el Morrison's. To some of the
Clan Harding meant everything they had ever known in the way of culture
and scholarly refinement, of happy leisure and congenial friendship. It
was comforting somehow to find that girls like Betty and the B's, who
had everything else, were just as fond of Harding and were going to be
just as sorry to leave it. Rachel never envied anybody, but she liked to
think that this life that was so precious to her meant much to all her
friends. It made one feel surer that pretty clothes and plenty of
spending-money and delightful summers at the seashore or in the
mountains did not matter much, so long as the one big, beautiful fact of
being a Harding girl was assured. All this flashed through Rachel's mind
much more quickly than it can be written down. Aloud she said
cheerfully, "Well, we have one whole year more of it."

"I should rather think so," declared Betty emphatically, "and we mustn't
waste a single minute of it. I wish it was evening. It seems as if I
couldn't wait to see the other girls."

"Well, there's plenty to do just now," said Rachel briskly, as the
four-ten halted, and the streams of girls, laden with traveling bags,
suit-cases, golf-clubs, tennis-rackets, and queer-shaped bulky parcels
that had obviously refused to go into any trunk, began to descend from
it.

Rachel hurried forward at once, eager to find someone who needed help or
directions or a friendly word of welcome. But Betty stood where she was,
just out of the crowd, watching the old girls' excited meetings and the
new girls' timid progresses, which were sure to be intercepted before
long by some white-gowned, competent senior, anxious to miss no possible
opportunity for helpfulness.

Betty had done her part all day, and in addition had taken Rachel's
place earlier in the afternoon, to give her a free hour for tutoring.
She was tired now and hot, and she had undoubtedly eaten too many ices;
but she was also trying an experiment. Where she stood she could watch
both platforms from which the girls were descending. Her quick glance
shot from one to the other, scanning each figure as it emerged from the
shadowy car and stopped for an instant, hesitating, on the platform. The
train was nearly emptied of its Harding contingent when all at once
Betty gave a little cry and darted forward to meet a girl who was making
an unusually careful and prolonged inspection of the crowd below her.
She was a slender, pretty girl, with yello