car and return Monday morning in time for chapel. On her
+way to the car, she met Mellie, Berenice and several girls from the west
+dormitory.
+
+"We'll walk with you to the triangle," said Berenice. "I do not know how
+we will put in our time to-day. It is certainly dull with the girls
+gone. I wonder how the game went last evening?"
+
+"Didn't you hear?" asked one of the others. "They telephoned Miss Watson
+last evening. She's our hall-teacher and she told us at once. It was
+twenty to thirty in favor of Exeter."
+
+"Exeter won!" cried Berenice. "It is poor management on someone's part.
+They never won a game from us before--not on such a score. Last year
+neither scored, and the year before Exeter was one goal ahead, and they
+would not have made that if the referee had not been partial."
+
+"I am sorry. I was sure they would win," said Hester. They had come to
+the triangle, the place where the sloping walks meet at an angle.
+
+"They would have won, too, if you had been there. You should have been.
+I, for one, was ready to revolt Wednesday morning, and the other girls
+would have stood by me. We would have done so if you would have shown
+any spirit; but you sat there as though the game were nothing to you."
+
+Hester smiled but made no attempt to reply. She was learning to know
+Berenice and the danger of expressing one's opinion in her presence.
+Life at Dickinson was teaching her more than what lay between the covers
+of books. She was learning to meet people, to know them as they were,
+and to hold her tongue under provocation as she was doing now.
+
+Berenice was not easily put aside. "Why, did you not show some spirit
+about it, Hester?"
+
+"Spirit? Why should I? If Miss Watson and Helen thought Emma put up a
+better game than I, why should I complain?"
+
+Berenice shrugged her shoulders. She was about to say more when Erma
+came down the dormitory steps and crossed the campus toward them. Her
+fair hair was piled high on her head in puffs and rolls. She was wrapped
+in a long garnet sweater. She looked like a crimson rose as she moved
+across the snow.
+
+"Drop the subject," cried Berenice. "Here comes Erma. She takes
+exception to everything I say. One cannot express an opinion or offer a
+criticism in her presence unless one is taken to task."
+
+"Perhaps it is just as well to let it drop," said Mellie gently. "It is
+only a game of basket-ball and not worth a heated discussion."
+
+"Well, peaches," cried Erma cheerily accosting Hester. "Are you really
+going home? Won't your Aunt Debby be glad to see you. Tell her I send
+her a thousand hugs and a million kisses. How I wish I were going home
+to see that dear old daddy of mine. Girls, when you want to see the
+grandest man in the world, come home with me and I'll show you my
+daddy."
+
+Berenice looked down over her nose.
+
+"It is well to be satisfied," she said.
+
+"It certainly is," replied Erma. "I am glad I am. There's not a father
+or mother better than mine and my friends are the best in the world. I
+wouldn't exchange them for millions."
+
+She had come close to Hester, and encircling her with her arm, asked,
+"When are you coming back, peaches?"
+
+"Monday morning. There comes my car now." She stooped to lift her
+suit-case which Marshall had brought down from her room and deposited at
+her feet. As she did so, the butterfly end of her tie fluttered,
+displaying her quaint pin whose setting gleamed like a spark of fire.
+
+Its scintillation caught Erma's eye. She was about to remark concerning
+it, but stopped herself in time. But Berenice, who never let anything
+escape her, also caught the sparkle of the stone. More than that, she
+saw the expression which passed quickly over Erma's face, and she read
+it aright. She made no remark until Hester had boarded the car, had
+waved her good-byes and the car had disappeared down the bend of the
+road. Then turning, she slipped her arm into Erma's and Mellie's, and so
+walking between them, moved toward the building.
+
+"Did you notice the pin Hester had on?" she asked suddenly.
+
+Mellie was wise and did not answer. Erma, who was as transparent as a
+ray of light, grew confused and tried to cover it up by asking, "A pin?
+Did she have a pin on? I suppose she did. Girls generally wear pins of
+some sort."
+
+Berenice shrugged her shoulders. "Yes; she had a pin on, Erma Thomas,
+and you observed it as well as I did. You know as well as I do whose pin
+it is."
+
+"You are very much mistaken. I know nothing at all about it. I have
+nothing to do with other people's jewelry."
+
+"You have with this. At least you spent hours in helping to look for it.
+It is that odd one which Helen Loraine wore and which so mysteriously
+disappeared."
+
+"Any disappearance is a mystery. If I lose a collar button, it is a
+mystery to me. If it was not, I would know where it was. The things we
+don't know are always mysterious. If we know, then they are as plain as
+day."
+
+"It seems strange it should disappear for three months and then Hester
+Alden have it on, especially when Helen Loraine is away."
+
+"That is the very time you should wear other people's jewelry and
+clothes. When I am home I always wear my mother's best silk stockings
+and rustling petticoats when I know she's down in the city shopping. Of
+course I always ask her--when she comes back--and she never refuses me
+permission. She always says the same thing: 'Well, since you have them
+on--'"
+
+Erma's attempts to lead the conversation away from Hester and the pin
+was without results. Berenice clung to the subject with a tenacity which
+would have been admirable had the thing been worth while.
+
+"I understand you, Erma. You think just as I do, but you are afraid to
+say so. I suspected from the first where the pin went; but of course I
+did not say so."
+
+"Do you not think it a wise course to follow now--to say nothing?"
+
+"It is very different now. Before, I was merely suspicious. One may not
+make statements in mere suspicion. Now I have proofs."
+
+"Proofs? Because Hester Alden has the pin on and Helen is away?"
+
+"Let us walk along the edge of the river," said Mellie. She, too, meant
+to change the conversation. "I love the river when it is icebound. I
+should like to cross if I thought it were safe. But I fancy we had
+better not. We have had several days of thaw and that always rots the
+ice, and rotten ice is far more dangerous than thin ice."
+
+"I intend to speak my mind," said Berenice. "Mellie and you are very
+much afraid you will express yourselves. You think as I do about the
+matter, but you will not say so. I cannot see the difference between
+thinking a thing and saying it outright."
+
+"The best thing to do is not to think it," said Erma. She laughed long
+and loud and merrily. "That is quite an idea. After this, I shall not
+think things. Perhaps my brain will never wear out. Doesn't the
+physiology say that every thought wears away some of the gray cellular
+tissue? Thank goodness, no one can blame me for destroying mine. I am
+sure I never thought any of mine away." As she spoke a new thought came
+to her. "No doubt, Helen found her pin weeks ago and you are having your
+tempest in a tea-pot all for nothing."
+
+Berenice had not thought of that possibility. This was an argument, she
+was not equal to and was the means of causing her to say no more on the
+subject.
+
+She knew from experience that she could not talk with some of the girls.
+They had a sense of loyalty and honor which restrained them from
+discussing anyone who came under the name of friend.
+
+Berenice was unfortunate in her disposition. She was not by nature
+honest or sincere, and she could not conceive of another's being so.
+When Erma and Mellie had refused to listen to her suspicions, she
+attributed not to their high sense of honor, but rather that they were
+deceiving her and would discuss the question between themselves.
+
+Every girl in the hall understood Berenice. They were careful of their
+words while in her presence and they never repeated a tale that she
+carried to them. Many a time had they taken her to task, but she never
+profited by the lessons. When the girls spoke to her plainly, she put
+the fault on them instead of upon herself. Gradually the girls let her
+go her own way, gave no credence to her words and kept a bridle on
+their tongues, when Berenice was within hearing.
+
+Yet, a word dropped here and there, will spring up and bear seed even
+though every one about knows it to be but a poisonous weed. Berenice
+dropped these seeds in plenty. A word fell here and there, although the
+hearers repudiated it, it yet made an impression, before any one was
+conscious that it was so. No one could trace the source from which it
+sprung, but the impression was strong throughout the hall that Hester
+Alden had taken Helen's valuable pin and had hidden it away for months,
+then at the first opportunity when Helen was at Exeter, Hester had worn
+it home.
+
+Hester, wholly unconscious that her action might be misjudged or that it
+should be judged at all, had left the pin at the cottage with Aunt
+Debby. She had put it away in her own tiny bedroom. A feeling of pride
+had restrained her from wearing it at school. The other girls wore pins
+which were not make-believes and Hester did not like the idea of the odd
+metal and cut glass.
+
+"Aunt Debby told me it was just a cheap little pin," she said to herself
+as she placed it away. "I shall always keep it because it was my
+mother's, but I shall not wear it. I do not feel just right wearing
+something which pretends to be something else."
+
+When Hester returned to school Monday morning, more than one pair of
+eyes looked eagerly for her coming. Erma and Mellie were hoping that she
+would come in with the pin boldly in evidence, and thus put to rout the
+rumors which had crept into the hall. Berenice, too, watched for
+Hester's coming with a wholly different motive.
+
+"If Hester Alden comes in to class and wears the pin when Helen is
+present, then of course nothing can be said. I shall believe it then
+that Helen found the pin and allowed Hester to wear it. But if Hester
+comes back without it, I shall draw my own conclusions, and I shall feel
+justified in doing so."
+
+She did not dare to say this to Mellie, Erma, or the older girls. It was
+to Emma she spoke, and Emma being youngest of all, and new to school
+life, listened and believed.
+
+Hester was expected on the eight o'clock car. It was not by chance that
+some of the girls lingered in the main hall at the time of her coming.
+
+Marshall from the office window, saw the car coming in the distance and
+went down to the triangle to carry up Hester's baggage. The group of
+girls saw him and moved nearer to the door.
+
+"The car is coming. Hester will be on it," said Berenice. Erma was in
+the little group. At the tone in Berenice's voice, Erma flushed. Like a
+flash there came to her a conception of the part she was playing in
+this. If she were Hester Alden's friend, she had no right to question
+her action and no right to wait at the door to find proof of her perfidy
+or her honesty. Erma raised her head proudly, "I think I shall not wait
+here. I shall see Hester later. The dear old honeysuckle that she is! I
+shall be glad to have her back. I missed her dreadfully these two days."
+She turned her back on the group and was about to walk away when Mellie
+moved forward and slipped her hand in Erma's arm. "I shall go with you,"
+she said. Others, grasping the situation more clearly than they had
+before, followed the example of Erma. So it was, that only Berenice and
+two of the younger girls waited at the doorway.
+
+But a few moments they stood there, when the door opened and Marshall
+ushered Hester into the hall.
+
+"I shall take this case directly to your room, Miss Alden," said
+Marshall.
+
+"Thank you, Marshall," cried Hester. She was her gay, bright self after
+her visit with Aunt Debby. Her eyes were sparkling and her cheeks
+bright. She turned to the girls who stood waiting for her. Ignorant of
+the motive which had brought them here to meet her, she greeted them
+affectionately.
+
+"It was lovely of you girls to come down here to meet me. I had a lovely
+time with Aunt Debby. Yet I am glad to get back to school."
+
+While she had been speaking, she had drawn off her gloves and had thrown
+back her coat. The girls had given no response to her greeting, but
+stood with their eyes fixed upon her. The exclamation which Berenice
+gave sounded much like one of exultation; for Hester Alden was not
+wearing a pin.
+
+Hester felt conditions about her. She gave the three girls a quick
+hurried glance as though to grasp the intangible something which she
+felt. Then she continued her way down the corridor. Berenice was not
+easily offended. Catching step with Hester, she walked with her.
+
+"Did you lose your pin, Hester?" she asked. "You had such a pretty pin
+on when you left school Saturday morning. I noticed at once that you
+didn't have it on now. Do you suppose you lost it?"
+
+"No, I did not. I left it home purposely."
+
+"Indeed. If I had such a pin I am sure I would wear it. There are only
+one or two girls in school who have diamonds. If I had a pin with a
+diamond in it, I am sure I'd be only too anxious to wear it."
+
+"But that did not happen to be a diamond. It is a very cheap little pin
+which belonged to Aunt Debby--that is, it belonged to me, and I'd rather
+keep it than wear it."
+
+Berenice gave her shoulders a shrug, lowered her eyelids until her eyes
+looked like little beads. She would prove to the girls that what she had
+said was true. Every one of Hester's friends had heard the report but
+had refused to discuss it. Erma laughed in derision at the mention of
+it. "Oh, you silly thing," she cried, "to come to me with such a story.
+Don't I know Hester better than that."
+
+And Mellie, Mame, Renee, and Sara stopped the tale-bearers in their
+story. Yet while they tried to be true, in the heart of each one was a
+doubt. Had they not seen the pin many times? Had it not disappeared
+weeks and weeks ago; and had they not seen Hester wear it home, and that
+when Helen was absent? Proof was brought before them and they tried to
+ignore it. They tried to strengthen themselves in their position by
+believing that Helen had found the pin and had neglected to tell them.
+
+Hester's friends would have let the matter pass, giving her the benefit
+of a doubt, but there was in school a different set who were easily
+influenced and stood ready to believe anything that was told them. This
+set with Berenice as instigator, took it upon themselves to ostracize
+Hester.
+
+It was the custom of the students to loiter in the parlor after dinner,
+gathering about in groups. Someone talked; others drew about the piano;
+while others arm in arm walked up and down in confidential talk. One
+evening as Hester joined one of these groups, the talk ceased. There was
+an attempt to resume it, but it was fruitless. The group scattered,
+leaving Hester alone. This occurred several times. Hester was not
+supersensitive; neither was she dull. She knew that something had gone
+amiss, and that she had purposely been snubbed. But not by so much as a
+glance did she show that she was conscious of the treatment. She
+lingered a few moments longer, made a pretense of playing a piece and
+then went to her room and took up her books.
+
+"They will not treat me so a second time," she said to herself. "They'll
+never have the satisfaction of knowing that I observed them."
+
+It was all very well to speak bravely, but the sting was deep. She had
+determination and pluck enough not to bewail. She took up her lessons
+and vented her energy in getting them out.
+
+She was not alone in observing the conduct of the younger set. The girls
+of her own hall had also seen what had taken place.
+
+Not in this alone, did the younger girls express themselves. At
+recreation hour, which followed the evening study period, they were
+accustomed to gather in little groups in one of the rooms. At these
+times, the chafing-dish was brought into use, and the air was heavy with
+the odor of chocolate. By contriving, the younger set managed that
+Hester no longer made one of the party.
+
+One evening, Erma and Mame took the girls to task on this matter. Emma
+and Louise expressed themselves strongly. Hester had been guilty of the
+greatest dishonesty and they meant to cut her dead.
+
+"Are you taking it upon yourself to mete out judgment?" asked Mellie
+gently. "I should scarcely feel myself equal to such a great work. You
+are not sure that Hester is guilty. You are surmising. Who knows but
+Helen found the pin."
+
+"I know," exclaimed Berenice. "I took it upon myself to ask her."
