ng
Wee for a party. It was quite tragic."

"The loss of the jam--or the waist?"

"Both. It was hard on Wee, losing the waist. You see, she's so stout she
can't borrow much from the rest of us."

Annabel came up at that moment and asked Sue to dance, so Carita and
Blue Bonnet visited until the gong sounded.

* * * * *

On the way up to the study hall, Miss North stopped Blue Bonnet.

"Will you come to my office a moment after study hour?" she said. "I
want to go over your program with you. The room is just beyond the
reception hall on the first floor."

Blue Bonnet found Miss North waiting when she entered the room an hour
later.

"You found your classes this morning, all right?" she began.

"Yes, thank you, Miss North."

"And decided upon your course?"

"Yes. Professor Howe thought I could enter the Junior class without any
trouble. I'm taking college preparatory. I don't know yet whether I'll
go to college or not, but my aunt wanted me to prepare."

There was a few moments' conversation relative to the work, and Miss
North rose.

"Good night," she said, holding out her hand. "I hope you are going to
be happy with us. You found the girls pleasant? Annabel Jackson is about
your age."

"I'm not seventeen yet," Blue Bonnet said. "I reckon my clothes make me
look older. I begged Aunt Lucinda to let me have them a little longer
than I've been wearing. Yes, I like the girls very much. Good night."

* * * * *

In her own bed, under cover of darkness, Blue Bonnet had much to think
about that night. Opposite her, as still as the dead, Joy Cross
slumbered. Blue Bonnet's mind went back over the day. How full it had
been--and strange! She almost felt as if she had been transported to
another world. In the stress and excitement of the new surroundings her
old life faded like a dream. Even the We Are Sevens seemed remote and
indistinct in her tired brain.

She dozed off, finally, to dream of marching to gongs. Gongs that urged
and threatened; and of a certain German individual who lived in a
garret, and who growled like a savage beast if she made the slightest
sound as she passed her door.

The next two weeks fairly flew along, and Blue Bonnet was too busy to
be homesick. There were good long letters from home often; from the
faithful We Are Sevens, full of news and cheer; and from Uncle Cliff, in
far-off Texas.

Blue Bonnet found the course she h