and remained ever so
long. I would have waited had not Miss Burkham come along and informed
me that a public hallway was not the proper place for a young lady."

Hester heard the words and felt the sudden touch of ironical humor in
them; but she did not know of the smile which passed over the group in
the room below; neither did she know Miss Burkham.

"I saw her," a third voice took up the conversation. It was a ringing,
clear, happy voice as though the speaker had always lived in the
sunshine, and her voice had partaken of its rippling notes. "I saw her
when she crossed the campus, and was sure it was Helen. I was just about
to run out and give her a hug--Helen is the dearest girl in the
world--when I saw I was mistaken. She isn't nearly so tall as Helen and
she doesn't wear her hair in a bun as Helen does. She was an awfully
sweet-looking thing, though, and looked for all the world like Helen."

"There's a new girl in Sixty-two. She went in there." The voice was
deliberately low and steady. It was as though the owner had grown weary
of life, but meant to live it down if she could. "Perhaps she may be
Helen's sister, who knows?" The tone of voice would have influenced a
stranger to believe that being sister to Helen Loraine, was a dire
calamity.

A murmur of amusement rippled over the group. "Sara Summerson, do arouse
yourself. Life is worth living, and examinations are months away."

"It will be all the same to me. It will be this term as it was last. I
shall not have time to get out my lessons. When I wasn't getting a drink
for Erma, I was driving my roommate in from the corridor and getting her
down to work. When I thought I could get out my 'Unter Linden,' Miss
Laird would call me to button her waist. If I ever am principal of a
seminary, I'll have a law passed making it criminal for a teacher to
wear a dress buttoned in the back. It's bound to distract the attention
of the pupils from their books." The slow, sad monotone never varied.
The hearers laughed. A bell rang and there was a sound of a general
uprising.

Hester, conscious for the first time that she had been listening,
turned into her room and closed the door. She heard the sound of passing
footsteps, the murmur of voices, and then all grew still.

Alone in the dormitory! It sounded to her as fearful as alone in the
desert. But Hester had not been trained by Debby Alden without effect.
She had not the least intention of sitting down and giving way