+
+"You must have had--" Erma began with some show of feeling, but stopped
+herself suddenly and laughed instead. What was the use in turning the
+matter into a tragedy. "Well, if you begin to cut people, you little
+freshmen, bear in mind that other girls can do the same. Hester is my
+friend and will continue to be. If she is not treated as I am treated,
+then I am treated badly."
+
+"It's a case of love me, love my dog, is it?" asked Berenice.
+
+"It's a case of treat my friends as you treat me. If Hester is not at
+the next fudge party, then you may expect me to leave and furthermore,
+you need expect no invitation to any spreads that I have anything to do
+with."
+
+She went her way. The younger girls shrugged their shoulders. It was
+considered very fine to be entertained by the seniors and to be accepted
+by them as friends. The freshmen who had been so favored did not wish to
+forgo these joys. On the other hand, they did not like the idea of
+giving up their independence and running at the beck and call of any
+senior.
+
+Berenice's words about asking Helen in regard to finding the pin, had
+put Erma's convictions to rout. She tried to comfort herself in the
+thought that Berenice was not always reliable in her statements. It was
+sorry comfort at the best. A heroic course then presented itself to
+Erma. The thought no sooner presented itself to her than she determined
+to put it into play.
+
+"This evening after study hour, I intend making some hot chocolate.
+Marshall shall buy me some nice fresh wafers when he goes down the
+street."
+
+"Thank you, I shall be there," said Mame.
+
+"No, you shall not. That is what I wish to speak to you about. The
+moment the half-hour bell rings, I wish you to go down to Hester Alden's
+room and I wish you to keep her there until I call to you and her to
+come. But not for worlds must you let her know that there has been
+anything premeditated about the affairs."
+
+"Oh, not for the worlds," said Mame. "I do not quite grasp your idea,
+but I'll do as I am told though I die for it."
+
+"You'll not die, Mamie. The good die young, so I see a long, long life
+for you. You will be rewarded for your goodness. I shall save the
+biggest cup for you and I'll fill it twice without so much as your
+hinting."
+
+"I am your servant from henceforth. Two cups of cocoa to be had not for
+the asking, and big cups at that."
+
+Promptly at the recreation hour, Mame hurried off to see Hester. There
+was something she wished done for the paper and Hester wrote so
+beautifully. Helen went away and left them. The sound of voices came up
+to them from Fifty-four.
+
+"Erma asked me to come down for some hot chocolate," suggested Hester.
+But Mame refused to take the hint.
+
+"Yes, she asked me too. She'll call us when it's ready. She knows that I
+am up here. Now, about this editorial. I'd rather write a novel than an
+editorial any time. In novels, something may be done; but in editorials,
+one must just think. Would you say this, Hester?"
+
+She began her reading on an abstract subject which was a theme worthy of
+a logician and Hester was compelled to listen.
+
+Meanwhile, down in Fifty-four, a number of girls had gathered. Erma was
+making good use of the chafing-dish while Renee was passing salt wafers
+and blanched almonds. Erma was laughing merrily, as she poured the
+cocoa. In the midst of her activities her brooch fell from her collar on
+to the table.
+
+"Good thing, I heard it," she exclaimed, drawing the attention of the
+entire room to it. "If I had dropped it in the hall or on the campus, I
+might never have found it, just as you did, Helen. You never found your
+pin did you?"
+
+"No," said Helen. Her reply was given curtly as though her mind were on
+other matters.
+
+"I told you so," cried Berenice with a show of exultation, looking from
+one girl to another. They had become suddenly quiet at Helen's reply.
+
+"I told you so," she repeated. Then turning to Helen, she continued. "I
+can tell you where it is. I saw it and so did several of the others. But
+they are afraid to tell."
+
+"Not afraid," said Mellie gently. "Fear was not what kept us silent."
+
+"Hester Alden knows where it is," continued Berenice. "While you were at
+Exeter, Hester went home. I met her in the hall and walked with her to
+the triangle. I saw the pin on her tie. It was partly hidden by the ends
+of her tie. When she came back, she did not have it with her. I was not
+the only girl who saw it. They all feel as I do about it. Hester Alden
+took your pin."
+
+She looked about the room with an air of malicious triumph. What could
+the girls do or say now? The gauntlet had been thrown down and they
+could not fling it back. It must lie there, for Hester could not be
+defended. Gentle, soft-spoken Mellie arose to the occasion. "I hope you
+are happy now, Berenice," she said. "But I do not see how you can be
+after such an act. You have deliberately done what you could to ruin
+Hester's reputation and what have you gained by it? Nothing at all,
+except those who have heard, care just a little less for you."
+
+During these remarks, Helen had sat silent on a heap of cushions piled
+high on the floor. At Berenice's first words, she had grown pale but she
+listened without a word. What could she say or do? While Mellie spoke,
+she decided the course she would take. If the girls misunderstood her
+meaning, well and good. She loved Hester. It was a queer worthless sort
+of love which would make no show of sacrifice for its object. She
+reasoned thus while Mellie was speaking. Then she looked from one girl
+to the other.
+
+"What startling things you say, Berenice. What pin have you reference
+to?"
+
+"Your heirloom with the diamond in it?"
+
+"Oh, that," with an air of assumed indifference. "Is that the one that
+you have in mind? Yes, I found that three weeks ago. Where do you think
+I found it?" She looked about at the girls, but gave them no opportunity
+to answer. "I found it in a little box along with some other trinkets.
+The box had been put on the closet floor and got pushed back in the
+corner. I was hunting about for some hooks and eyes and came across it
+quite by accident."
+
+A sigh of relief was felt. The girls had been sitting with every muscle
+rigid. Now, they relaxed and a buzz of laughter and talk began. Berenice
+was far more discerning than the other girls there. Something in Helen's
+manner was beyond her comprehension.
+
+"Did you really know then that Hester Alden had your pin and was wearing
+it?"
+
+Helen nodded brightly as she replied. No one noticed that she ignored
+the second question that Berenice had put to her.
+
+"Why, certainly, I knew that Hester had it. You take up very strange
+ideas, Berenice. I'd put Hester and the pin from your mind from this
+minute. I give you my word of honor that I knew that Hester had the
+pin."
+
+Erma laughed delightfully. Her voice ran the scale and came back with an
+echo of triumph in it. Her plan had succeeded beyond her most sanguine
+expectations.
+
+"I have forgotten the girls," she said, "and the cocoa almost gone."
+Going to the hall, she called to Sixty-two. "Hester Alden, are you and
+Mame going to stay there all night? The bell will ring in a few moments,
+and you will have no chocolate."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+From this time on, the younger set of girls made a point of being kind
+to Hester. Feeling that they had misjudged her they tried to repay by an
+excess of kindness. Hester was a responsive creature. She had no
+ugliness in her heart. Spite was a quality that had not entered into the
+composition of her character. So when the girls showered her with
+kindness, she responded heartily and put from her heart, the bitter
+thoughts which had been there.
+
+Helen, after the brave stand she had taken in regard to Hester, was
+troubled. She felt that she had been placed by Hester's shortcomings in
+an unpleasant position. She had deceived her girl friends. To be sure,
+she had not told them a word which was not strictly true, but they had
+misunderstood her and she knew it. To make matters worse, she had
+deliberately constructed her sentences that they might be deceived and
+yet she was telling the truth. Taking it all in all, it was a paradox.
+She hated deception, and Hester had placed her in such a position that
+she had been compelled to put a double meaning to her words.
+
+So the little plan which Erma had worked out had the effect of widening
+the breach between the occupants of Sixty-two.
+
+Hester had been grieved by the treatment she had received from Helen;
+but after the choice of substitutes, sorrow gave place to anger at the
+injustice accorded her. When the anger had gone, a steadiness of purpose
+came to Hester. She resolved to treat Helen with courtesy, nothing more;
+to be untouched by her in any way. Hester set her lips firmly and raised
+her head proudly. She had caught little mannerisms from Debby Alden,
+just as she had caught the principle which had actuated her conduct: not
+to cry out and let every one know when one is hurt.
+
+When she came back from the two-days' visit with Aunt Debby and Miss
+Richards, she had mastered her feelings to a great extent. She never
+failed to greet Helen upon rising; she bade her a courteous good-night
+when bed-time came. They spoke together of little school affairs, but
+the long confidential talks had gone. They were well-bred strangers
+together for a time. They were spoiling the best part of the school year
+by what they pleased to think was their heroism. It would have been far
+easier and more fruitful of good results had they taken each other
+sharply to task, and blurted out what they had against each other. It
+would have been an easy matter, for each would have discovered that
+there existed no cause for an estrangement between them.
+
+Down in the city, Debby Alden was spending the best year of her life.
+She had continued her music until her playing had passed the apprentice
+stage. She read the classics with Miss Richards. The townspeople had
+found her charming in her gracious thought for others. She was practical
+and thoroughgoing, and they filled her hands with church and charity
+work. Debby had not an idle, lonely moment. To do her justice, she gave
+no thought to what people might be thinking of her. She had too many
+thoughts outside herself to give Debby Alden much thought.
+
+She had proved the statement that it is a woman's own fault if she is
+not beautiful by the time she has forty years to her credit. Debby's
+beauty was of form and feature, and beyond this, the beauty which
+radiates from holding high ideals and living up to them. People did not
+merely like or admire this elder Miss Alden. Those words were weak to
+express the sentiment they held for her. They loved her, perhaps because
+Debby had in her heart an interest and love for every human creature
+that she met. Hester wisely had not mentioned to her aunt the little
+disturbance at school. This was partly due to unselfishness, and partly
+that there had been nothing tangible to tell. It would be very foolish
+to run and cry, "I have had my feelings wounded, but I do not know why."
+Pride, too, was one of the important factors of her silence. She could
+tell no one--not even her dear aunt--that the girls had, for some
+reason, held her in disfavor.
+
+But Debby Alden had not lived with Hester sixteen years without
+understanding her. The girl had barely entered the cottage and removed
+her wraps before Debby knew that something had gone wrong. Debby asked
+no questions, according to Hester the same privileges she demanded for
+herself--to have hurts and wounds without being questioned concerning
+them.
+
+At the sight of Hester's troubled face, Debby Alden's old fears came
+back to her. Had someone at the school brought up the subject of the
+girl's parentage? Had someone told her that she had been thrown upon the
+world a waif, and none of her people had cared to look for her?
+
+Saturday evening, the three of the household gathered about the grate
+fire. Miss Richards had her embroidery and Debby had taken up a book;
+but neither was in the mood for work. Hester was filled to the brim with
+school. She was fairly bubbling over with stories of what the girls had
+done; who had been campused, and who had been called into the office.
+
+Debby Alden listened to the chatter as though it were the profoundest
+wisdom.
+
+"And, Aunt Debby, what do you think? I missed Mrs. Vail again last week.
+She came to take Helen for a ride and intended asking me to go with
+them, but Sara and I had gone around the campus and so I missed my ride
+and did not meet Mrs. Vail. Does it not seem strange, Aunt Debby, that I
+should always miss her? I fell in love with her picture, you know, and I
+was very anxious to know her. Don't you think it's very funny?"
+
+"I do not know that it is funny," replied Debby. "It has just happened
+so. Does the young man come with his mother?"
+
+"Rob? Sometimes he does. He comes very often alone. Several times, Miss
+Burkham permitted me to go down to the reception hall with Helen and
+talk with him. Last week, when we had a reception, he was there, and he
+talked to me a long, long time. I think he is the nicest boy I ever
+knew. I think he is nicer than Ralph Orr. Don't you think so, Aunt
+Debby?"
+
+"You must remember that I met him but once, Hester. I liked him very
+much. He had such a nice boyish manner."
+
+"Boyish. Do you know how old he is?"
+
+"I am sure he is under seventy," said Debby with a smile.
+
+"Surely," said Miss Richards in her droll, quiet way, "he must be
+younger than I am. I am only sixty-three."
+
+Hester laughed. "You are making fun of me. He really isn't a boy. He is
+twenty-one and a senior in a Medical School. My, but he has strong
+nerves! I asked him if it didn't make him tremble to see the surgeons
+cut the flesh from one. He said it never phased him. That was his
+expression--never 'phased' him. I rather like the expression. It sounds
+just like what you might expect from a college boy. Don't you think so?"
+
+"I never knew college boys," began Debby Alden, but stopped suddenly.
+She remembered in time that James Baker had been a college boy. "--I
+never knew many, not enough to know what language to expect of them."
+
+Hester had not caught the hesitancy in Miss Alden's speech. Miss
+Richards had and looked up in time to see another Debby Alden than the
+Debby she had always known. This Debby had the flush of sixteen years in
+her cheeks and the tender light of day-dreams in her eyes.
+
+Just a moment, Debby Alden sat thus. Then the woman came back where the
+girl had been. "What more?" she asked Hester. "Of what else does this
+wonderful lad talk?"
+
+"Everything, Aunt Debby. I really do not believe there is a subject that
+he cannot talk upon."
+
+The women could not restrain a smile at this girlish exhibition of the
+confidence of youth.
+
+"He's traveled and he's been in school, and he is an athlete. He told me
+a great deal about school life. That was while we talked together at the
+reception. Helen was surprised that he talked so long to me. She says
+that he generally speaks to everyone for a few minutes and then goes. He
+must have talked to me a half an hour."
+
+"And then he went home?" suggested Debby. Hester blushed. "No, Miss
+Burkham came up and said that I must remember there were other guests
+who demanded some of my time, and I had to excuse myself."
+
+Debby Alden in her thoughts gave thanks to Miss Burkham.
+
+Hester continued her chatter. She needed no encouragement for when she
+was once on a subject she generally threshed it so thoroughly that
+nothing but chaff remained.
+
+"But Robert told me that he generally said but a few words to each lady
+present and then went home. But somehow from the very first, he said I
+did not seem a stranger to him. He felt that he had always known me.
+That was why he sat so long and talked with me and I wish that Miss
+Burkham would have attended to something else then, and let me alone."
+
+This was said in the most childlike, guileless manner. Debby Alden
+almost gasped for breath. She was about to remonstrate at the expression
+of such opinions when a glance from Miss Richards restrained her. That
+lady was not at all alarmed, only amused at Hester's talk.
+
+"But Eva does not know all I know," said Debby to herself. "If she did,
+she would find it no laughing matter."
+
+When Hester had gone to bed, leaving Debby and Miss Richards yet at the
+fireside, the latter took up the conversation.
