Again the big halls at Greycliff were full of laughter and chatterings. Bright faces peeped from doors, light forms whisked hither and yon, doors banged, trunks bumped or traveled along up the inclines which had been fixed for them at the stairways, where short flights had no elevator accommodations. One of the smaller girls sat on a newspaper to save her dress and slid down one such incline; but concluding that she preferred bannisters, she tried one which curved invitingly down from the second floor, and slid off directly in front of the astonished dean who was starting upstairs with a dignified parent.

Thus is answered the question,—Did the Greycliff Girls come back? Indeed they did. And one of the very prettiest was flying down the wide steps of the entrance to Greycliff Hall. A happy-faced, quietly dressed young girl was just paying the taxi driver and turned in time to embrace at once this eager Greycliffer who threw her arms around her.

“Lil!”

“Hil!”

“How long since you came in?”

“About twenty minutes.”

“No time lost, then;—O, isn’t it great? I never saw anything nicer than even those Greycliff flats we passed, because I knew every minute that we were coming nearer and nearer this wonderful old Greycliff! And who’s back? The girls come yet?”

“Well, some would call them girls,” said Lilian, waving her hand at the groups about the campus and on the steps and on the wide veranda.

“You scamp!” exclaimed Hilary. “Same old Lilian! You know very well what girls I mean.”

“Yes, I do, of course. But I was just going to ask you if Cathalina was really coming back, and when Betty plans to get here.”

The girls by this time had reached the entrance hall, where they stopped to embrace again.

“Aren’t we crazy?” Hilary looked around, though not in embarrassment. “Nobody here I know.”

“Everybody’s crazy. Come on up. Do you know where we’re going to be this year?—Capital B, E, BE!”

“In Greycliff Hall.” Hilary pretended to be very solemn.

“Naturally. But don’t you know, really?”

“No, I guess I missed some of you girls’ letters by not going home again before coming to school, so all I know is that Cathalina is coming and that we are all to be together in a suite. She wrote that early in the summer and said that Miss Randolph was going to arrange it. So I haven’t worried a bit, and, honestly, I’ve been too busy to write letters.”

“So have I. I was just going to apologize for not writing oftener, but if you are as bad as I am, I’ll not need to.”

“I guess this was a full summer for both of us. I love you just the same as ever, though. Did you get my cards from Boston?”

“Yes; did you get mine from Denver? O, now you must shut your eyes and I’ll lead you into our elegant retreat where we shall ‘woo the Muses,’ as Father says. Put down your bag; you can get it in a minute, it isn’t far.”

With red hands over her eyes, Hilary Lancaster, laughing and dancing along by Lilian, was led to a door which was thrown open dramatically before her.

“Lilian North! Our old room improved! Me thought my feet tread upon accustomed ground!”

“Boards, you mean. How touching.” The two excited and happy girls started a “Gym” dance, Hilary counting as they took so many steps to the right, so many to the left, with bows and curtseys, till Hilary suddenly ran over to the window.

“There it is, the same lovely bit of the lake and the lacing trees. O, I can scarcely wait to see the launch and the boats again, and even our nice kind old Mickey. Where’s my bag?—O, yes!” and Hilary went racing down the hall for her traveling bag.

The suite over which these two girls were having such raptures was nothing remarkable, but was the one which Hilary Lancaster and Cathalina Van Buskirk had occupied the year before, their first happy year at this girls’ school. By taking down a partition or two, three large rooms had been made, one sitting room or study in the middle, a good-sized bedroom, with its two comfortable cots, on each side of the sitting room.

“Won’t Cathalina be surprised?”

Hardly had Lilian finished her sentence when a light little rap sounded at the door, which opened to reveal Miss Cathalina Van Buskirk of New York. Dainty and lovely as ever, her expressive face glowing with delight at surprising her friends, she stood a moment while two pairs of arms opened to greet her.

“Cathalina!”

“And Betty is downstairs in Miss Randolph’s room with her mother. It was mean of me to come on up, but I couldn’t wait,—Alma told me that she saw you girls come upstairs, and that by the way you were carrying on she thought you were glad to get back!”

“Is Alma still Miss Randolph’s helper?” asked Hilary.

“Yes,” replied Lilian, “she was the one who brought me up here when I came. I couldn’t find Miss Randolph and nobody but you, Cathalina, knew where we were to be. What do you think of it?”

Cathalina, whose home boasted every luxury, looked around at the room (which was bare of every adornment), glanced into the bedrooms (where dressers needed dusting and a linen cover of some sort), and with an expression of perfect and unassumed bliss, sank into a chair saying, “This seems just like heaven. Do you remember, Lilian, when you came over in the pink kimono last year and invited Hilary and me into your suite to eat fudge and peanuts? I had just gotten over a terrible fit of homesickness and we were in the midst of getting settled. Well, that was the beginning of my absolute a—adoration of this school! But come on,—we mustn’t forget our Betty, and her mother is a dear. You will all like her. Betty is her ‘living image.’ We were motoring, and Phil took me to Betty’s,—so we all came here together, I mean Betty and her mother and I, on the train. My trunk and things were to come by express from home. I must see about them, too.”

