279
XVII An Ounce of Prevention 299
XVIII Into Paradise--and Out 321
XIX A Last Chance 337
XX Loose Threads 355

BETTY WALES

CHAPTER I

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

"Oh, dear, what if she shouldn't meet me!" sighed Betty Wales for the
hundredth time at least, as she gathered up her bags and umbrella, and
followed the crowd of noisy, chattering girls off the train.

"So long, Mary. See you to-morrow."

"Get a carriage, Nellie, that's a dear. You're so little you can always
break through the crowd."

"Hello, Susanna! Did you get on the campus too?"

"Thanks awfully, but I can't to-night. My freshman cousin's up, you
know, and homesick and----"

"Oh, girls, isn't it fun to be back?"

It all sounded so jolly and familiar. Weren't any of them freshmen? Did
they guess that she was a freshman "and homesick"? Betty straightened
proudly and resolved that they should not. If only the registrar had got
father's telegram. As she stood hesitating on the station platform,
amazed at the wilderness of trunks and certain that no one could
possibly find her until that shouting, rushing mob in front of her had
dispersed, a pretty girl in immaculate white duck hurried up to her.

"Pardon me," she said, reaching out a hand for Betty's golf clubs, "but
aren't you a stranger here? Could I help you, perhaps, about getting
your luggage up?"

Betty looked at her doubtfully. "I don't know," she said. "Yes, I'm
going to enter college, and my elder sister couldn't get here until a
later train. But father telegraphed the registrar to meet me. Do you
know her? Could you point her out?"

The pretty girl's lips curved into the faint suggestion of a smile.
"Yes," she said, "I know her--only too well for my peace of mind
occasionally. But I'm afraid she hasn't come to meet you. You see she's
very busy these first days--there are a great many of you freshman, all
wanting different things. So she sends us down instead."

"Oh, I see." Betty's face brightened. "Then if you would tell me how to
get to Mrs. Chapin's on Meriden Place."

"Mrs. Chapin's!" exclaimed the pretty girl. "That's easy. Most of you
want such outlandish streets. But that's close to the campus, where I'm
going myself. My time is just up, I'm happy to say. Give me your checks