+
+"You are needlessly alarmed, Debby. There is not a bit of danger about
+Hester's having her head turned. She looks upon Robert just as she did
+upon Ralph. He is a good companion. That is all. Perhaps, she is a
+little flattered by having a college boy notice her at all. I remember
+when I went to school, I did the same thing. If a cadet spoke with us,
+we held our heads high and if he asked us to dance, our heads were
+turned. We really cared not at all for the cadets, but the uniforms were
+very handsome. That was fifty years ago, Debby Alden, and girls have not
+changed one whit."
+
+She smiled as she thought of the old school days. She was far enough
+away from them now to know what was mere childish pleasure which had
+left its pleasant fragrance clinging to all the years between.
+
+"Nevertheless, no one knows what may result from these conversations. I
+shall speak to Hester."
+
+"My dear Debby, I beg that you consider and do nothing of the sort.
+Hester is a child with no thought of being anything else. Why should you
+put other thoughts into her head? You will do just such a thing if you
+discuss the subject further with her. Let her talk with the young man at
+the reception if she wishes to and Miss Burkham does not object."
+
+"She appeared so much interested. I am afraid--"
+
+"Nonsense. You would hedge Hester about with your fears. It is just a
+wholesome girlish interest which is right and proper for one normal
+young person to show in another. Had it been otherwise, Hester would not
+have talked so freely."
+
+Yet, Debby was not satisfied. "You know that very serious love affairs
+are started in just such a boy-and-girl fashion."
+
+"Surely. I know it. I know also that I do not think it altogether a bad
+fashion. Robert Vail, if I read him right, is an excellent young man.
+The Vails are people who are above reproach. So what cause would you
+have to complain, Debby Alden, if these half-hour talks should be taken
+seriously?"
+
+"In the abstract, your ideas are worth while," said Debby. She could not
+laugh at the matter as Miss Richards was doing. "But in the concrete,
+they are wrong from beginning to end, and cannot be applied to Hester's
+case. Hester must never marry. Knowing that, I intend to keep her from
+falling in love, for I would not have her be unhappy."
+
+There was tragedy in her voice which Miss Richards saw fit to ignore.
+
+"At the same time, keep the rain from falling and the days from growing
+shorter. One is as easily done as the other. You will pardon my
+frankness, Debby, but I think you are about to make a mistake with
+Hester. You may restrain and educate her to a certain extent, but you
+cannot control her thoughts or her emotions. No one can do that for
+another. Guide Hester as far as your power lies; advise and admonish
+her, but she must live her own life; make her own mistakes and shed her
+own tears over them. You and your love must not shield her from that.
+She is herself to make of herself what she will.
+
+"I cannot understand why you should wish her not to marry. In my mind,
+it is a fitting state for men and women, else the Lord would not have
+sanctioned it."
+
+Debby could make no answer to this. Miss Richards bent over her
+needlework. She and Debby in all their years of intimacy, had but once
+before discussed the question. It had been Hester and Hester's future
+which had brought it up. The two women sat in silence for some minutes,
+when Debby said, "You cannot understand in what way life must be
+different for my girl. You do not understand and I cannot explain."
+
+"Very well. But bear this in mind, Debby. You must not take the
+responsibility too heavily upon yourself. You are able to do a limited
+amount. There is a greater power in Hester Alden's life, than you. It is
+omnipotent and has a greater conception of life than your feeble mind
+can grasp."
+
+"I know," said Debby humbly. "I am able to do so little. I cannot save
+my little girl all the bruises and hard places. She must bear them
+herself."
+
+"And you should not if you could. Do not worry about Hester's being able
+to bear them. She has a courageous spirit and indomitable will."
+
+Silence came again. Miss Richards worked on the center-piece she was
+embroidering. Debby leaned back in her chair. Her eyes rested upon the
+dying coals of the grate. Hester's childlike chatter had started her
+thinking on matters she tried to keep back in her memory. She blushed at
+her foolishness. Her practical business-like mind looked with scorn upon
+day-dreams--such day-dreams as came to her then, as she sat with her
+eyes on the grate. She could not smile at Hester's talk of Rob Vail's
+wonderful attainments. It touched too deeply. She had thought the same
+of Jim Baker that winter he took her to the spelling-bees. He had been a
+rosy-cheeked, blue-eyed boy who had ambitions. She had listened to his
+stories of the work he meant to do and she looked upon him as the most
+wonderful person in the world. But that had happened over twenty years
+ago, and she was very foolish to think of it at all.
+
+Miss Richards worked in silence. At last when Debby Alden brought
+herself back from her day-dreams, her companion addressed her.
+
+"When Miss Loraine was here, Debby, did you observe the resemblance
+between her and Hester?"
+
+"Did I? I most assuredly did. The likeness was so strong that I almost
+exclaimed aloud when Helen stepped from the car. She was my Hester, with
+just a little difference."
+
+"You passed the subject over so lightly that I thought you had not
+observed what I had."
+
+"I passed over it lightly because I did not wish to disturb Hester. She
+knows she does not belong to my people; I would not have her know more,
+nor would I have her disturbed by commenting on the likeness.
+
+"The likeness between her and Helen did not startle me as much as a
+little mannerism which I noticed in her cousin. Did you observe Robert's
+way of looking at one while that one was talking? He had the appearance
+of being absorbed with interest, and so impatient to hear all that was
+to be said that he might be tempted to pull the words from one's mouth."
+
+Debby laughed softly at her words. "That is rather a peculiar way of
+expressing myself, but that is the impression he gave me. I have seen
+Hester sit so, listening. Time and time again, I have smiled at her
+intenseness, and I have chided her for it. I have no doubt that Robert
+Vail is an excellent young man. He looks it. If I read him right, he's
+inclined to be 'set' in his way. I do not doubt that if he thought a
+course of action was right and decided to follow it, he would be flayed
+before he could be compelled to give up. I have noticed that same
+tendency in Hester. She is what I call 'set' and always has been."
+
+"Debby, do you think for a moment that Hester had to go far from home to
+find her example? Your dearest enemies could never accuse you of
+vacillating. You are what your people were before you. You're 'set'
+Debby--quite set.
+
+"It is not a lack of virtue in one. On the contrary, I admire it. I have
+little sympathy for the one who moves with every passing influence. In
+my friendships, I find myself leaning toward folk who are 'set.'"
+
+The gentle kindliness in the speaker's voice and smile made every word
+she said seem like a caress.
+
+"I should be very glad, Debby," continued Miss Richards, "that Hester
+has that virtue. Wax melts under any influence; but if iron is molded
+right you have something stable. You have given Hester high ideals, and
+I have no fear that she will be influenced from them."
+
+"I had no thoughts of criticising," cried Debby quickly. "I am glad that
+my Hester is as she is. I would not have her different. I was remarking
+about the resemblance in manner and disposition between her and Robert
+Vail. She looks like Helen, but she is like Robert."
+
+"Do you think there might be relationship, Debby? If there be one,
+Hester would not blush to claim such kin. The Vails and Loraines are
+fine folk--fine in the highest sense that I can use the word.
+
+"You told me several years ago, that you knew more of Hester's family
+than you had given out. You told me no more than that, and I do not ask
+to know more now. But it came to me that they might be bound to Hester
+by ties of blood. Surely such a resemblance cannot come by mere chance."
+
+"There are no blood ties there," cried Debby Alden. "I am sure of that.
+No, do not misunderstand me. I would not be jealous of them were they
+her kin. I should rejoice to know she was of such a family and the
+anxiety which I have borne in secret would leave me. No, Hester is not
+of the Loraine or Vail blood."
+
+Arising from her place at the grate, she moved away to the end of the
+room and stood looking out on the white earth. After a few minutes'
+struggle with herself, she came back to where Miss Richards sat, "Eva,
+cannot your imagination fill out what I cannot tell? You know there are
+conditions of blood and family which bear a stain which generations
+cannot eradicate. Poor Hester, innocent and brilliant as she is, bears
+that mark. You know why I wish to make her independent and
+self-sustaining. Those from which she sprung are beneath her; and she
+dare not bring the affliction of her people upon those higher. You see
+why I must guard her. She must do as you and I have done--though not for
+the same reason. She must be alone all her life. I want you to help me
+in this."
+
+"As I have always done, and always will," said her friend. "My
+heartstrings cling about Hester, too. I love her almost as much as you
+do, Debby Alden."
+
+While the conversation was being carried on, Hester Alden lay in the
+room above not wholly unconscious that her aunt and friend were
+discussing her. Now and then a word came to her; but she closed her ears
+tight to shut out the slightest sound.
+
+"Aunt Debby is talking about my people and I must not hear. She said
+once that what she told me was all she cared to have me know, so I must
+not hear this."
+
+She shut the sound of voices from her ears. If Aunt Debby did not wish
+her to know, that ended it as far as Hester's desire to know was
+concerned.
+
+Debby Alden was troubled in her thoughts about Hester all that winter
+term; for she knew that something lay heavy on Hester's heart. The girl
+continued her studies, took her part in the social life of the seminary,
+and played basket-ball with all her energy; yet her heart was sore
+because the breach between Helen and her had not been bridged. The
+seminary life was fine--but Helen had been the biggest part of it to
+Hester.
+
+The river had been frozen over since the first of the year. The students
+who could skate, used the ice for an outside gymnasium under the
+chaperonage of the little German teacher. Helen did not skate and
+preferred the routine of the regular physical culture course. Hester, on
+the contrary, could have lived on skates, as far as her desire and lack
+of muscular weariness was concerned.
+
+The difference in choice of exercise separated the girls yet further.
+The skating was like a tonic to Hester. She could not be dull,
+depressed, or anxious after an hour on the ice. She missed Helen's
+companionship less than before. While Helen was brought to realize that
+it was not a passing fancy she had held toward Hester, but genuine
+affection and she missed her companionship more and more.
+
+The winter held on until late. The week preceding Easter Sunday, the
+spring thaw set in and the river came up and over the ice.
+
+"We'll have an ice-jam and a good one," laughed Erma. "Last spring the
+cakes piled as high as the old apple tree. The ice broke just at
+tea-time and the river was floating with it until morning. Doctor Weldon
+allowed us to watch until bed-time. It was simply gorgeous. Great white
+blocks would rise high in the air and then crumble into powder. I think
+we'll have a bad jam this spring." Erma danced away, overjoyed at the
+prospect of something to break the routine.
+
+The following Saturday, the rain fell all day. The building was gray and
+cheerless. It was the time of year when homesickness is prevalent at
+school. The girls were dull and sat about silent in the parlor or idly
+turning over magazines in the library.
+
+In the chapel a chorus of girls were being drilled. "What are they
+preparing for?" asked Hester of Sara.
+
+"You are new, so I cannot tell you. Wait and find out," was the reply.
+
+At tea-time the same heaviness of spirits hung over the dining-hall.
+Suddenly, a creaking sound was heard and a crush as though of breaking
+timber.
+
+"The ice!" cried Erma. Her voice was distinctly heard throughout the
+large dining-hall.
+
+Fortunately, they were at the dessert and Doctor Weldon excused them
+immediately. They were warned to fortify themselves with wraps against
+the weather. In a few moments, they had hurried to their rooms and were
+back again in raincoats, overshoes, and Tam-o-Shanters.
+
+The Fraulein loved the storm. She and Miss Laird were the only two of
+the faculty who could be induced to leave the building. The rain was
+falling softly. The Fraulein led the way across the campus to the edge
+of the river. The water had risen six feet since morning, and had
+encroached upon the campus, and gurgled about the trunk of the old
+orchard trees. The ice jammed back on the shore, forcing the girls to
+retreat. Great cakes arose as a perpendicular, balanced for an instant
+and fell to pieces, or crushed against the trees until they groaned and
+bent under the strain. All the while the growling and seething and
+gurgling of the water was heard above all. It was glorious. Little
+wonder that Erma had anticipated this with delight.
+
+The lights about the building were the only ones on the campus. The
+shadows were heavy where the girls stood along shore. Hester, to whom
+this scene was never old, although she had seen it every year of her
+life, stood entranced. Her umbrella had been tilted back and the rain
+beat down on her face, but she knew it not. She was unconscious of the
+chatter about her. She could not have talked. The river and noise and
+jamming ice held her spellbound.
+
+Helen observed her as she stood so and believed that she was sad. Going
+up to where Hester was, Helen stood beside her, but no attention
+whatever was paid to her. Then she laid her hand lightly on Hester's
+arm. The result was the same. Hester stood with her eyes fixed upon the
+river, and made no response to the overture of friendship. Then Helen
+turned away, feeling that she had been repulsed.
+
+When the heaviest flow had passed, the Fraulein took the girls back to
+the building. Helen went directly to her room to look over the evening
+mail; but Hester lingered with the Fraulein who was vainly trying to
+describe the flood which she had witnessed in her own little German
+village.
+
+When Hester at length entered Sixty-two, Helen had read her letters and
+was standing by the study-table in deep thought. She looked at Hester a
+little wistfully.
+
+"I had a letter from our pastor at home," she said, turning to Hester.
+"You have heard me speak of Dr. James Baker?"
+
+"Yes, I have," replied Hester and took up her work. One could not begin
+a conversation on so little encouragement. Helen took up the letter from
+her pastor and read it a second time. He wrote to her as he did to all
+the absent young people whose church home was his church. He brought to
+their attention, the coming Sabbath, and reminded them that it should
+mean much to them. He suggested that they too, lay aside the old life
+with its troubles and its shortcomings and arise with new ideals and a
+new spirit. He had expressed himself finely. Helen, who was sympathetic,
+was touched by his words. She would put aside the old life. She would
+begin that instant to forget all that had passed and begin anew even her
+friendship with Hester.
+
+Hester, fortified by her pride and the resolution she had made some
+weeks before, sat at her table writing. For weeks she had given Helen no
+opportunity for more than a passing word.
+
+"This letter from Doctor Baker is beautiful," began Helen. "He is as
+good as he writes. He has been our pastor for fifteen years--more
+perhaps. Will you read it, Hester? It may do you good. It has me."
+
+"Perhaps I do not need it," was the curt reply. "And perhaps Doctor
+Baker might object to a third party reading his letters."
+
+"Nonsense. He would be delighted. Will you read it?"
+
+"No, I thank you," said Hester, proudly. Then she added. "I may be
+beyond being reached, you know."
+
+Her tone was sharp. It caused Helen to cease from further importunity.
+
+"Very well, Hester. If you do not wish to, I shall not insist." She
+laid the letter aside.
+
+"It will be the very last time, I shall try to make up with Hester," she
+said to herself. "She never really cared for me, or she would see that I
+wish to be friends. But she does not care."
+
+When the half-hour bell rang, the girls began their preparation for bed
+without a word to each other. Since the first days of their
+misunderstanding, their politeness toward each other was so marked as to
+be burdensome.
+
+They excused and begged pardon each time their paths crossed. The same
+formality was continued now. There was no conversation, although both
+were talkers and their heads were buzzing with the things they would
+like to have said.