In a moment the room was empty again, except for several traveling bags, hats, and a few other articles scattered about. Hilary’s treasured one and only silk umbrella had fallen unheeded behind the steam pipes.

But Betty Barnes met the other girls on the stairs and was duly embraced and admired in an especially becoming new suit. “That is a duck of a hat, Betty, and aren’t we glad to see you, though!” Thus spoke Lilian.

“Cathalina could not wait for me, and I just have to see the room.”

“It was bad of me, and I’ll take you back,” offered Cathalina.

“I left Mother on the porch,” said Betty, “and there was a taxi full of girls just coming around the drive.”

“All right, we’ll be there, and if we see a sweet lady that looks just like you, we’ll introduce ourselves,—shall we?”

“Nothing would please Mother better.”

Lilian and Hilary went on down the stairs and out upon the broad porch with its columns, flowers, and vines. Stopping several times to greet acquaintances, they made their way as soon as possible to a stone bench at one end where they seemed to recognize a familiar figure.

“That is Eloise Winthrop!” exclaimed Hilary.

“And wouldn’t you take her for Betty?” Lilian was looking at Betty’s mother, to whom Eloise was talking.

“Yes, or her twin sister.”

As the girls reached the little group at the end of the porch, Eloise turned and prettily introduced them to Betty’s mother. “I am just apologizing,” continued Eloise, “for I thought that she was Betty and rushed madly up and threw my arms around her. You can imagine how I felt and how surprised the lady was!”

“I haven’t had so fine a compliment for years,” smiled Betty’s mother, slipping an arm around Eloise, “and one whose sincerity I can not doubt. But I don’t know what Betty will think.”

“I rather suspect that Betty knows how huh mothuh looks,” drawled Helen Paget, who was with Eloise. “I came up just in time to see the effect of mistaken identity and to avoid making the same mistake. I see that I shall have to watch my roommate closely this year if this is her impulsive nature!”

By this time Betty and Cathalina, with Pauline Tracy had appeared, and were listening with amusement to Helen’s lofty comments.

“This is Pauline, Mamma, dear old Polly, you know, and I’ve just heard the wonderful news that Eloise and Helen, with Pauline and Juliet Howe, are going to be together, in the next suite to ours.”

“Shall we ever get any studying done?” whispered Lilian aside to Hilary. Hilary gave her only a bright glance in reply, and nodded an affirmative.

“Now let me get all the names straight, Betty,” said her mother. “This dear child who took me for you is Eloise Winthrop, and Helen is the one you wrote me about,—is from the South.” Betty and Helen both nodded.

“And I’m Pauline, from the big ranch,” assisted Pauline, as Betty’s mother hesitated, looking at her.

“O, yes, and Juliet Howe is your ‘Shadow’!”

“She has not come yet, but I’m looking for her any minute. O, the fun we are going to have!”

“But I thought Helen had a different roommate.”

“She did, Diane Percy,—they were the ‘Imps.’ But Diane can not come, at least this first semester. And Eloise’s roommate is not coming back. Hence, therefore, consequently, Mamma, old Helen and old Eloise are going to try to get along together if they can. They are feeling badly about it, but are trying not to show it before company.”

At this, Eloise took out her handkerchief, and turned her face aside a little as if to wipe away an imaginary tear. Helen thrust her hands into her jacket pocket and assumed an expression of stony woe.

“You mischievous girls!” exclaimed Betty’s mother. “I hope that you will have a good time, but don’t forget what you are here for.”

Nobody of this happy company noticed a sober little face and lonely little figure at the far end of the long stone bench with its quaint carvings. “My, what a pretty mother,” she was thinking. “I did not know mothers were like that. My mother had a sweet face, though,” and she opened the small bag which she was carrying and drew out a picture. “Where am I, anyhow? I guess I might as well go back. That plump, homey looking girl is from a ranch, though; I guess it’s a nice one, not like ours. I suppose it can’t be worse here than at home. I’d like to stick it out, but I don’t suppose the girls will have anything to do with me. Look at my clothes!—beside of theirs! I knew my skirt was being made all crooked, and this hideous waist,—I wish I never had anything to say about my clothes. Ugly old heavy shoes to match the rest. But then dear old father did not know that they were awful.” The little girl sat thoughtfully a little longer, then slipped into the building and to her room. First she tipped the mirror in order to get a full length view of herself. “Yes, I said I wouldn’t care for anything if I could only get away. But look at me! Freckles, sandy pig-tails, turn-up nose, collar bones sticking out and red hands. You’re just about the limit, you are,” said she to her image in the glass. “Well, I’m not going to cry about it, not now, anyhow. It’s too near meal time. I’m glad I haven’t any roommate yet. I guess Miss Randolph would hate to put any girl like those girls in with me.”

Sturdy little soul that she was, this thought was too much. Possibly no more unhappy child had come to Greycliff this year. Dropping into a chair she sobbed aloud, not knowing that her door had come unlatched and stood ajar. Hilary and Lilian, passing, heard her and stopped short.

“Somebody’s homesick,” said Hilary.

“Shall we go in?” asked Lilian.

