rray she walked down the corridor in the centre of
an exultant crowd of friends. In listening to the babel of chatter and
laughter, she forgot utterly her companion in imprisonment. Just once she
happened to look back from the entangling arms of Bea and Berta and
Robbie Belle, and caught sight of a forlorn little figure staring after
her from the shadows of the infirmary door. In the glow of her new
freedom and heart-warming affection, Lila nodded to her with such a
radiant smile that Ellen blushed with joy. On her journey to her room she
told herself that Miss Allan liked her after all. It was a solitary
journey, for Ellen had boarded in town till February. After moving into
the dormitory she had barely begun to make acquaintances before the ogre
of fever had swooped down upon her and dragged her away to his den in the
isolation ward.

The vision of that smile must have remained with her through the troubled
weeks that followed; for one April evening in parlor J she ventured to
invite Miss Allan to dance. Beyond distant glimpses in the corridors and
chapel, Lila had seen nothing of her fellow convalescent. To tell the
truth, she had taken pains to avoid any chance association. Once she had
found hardly time to take refuge behind an ENGAGED sign before the
dreaded little freshman came tiptoeing shyly into the alleyway. Another
time when she spied the small face waiting with an expectant wistful half
smile at the foot of the stairs she turned to retrace her steps as if she
had suddenly recalled an errand in another direction.

On this particular evening, Lila had been the guest of honor at a senior
birthday table. The senior whose birthday was being celebrated was chief
editor of the Monthly. She declared that she invited Lila because of the
rhymes that came in so handy to fill up several pages in the last number
of the magazine. As Lila, lovely in pale rose and blue and silver, sat at
the table gay with flowers and shaded candles, she told the story of how
she had written the verses in the infirmary. On her witty tongue the
stubby pencil, the dull knife, and the teasing midget of an impudent
freshman made a delightfully humorous tale. Even the explosive "Lila!"
and its accompanying side glance of terrified joy in the daring developed
into a picture that sent the seniors into tempests of laughter. Somehow
she did not care to mention the letter which Ellen had dropped out of the
window.

After dinner Lila pressed on wit