+
+When the retiring bell sounded, there was a short "Good-night, Hester,"
+and as short a response, "Good-night, Helen."
+
+There were to be sunrise services in the chapel at which every student
+was required to be present. But before that time, Hester was awakened by
+voices far in the distance. She sat up in bed to listen. The gray of the
+Easter morning was stealing through the window. The voices came nearer
+and nearer. At last she could distinguish the words.
+
+    "Christ is Risen. Christ is Risen. He hath burst His bounds in twain.
+    Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen! Alleluia, swell the strain."
+
+It was the chorus of girls. This had long been the custom of the school,
+to wake the pupils by song on Easter morning.
+
+The voices drew nearer. The singers paused at the landing of the stair.
+Hester could distinguish Erma's loud, clear notes which soared upward
+like a bird and floated over all.
+
+    "Alleluia, Alleluia, swell the strain."
+
+The spirit of the Easter morn came to Hester.
+
+There was peace and joy. She wished for that. She really had not had it
+for weeks. While the song rose and fell, her heart softened toward
+Helen. She would make up with her. She would ask to be forgiven and be
+friends again. She crept out of bed and went to Helen's bed, but Helen
+had gone to make one of the Easter Wakening Chorus.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+Proserpina had returned to earth again. The evidence of her visit was
+everywhere. The campus had turned into green velvet; the pussy willows
+were soft as chinchillas; the apple trees were in leaf, and just about
+to blossom. These were the signs of spring everywhere. In addition to
+these, the seminary had a sign which appealed to it alone. The man with
+the ice-cream cart had appeared. For several days, his cart had been
+backed against the curb of the campus and the sound of his bell was like
+the music of the hand-organ to the girls. It was a bluebird and a
+robin--the harbingers of spring to them.
+
+May came and was quickly passing. The girls were talking caps and gowns
+and diplomas. The seniors went about with a superior air; the juniors
+were little better for they had a classday at least. The freshmen and
+sophomores, in the plans for commencement week, were but the fifth
+wheel to a wagon. They were ignored. If they offered suggestions they
+were snubbed, and informed, not too gently, that they could not be
+expected to know anything about such matters--being new to the ways of
+commencement.
+
+Though they had neither commencement, class day, nor play, the freshmen
+and sophomores did not lose spirit. What was not theirs by rights, they
+meant to make theirs by foul means and strategy.
+
+It had long been the custom of the seniors to follow the commencement
+proper with a banquet. This included only members of the senior class.
+The Alumnae banquet took place later and was in the hands of old students
+who had long since left the seminary. Among these were the wives of
+judges, physicians, bankers--people with whom the freshmen and
+sophomores dare not interfere, though it would have been an easy matter
+to have taken this Alumnae Banquet, for there was no one on hand to guard
+it. The menu and serving were wholly in the hands of a caterer from the
+city.
+
+Knowing that the affairs of the Alumnae must not be tampered with, the
+freshmen turned all their energies toward the seniors and juniors.
+
+The juniors were to give a play. The costumes were to be rented for the
+occasion. The play itself was zealously guarded lest it be stolen. Erma,
+whose talent lay in a histrionic direction, had charge of the copies of
+the drama. Erma had talent but no forethought. She put the pamphlets in
+the place most suited to them. Hester, who had been sent out by her
+class as a scout to find what she could of the plans of the juniors,
+discovered the books the first day; and not only the books but the names
+of the juniors and the parts which each was to take. Hester reported
+immediately the results of her investigation. The following day, while
+Erma was engaged elsewhere the play disappeared, was hurriedly copied by
+the freshmen and replaced. Not a member of the junior class, so the
+freshmen believed, was aware of what took place and was not the wiser
+that the freshmen had begun the preparation of the same play.
+
+"We can outdo them," said Louise at the class-meeting. "The play is
+booked for Tuesday evening. Monday evening is the band concert and
+promenade from seven o'clock until eight-thirty. After that, the
+freshmen class will have the floor and we'll give the play before the
+juniors. Their efforts will fall flat on Tuesday evening."
+
+"But the costumes!" exclaimed Hester. "What will we do for them?"
+
+"Borrow them from the juniors when they are from their rooms. We will
+need them but one evening. We'll return them as fresh as ever the
+following morning."
+
+"Will they lend them?" It was a little first term girl who asked the
+question.
+
+"No, you dear little freshie, they will not lend them if they can help
+themselves. We will ask them Tuesday morning and use them Monday. It is
+the safest way," said Emma, who was exceedingly enthusiastic over this
+part of school life. While at home, she had read volumes on the subject
+of life at a boarding school. From the impression left by those books,
+life at school was one succession of receptions, public meetings, and
+practical jokes. Discipline and lessons were in the undercurrent of
+life. Life at Dickinson had been wholly different from what Emma had
+anticipated. This stealing of the junior play and presenting it before
+the juniors had the opportunity, appealed to Emma. This was more in the
+order of the books she had read.
+
+Louise sat up on the rostrum, appointing the students to their parts.
+She looked at Emma quizzingly, "About your part, Emma," she began.
+
+"I know what I want to be. Let me be queen. I'd dearly love to put my
+hair up and wear a train."
+
+"You! The queen!" the girls laughed in scorn. "You never would have
+dignity enough for that. What you should be is a Dutch doll that moves
+with a spring."
+
+"I could do the queen part--," she began.
+
+"Hush, hush. You are talking too loud. Some one is coming."
+
+Footsteps were heard along the stair. The door opened and Renee put her
+head in.
+
+"Are you there, Louise?" she asked. "Do you object to my taking your
+umbrella? My roommate has gone off leaving mine locked in the closet,
+and I've permission to go down town."
+
+"Yes, yes, take it," cried Louise. Renee closed the door and
+disappeared.
+
+"I'm suspicious of that umbrella," said Edna. "I think Renee was sent up
+here to see what we were about."
+
+"No, I'd be suspicious of any one but Renee. She wished the umbrella. I
+am sure of that."
+
+"But why should she need it this afternoon. There is not the slightest
+suggestion of rain and the sun is not bright."
+
+"Because, she couldn't go without borrowing something," said Louise. "It
+wouldn't be Renee if she could. I suppose she looked about and an
+umbrella was the only thing she did not have at hand, so that was the
+only thing she could borrow."
+
+Eventually the parts were given out and partly learned. The girls had
+planned for a rehearsal the first week in June. The fact that everything
+had to be done under cover from the juniors, made the practice drag.
+They could assemble only at such hours when the juniors were in class,
+and the chapel vacant.
+
+The sophomores, confident that the freshmen alone would be able to
+manage the juniors, turned their attention to the seniors. Their plan
+was to divert the banquet from the dining-hall to one of the society
+halls, and feast upon it while the seniors went wailing in search of it.
+
+Their plans were developing nicely when the weather saw fit to
+interfere. The last day of May, which fell on Tuesday, set in with a
+soft, fine rain. This was nothing alarming in itself, had it performed
+its work and gone its way. But it lingered all day, all night and when
+Wednesday morning broke dull and gray, the volume of water had
+increased, and was coming steadily down. Thursday was but a repetition
+of Wednesday. The rain did not cease for an instant. The sun never
+showed his face.
+
+The river had crept up gradually until the water was licking the trunks
+of the apple trees; but this was not alarming. The ice flood had been
+higher; and further back on the campus were the marks of the flood of
+'48, the highest flood ever known along the river. Even then the water
+had not touched the building. There was nothing at all to be alarmed by
+the river's rising.
+
+After the afternoon's recitations, the girls went down to the river's
+edge, although the rain poured down upon them. They were learning the
+tricks of the old river men. They stuck sticks in the edge of the water
+to mark the rise or fall.
+
+"It's risen over a foot since lunch time," cried Erma. "See, there is my
+marker. You can just see it. Think of it--a foot. What will become of
+us?"
+
+"It will rise twenty feet before we need give it a thought," said
+Hester. She had been reared along the river and had no fear of it. She
+loved it in any form it could assume--tranquil and quiet--frozen and
+white--rolling and bleak and sullen. In every form, she recognized only
+the beautiful and knew no reason to fear.
+
+"But if it should rise twenty-five?" cried Erma. She was running about
+excitedly like a water-sprite. Her red sweater gleamed in the sullen
+gray light. The rain was trickling from her Tam-o-Shanter; but she was
+oblivious of all, save the far remote danger.
+
+"Oh, what if it should come up twenty-five feet!" she continued asking
+as she ran along the shore.
+
+"Oh, what if the world should come to an end!" retorted the girls in
+derision.
+
+The gong in the main hall sounded.
+
+"I knew it," cried Emma. "I knew Doctor Weldon would not allow us to be
+out long. She's dreadfully careful of us. Now, what harm can a little
+bit of water do to anyone?" Emma shook her bushy, curly locks.
+
+"Nothing, when one's hair curls naturally. But it can do a lot when
+one's hair is straight. Look at mine." Mame sighed dismally. "Did you
+ever see such locks? Every one as straight as a poker. I wish, just for
+once, I could look like other girls."
+
+Josephine was standing in the hall, waiting when the little group of
+girls entered.
+
+"Have you been in all the time?" asked Hester. "How could you? The river
+is fine and getting higher and higher each moment. You shouldn't miss
+such a sight as this."
+
+"I have not missed it," was the reply, given while the speaker's eyes
+took a soulful upward glance. "I cannot enjoy nature with people
+laughing and talking about me. I must be alone and commune with it. I
+have stood here watching from the window. What a beautiful and yet a
+terrible scene it is. I feel uplifted."
+
+"I wish I felt the same way--uplifted to the extent of two flights of
+stairs," said Hester. She had not meant to be funny, but the girls
+laughed. Josephine turned upon her a hurt, aggrieved look. But just for
+a moment, then she smiled and said gently, "Hester, you little
+water-sprite! How can you jest when nature is at war?"
+
+Edna Bucher was another student who would not brave the elements. She
+stood at the hall window where the stairway makes a turn. She was
+dressed in very somber clothes, guiltless of curves or graces. She did
+not look with favor upon girls' trudging out in the storm. It had in it
+the element of tom-boyism upon which Miss Bucher looked with alarm.
+
+"No, I did not go," she said meekly and apologetically. "I was brought
+up to think it wasn't ladylike to go out in all kinds of weather;
+ladies don't do it. It is just what you would expect of a man."
+
+The hearers replied not a word. They did not so much as shrug their
+shoulders or glance at each other. But each girl resolved at that
+minute, if being hearty and hale and fearless were unladylike, from that
+moment they would be that very thing.
+
+The weather soon had its effect upon the spirits of the girls. Gayety in
+the dormitories and parlors was reduced to the minimum. Pupils stood
+silent at windows, gazing out at the steady downpour. Where they did
+gather in groups of three or four, there was no laughing or bright talk.
+Just a word now and then, and a low reply. At intervals, someone grew
+intolerant and expressed herself. "Will this rain never stop?" "I was
+hoping it would clear so that we might go into town."
+
+Their hopes were doomed to disappointment. The rain never ceased for one
+instant during the night and all day Friday.
+
+At lunch time Friday, the girls ran out on the campus to see what had
+become of their markers of the evening before. They were gone. The
+water had come over them and moved up in the campus until it touched the
+cannae-beds.
+
+"The flowers will be ruined!" cried the girls. As though to prove the
+truth of the statement, a tongue of water curled itself softly about the
+plants, sucked deep into the roots, and when it went its way, the
+cannaes went with it, and only a hollow was left in the great bed, and
+this was quickly filled with water.
+
+"It has risen three feet since last evening," said Hester, who had been
+standing silent, estimating the distance. There were exclamations of
+wonder, surprise, and fear. To many, three feet of a rise in water meant
+no more than a Greek syllable. They had not been reared near a river,
+and knew nothing of what might be expected in the way of floods.
+
+"Three feet is nothing," said Hester with the air of one who knew all
+there was to know of such matters. "Why, a June flood is generally seven
+feet at home. We do not think much about it. And September floods--we do
+not always have them, but we wouldn't think of calling it a flood
+unless the river rose at least five feet. Three feet since yesterday!
+That is really nothing at all. I hope it will go five feet higher before
+night."
+
+It was all braggadocio on her part; but it had the desired effect. Erma
+screamed in terror; Emma's eyes grew big; Mame scolded her soundly for
+expressing such a wish. For a while she had a hornet's nest about her
+ears.
+
+Early Friday afternoon, a change came. Before, the rain had come down
+steady and constant. Now it came in a stream, as though the floors from
+a great reservoir had given way and the water had fallen in one great
+body.
+
+There was no going out in this. An umbrella was no protection whatever,
+for the rain came through as water through a sieve. After dinner, the
+girls stood in the windows which overlooked the river and watched the
+water as it crept up, so slowly the eye could not recognize its advance.
+
+The trunks of the apple trees were hidden from view. The water was muddy
+and foaming. The current had increased until the velocity was ten times
+that of normal. There was a sullen roar, and tearing as though the
+banks were giving way. Some logs were running, but not many. The breast
+of the water was covered with drift. At intervals, large branches of
+trees went down. Once a great oak, roots, trunk and all, sailed close to
+the apple tree and almost tore it from the earth. A walk, a piece of
+fence, a chicken coop, or a dog-kennel went bobbing along their watery
+way. Some distance below, yet in sight of the school, was the county
+bridge. It had been built in the early history of the country. It was a
+big, clumsy-looking affair of wood with a shingled roof and board sides.
+Now, entrances were cut off by a wide stream. It stood alone, like an
+isolated being; its weather-beaten sides, looking gray against the brown
+of the muddy water.
+
+The sight of the river was growing awful, yet it attracted and held the
+girls. The study bell rang unheeded. Miss Burkham came from her room to
+call their attention to the study hours.
+
+As the girls from the east wing crossed the main hall in order to reach
+their rooms, they saw Doctor Weldon in earnest conversation with
+Marshall, the office boy; Belva, the man-of-all work, and Herman who
+acted as night-watchman.
+
+"I do not anticipate a bit of trouble," she was saying. "But telegrams
+came into the city from Reno, thirty miles above, that there was a
+twenty-foot flood there and still rising. They've sent warning all down
+the river.
+
+"I have heard that alarm sounded ever since I have been at the seminary.
+It is always a twenty-foot flood and the word always comes from Reno.
+Either those people have no idea of a foot measure or their imaginations
+have been over stimulated." She spoke slowly yet with conviction, as one
+who has been accustomed to having their slightest word obeyed. The three
+men had been at the seminary and in her service for ten years. They
+adored her and accepted her word as final.
