be
general utility boy, dismounted to open the door for them. Then he led the
way into the great hall and on to the office, throwing open the doors
before him with energetic officiousness, giving one the impression that he
was the most important personage at Exeter Hall.

On entering the office, a woman advanced to shake hands with Miss Stoner
and Miss Kean. With a few words of greeting, she dismissed them each with
a bunch of jangling keys, and the information that they were to occupy the
same rooms as the previous year. Then she turned to Elizabeth. "This is
Miss Hobart?" she said, shaking her hand cordially, and drawing her
forward to a chair. "Your father wrote me that you would arrive to-day.
Jordan," to the boy who stood grinning at her side, "Miss Wilson is
somewhere on the campus. Ask her to step to the office, please. Miss
Wilson will be your roommate. She will take charge of you. If you will
excuse me, I'll return to work which claims me." She turned to her desk
and was soon absorbed in correspondence.

Elizabeth was thus given an opportunity to study her. She was a tall
woman, so tall and slender that these qualities first impressed those who
saw her. Yet later, when one stood beside her, you discovered to your
surprise that she was merely the average woman in height. It had been her
carriage, her manner of holding her head, which gave the impression of
unusual height. One might have thought her critical and stern had it not
been that the expression of her eyes, which were gray and unusually large,
was gentle and shy. Her well-shaped head was crowned with coils of brown
hair touched with gray drawn loosely back from a broad, low forehead. She
was a woman who could not pass unobserved in a crowd, yet she was not
beautiful. It was that her presence was felt, rather than she herself
observed. She had said little to the new student; yet the direct effect of
her presence caused Elizabeth to be glad she had come to Exeter.

"Oh, here is Miss Wilson!" Dr. Morgan arose. "Miss Wilson, Miss Hobart
will be your roommate. I shall put her in your care."

The girl extended her hand. She was not nearly so tall as Elizabeth. Her
yellow hair without ribbon or comb hung about her ears. She shook her head
and flung back her locks like a spirited young horse tossing its mane. Her
eyes were brown and dancing and her face was brimming over with fun. Her
voice was high pitched and so cheery that her hearers were compelled to
bel