“Maybe she wouldn’t want us to, but it’s heathenish not to pay any attention. You try it all alone, Lil.”

“All right.” Lilian pushed the door open a little wider and rattled the knob as she did so. “Would you hate to have me come in a minute? I’m awfully sorry for whatever is the matter. We all have our turn at being homesick, though, so I thought I’d see if I couldn’t cheer you up. Could I? I’m Lilian North and an ‘old girl,’ you know, so I’m not homesick this year.”

By this time the weeping one had wiped her eyes, taken several long breaths and was able to answer. “Come right in.... I’m ... M—Margaret Hope, and just came today.” Lilian’s suggestion about the common malady of homesickness was fortunate. And what was Margaret’s surprise to see one of the admired girls whom she had first seen so short a time ago on the porch.

Meanwhile Hilary had waited a few moments, observed the cessation of sobs, heard conversation begin, and with a smile had withdrawn, going to see about baggage and several other matters and finally joining the other girls.

Where a grassy terrace with irregular stone steps helped the ascent to a grove at the side and rear of Greycliff Hall, there was a secluded nook formed by clumps of tall bushes and a group of big-limbed, gnarled trees. Sprawling roots invited to more or less comfortable repose. Two or three rustic seats stood about the path, which was an artistic, winding way of flat stones set in the grass. Here a merry party of girls had been gradually gathering; the seats were moved closer together, and a steamer rug and some cushions were in evidence.

“I fished a cushion or two out of my box,” said Cathalina Van Buskirk, neatly aiming one at Hilary, who was sitting on the grass. Hilary caught it, gave it a pat and settled down upon it, her hands clasped over her knees. Evelyn Calvert caught another one. Betty was already curled upon the rug and there Cathalina also sat down. Juliet Howe had recently arrived and was exchanging the summer’s experiences with Pauline Tracy, her nearest chum. Isabel Hunt’s soft curls were no less curly than they had been, her cheeks no less rosy. If she and Avalon Moore were somewhat younger than the other girls of this group, they were no less at home.

“I’d like to take a snap-shot of you girls,—all talking at once,” remarked Isabel, raising her voice that it might be heard above the chatter. “Did you ever see that picture Hilary took last year of Avalon and me? We didn’t know she was ready and were arguing about something. There we are in the picture, Avalon looking at me, and I at Avalon, for all the world like the elocution class, or Lilian making ‘tones,’ jaws dropped and mouths opened. If you want to see it, look at Hilary’s album. We couldn’t persuade her not to put it in. She has us along with the other specimens, the janitor’s lame duck and Micky’s parrot.”

“Where’s Lilian, Hilary?” inquired Betty.

“There she comes,” replied Hilary, waving a languid hand, “leading a forlorn hope.”

The girls watched Lilian, who was approaching, arm in arm, with a “new girl,” a plainly dressed one, apparently younger than Lilian.

“She was crying in her room when Lilian heard her and went to the rescue,” Hilary explained in a lower tone to the girls near her, “You know Lilian.”

“Yes, and if it hadn’t been Lilian, it would have been Hilary,” added Isabel.

By this time Lilian had arrived and found a vacant place on the steamer rug, drawing her companion down with her.

“This is Margaret Hope, girls, from—North Dakota, isn’t it, Margaret? Now you girls can go on talking if you want to, while I tell her all about you and who you are.”

“I like that, Margaret,” said Isabel pleasantly. “No telling how she will describe us, under cover of the conversation.”

“I don’t believe you need worry,” replied Margaret, feeling very shy and awkward in their midst.

“She has recognized your optimism already Lilian,” said Helen, while Margaret thought, “What big words that Southern girl uses.” She had heard the conversation which took place earlier, and recognized Helen. Lilian went on chatting to her for a little while, telling her about Hilary Lancaster, who was the daughter of a minister and her closest friend; of Evelyn, who was Southern, too, and wonderful in dialect stories; of several of the other girls, till Isabel took a hand in entertaining, and drew her into conversation with Avalon. That these girls should take pains to keep her from being unhappy had a great effect upon the girl from the far West, who had at first felt that companionship with these fortunate girls would be an impossibility. Had she only known that intimacy with this charming circle of girls depended entirely upon herself, she might have been discouraged. But in spite of her unprepossessing appearance now, Margaret had resources within, which school was to develop.

What a reunion was there after dinner again, when in groups large or small the girls wandered about the grounds or took a turn down at the beach. Betty’s heart had a wrench when the taxi took away her mother, but it helped much to have a jolly circle of girls with ever so much news to exchange, or plans to make for the new year at school. Rules were “off,” or at least not “on,” except to require safe bounds after dark. It was moonlight and starlight, clear, bright and warm, yet with that cool lake breeze lifting the stray locks about girlish heads. Pretty, light summer dresses moved about on the lawn in front of Greycliff Hall. The spray from the fountain blew in the faces of those who wandered too near. Within the building, the piano of the reception halls or parlors furnished gay music, and the colors of the rainbow showed in the pendants of the old glass chandeliers.

“Just think,” said Lilian to the girls as they gathered in their half straightened suite, “another year, and we are senior academy girls now! We must make all sorts of plans tomorrow for our work and the societies and everything.”