+
+"However, Herman, you keep a close watch. Do not let the water reach the
+drive without warning us. We will not run any risks. If you wish to have
+Belva and Marshall with you, well and good. I shall ask the matron to
+have a lunch prepared for you."
+
+There was little possibility of danger. Should the water creep up from
+the river, even to the west side of the dormitory, a great wing extended
+to the east and avenues of escape would remain open.
+
+The girls overheard Doctor Weldon's words. They were not alarmed. They
+understood the conditions perfectly. Should the water come near the west
+wing, a thing which had never yet occurred even in the famous flood of
+'48, there could be no immediate danger. They were excited with the
+prospect of the unusual happening. Since it had rained for five days
+against their express wishes, they would feel themselves aggrieved if no
+compensation, in the form of an unusual experience, was offered them.
+
+The fact that it was Friday night, and that the week had been one which
+had been void of relaxation or amusement in any way, moved the
+preceptress to shorten the study hour and lengthen the time for
+recreation.
+
+But the students would not get away from the weather and the flood.
+Little groups of four and six came together and discussed floods, from
+the Noachean down to the one of '48. The girls had no personal knowledge
+of any high water, but they handed down the folk-lore as it had come to
+them.
+
+Some were particularly fine in giving detail, and making weird, strange
+scenes so real that their hearers were deeply affected. Erma had this
+power in a great measure, and Hester, to some extent. By the time they
+had related several stories, the girls in Sixty-two were shivering with
+nervous fear.
+
+"Oh, you silly little geese!" cried Erma. "Why, you are actually
+shivering over something which happened in my great-grandfather's time!"
+
+"But you make it so real! You and Hester talk as if it happened but
+yesterday," said Mellie.
+
+"Certainly, that is what we try to do," Erma laughed, and seizing Mellie
+by the hand, drew her up from the floor where she had been sitting.
+"That is what will make us famous. I shall be a great actress and Hester
+a great writer."
+
+Hester heard and blushed. She wondered how Erma knew of her day-dreams
+for she had mentioned them to no one.
+
+"Come, peaches," cried Erma. "I'll take you back to your rooms. If I do
+not, you all will have nervous prostration, sitting here listening to
+such stories."
+
+"I do not know when Erma is complimenting me," said Mellie as she
+followed. "Sometimes I am 'silly goose' and sometimes I am 'peaches.'
+Now when am I which, and why?"
+
+Erma laughed again. "Oh, you silly goose, don't you know you're peaches
+all the time with me?"
+
+The girls departed. It was yet early, yet Helen and Hester prepared for
+bed. Each was deliberately slow. Their paths crossed and recrossed as
+they moved from one part of the room to the other, yet not a word was
+said until Hester reached to turn off the light. Then came the customary
+good-night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+There was no danger of the river rising to such an extent that the
+building would be surrounded and communication cut off. Such a thing
+would be impossible! But Doctor Weldon had forgotten to reckon with the
+creek which flowed on the opposite side of town and joined the river at
+the east end. It had risen as rapidly as the river and had come over the
+banks and was creeping in upon them.
+
+Hester awakened suddenly. It was early morning for the gray lights were
+shining in at the windows. The rain had ceased. The first thought which
+came to her was that of thankfulness. Now they could have a clear
+Saturday and be out of doors without being drenched to the skin.
+
+It was not raining but there was a peculiar gurgling sound of water.
+Helen also heard it and sat up in bed.
+
+"Do you hear that, Hester? What is it?"
+
+"It is something outside, I'll see." As she spoke she had left her bed
+and hurried to the window. Her exclamation brought Helen to her. There
+was no need to ask for explanation. Beech Creek had backed in from a
+mile beyond, and was lapping against the stone foundation. The water was
+moving over the campus. Nowhere was it more than an inch deep; but on
+each side lay the greater depths of the river and the creek.
+
+"Let us get dressed at once!" cried Hester.
+
+"Yes, let us go downstairs," replied Helen. She was not so excited as
+Hester, yet she was more afraid. Hester knew the river and loved it. Now
+her excitement did not spring from fear, but from a kind of enjoyment.
+
+They slipped into their clothes and made themselves as presentable as
+possible and hurried downstairs. At the front entrance was a group of
+girls. Some were standing on the lower step, which was a single piece of
+granite. The water was lapping but a few inches below. While they talked
+and laughed, some hysterically, the water crept up and lapped upon the
+lower step. The girls moved higher. Five steps led to the entrance,
+which was on the level of the first floor. Then the breakfast bell
+sounded and the girls reluctantly went into the dining-room.
+
+While they were standing with their hands on the back of their
+respective chairs, awaiting the signal from the principal, she addressed
+them.
+
+"Young ladies, you will be served with plain fare this morning. Perhaps,
+you do not know that the butcher, the baker, the milkman, and butter-man
+drive in each morning from Flemington. The road was flooded this morning
+and they could not reach us. The supplies which the steward keeps on
+hand, are in the basement, which was flooded last night. You may be
+seated."
+
+There was no complaint at the bit of bacon and stale bread with which
+each plate had been served. There were excitement and hilarious
+good-humor, as though the flood had come for their especial benefit to
+give them an experience new and unusual. A bit of bacon and stale bread!
+One could get along very well for a few hours on that. But it seemed
+destined that the students were not to have even so little.
+
+Marshall came in and hurried to Doctor Weldon. She appeared cool and
+collected; but one could never tell from her manner whether she were
+anxious or not. The few seniors who remembered when the building had
+been afire, remembered Doctor Weldon had acted just so. Waiting until
+Marshall left the dining-hall, she rang the bell. The buzz of voices
+ceased.
+
+"Take your plates and go up to the parlor on the second floor. You may
+be dismissed in order. Miss Burkham's table first."
+
+Miss Burkham arose and led the way. She was quite as collected as Doctor
+Weldon, although, she, too, had seen the water marks which were
+appearing on the floor from the water in the basement below.
+
+"It is like a picnic. Think of eating bacon and stale bread in a parlor,
+done up in pale-green and silver. I know it will taste better." It was
+Erma who was talking. Her voice rang over all like a silver bell, as
+with merry laugh and light spirits she lead the way to the floor above.
+
+The door leading from the main hall on to the porch was closed, but a
+little stream had forced itself in and was trickling over the floor.
+The men-servants were rolling up the rug, preparatory to carrying it to
+the floor above and the women-servants were pinning up window draperies
+and hangings to save them from possible contact with the water.
+
+Doctor Weldon, calm and serene, as though a flood were an everyday
+occurrence and not at all alarming, went about the building instructing
+the servants and teachers in regard to saving what they could of the
+property on the ground floor.
+
+Hester, Helen, Erma, and their friends stood on the landing of the
+stairway and watched the men work. The girls had forgotten that they
+were hungry. Their plates were poised in the air and the bits of bacon
+and stale bread were untouched.
+
+Renee came to the head of the stairway and leaning over the balustrade,
+looked down on the outstretched plates. "Haven't you girls touched a
+bite?" she asked. "I am glad I found you. I wish you'd lend me your
+piece of bacon."
+
+The girls, thus addressed, saw nothing humorous in the request. Erma
+was about to hand over her portion when a laugh from the hall above
+caused her to pause. Emma, Edna, and Louise were laughing and ridiculing
+Renee, who turned about and went off in bad humor, explaining as she did
+so that she wanted a piece for Mame Cross who had been complaining that
+she had not been treated as other girls when it came to the distribution
+of bacon.
+
+The men tossed the rugs upon the first landing of the stairway and went
+to the assistance of Marshall, who came in with tables and chairs from
+the kitchen. By much straining and lifting, the pianos were raised upon
+these.
+
+"That is all we can do," said the night-watchman. "We cannot possibly
+take them to the second floor. They are three feet higher now. The water
+can't possibly rise that much more."
+
+Doctor Weldon had taken refuge on the steps for the hall was flooded.
+The girls moved up to the second floor.
+
+"Let us go to the Philo Hall on the third floor," cried Erma. "We can
+see over town from there."
+
+"I do not wish to see," said several.
+
+"I do," said Hester and Helen together. The three made their way to the
+hall whose windows opened to the north and east. The current from the
+river was sweeping about the corner of the building with a tremendous
+force. Logs and square timbers, uprooted trees and driftwood were being
+borne down in great quantities.
+
+On the side of the driveway, where the current was strongest, stood an
+iron lamp-post deeply imbedded in a foundation of stone. It had been
+placed there in the early history of the school, when electricity and
+gas were unknown. It had never been removed for the trustees were
+graduates of the school and refused to remove the landmarks of their
+school-days. So there it stood above the muddy, dirty water.
+
+The girls at the open window above could look down upon it.
+
+"See that great timber coming!" cried Helen.
+
+"It is right in the current and making straight for the building. If it
+should strike the corner!"
+
+The building was old and not able to stand the force of a heavy timber,
+propelled by such a tremendous force. The girls at the window knew what
+that meant. They held their breath. The timber rushed on, but it turned
+broadside in the current and came up against the iron post. There it
+remained as nicely as though weighed and measured and fixed in place.
+Back of it came logs and drift which piled upon the timber and lamp-post
+until a bulwark was formed which turned the current away from the corner
+and the danger with it.
+
+"It's luck. Did you ever see such luck?" cried Erma. "If that lamp-post
+had not been there, the whole corner of the building would have been
+broken in. It was luck--pure luck."
+
+"It was Providence," said Helen simply. "I think it was meant that the
+lamp-post should be just where it is."
+
+There were few words said. The scene was so awful that the desire to
+talk was taken away. From the parlors below, the excitement and laughter
+died. A quiet fell over the building. There was nothing to do but to
+watch and wait--for what or how long, no one could tell.
+
+[Illustration: THEY HELD THEIR BREATH.--_Page 290._]
+
+The sun shone out on the water. Below, lay the city. The portion which
+stood low was flooded to the second floor. Hester thought of Aunt Debby
+as her eyes rested on the distant town.
+
+"There is no fear there," said Helen following the glance of her
+roommate's eyes. "Fairview Street is the highest in town. You remember
+there is a terrace with steps where it joins Market. The tops of the
+buildings on Fourth Street will be covered before it comes to the doors
+of Fairview."
+
+Hester knew that this was true. No immediate danger threatened the
+little cottage. The seminary with its old walls and the current from
+both river and creek beating upon it was where fear lay.
+
+"Look!" cried Helen, pointing her finger to midstream. There bobbing
+along like a cork on the current was a stable one side of which had been
+torn away. The mow was filled with hay, and in the stalls beneath was a
+horse feeding from the manger. It bobbed along serenely, as though
+midriver in a high flood were the legitimate place for a stable. Then it
+struck the sides of the bridge. There was the sound of crushing and the
+barn was sucked down under the bridge and disappeared from sight.
+
+The morning passed and the girls sat in the window seats, fascinated by
+the sea before them.
+
+The water continued rising until twelve o'clock. It filled the lower
+halls and crept almost to the second floor. The water-pipes burst and a
+famine of drink as well as food came. Fortunately, the experiences of
+the day had taken away the appetite.
+
+"I have been watching that old tree," said Hester. "When the clock
+struck twelve, the water had just reached the notch at the branches. It
+is one o'clock now and it has not gone higher."
+
+The waters were at a standstill. The worst was over. At three o'clock,
+Hester cried out with delight. "It is falling--falling! See the trunk of
+the tree shows above the water."
+
+It was slowly receding. The danger-mark had passed, although the signs
+of havoc it had caused, were yet passing on the breast of the river. A
+part of a kitchen went sailing by. The watchers saw the upper window of
+a half-submerged house. There was a bed, a cradle, and a sewing-machine
+open and ready for use. There were pathos and tragedy sufficient for a
+lifetime. There was a touch of humor too, for on a long plank, at either
+end, sat a rat and a great black cat. They watched each other
+instinctively, and were unconscious of the danger which threatened them
+both.
+
+Five o'clock came, and the girls had not moved from their positions.
+During the day, but a few sentences had passed between them.
+
+At last hunger came to them. But there was no use going in search of
+food; for the larder was bare. There was not even a cup of water for
+them.
+
+For more than an hour Helen had not moved. Fear of the water had passed.
+A finer feeling than dread inspired her now. Someone from below called
+Erma, and she left the Philo Hall. She neither laughed nor danced. Even
+her effervescent spirits had been under the spell of the waters.
+
+Her departure aroused Helen from her reverie. Arising, she came to where
+Hester sat. Her voice was low. To the old tenderness was added a new
+sweetness and strength, "Little roommate," she said, "listen to me for a
+few minutes. Weeks ago, I believed you guilty of an act I could not
+countenance. I treasured resentment against you, though even while I was
+doing it, I loved you. I did wrong in not going directly to you and
+making known my complaint. May I tell it to you now, or shall we let it
+be as though it never happened, and let all our ugly feeling and
+bitterness go down with the flood?"
+
+"Let it go with the flood, Helen. I do not know how I erred, but I do
+know that I missed your friendship. Let us forget it from this minute."
+
+"And let me give what I denied long ago," said Helen, as she stooped to
+press her lips to Hester's forehead.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+Little by little, the water receded. So slowly did it fall that the eye
+could not mark it. Over the mud-colored waters, the sun shone brightly
+and made of the spray a million sparkling diamonds.
+
+By evening, the students began to experience the pangs of hunger and
+thirst. There was nothing to satisfy them, for although there was water,
+water, everywhere, there was not a drop to drink. At twilight, the lower
+floors were above the flood, although at intervals, a sudden splash from
+without sent little streams back through the door.
+
+The pupils were yet under the spell of the flood. Unusual quiet reigned
+in the dormitories, when suddenly a cry of delight came from Erma. Her
+voice echoed from one end of the hall to the other, and reached even to
+Miss Burkham's ears; but that lady did not appear to reprimand her. The
+preceptress realized that the girls had been under a nervous strain all
+day and she did not have it in mind to restrain them, even though they
+exceeded the bounds laid down by Seminary law.
+
+"What has happened to Erma?" exclaimed Hester, starting up when the cry
+reached her ears.
+
+"Don't be alarmed. It is nothing serious. I can tell from her voice.
+That shriek is Erma's cry of delight."
+
+In an instant, Erma herself tripped down the hall to explain and to
+share. Knocking hastily, she did not wait to be admitted, but flung open
+the door.
+
+"What do you think I found?" she cried. "A half-dozen lemons. I forgot
+that I had them. I bought them last week. Here, we're dividing."
+
+She thrust one out at them. It had already been opened and part of its
+contents extracted.
+
+"There wasn't enough for one a piece. Just take a good long suck from
+it."
+
+The girls did. There was nothing humorous in this passing a lemon about
+among many. Not a drop of liquid had passed their lips since the night
+before. The few drops of juice which they were able to extract, were
+refreshing.
