ugh the corridor. After that she went to sleep.

But her own dreams were not very restful. She was hiding something all
night long from some creature that had a hundred eyes!

In the morning, when she awoke, she knew that what she had been trying
to hide--what she _must_ hide, indeed--was the knowledge that she was
"Miss Nobody" from all these eager, inquisitive, perhaps heartless
girls.

Nancy had been in the habit of rising early, and she was up and dressed
before rising bell at seven. When Cora rolled over sleepily and blinked
about the sun-flooded room, she saw Nancy tying her hair-ribbon, being
otherwise completely dressed, and she whined:

"Well! I sha'n't like _you_, Miss. I can see that, plainly. You don't
know enough to lie abed and let a fellow sleep."

"I am sure _I_ did not wake you," replied Nancy, composedly. "It was the
gong."

"Bah!" grumbled Cora, crawling out of bed.

Nancy had read over the rules again and she knew that from rising bell
until breakfast at half-past seven she was free to do as she chose. So,
not caring to listen to her roommate's ill-natured remarks, she slipped
out and found her way downstairs and out of the building.

It was a clear, warm September morning. The leaves on the distant maples
had only just begun to turn. The lawns before Pinewood Hall were
beautiful. Behind and on both sides of the great main building was the
grove of huge pine trees that gave the place its name.

Beautifully smooth, pebbled paths led through this grove in several
directions. Nancy chanced upon one that led to the gymnasium and
swimming pool. There were tennis and basketball courts, and other means
of athletic enjoyment.

Down the easy slope, from the top of the knoll where the gym. stood,
flowed the wide, quiet Clinton River, with a pennant snapping in the
morning breeze on the staff a-top the school boathouse.

"Oh, this is the most beautiful place!" thought Nancy. "What a perfectly
lovely time I should have here if only the girls liked me. I must _make_
them like me. That's what I've got to do."

She saw only two or three other girls about the grounds, and those at a
distance. As she ran back to the main building, however, that structure
began to hum with life. More than anything else did Pinewood Hall remind
Nancy of a great beehive.

Many of the bedroom windows were wide open now; the more or less tousled
heads of girls in all stages of dressing appeared, and disappeared
again, at t