re of
the rug, the chiffoniers occupied a portion of the remaining wall space
on each side and the two chairs were set between beds and bureaus. The
window was in a slight bay and there was a six-foot seat below it. The
room was lighted by a two-lamp electrolier above the table, but from one
socket depended a green cord, suggesting that a previous occupant had
used a drop light.

"I wonder," said Steve, "where we are supposed to wash."

"Let's look for the bathroom," suggested Tom. So they returned to the
silent corridor and presently discovered a commodious bath and wash-room
at the farther end. There were six set bowls and four tubs there, and
Tom thought it was pretty fine. Steve, however, was in a mood to find
fault and he objected to the bathroom on several different counts. For
one thing, it was too far away. Then, too, he didn't see how twenty
fellows were going to wash at six bowls. Tom, however, promptly
demonstrated how one fellow could do it by returning to Number 12 and
bringing back his wash-cloth. In his absence Steve had been
experimenting with the liquid soap apparatus with which each bowl was
supplied, and by the time Tom got back was able to tell him why he
didn't approve of them! By the time they had both cleaned up it was time
to find the dining-hall, and so, leaving the light burning in brazen
disregard of a notice under the switch, they clattered downstairs again
and set off for the other end of the Row, as the line of buildings was
called.

Two or three boys were standing on the steps of Wendell when they
reached it and they were aware of their frankly curious gaze as they
passed them. The dining-hall wasn't hard to find, for its double doors
faced them as they entered the building. They left their caps on one of
the big racks outside and rather consciously stepped inside the doorway.
It was a huge room, seemingly occupying the entire first floor of the
building, and held what appeared to be hundreds of tables. Only four of
them were occupied now, two across the hall from the door and two at one
end. A boy of about seventeen or eighteen, wearing an apron and carrying
a tray of dishes, saw them, and, setting down his burden, conducted them
to one of the tables nearby. There were already five boys at the board
and they each and all stared silently while Steve and Tom slid into
their chairs. The newcomers surmised that they, too, were new boys, for,
unlike the fellows at the next table beyond, who