+
+"Doesn't it taste good?" cried Erma. "I never knew before how perfectly
+delicious a cup of cold water is. Wait until I have the opportunity. I
+mean to drink a gallon without stopping. I must go on. The girls in
+Sixty haven't had any yet."
+
+She was gone before Hester and Helen had expressed their thanks. Before
+she reached Sixty, the door opened and Renee came out. "I was looking
+for you, Erma. Someone said you had found some lemons. Can't you lend me
+one?"
+
+"What's left of one. Take it and drain it dry." It was almost that now,
+but Renee received it thankfully.
+
+"I thought I could not stand it another minute. How long will it be
+before we get anything to eat or drink?"
+
+"In a week or so," cried Erma as she passed on.
+
+Sunday morning broke clear and bright. There were no rising or breakfast
+bells, for there was nothing to serve the hungry people.
+
+Doctor Weldon and Miss Burkham had conferred together and decided that
+as long as the girls were sleeping, they would be neither hungry nor
+thirsty, so they allowed them to sleep until they awakened of
+themselves.
+
+The perversity of human nature showed itself in every girl's being awake
+unusually early. At the usual breakfast hour, the upper halls were
+filled. It was the Sabbath, but on the lower floor the servants were at
+hard work. The women were wearing top-boots and short skirts, which
+reached just below the knees. They were dragging out the mud with hoes.
+In the middle of the floors, the sand and mud were fully a foot deep
+while in corners, which had been free from the force of the current, the
+deposit was three times that depth.
+
+In the middle of the main floor, a saw-log lay. A great hole in the
+plaster showed where it had spent its force, and the shattered glass of
+the front door was evidence of its place of entrance. The curtains of
+real lace which had added to the beauty of the reception hall, were
+nothing but dirty rags, discolored, torn, and hung with bits of drift.
+
+The sun beat down upon the water-soaked places, and the steam which
+arose, was foul-smelling. The men who were endeavoring to do the heavier
+portion of clearing, were knee-deep in the drift. The flood had receded,
+but the basement was yet full of water. The conditions were bad and
+would remain so for some time, regardless of the fact that everyone was
+doing his utmost to better them.
+
+There was nothing to be hoped from the city, for it had its own burden.
+The store-houses had been flooded and the food supply cut off.
+
+Miss Burkham went to Doctor Weldon. "What do you think of my taking the
+girls from the building?" she asked. "The hygienic conditions here are
+dreadful. Outside we can find the sunshine, at least. I can take them
+through the city streets--wherever the streets are open. I think we can
+keep them better satisfied if we keep their attention on something else
+than themselves."
+
+"Perhaps, it would be better. I have been concerned about them. They
+have been most thoughtful and considerate so far. You may take the
+Fraulein with you--and the school purse, too, Miss Burkham. You may be
+able to buy something for them."
+
+"While you are gone, I'll try to get into communication with our people
+at Flemington. The telephone and telegraphs are useless. Marshall and
+Herman might be able to walk out and carry something back. It will be
+hours before a delivery wagon can get through to bring us anything."
+
+Following Miss Burkham's instructions, the girls dressed in their
+shortest and shabbiest skirts and put on heavy shoes. It was a dismal,
+hungry-looking party which set forth.
+
+For a square down Main Street, the way was clear. They were often forced
+to leave the sidewalk and make a detour to escape the piles of drift
+which lay in heaps. The mud was over the tops of the rubber shoes, and
+the greater number had discarded overshoes before they had gone far. At
+the corner of Main and Clinton Avenue, they stopped. Their way was cut
+off by a great pile of logs, timbers, and uprooted trees which reached
+above the second story of the houses. Here and there, caught between the
+branches of the trees or the conjunction of timbers, were bits of
+household articles, parts of chairs, window frames or broken beds and
+soggy mattresses.
+
+"We can climb over," suggested Hester. "That will not be much of a
+climb."
+
+Miss Burkham had been hesitating. She feared to go on and yet to go back
+meant dissatisfied, hungry girls shut up in a wet, foul-smelling
+building.
+
+"We'll climb," she said. "But be careful to move slowly, and not bring
+this down upon you."
+
+The feat was not a difficult one. They succeeded in crossing and entered
+the business street. There was not a whole plate-glass window in this
+section. They had been shattered into bits so small that no trace of
+them could be found.
+
+The girls entered what had been the largest and finest grocery store of
+the city. The mud was several feet deep; the show-cases had been
+battered to pieces; canned goods were piled in heaps in the corners and
+covered with refuse. But the combination most surprising, was where a
+large cheese had tumbled down upon a dead cow which had been washed in
+from some dairy farm far up the river.
+
+Men were already clearing the streets, and shoveling the refuse from the
+stores.
+
+From the business thoroughfare, Miss Burkham led her charges to the
+residence street. Here conditions were the same. The elegant houses bore
+the marks of the flood. Trees were uprooted. Lawns which but a few days
+before were things of beauty, were now but heaps of refuse, or hollows
+filled with water.
+
+Doors and windows stood open wide. Delicate, cultivated women had
+arrayed themselves in overalls and were scraping the mud from their
+homes.
+
+As they made their way eastward, Robert Vail hurried down a side-street
+to meet them.
+
+"I started for school the instant I could," he explained to Miss
+Burkham. "I did not know how bad conditions were, but I expected they
+could not be good.
+
+"I have a tally-ho and horses, but we could not get beyond Fairview
+Street. South Street is a mere chasm. The horses could not have crossed
+there. I did reach Miss Alden and Miss Richards. My man took them back
+home while I came in."
+
+Hester grasped his arm. "Auntie--is Auntie all right?"
+
+"Fine as silk. She was concerned about you until we satisfied her that
+seminary girls could not be gotten rid of so easily. It takes more than
+a flood--" He spoke lightly to the girls and then turned to Miss
+Burkham. "Our housekeeper said I should fill up the tally-ho and bring
+the girls there. The buildings at school will not be fit to live in for
+some days. We'll take care of eighteen or twenty until you arrange
+matters."
+
+A feeling of relief came to the preceptress. "You have taken a great
+responsibility from Doctor Weldon and me," she said. "We shall never be
+able to thank you. As to the girls, Hester and Helen, of course must go;
+also the Fraulein, for I must not allow the girls to go alone."
+
+She turned to the group about her, and selected the number which would
+fill the tally-ho.
+
+"You girls will go with the Fraulein and Mr. Vail, and remain until we
+send you word to return. Berenice, Violet, Edith and I will return to
+school."
+
+"I declare, this is too bad," cried Robert. "I cannot allow you to walk
+back, and without anything to eat."
+
+"You cannot help it. The circumstances are unusual. The elements have
+our fortunes in hand," she replied.
+
+"The instant I get the young ladies home, my man and I will come back
+with all the good things we can carry. Tell Doctor Weldon that we shall
+have a dinner--perhaps a late one--for her."
+
+"She has sent messengers to Flemington. They will bring us something for
+one meal at least. Come, girls." She led her little flock toward home.
+There was no hope of finding a bite to eat anywhere in the city. Men and
+women had worked all night and were yet working without a particle of
+food or drop to drink. The preceptress was worn and weak. Her
+responsibility for the last two days had been great; but she did not
+dare give up. She trudged bravely toward school, encouraging the girls
+and drawing their attention to any phase of the situation which was not
+burdened with pathos.
+
+Robert Vail led his party down the residence street and then turned down
+an alley. "These narrow passages have less drift," he explained. "My man
+and I discovered this this morning."
+
+By devious ways, he brought them out on High Street which stood above
+the ravages of the flood. Here a tally-ho with four horses stood
+waiting.
+
+Robert assisted the Fraulein and girls to their places and bade the
+coachman drive on. Hester and Helen sat side by side.
+
+"Now, I am really to meet your Aunt Harriet," said Hester. "It is very
+strange. Think of my rooming with you for ten months and never meeting
+her."
+
+"Never met mother?" exclaimed Robert Vail. "Be prepared to meet the
+finest mother in the world."
+
+"There may be some exception," said Helen, "at least Hester may think
+so. She may be vain enough to think that she had the finest mother in
+the world."
+
+"Oh, no," began Hester hastily and then she paused. She was not dull.
+She had been keen enough to know that there was something not just right
+about a mother and child traveling alone through a strange country and
+no one ever searching for them. But she could not allow any one else to
+know her thoughts. Her face flushed as she continued, "I have never
+known a mother. Aunt Debby is all I ever had. I am sure that no one can
+be finer than she."
+
+"We will make an exception in favor of Miss Alden," continued Robert.
+"With the exception of Miss Debby Alden, you will find my mother the
+finest woman in the world. You'll fall in love with her the instant that
+you meet her."
+
+"I know. I have caught several glimpses of her but I never met her. But,
+perhaps she will not care for me. I should not be pleased if I should
+like your mother very much and she would not like me at all."
+
+Vain little Hester Alden. She knew what speech Robert Vail would make.
+She had heard him express himself on the subject twice before. Because
+his words had pleased her, she called them forth again.
+
+"There'll be no danger of her not liking you. I'll vouch for that.
+Mother and I always like the same people and things. She has the best
+taste in the world."
+
+Helen laughed teasingly. "You like to impress people with the fact that
+you are fond of your mother; but have you ever noticed, Cousin Robert,
+that there is always one compliment for her, and two for you?
+
+"Robert Vail and his mother like the same things. That is the first
+premise. The second is, his mother has excellent taste;
+conclusion--Robert Vail has excellent taste. I have not studied logic
+for nothing, Cousin Robert."
+
+Robert shrugged his shoulders. "That is a girl's idea of reason," he
+said. "They always go about in a circle, like a lost duck and they never
+lose the personal element in anything."
+
+"Your remarks are not original," said Helen. "I have heard Doctor Baker
+say that same thing."
+
+"I have heard you mention Doctor Baker before. Is he your physician at
+home?" asked Hester. She had forgotten Helen's Easter letter.
+
+"He's our pastor and perfectly lovely, Hester. He has been with us a
+long, long time. I told you once about him, but you were vexed with me
+then and my words fell on deaf ears. Sometime you must come and spend a
+month with me in my home and you shall meet Doctor Baker."
+
+"I never would go and leave Aunt Debby for an entire month. It was bad
+enough to go to school and not be with her," was Hester's reply.
+
+"But Aunt Debby can come along. My father would like her, and she and
+Aunt Harriet would be friends from the moment they met. Maybe we can
+arrange it for this summer. Sometimes Doctor Baker comes to visit us,
+too. He gets very lonely. I should think any one living alone would be
+lonely."
+
+"Isn't he married?" asked Hester. "I thought ministers were always
+married. Why doesn't he get married?"
+
+"You think a marriage certificate goes with the manse," said Robert.
+"His case is a paradox. He is always marrying, and yet never is married.
+Quite a riddle isn't it?"
+
+Helen's face lighted up. She was like Hester in that both delighted to
+hear romantic stories.
+
+"He had a love affair, a long time ago," she said softly as though the
+subject were one too sacred for full tones to play upon. "But he went to
+college, and when he came back his sweetheart did not care for him. But
+he has never forgotten her."
+
+Hester gave a sigh of contentment. She would remember and tell her Aunt
+Debby about this. While her Aunt Debby had chided her about repeating
+these little romantic tales which came to her ears, Hester had a feeling
+that the elder Miss Alden was not wholly unsympathetic.
+
+Josephine, who was sitting in the front of the tally-ho, caught the last
+of Helen's speech. She sighed, and leaning forward that all might catch
+her words, said: "How lovely! Such persons appeal to me. There is
+nothing in the world which is so beautiful to me as faithfulness. How
+perfectly lovely! I always--"
+
+"Hester, lend me a pin, please. I see you have one in the front of your
+coat and I need one to fasten the ends of my tie," it was Renee who
+broke in upon Josephine's flow of sentiment.
+
+"We shall soon be there now," said Robert. "The house stands back of
+those trees." He pointed to a small elevation which was about a mile
+distant. The girls exclaimed with delight except Mame Cross who looked
+down upon her short skirt and mud-stained shoes with a mortified
+expression.
+
+"Really, Mr. Vail, I simply cannot enter your home, looking like this.
+Your mother would refuse to receive me."
+
+"I do not understand why," he replied.
+
+"Mame, do please forget about it," laughed Erma. "My shoes are muddy; my
+skirt is shabby; I am hungry--so hungry that I'll fairly snatch at
+anything to eat. I look like a fright, I know I do. But what's the use
+of thinking about it. It can't be helped. So why not pretend that we do
+not notice it?"
+
+"We must make up for our looks by being so nice that Mrs. Vail will not
+notice that we are not immaculate." It was Mellie who offered this
+suggestion.
+
+"That is all very well for you girls to speak so," said Mame. "But you
+do not look as I do. You girls look nice, considering what you have gone
+through; but me--I always look the worst. I never look like other
+girls."
+
+"Then give up trying, Mame. You never will look like other girls, you
+know. So make the best of matters which cannot be helped, and be
+cheerful and gay." Erma's words were supposed to be ironical; but her
+happy little laugh and dainty little touch upon Mame's hand, robbed them
+of their sting.
+
+"Here we are!" exclaimed Robert Vail, as the horses turned from the main
+road into a private drive. Hester opened her eyes in astonishment. She
+had seen the beautiful homes near Lockport, but this surpassed any. The
+house was in the midst of a great park; there were lawn, forest, and
+flowers. The house was large, but not imposing. It had rather the look
+of a home than of a mansion. Never before had Hester seen such beauty of
+surroundings. Nature and cultivation had worked together to make the
+best of this.
+
+As the girls stepped from the tally-ho, Hester grasped Helen by the arm,
+"I am afraid--afraid," she whispered.
+
+"To meet Aunt Harriet? Why, little roommate, she is not a bit
+formidable. You will love her."
+
+"I think it is not just that--" she began again. She could not finish.
+Aunt Debby and Miss Richards had come to meet them. Back of these two,
+stood a large, wiry woman in a dark dress and an extensive white apron.
+
+"My little girl," cried Debby, clasping Hester in her arms. "I have been
+very anxious about you."
+
+"I was safe, Aunt Debby. Perfectly safe, but so hungry."
+
+Robert Vail escorted his guests to the door.
+
+"This is Mrs. Perkins, young ladies," he said, indicating to the big
+woman. "She will see that you have something to eat at once."
+
+"I have been waiting dinner. If the ladies wish to come at once--" She
+led the way. The guests were weak from hunger. The odor of the food
+aroused their appetites afresh.
+
+"Did you ever think bread and butter was so gloriously fine?" said Emma
+after her first mouthful. "Do you realize that we have had nothing since
+Friday evening."
+
+"I do; but I do not intend talking about it--now," said Hester. "I have
+greater things to do."
