get into a walking suit if you care to; if you don't,
just put on a big coat. It's raw out to-day."

Blue Bonnet preferred to freshen up. She brushed the tumbled hair,
bathed her face in cold water, and put on a very smart-looking little
grey suit with a Norfolk jacket and tam-o'-shanter to match.

She thought of Carita as she came out of her room, and started up-stairs
after her. A teacher stopped her.

"The young ladies meet for their walk in the reception-room
down-stairs," she said. "There is no visiting back and forth in the
rooms except between four and five o'clock."

Blue Bonnet found the girls, Carita among the rest.

"We will walk together, Carita," she said.

"All right, I have so much to tell you, Blue Bonnet."

A teacher overheard the remark.

"The younger girls usually walk together," she said, turning to Blue
Bonnet. "Have you no partner?"

"No. I only entered yesterday."

Mrs. White cast her eye over the waiting group. Each girl seemed
supplied with a companion.

"So many of the girls are not back yet. Perhaps you would walk with me,"
she said.

"Thank you," Blue Bonnet answered politely.

They took their places at the rear of the line, and the brisk walk
began. During that brief half hour, Blue Bonnet laid the foundation of a
friendship that was to prove invaluable to her throughout her school
year.

Mrs. Alicia White was a vocal teacher--_the_ vocal teacher of the school
it might be said, for there were several. She was in charge of the
department and most efficient.

There was just enough mystery surrounding Mrs. White to make her an
object of interest to the girls, and she had her full share of
popularity among them. An army officer's widow, she had been thrown upon
her own resources early in life, and having had exceptional musical
advantages, as well as a good voice, had taken up teaching as a means of
earning a livelihood.

She was a slight, fair woman, rather plain of features, but her face had
a way of lighting into something closely akin to beauty when she became
animated, and there was charm in her manner.

It had leaked out--probably without the slightest foundation--that Mrs.
White had been deserted by her army husband, and around this bare
incident all sorts of fantastic stories had been woven. At the hands of
the girls the poor man suffered all kinds of indignities. Sometimes he
was lured from the path of duty by a fascinating woman--at others drink,
or his terrible