thought in a hundred young hearts he must surely be finding his reward.

"There it is!" cried Graham, who was walking ahead.

School could not really seem a bit like school, Jerry thought, as she
followed the others through the spacious grounds into the building, when
one studied in such beautiful rooms where the sun, streaming through
long windows framed in richly-toned walnut, danced in slanting golden
bars across parqueted floors. Gyp's enthusiasm, though, made it all very
real.

"Here, Jerry, here's where the third form study room will be. Look,
here's the geom. classroom! Oh, I _hope_ we'll be put in the same class.
Let's go down to the Gym. Oh--look at the French room--isn't it
darling?" The trees outside were casting a shimmer of green through the
sunshine in the room. "Mademoiselle will say: 'Young ladies, it ees
beau-ti-ful!' Aren't these halls jolly, Jerry? Oh, I can't _wait_ for
school to begin."

On their way to the gymnasium, which was in the new wing of the
building, the girls met another group. One of these disentangled herself
from the arms that encircled her waist and threw herself into Gyp's
embrace. The extravagance of her demonstration startled Jerry, but when
Gyp introduced her, in an off-hand way: "This is Ginny Cox, Jerry,"
Jerry found herself fascinated by the dash and "_camaraderie_" in the
girl's manner.

There were other introductions and excited greetings; each tried to tell
how "scrumptious" and "gorgeous" and "spliffy" she thought the new
school. Like Gyp, none of them could wait until school opened. Then the
group passed on and Jerry, breathless at her first encounter with her
schoolmates-to-be, remembered only Ginny Cox.

"She's the funniest girl--she's a perfect circus," Gyp explained in
answer to Jerry's query. "Everybody likes her and she's the best forward
we ever had in Lincoln." All of which was strange tribute to Jerry's
ears, for, back at the Notch, poor Si Robie had always been dubbed the
"funniest" child in the school and _he_ had been "simple." Jerry did not
know exactly how valuable a good "forward" was to any school but, she
told herself, she knew she was going to like Ginny Cox.

In the gymnasium the girls found Graham with a group of boys. Gyp
greeted them boisterously. Jerry, watching shyly, thought them all very
jolly-looking boys.

"Do you see that tall boy down there?" Gyp nodded toward another group.
"That's Dana King. Isobel's got an awful crush on him. She