+
+Indeed, they all had that. They had kept up bravely under strenuous
+conditions. There had been no word of complaint. Erma especially, had
+been cheerful and gay as long as those two qualities were needed to
+sustain herself and her friends. Now, she was the first to give way.
+After a few morsels had been eaten, she realized that she was tired--so
+tired that she believed that ever being rested again would be an
+impossibility. She made an effort to keep up. She tried to laugh, but
+ended with a nervous giggle. Then to the amazement of all, she began to
+cry and sob.
+
+"I am so tired. I am too tired to live. I never could go through with
+this again."
+
+"And you will not need to--never again," said Miss Debby, going to the
+girl's aid.
+
+"Let her cry. It will do her good," she continued as the others were
+about to leave their dinner. "Let her cry, it will do her good."
+
+At this Renee began to giggle. Mame looked at her and straightway did as
+Renee. Mellie and Josephine made a brave effort to control themselves,
+but after a few minutes they were following Erma's example and were
+sobbing as though their hearts would break.
+
+Miss Richards and Miss Debby took matters into their hands. There was no
+help to be expected from the Fraulein, for she was as wearied as the
+girls.
+
+The housekeeper made ready the rooms and the girls were forced to go to
+bed.
+
+"Each young lady ate a little something, I observed," said Mrs. Perkins.
+"Let them rest a while, then I shall take some refreshments to them."
+
+"It was so beautiful what they behaved yet to this time," cried the
+Fraulein. "Never no word, no fuss, all smiles, all funs, no cross or
+nothing until now." She was much disturbed lest the women would
+discredit her for the girls' behavior.
+
+"We understand," said Debby Alden. "It is not your fault, Fraulein. You
+are going to rest now, too. We intend treating you like a little girl;
+send you to bed and send your bread and jelly to you."
+
+"Ach," the little German teacher tried to look self-reliant and
+sufficient to take care of herself. But there was something in Debby
+Alden's manner which touched her. The Fraulein was a stranger in a
+strange land. Many and many were the times when she longed for the
+tenderness of those who were bound to her by the ties of love and blood.
+She was but a little homesick girl, herself and wished to be mothered
+like other girls. But she was brave enough with all her longing. She
+shrugged her shoulders; but Debby laid her hand affectionately on the
+girl's shoulder. That settled it. In an instant, the German teacher
+rested her head against Debby; her eyes filled; she touched Debby's
+cheeks tenderly; "I vill go. The Fraulein is so kind. The Fraulein has
+a heart in her breast." Without a word of demur, the little German
+teacher followed the girls and rested while the housekeeper and Debby
+Alden waited upon them with the most kindly attention.
+
+Robert Vail and his man had returned at once to the city taking with
+them a supply of necessities. The housekeeper came to Miss Debby with
+the explanation and apology. Thought of others had caused Robert to
+neglect his duty as host. Here Mrs. Perkins looked mournful and as
+though she might say much if she chose, and added that Mrs. Vail had
+left early that morning, having driven over the hills to an adjoining
+town where railroad communications had not been cut off. She had
+received news which had caused her some anxiety and she had set forth at
+once.
+
+The housekeeper was in the mood to speak freely; but Debby Alden was not
+one who discussed with the maid the affairs of the mistress. She
+accepted the explanation and went her way. So many incidents of life
+turn as a straw in the wind. This was a time and place propitious for
+much clearing-up of uncertain matters; but Debby Alden had not been in
+the mood to listen; and the mistress of the house was traveling over the
+country after a will-of-the-wisp which had led her many a long,
+unfruitful journey.
+
+Robert Vail, greatly fatigued with his day's work, came back to
+Valehurst just at dusk. By this time, the nervous tension had been
+greatly relieved. The girls had had a nap and a substantial evening
+meal, and were prepared to look at the experiences of the last few days
+in a more cheerful light.
+
+Robert brought with him the good news that the hucksters from Flemington
+had driven in over the hill and had brought food with them to the
+seminary. The teachers and pupils were preparing to return with them to
+the farmhouses which stood high enough to be out of the way of the river
+and creek.
+
+Marshall and Belva with a set of workmen were remaining at school to put
+the place in order; to build fires that the building might be dried
+rapidly and to protect the grounds and buildings from vandalism. Doctor
+Weldon had sent word that the young ladies who were with the Fraulein
+at Valehurst were to remain there until she recalled them.
+
+Miss Debby and Miss Richards, with the little group of girls, had
+gathered about Robert on the lawn, anxious and eager to hear about their
+friends. When the message had been received and the good news told, the
+crowd separated into little groups. Helen and Hester, in company with
+Robert, moved toward the house.
+
+"I had no opportunity of asking you about Aunt Harriet," said Helen,
+"and I do not like to put such questions to Mrs. Perkins. You said that
+Auntie would be here, Robert." She looked up at him and waited as though
+expecting an explanation.
+
+"So I thought. We made ready before daylight this morning to go for you
+girls. Mother came down to see us off. In fact it was she who prepared
+the lunches to give to any one in distress. But Perkins tells me that
+quite early someone called her up on the 'phone. She talked a long time.
+Then she called Ryder and told him to get out the grays and the light
+carriage. Then she went off. She didn't even leave word where she went.
+I called up father's office. He knew nothing about it."
+
+"And don't you know?" There was anxiety in Helen's voice. Her eyes had a
+pained, distressed look.
+
+"She telephoned to Perkins that she had gone to Minnequa, a little
+factory town where an old colored woman had the care of a young white
+girl. The message came from those people who had found such a 'sure
+thing,' before and then failed to make good when the time came."
+
+"You don't mean that horrid man and his son? What was their
+name--Stroat--Strout?"
+
+"Stout, if I remember right. Before it was a mere scheme to extort
+money, and I do not doubt that it will be the same now. Poor mother, she
+will be worn out with the journey and have nothing but disappointment
+for it all. I mean to talk with her on the wires to-night. If she does
+not intend coming home at once, I shall go to Minnequa and be with her.
+I may start early and shall not see you in the morning. Will you
+explain to Miss Debby and the girls? I am not running away, but I must
+not let my mother stay there alone."
+
+"Yes, you must go. Do not give a thought about us. We shall be very well
+taken care of here. Poor Aunt Harriet! How I wish I might fill that
+empty place in her heart!"
+
+Hester had been walking a few steps in advance; but had heard the
+conversation. Why should Helen always speak of her aunt as though she
+were to be pitied? Mrs. Vail had everything that a woman could desire--a
+beautiful home with trained service, a husband and son who considered no
+one but her. It was strange. Hester could not understand why Helen
+should always speak of Mrs. Vail as "poor Aunt Harriet."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+How fine it would be if one could foresee the result of every action!
+Hester Alden's slight prevarication to Robert Vail, when she told him
+that her father had been Miss Debby's brother, carried with it a long
+series of misunderstandings. Had Robert Vail known the facts--but he did
+not.
+
+Hester, bearing within her heart the consciousness of her own fault,
+spent not a few unhappy moments with herself. To it, she attributed the
+former entanglement, between herself and Helen. She reached this
+conclusion because she knew of nothing else on account of which Helen
+might have misjudged her. Several times, she decided to speak of the
+matter to Helen and confess that she had misrepresented matters when she
+had declared that she belonged to the Alden family; but each time, her
+courage failed her, and her pride prevented. It is not an easy matter
+for one to confess that she has, in her statements, deviated from the
+truth.
+
+The morning following the coming of the girls to Valehurst, Robert Vail
+left home early and by a hard drive over the mountains at length reached
+the junction where railroad communication had not been cut off.
+
+Mrs. Perkins expected him to return with his mother the following day;
+but they were detained by business. So Valehurst was left without a host
+or hostess. Mrs. Perkins exerted herself to make the guests comfortable
+and the servants, with which the home was well provided, vied with each
+other in their attendance upon the young ladies. The girls were
+thoroughly enjoying their experience, Hester, perhaps most of all, for
+such a household was new to her. She liked to play lady of the manor.
+
+"Don't you wish you and I could live this way?" she said to Debby Alden,
+during the second day of the enforced visit. Debby Alden looked at the
+questioner and then asked, "Are you not satisfied, Hester, with your own
+little home?"
+
+"Yes, I am!" cried the girl impulsively. "A little house with Aunt Debby
+is better than a mansion without her. I am really satisfied. Yet it does
+seem nice to be here. I feel quite at home."
+
+"I presume a lady feels at home in any cultivated environment," was the
+rejoinder. Debby paused a moment. She was not one to repeat the tales
+which came to her ears; but when, as in this instance, her sympathies
+were touched and she felt that her story might bear with it a moral, it
+might be really worth her while to repeat it to Hester.
+
+"Valehurst is very beautiful, Hester. We recognize that; but it cannot
+bring happiness to those who dwell in it. Mrs. Vail has a great sorrow.
+What it is, I do not know. I did not care to inquire. Robert told me
+that his mother, years ago, had a bereavement from which she has never
+recovered, and to which she has never become reconciled. The servants
+speak as though she were a woman saddened by some dreadful experience."
+
+"But Helen says she is very cheerful and can never do enough to make
+others happy."
+
+"Outwardly, perhaps. From what I have learned, she is one who has
+strength of character enough to keep her sorrows to herself and not
+burden others. Of course, she would try to make Helen and every one else
+happy, even though she were most miserable herself. I would not have
+spoken of the matter, had I not thought you were estimating one's
+happiness by the amount of material wealth one possessed.
+
+"Poor Mrs. Vail! I am a happier woman than she. I have just my little
+home and my girl, but I am very content."
+
+"So am I, Aunt Debby." She pressed Debby Alden's arm closer within her
+hand. Then she added, "Wasn't it a good thing that I was left to you.
+Wouldn't it have been dreadful if I had been taken somewhere else and
+you would have been left alone. Just think how lonely we would have
+been."
+
+"Yes, it would have been hard; but it didn't happen that way. It was
+intended that you should be my girl."
+
+"You mustn't think that I was discontented because I wished that you and
+I lived in a mansion. I am not one bit discontented. I was just
+wishing."
+
+"Learn to be contented. Folks are miserable otherwise. The Aldens,
+taking them as a family, were not complainers or grumblers--except Ezra,
+and how he ever came by it, I do not know. He was never contented. He
+wouldn't go to school, and he wouldn't farm, and he wouldn't be
+satisfied anywhere or with anything."
+
+"Ezra? Who was he, Aunt Debby? I never heard you mention his name
+before."
+
+"He was my oldest brother. He would be a man of sixty if he were living
+now. I never mentioned him, because he is more of a memory than anything
+else. He was only sixteen when he ran off west. He wrote a few times.
+The letters were two or three years apart, and always from different
+sections. At one time he was on a ranch, another time in the gold
+fields. He could not be contented long anywhere."
+
+"Where is he now, Aunt Debby?"
+
+"Dead, Hester. Dead long ago. At least we think so. For years, no
+letters have come from him. When father died, we sent word everywhere,
+but he never replied. We said then that he was dead."
+
+"If he had lived, I'd have had an uncle. I should like an uncle. From
+what I've read, they are very jolly."
+
+"You can not always believe what you read," was the sententious
+rejoinder.
+
+The guests remained at Valehurst three days, during which time neither
+Mrs. Vail nor Robert appeared, although the latter sent many messages to
+the girls, through the medium of his cousin or the housekeeper.
+
+Thursday morning, word came from Doctor Weldon that the students must
+return to school and make ready their belongings to go home.
+Commencement was not to be considered. The graduates would receive their
+diplomas, but there could be no festivities.
+
+The students had been taken care of in the country houses which stood on
+the hills back of Flemington. These were the only places for miles about
+which had not been flooded. As soon as communication with other places
+had been made, Doctor Weldon was kept busy sending and receiving
+telegrams. Each father and mother was distracted when news of the
+flooding of Lockport came.
+
+By Thursday evening, the students had returned. The drift and dirt had
+been removed from the Seminary building, and the campus had been freed
+from logs and driftwood. But some things could never be replaced. The
+old apple trees had been uprooted; the grassy slope which had lain close
+to the river front had been washed out to gravel bottom. The gray bricks
+of the building showed the water mark and at the corner a few misplaced
+ones told the story of how the old lamp post had saved the building.
+
+The once beautiful halls were water-stained; hard-wood floors were
+warped until they stood in little hollows and hills; and the polished
+wood of the doors and balustrades had lost all semblance of beauty.
+
+The girls rushed into one another's arms. They could talk now of the
+flood for the danger had passed from them. The dormitories were a babel
+of voices. A score of girls talked at once and not one listened to
+another.
+
+Miss Burkham from the hall below heard the confusion and retired to her
+own apartments. She had no thought of interfering with the chatter. She
+explained her lack of discipline to Doctor Weldon later. "This will
+never happen again in all their lives. As long as they were talking,
+they were forgetful that the opportunity for the banquet, the play, and
+commencement had been taken from them. I thought it wise to put up with
+the noise, rather than have them feel depressed."
+
+The girls were discussing the play and banquet even then. There were
+confessions on all sides.
+
+"We intended feasting on the senior banquet," cried Erma. "We had bribed
+Belva. He was to lead the caterers up to our third floor. You seniors
+would have sat waiting in the Philo Hall below."
+
+"No, indeed. You reckoned without considering that the senior class were
+not all dullards. We had heard of your plans. Doctor Weldon gave us
+permission to hold the banquet at a hotel in the city. Miss Burkham and
+the Fraulein were to go with us. So while you girls would have been
+sitting in the attic waiting for the banquet, we would have been
+whirling away in cabs to the city." Helen had a smile of triumph as she
+told the story. If the seniors had been robbed of their opportunity to
+outwit the juniors, they at least would not miss the chance of boasting
+of it.
+
+Erma looked at her quizzingly. "Was that really true?" she asked. "Well,
+I have this much to say. If the seniors had outwitted us, we in turn
+outwitted the freshmen. They were gloating over the fact that they had a
+copy of our play."
+
+"We did," cried Hester. "And we had the parts almost learned."
+
+"Yes, I was to be the queen," said Emma. "I knew my part. I was to--."
+
+"You the queen!" said Edna Bucher, with a touch of sarcasm in her voice.
+"I could not possibly conceive of you taking such a part."
+
+"Well, you never did have much imagination. You should cultivate it,"
+was Emma's quick rejoinder.
+
+"Please do not quarrel," said Josephine as she raised her soulful eyes
+and let them rest upon each girl in turn. "This may be our last time
+together. It would be so sweet to carry with us pleasant memories. Let
+us have sweet--."
+
+"Not too much, though," said Emma. "You always were a great girl for
+caramels and fudge, Jo; but you must remember some of the rest of us
+liked olives and pickles."
