Molly Brown's Junior Days

off" as she called it, and Molly had no heart for conversation. The door to Judy's bedroom at the other end of the sitting room was closed and they wer

ed and she was sinking down into space and, as is always the case with dreams of falling, she waked with a nervous leap as if her body had hit the bed and rebounded. As she fell she had dreamed that she heard a voice calling. Never mind what it said; already the word, whatever it was, was a mere pin point in her m

bed and began pull

she thought. "It is b

. It came back to her now,

ned and sa

it?" sh

t hurry. Don't stop

ed at her

nightmare, Mol

aguely as Nance sw

but I must make haste

ate fo

't kno

. Nothing is going to happen.

hurry. Don't stop me, Nance. You may

lkers too suddenly, and she believed now as she saw Molly sli

llege. You are in your own room. It's a qu

light and slipped across to Judy's room. She m

m," she exclaimed sudd

e a sligh

ember. I couldn't make it out at first. Put on your thin

She slipped on tennis shoes and an ulster and pre

asked Nance, now under the sp

indeed like a sleepwalker as she gli

they would have noticed a fi

is locked,"

'll find anothe

, deep-silled, and closed with iron-bound wooden shutters like the doors into the cloisters. Mounting a bench, Molly opened the inside glass casement of one of the windows and drew back the bolt which secured the shutter. Then she hoisted herself onto the sill, crawled through the win

. "And if he does, what will he do? Give the alarm at once or try to find out our names and repor

girls flitted across the campus. It was a strange adventure, Nance pondered, and one she would never have undertaken, or even considered, alone. But then her instincts were not lik

he other girls, it said. It troubled her mind with whispers of doubts and fears; it ridiculed and abused her, but not once did it weaken her determination to follow Molly

lent thump. She had believed all along that they were taking a shor

t think--" she b

Hurry," was Mol

d take breath for another dash through a fringe of pine trees she c

ng?" she asked, in a

t, straining their

came the sound of a canoe pa

thed a sig

and they hastened down to th

d launched a small rowboa

ly. "She's just like a prairie fire. It only takes a spark

onate, excitable temperament more in control. She, herself, had learned s

she asked, as the prow of the boat cut softly thr

ho had never learned to handle

amed that some one said 'hurry,' and the

r head like a startled animal when it scents danger. It occurred to Nance, watching her over her shoulder as they drew nearer, that there was really something wild and untamed in Judy's nature. She remembered that, the first morning

at there is, quivered violently with the shock of the collision and sprang back. As it bounded forward a

said Molly. "It will be easier to pu

e treacherous little craft shot from under her, and over she toppled, headforemost into the waters. Fortunately, she was an excellent swimmer, and the star dive

r wishes were most ludicrously carried out, and the struggle she now made to climb back into the boat showed that she was not anxious to stay any longer than she could help in the icy bath. It was a sight for laughter more than for tears, sen

question she put, when, having seized the rope

I only guessed,"

e she even knew you were not

out here," she went on brokenly. "I felt ashamed to face any one, even mamma and papa. I might--" she broke off, shivering. Rivulets of wa

udy," said Nance, rowing with long rapid strok

d trying to apologize, Molly. Words don't mean anything. But when the chance comes-and the chance always doe

wasn't angry about what happened at the gym. I was hurt of course because I'm a sensitive plant, but I knew it would be all right i

was never kept locked, they hurried back to college

m never cold

ill me with kindness,"

ch. The question of how they were to get bac

ved to Molly, in a low voice. "There is

ed Molly, "unless we ring the bell over

n has closed the window? W

d some other way, then," ans

wer Room was wide open,

ance still had

ft it open on purpose to catch us

es, Nance," ejaculated Molly irritably. "I

ebuked, said

ill and climbed into the room. She looked about her cautiously. But

chair," wh

about, however, and she was

after Nance had clambered in, and Judy, half

e, on the lookout at the door. "He

dy leaving a trail of water behind her. The watchman had seen them. They could hear the beat of his steps on the cem

ick up your skirts. He'll trace u

eir sitting room, the door locke

irts with both hands. Nance had seized one of the

t of that eventful nigh

rridor. They dared not follow and run the risk of meeting the night watchman, probably standing at that moment at the end of the corr

apped back and forth in the wind which was rising stea

who knows we were out to-night and, whoever she