"I'll pay the expressman," volunteered Evelyn. "If I were you I'd talk
things over with Miss Harlowe. She knows that you lost your purse. Very
likely she has already thought of something you can do. I don't think
she would like to have you sell your clothes."
"I don't see why she should object," declared Jean, with quick
impatience. "However, I'll do my hair over again, and wash my face and
hands, then I'll go down stairs and have a talk with her. She said she'd
be in her office."
"Run down and talk with her now, then we'll go to the telegraph office,"
said Evelyn.
Twenty minutes later Jean entered the little office where Grace sat
engaged in the work she had been doing when interrupted by her friends
earlier in the afternoon. Like Evelyn, she was keenly alive to her
latest charge's good looks. "How attractive she is," was her thought as
she invited Jean to take the chair opposite hers.
"I suppose you would like to know something of our household, Miss
Brent," began Grace. "We are not only a household, but we are members of
a social club as well. You are the thirty-fourth girl. Last year Miss
Thirty-four never materialized, so Miss Ward roomed alone. There isn't
so so much to tell you regarding the rules and regulations of Harlowe
House. The club takes care of most of them with its constitution and
by-laws." Opening a drawer of her desk, Grace took out a paper-covered
booklet and handed it to the freshman. "This will give you nearly all
the necessary information," she said. "If I were in your place I would
go to the registrar's office reasonably early to-morrow morning. You can
then learn whether you will be obliged to take the entrance
examinations. Having been graduated from a preparatory school you may be
exempt. When did Miss Lipton's school close?"
"Last June," returned Jean briefly.
"But you have seen her since then, have you not? Her letter gave me the
impression that you had been with her recently. Do you live in Grafton,
or were you visiting Miss Lipton?"
The fair face opposite her own was suddenly flooded with red.
"I--I--was--on--a visit recently to Miss Lipton," she answered, with
reluctance. She did not volunteer the name of her home town.
For the first time Grace became aware of the curious reticence that had
vaguely annoyed Evelyn. "Where do you live, Miss Brent!" she asked with
the sudden directness so characteristic of her.
For a moment the girl did not reply, then her color receded, leaving
her face very white. "My home is in Chicago," she said slowly. "My
father and mother are dead. I have always lived with"--she
hesitated--"friends. Miss Lipton was a friend of my mother's. Surely her
word will not be questioned by the faculty." She glanced at Grace with a
half challenging air.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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