I thought that I was the
only one, but I see you've even hung your pictures."

"Yes, we don't know any of the other girls yet, so we didn't lose any
time running back and forth to their rooms, as everybody else is doing.
We've been through ever so long. Lloyd is out exploring the grounds
with Allison, but I was too tired after all the sightseeing we have
done. I'd be glad not to stir out of my room for a week."

She pushed a rocking-chair hospitably toward her guest, and leaned back
in the opposite one.

"I don't want to sit down," said Juliet. "I'm just exploring. I think
it's so much fun to poke around the first day and see how everybody is
fixed. You don't mind, do you, if I walk around and look at your
pictures?"

"No, indeed!" answered Betty, cordially. "Help yourself."

Catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror, she sat up straight in her
chair, and adjusted the side-combs which were slipping out of her curly
hair. It was a pleasing reflection that the mirror showed her, of a slim
girl in a linen shirt-waist and a dark brown skirt just reaching to her
ankles. But it held her gaze only long enough for her to see that her
belt was properly pulled down and her stock all that could be desired.
The friendly brown eyes and the trusting little mouth never needed
readjustment. They always met the world with a smile, and thus far the
world had always smiled back at them.

"Last year," said Juliet, as she wandered around, "the girl who had this
room simply plastered the walls with posters. It was so sporty-looking.
She had hunting scenes between these windows, and there was a frieze of
hounds and a yard of puppies where you have that panel of photographs.
Oh, what perfectly beautiful places!" she cried, moving nearer. "Do tell
me about them. Is that where you live?"

"Yes, this is our Lloydsboro Valley corner--the Happy Valley we call
it," answered Betty, crossing the room to point out the various places:
"Locust," her home and Lloyd's, a stately white-pillared mansion at the
end of a long locust avenue; "The Beeches," where the Waltons lived; the
vine-covered stone church; the old mill; the post-office, and a row of
snap shots showing Lloyd and her mounted on their ponies, Tarbaby and
Lad.

"What good times you must have there!" sighed Juliet, presently.

Betty opened a drawer in the writing-desk and took out six little books,
bound in white kid, her initials stamped in gold on each cover.

"Just see how many