+
+"Emma's speech in plain English, means that she prefers some wit to too
+much sentiment," said Hester.
+
+"I most assuredly do," was the rejoinder, as Emma sat down on top of the
+trunk which had been brought in ready for packing.
+
+The group of girls had gathered in Sixty-two. During the winter and
+spring terms, this room had been the general gathering place; for Hester
+and Helen were popular with the other students.
+
+"I wish I might finish about the play," cried Erma. "Those miserable
+little freshmen thought they had our play. Yes, I know you took a copy
+from my study-table drawer. It was one I put in there for you to take.
+While you were busy learning that, we had another. So while you girls
+were gloating over the 'East Indian Queen,' we went on in peace and
+practised 'A Roumanian Princess.'"
+
+"Really? Erma Thomas, do you mean it?"
+
+"Do I mean it? I surely do. Oh, wasn't it fun to hear you practise and
+see you slip about with your mysterious airs!"
+
+The door opened and Renee came in. She was robed in a full-length
+kimona.
+
+"You girls sitting here doing nothing! I am packing. I do not intend
+letting it go until morning and then hurrying. My trunk is locked and I
+cannot find the keys. Will you lend me yours, Helen?"
+
+Helen arose to get them from a drawer. Emma sighed as she looked at
+Renee.
+
+"When I go to heaven," she said, "and meet Renee there, I know what she
+will say to me the very first thing."
+
+The girls looked their queries and Emma concluded, "'Emma, please lend
+me your crown. I've mislaid mine.'"
+
+"And Emma will be finding fault with everything. She'll feel dreadful
+because she is forced to be in heaven all the time," said Sara slowly.
+This was a hit direct at the little Dutch doll, for all through the
+year she had been complaining at the restrictions of school, and could
+not understand why Doctor Weldon did not allow the girls to go down to
+the city when they pleased.
+
+During this conversation, Mame Cross had been sitting apart. Now
+Josephine turned to her, and assuming an attitude and expression of
+great solicitation and interest said, "Mame is the only one who feels
+what this evening means to us. Perhaps never again shall we talk
+together. No one knows what the summer will bring. Mame is overcome by
+the thought--."
+
+"I am not. I was not thinking of that at all," Mame replied. "It came to
+me while the girls were talking of the banquet and play and commencement
+that I was almost glad that we were not having any of them."
+
+"Mame Cross, what heresy! The flood has made her mad," cried the girls.
+
+"I have reasons for thinking so. I simply could not have gone to one
+thing. What could I have worn if I had gone? I made up my mind when we
+had our last reception that I would never go to another unless I had
+something decent to wear."
+
+"When I meet Mame in heaven," said Emma, trying to look serious, "the
+very first thing she will say is, 'My robe doesn't hang as well as
+yours, and my harp isn't so bright.'"
+
+"Are you not getting a little irreverent?" said Helen gently. "There are
+so many common things to jest about. Is it not better to use them as the
+butt of our wit, instead of matters beyond our comprehension?"
+
+"Yes, I suppose so, Helen," said Emma. "But, you know I never consider.
+I blurt out just what I wish to say."
+
+The half-hour bell sounded and the girls went to their rooms to make
+ready to appear at the dining-table. The lower halls were yet damp
+although they had been open to the air and sun since the previous
+Sabbath. Doctor Weldon, not wishing to risk the health of the pupils,
+had converted a class-room on the second floor into a dining-hall. Here
+dinner was served informally; the students attending to their own wants,
+for the servants were kept busy carrying the trays from the floor
+below.
+
+At the bringing-in of the last course, Doctor Weldon arose to make the
+announcements. She asked the young ladies to attend to their packing at
+once. Belva and Marshall had already brought down trunks and boxes from
+the store-room. Immediately after breakfast, the following morning, each
+young lady should call at the office when arrangements would be made for
+her going home.
+
+There was too much to be done after dinner to permit of any visiting.
+The girls went to their rooms and began to dismantle them. Hester and
+Helen had much to do, but they contrived to carry on a steady flow of
+talk while they worked.
+
+"Perhaps, we'll never be together again," said Hester, from the depths
+of the closet whither she had gone in search of shoes. "You will not be
+here next year. We may never meet again."
+
+"I think we shall," said Helen. "The world is not a very large place.
+You are to visit me, you know. I shall ask your Aunt Debby when I see
+her."
+
+"And you'll come to visit me. Couldn't you come this summer? You'd like
+Jane Orr and Ralph. He is the nicest boy I ever knew, except Robert
+Vail."
+
+"Rob _is_ nice. Yes, I think I can come. We could have a fine time."
+
+Hester grew eloquent about the walks, picnics and drives they could
+have. Helen was accustomed to life in a mansion with a retinue of
+servants. Hester knew this. She knew also that at her home, Aunt Debby
+and she would perform all the household work and that Aunt Debby would
+set out her own flowers and plant a garden of radishes and lettuce with
+their kindred small garden truck. Helen would have no servants to wait
+upon her. Hester gave no thought to the difference in the household. To
+her, friendship was above all material conditions. As she felt
+concerning such matters, she took it for granted that all right-minded
+people must feel. She could not conceive the thought that Helen, as her
+friend, could be critical of the plain old-fashioned home where she and
+Aunt Debby were the home-makers. It was not training alone which gave
+Hester such impressions. She had within her the instinct of true
+nobility. She gave the best of what was hers without apology or
+explanation. She took it for granted that her offerings would be
+received in the same spirit. They were, for Helen Loraine valued a
+friend higher than the friend's possessions.
+
+"I am very glad I asked you to forgive me, last Saturday," continued
+Helen. She was bending over the drawer of the chiffonier while she
+robbed it of its contents. "I could not have been happy had I gone home
+and not have made friends with you. It was my fault, Hester, that you
+did not play as a substitute on the first team. I thought something, and
+I told Miss Watson that I did not care to have you play. You do not know
+how sorry I have been since."
+
+"Yes, I do. There, I think I have all my shoes ready to pack. Those old
+gym shoes I might as well throw out as rubbish. Yes, I do know, Helen. I
+felt dreadfully about it myself; but I thought you had a good reason. I
+myself despise a girl who prevaricates even a little."
+
+Helen raised her head from her work to look at Hester. She could not
+fully grasp this last remark.
+
+Hester, catching the peculiar expression of her friend's face continued,
+"You did not tell me why you were hurt with me. Of course I knew. It was
+what I said about my father being Aunt Debby's brother. That was it, was
+it not?"
+
+"What an idea, you silly little Hester! Why should I be angry with you
+for saying that? What was it to me whether he was Miss Alden's brother
+or not?"
+
+"I thought you knew and despised me for telling what was not true. I am
+not one bit an Alden. I do not belong to Aunt Debby except through love.
+My mother died at the Alden home. Somehow, I never could quite grasp all
+the story, for no one will tell me all. Somehow, Aunt Debby felt herself
+responsible and she took me and gave me her mother's name. Don't you
+think that very sweet of her? To Aunt Debby, Hester Palmer Alden was the
+name she loved the most and she gave it to me."
+
+"Yes, she must have loved you, too, or she would never have given you
+that name. It was not what you said that caused me to be displeased with
+you. Shall I tell you?"
+
+Hester shook her head slowly. She was yet sitting on the floor near the
+door of the closet. All about her, were odds and ends of her
+possessions.
+
+"No, do not tell me. I know I did not do anything else to make you
+despise me. So please don't tell me what it was. Whatever it was, I did
+not do it and I might feel hurt if I knew that you suspected me of
+anything very bad."
+
+"Very well, little roommate. We'll never talk about the matter. We'll
+clean off our slates and make them clean for the next lesson," said
+Helen. "That is what Miss Mary used to tell us when we went to primary
+grade."
+
+"I always liked to hear you say 'little roommate.' Next year, Helen, you
+will not be here to say it. I wonder who will call me that." The tears
+were near Hester's eyes, but she forced them back and smiled.
+
+"Perhaps, someone nicer than I and someone you will love better."
+
+"That will never be. It couldn't be. But you'll come back to visit?"
+
+"I do not think it will be possible. Father says I may go to an eastern
+college. That will take me far from here. I do not wish to go four
+years. I intend taking special work; for I mean to be a settlement
+worker."
+
+Hester nodded. Just then she could not have said a word if her life had
+depended upon it. She thought that Helen's giving up a life of ease and
+luxury to work among the people of the slums, was a glorious thing;
+although she herself could not have done such a thing and had no desires
+in that direction.
+
+"It will be lovely, Helen," she said at last. "Perhaps when you are
+working somewhere I shall come to visit you."
+
+"Perhaps you may be working with me. Who knows?"
+
+"I know I shall never be that kind of a worker. I intend to be a
+novelist. Perhaps, I shall find a great deal of material when I come
+down to visit you. I think being a great novelist would be glorious."
+
+"Yes, if one could be great and could write life as it is and make
+people better by the writing."
+
+"That is the kind I intend being," said Hester with conviction, and yet
+not conceit. "I shall be a great one or none at all. I never should like
+mere commonplace writing. I should like to imagine; to look at people
+and describe them as they were, and to see even their thoughts."
+
+Helen laughed. Hester had already won a reputation in
+character-description. She had the faculty of describing her friends in
+a few pertinent words which meant as much as an entire paragraph from
+some people.
+
+"I think your character-drawing will be excellent," said Helen. "You
+have a way with you, you know."
+
+"Do you really think so? Aunt Debby says I am critical, but I do not
+mean to be that. People just naturally make me think of different
+things. I see a likeness. I cannot help it that it is there. Aunt Debby
+was once quite indignant when I was telling her about the different
+girls at school. I said Josephine made me think of soft-A sugar. Aunt
+Debby did not like it. But that is what she made me think of. I
+couldn't help it."
+
+Hester was quite serious. Although the remark concerning Josephine was
+her own, she did not fully appreciate her own wit in the application.
+
+Hester arose slowly. "That closet is cleared, thank goodness. I'll see
+to the trifles on the dressing-table. I'd rather pack big things than
+such trifles as hairpins, handkerchiefs, and stockings."
+
+"I am ready to put mine in the trunk," said Helen. As she spoke, she
+drew the trunk from against the wall and lifted out the tray. She gave
+an exclamation as her eyes fell on a quantity of lawn and lace.
+
+"I've hunted everywhere for those waists," she said. "I went to the
+laundry several times to ask Mrs. Pellesee if they had been mislaid. I
+was confident that they had not come back from the laundry."
+
+She made a dive into the depths of the trunk and brought forth the
+shirtwaists.
+
+"I remember now when I put them there. When I got my new one-piece suit
+to wear to dinner, I put these away. It was the night I lost my pin."
+
+"Yes," said Hester without turning her head. Her mind was upon putting
+the contents of her dressing-table in order. She scarcely heard what
+Helen was saying.
+
+Helen gave a second exclamation as her hands seized the fluff of lace
+about one waist; for the pin which she had missed months before was
+fastened to the lace.
+
+"I found my pin!" she exclaimed. "I am glad--so glad! Look, Hester!"
+
+Hester gave a quick indifferent glance toward Helen's upraised hand in
+which this stone glittered like a star.
+
+"I'm glad," she said. "I thought it was very strange what became of it.
+I couldn't understand how it would disappear from the room. I have a pin
+something like that--but mine is just a cheap imitation. Aunt Debby says
+it is the kind one buys at a five-and-ten-cent store."
+
+For a moment, Helen stood silent. She was abashed and ashamed of the
+suspicion which she had long held in her mind. She had done wrong; but
+on the other hand, she had done what she could to make matters right. It
+pleased her even now to know that she had asked Hester's forgiveness and
+had believed in her, before the proofs of her innocence came to hand. It
+is a worthless sort of faith and a poor friendship which needs evidence
+at hand. Faith is faith only when it believes without proof, or against
+proof. These thoughts came to Helen while she stood with the pin in her
+hand. Then she crossed to where Hester stood and laying her hand on
+Hester's shoulder, said, "Little roommate, to-night will be our last
+night together in school. Will you try to think with kindness of the
+roommate who was unjust to you? You have taught me one great big lesson,
+Hester, and that is that one cannot even believe her eyes. Will you
+forget all the unpleasant part of the year, and remember only that I
+really loved you with it all?"
+
+"That will be easy. It will be but thinking kindly of myself. For every
+one says that you are my counterpart."
+
+"A poor imitation, I am afraid. If I predict rightly the years will
+prove me but the reflection of a great and a brighter body. You'll be
+the sun, Hester. The best I'll ever be is a pale little moon." She bent
+to kiss Hester's lips. With that caress all the suspicion and doubt
+vanished and Hester Alden's year at school had closed.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+DOROTHY BROWN
+
+By NINA RHOADES
+
+Illustrated by Elizabeth Withington Large 12mo Cloth $1.50
+
+[Illustration]
+
+This is considerably longer than the other books by this favorite
+writer, and with a more elaborate plot, but it has the same winsome
+quality throughout. It introduces the heroine in New York as a little
+girl of eight, but soon passes over six years and finds her at a select
+family boarding school in Connecticut. An important part of the story
+also takes place at the Profile House in the White Mountains. The charm
+of school-girl friendship is finely brought out, and the kindness of
+heart, good sense and good taste which find constant expression in the
+books by Miss Rhoades do not lack for characters to show these best of
+qualities by their lives. Other less admirable persons of course appear
+to furnish the alluring mystery, which is not all cleared up until the
+very last.
+
+     "There will be no better book than this to put into the
+     hands of a girl in her teens and none that will be better
+     appreciated by her."--_Kennebec Journal._
+
+
+MARION'S VACATION
+
+By NINA RHOADES
+
+Illustrated by Bertha G. Davidson 12mo Cloth $1.25
+
+[Illustration]
+
+This book is for the older girls, Marion being thirteen. She has for ten
+years enjoyed a luxurious home in New York with the kind lady who feels
+that the time has now come for this aristocratic though lovable little
+miss to know her own nearest kindred, who are humble but most excellent
+farming people in a pretty Vermont village. Thither Marion is sent for a
+summer, which proves to be a most important one to her in all its
+lessons.
+
+     "More wholesome reading for half grown girls it would be
+     hard to find; some of the same lessons that proved so
+     helpful in that classic of the last generation 'An Old
+     Fashioned Girl' are brought home to the youthful readers of
+     this sweet and sensible story."--_Milwaukee Free Press._
+
+
+_For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by
+the publishers_
+
+LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., Boston
+
+
+
+
+BRAVE HEART SERIES
+
+By Adele E. Thompson
+
+
+_Betty Seldon, Patriot_
+
+Illustrated 12mo Cloth $1.25
+
+A book that is at the same time fascinating and noble. Historical events
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