rted. Come on, girls. Everybody's in but us. Good-bye, Chet!
Good-bye, Ferd and Teddy! Please be good and don't get sent home the
first week--we wouldn't have anybody to give us that row, you know.
Good-bye--good-bye----"

Laura and Vi had already clambered into the long, car-like machine with
_Three Towers Hall_ painted in gold letters on the outside and were
impatiently commanding Billie to follow them.

As soon as she was inside the boys rushed to the car with _Boxton
Military Academy_ painted in gold letters on the outside, and the
good-byes were over.

As they left the station and swung into a wide smooth road on their way
to Three Towers Hall the girls relaxed with a sigh of happiness.

"Isn't this a wonderful road?" said Billie, screwing her head around so
that she could look out the window. The machine had two long seats on
either side, running from the front to the back of it so that, in
turning, Billie accidentally stuck her elbow into the girl next to her.

She had not noticed the girl, but now, when the latter spoke, Billie
turned around quickly. The girl was Eliza Dilks, Amanda Peabody's chum,
and beside her sat Amanda herself looking on with her usual sneering
grin.

"Say, if you haven't got room enough," Eliza said in a thin high voice,
"I can move over to the other side of the car."

For a minute Billie just stared, while several girls about them paused
in their own conversations to listen. Vi was aghast and Laura was
furious.

"Well," said Billie at last, letting her gaze travel from Eliza's mean
face to her ill-fitting shoes--somewhere Billie had heard that people
hate to have you look at their feet--"maybe you'd better move. There's
lots more room on the other side."

The girls chuckled. Laura said: "Good for you, Billie," under her
breath, and Eliza flushed angrily. She seemed about to speak, but as
Billie was still gazing steadily at her feet she looked down at them
herself and thereby lost the battle.

However, the incident had made them miss some of the prettiest scenery
in Molata, and it was almost with a feeling of regret that the girls saw
the majestic three towers of Three Towers Hall rise before them.

Their regret did not last long, however; and when the car started up the
broad driveway the girls strained their eyes for a better view.

It was a beautiful place. The hall itself was built of rough,
greenish-gray stone, and over the whole front of it, twining round the
windows,