ulterior
object. She had outgrown some of her timidity, she stood up straighter,
as if she was more conscious of her own power, and she dared to meet the
eyes of the other girls, to answer their smiles. She was to go in most
of the classes this year, though the girls would be much younger, but
Mrs. Aldred judged that the companionship would prove beneficial.

There were several changes in the teaching corps. A Mrs. Wiley,
middle-aged and experienced, who had been employed in a girls' college
in the West, shared with Miss Grace the duties of the senior classes.
Her daughter, Miss Esther, taught in the younger day-school classes and
was a pupil in several studies. After a month matters ran along
smoothly.

Not that the girls fell into the traces without any friction. Some were
pert and self-sufficient, others consequential, and several not
remarkable for anything, taking mental culture along objective lines,
and a few ambitious, intellectual, loving study for the sake of the
sweet kernel knowledge when you had cracked the rough outer shell. There
were the bright and sweet, who had no aims above the average, and who
would get trained into nice, wholesome girls and make good wives and
mothers.

Helen enjoyed her studies immensely. The botany rambles were one of her
great pleasures, and when she went at the wonders of astronomy she was
enraptured.

"Such a student is worth having; she inspires the rest," Mrs. Wiley said
to Mrs. Aldred. "There is a girl who should go to college."

"Yes, she ought," but in her secret soul Mrs. Aldred feared that was not
Mrs. Van Dorn's design.

She was beginning to understand and love Latin, and doing very well at
French. She did not display much aptitude for drawing, though she had a
certain artistic taste in arrangement.

"But I really do not see any use of hammering away at music," she
protested. "I never shall make a fine player."

"You will make a fine singer and you want some thorough knowledge for
that," said Madame Meran.

"It was one of the branches Mrs. Van Dorn is very particular about,"
Mrs. Aldred added, in a tone that left no room for demur.

There was the usual fun and perhaps a little sly flirting among the
newer students with the young men in the law offices. Autumn was quite a
lively time, since court was in session. The girls were allowed to visit
the fairs and entertainments of their respective churches, and
occasionally spend Saturday afternoon with an outside