The Little Colonel's Chum: Mary Ware

the various rooms and the laughter in the halls made her long to have a part in the general sociability. She wished that it were necessary for her to borrow a hammer or to ask informa

ce and its rules. There was nothing for her to do but take out her bead-work an

gether the scraps of conversation which floated her way, and making guesses as to the personality of the speakers. Twice her open door brought the reward of a transient visitor

ed as one Dora Irene Derwent, called Dorene for short, darted in

her handkerchief to see if the bleeding had stopped. "I can't find my emergency case, and Cornie Dean never was

Dorene had dropped the broken glass, but for some unaccountable reason had thrust the frame under her arm, and was holding it hugged tight to her side by her elbow. Now as she put out her hand for Mary's in

! Betty Lewis! D

year because she was graduated and gone. I haven't seen her since, but you can imagine my delight when I found her name in this year's catalogue, as one of the teachers. We never imagined she'd teach, for she has su

chool friends, as if we were related. Of course, I shall call her Miss Lewis before the other girls. Mamma says it wouldn't be showing proper respect not to. But it's such a comfort to be able to call her Betty behind the scenes. She came

nly shall lay siege to you two for our sorority. We ought to have first claim, f

he sense of being in intimate touch with things in the inner circle of school life. Because she knew Lloyd and Betty so well, they took her in as one of themselves, gave her a seat on a suit-case, the chairs all being full, and climbed over her and around her as they went on

that I used to have when I opened a prize pop-corn box. My little brother and I used to save all our pennies for them when we were little tots back in Kansas. We didn't eat the pop-corn, that is I didn't. It was the flutter and thrill I wanted, that comes when you've almost reached the bottom of the box, and know the next grab wil

op-corn when you're drawing room-mates, I can

ad to room with a girl who almost drove me to distraction

with a per

se upon her f

ke me beyond endurance. Sometimes I

hings for insta

at she couldn't bear to undress with them looking at her, so she'd turn their faces to the wall, and then next morning she'd be so slow about getting down to breakfast that there wouldn't be ti

couldn't throw a pillow at her and shut her up, so there she'd lie and talk in a stage whisper till after midnight. Then it was like pulling teeth to get her up in the morning. She took to setting an alarm clock for awhile, to rouse her early and give her half an hour to wake up in. It never made the slightest

rettiness: a girl made to be petted and considered and shielded like a delicate flower. The type appealed to her. Independent and capable herself, she was prepared to be almost mot

n expansive all-pervading sort of way that made Mary feel very small and insignificant. The room itself that heret

ndow, but even there she felt in the way. "I don't see why I should,

y polite, so polite that it left Mary at greater arm's length than before. Fanchon was to do the unpacking. She had come on purpose for that. In a few moments Fanchon came in, a middle-aged woman who had accompanied her from home, and who was t

," thought Mary resentfully, "Well, she may prove to be as much as a

t her over her lead-stringing, sl

drab all the way through to me, but she may be the kind that improves on acquaintance. She

and how to pull the wardrobe door a certain way when it stuck, but her friendly advances were so coldly receiv

alling her A.O. as every one else did. In five minutes Mary was calling her A.O. too, and wishing a little enviously that

. "Maybe she'll improve on acquaintance and be so nice tha

of candy was passed around. Finding herself in the compan

ltantly. "I feel like a duck who has found a whole lake to swim

ng funny things and send her audience off into gales of laughter. And all the time the

he new experiences, thinking that if she could only find Ethelinda responsive it would put the finishing touch to a perfect day. Betty was in the upper hall surrounded by an admiring circle, for all the old girls who remembered her as the star of her class

you," While she was looking through her desk to find it she asked, "W

won't thaw

, de

her, to think I'd taken a step without a chaperon, and she said it in such a way that I couldn't help saying that I thought one must feel like a poodle tied to a string-always fastened to a chaperon. As for me give me liberty or give me death. And she answered, 'Oh, aren't

" advised Betty. "Beat her at her

tart. When you're going to bed is the cream of the day. You see you alwa

ograph, the best she has ever had taken, in my opinion. It's so lifelike you almost wait to hear her speak. And I like

or me?" was

of paper with all the questions on it Jack was to ask. And you wanted so especially to know just how the Princess looked and how she was w

the frame up in front of her that she might

the rainy days at the Log Cabin, the many knights who came a-riding by to pay court to the fair daughter of the house. Then she told of

He said I must live awhile-have some experiences that go deeper than the carefree exist

ing the picture and the nail on which to hang it. She wanted to show it to Ethelinda, sh

, start a letter to Jack, and maybe make some break in the wall of reserve which Ethelinda still kep

not to sit up and keep the light burning. Maybe she'll appreciate

tches. Next, taking off her shoe to use the heel as a hammer, she drove the nail in the wall over the side of her bed, and hung the picture where she could see it the last thing at night and the first in the morning. Then, retiri

nd the smiling lips seemed to be saying, "Don't you remember" in such a friendly companionable way that she

ng the electric light cord from her dressing table to her bed, so that the bulb would hang directly over i

utterly regardless of her comfort. She was about to sputter an indignant protest when she looked up at the picture. It seemed to smile back at her as if it w

exciting day. So she lay still. She began to get drowsy presently, but she could not go to sleep with that irritating light in her eyes. She threw a counterpane over the foot-board, but it was too low to shield her. F

HELTERING CANOPY WITH

inking, "I'd have been awfully mad if you

g up to pull her pillows higher. The flickering shadows made Mary think of something-a verse that

I from the s

ro did sway u

lves-our influ

e can n

her umbrella at the swaying shadows, till somethi

dow-self. Then it won't make any difference whether Miss Haughtiness

n her nursery days, and enchanted orchards whose trees bore all manner of confections. It had bestowed beauty and fortune and accomplishments on her, and sent dashing cavaliers to seek her hand when she came to the romance-reading age. Friends and socia

mpatiently. She had forgotten where she was for the moment in the interest of her book. When her glance fell on the umbrella, spread over Mary

rotest could have done. Ethelinda had endured having a room-mate as she endured all the other disagreeable requirements of the school. Now for the first time it dawned upon her that there might be two sides to this story, also that this strange girl who seem