ble, walked at the other side of the popular junior, she
could not help wishing a certain other tangle might be as easily
straightened.

CHAPTER XXI

AN UNHEEDED WARNING

The next day found Grace rather at a loss how to proceed in the case of
Elfreda. From what she had overheard it was evident that Alberta Wicks
and Mary Hampton had decided to make Elfreda the victim of some
well-laid plot of their own. What the nature of it was Grace had not the
remotest idea. To approach Elfreda was embarrassing to say the least. To
warn her against the two mischievous sophomores without being able to
state anything more definite than what she had overheard at Wellington
House was infinitely more embarrassing.

"What time had I best try to see her?" Grace asked herself. She had come
from Overton Hall with Anne and Miriam late that afternoon and the three
girls had lingered on the steps of Wayne Hall, reluctant to go indoors.
Spring was getting ready to fulfill all sorts of tender promises she had
made to her children. The buds on the trees were bursting into tiny new
green leaves. The crocuses were in bloom in the yards along College
Street, and the grass on the campus was growing greener every hour. The
roads, too, were obligingly drying, so that adventurous walkers might
visit their favorite haunts in the country surrounding Overton without
running the risk of wading in the mud.

There was Guest House, the famous colonial tea shop that had been built
and used as an inn during the Revolution. In this quaint historic place
ample refreshment was to be found. There one could satisfy one's
appetite with dainty little sandwiches, muffins and jam, tea cakes and
tea, fresh milk or buttermilk.

There was also Hunter's Rock that overhung the river, and whose smooth,
flat surface made an ideal spot for picnickers. It was five miles from
Overton, but extremely popular with all four classes, and from early
spring until late fall, it was occupied on Saturday by various gay gipsy
parties from the college. Then there were canoes for the venturesome,
and staid old rowboats for the cautious, to be hired at a nominal sum,
while girlish figures dotted the golf course and the tennis courts.
Girls strolled about the campus in the early evenings, or gathered in
groups on the steps of the campus houses. It was the time of year when
spring creeps into one's blood, making one forget everything except the
blueness of the sky, the softness of th