tting in her favorite chair reading a magazine,
looked up absently, then, staring incredulously at the newcomers,
trotted across the room, both hands outstretched in welcome. "Why, Miss
Harlowe and Miss Nesbit, I had given you up for to-night. Here are Miss
Pierson and Miss Briggs, too. I'm so glad to see you. When did you
arrive? I thought there was no train from the north before nine
o'clock."

"Didn't Miss Dean tell you we had arrived?" asked Grace, as Mrs. Elwood
shook hands in turn with each girl.

"I haven't seen Miss Dean. She went out before I came home," replied
Mrs. Elwood.

"Wait until we catch the faithless Emma," threatened Anne. "She promised
to be our herald. We arrived here at a little after five o'clock. We did
not stay here long, for Miss Thayer, of Morton House, invited us to
dinner at Vinton's."

"How do you like the way I fixed your room this year?" asked Mrs.
Elwood.

"We haven't been in it yet," answered Grace. "That is, we went only as
far as the door."

"Oh, then you must see it at once," said Mrs. Elwood briskly. "I have
had it repapered. There is a new rug on the floor, too, and I have put a
new Morris chair in and taken out one of the cane-seated chairs."

"No wonder the Anarchist refuses to vacate," muttered Elfreda.

"What did you say, my dear?" remarked Mrs. Elwood amiably.

"Oh, I was just talking nonsense," averred Elfreda solemnly.

"I won't keep you girls out of your rooms any longer. I know you must be
tired from your long journey. Come upstairs at once."

Mrs. Elwood had already crossed the room and was out in the hall, her
foot on the first step of the stairs. The girls exchanged glances. There
was a half smothered chuckle from Elfreda, then Grace hurried after
their good-natured landlady. "Wait a minute, Mrs. Elwood," began Grace,
"I have something to tell you before you go upstairs. This afternoon,
when we arrived, we went directly to our rooms. The door of our room was
locked, however. We knocked repeatedly, and it was at last opened by a
young woman who said the room was hers and refused to allow us to enter
it."

During this brief recital Mrs. Elwood looked first amazed, then
incredulous. Her final expression was one of lively displeasure, and
with the exclamation, "I might have known it!" she marched upstairs with
the air of a grenadier, the girls filing in her wake. Pausing before the
door she listened intently. The sound of some one moving within could be
hea