Tom Thornton was alone in his room when there came a knock on the door.

"Come in," called Tom, without turning his head or taking his feet down from the table on which they were resting.

As he had been out late the night before, he was not in a very agreeable mood. He had sent for his tailor some time before, and he supposed it was the tailor who had knocked and entered at his command.

"Well, here you are at last!" Tom growled. "I've waited long enough for you, too! You are slower that molasses in midwinter! I suppose you want to know what ails me now. Well, I'll tell you. That last pair of trousers you made me are too short in the waist and too full around the bottoms—that's what's the matter. I'd be mobbed if I should show myself in them. Now, don't tell me they are all right! I'll just try them on right before you, and let you see—— Great Jupiter! What have I been saying!"

He had turned his head, and he saw a vision that electrified him and brought his feet down from the table with a thump.

Just within the room a very pretty girl was standing, and she was staring at him in a half-frightened, half-amused manner.

"I—I—I beg your pup-pup-pardon!" stammered Thornton, jumping up, confused and flustered. "I didn't know! I—I thought it was my tailor!"

"And you nearly frightened the senses out of me by growling at me in that way," giggled the girl. "Why, I thought you were a great horrid bear, and you were going to eat me."

"If I were a bear, I couldn't ask for a daintier meal," said Tom, gallantly.

"Oh, my!" laughed the girl. "What a difference!"

"I am bound to even matters if possible."

"That's it? Then you did not really mean what you just said, after all?"

The smile vanished from her face, and she seemed a bit offended.

"Oh, yes I did—I vow I did!" exclaimed Tom, hastening to repair the "break." "You see I am all broken up by the surprise. I—I didn't think of seeing a young lady here—alone."

"I suppose not. I am looking for my cousin, Mr. Griswold."

"Griswold? Griswold? Why, I have heard of him. Yes, he is a soph. You'll find him over in South Middle. This is Welch Hall."

"Oh, dear! Then I was misdirected. I was told I'd find him here somewhere. I beg your pardon, sir."

"Oh, don't mention it, Miss—er—Miss——"

"Darling. My name is Grace Darling, and I have come down to spend a week in New Haven. You see I am from the country."

"I should say so!" thought Thornton; "and as fresh as they make 'em! But she is pretty—yes, she is a genuine stunner! A sort of wild flower. She is so innocent and unsophisticated!"

"I presumed you were not familiar with Yale, or you would not be in the dormitories without a chaperon," said Thornton, aloud. "It is all right, though," he hastened to declare, as she seemed to shrink back. "I will escort you over to South Middle, and help you find your cousin. My name is Thornton—Thomas Thornton."

"You are very good, Mr. Thornton, but I think I can find Danny all right. I will not put you to the trouble."

"Oh, it will be no trouble—not the least in the world, I assure you."

"Still I don't know what Danny would think. Even though your company would be very pleasant, I dare not accept it without a proper introduction, Mr.—Mr. Thornton."

This was said in the most coquettish manner possible, and Tom Thornton felt his heart beating proudly.

"I've struck her all right!" he told himself. "I mustn't let it slip. I'll improve the opportunity."

So he talked to her in his most fascinating manner, and was bold enough to express a hope that he might see her again, to which she replied that he "might." And when she left Tom was in a state of delighted satisfaction, thoroughly pleased with himself.

Thornton was inclined to boast of his conquests, and it was not long before he had told several of his friends about the "corking pretty girl" who had wandered into his room.

"And I caught her without a struggle," he declared repeatedly. "Country girl and rather unsophisticated; but a regular rustic rose—no, a regular daisy. Cousin of some fellow over in South Middle. Her name? Never mind. I am not giving things away. She is going to stay down a week, and gave me her promise that I should see her again. But she intends to be strictly proper, although she does not know much of city ways, for she declared that I must be properly introduced to her before she would make an appointment with me. Oh, it's dead easy when you know how!"

Tad Horner was Thornton's roommate. "Grace Darling" had chosen an occasion when Tad was not in, and thus had found Tom alone.

Tom boasted of his conquest to Tad, who grinned and tried to chaff him about his charming country girl.

"Did she have hayseed in her hair?" asked Tad.

"It's not that kind of a lady, Horner. They'll all be envious of me. She is a stunning blonde, and her innocent country ways make her all the more attractive. She has such eyes—and such teeth! Her lips are very inviting, my dear boy. It's just the sort of a mouth a fellow longs to kiss. And if I do not sip nectar from those ruby lips before she returns to her country home, I'll be dead slow."

"Wow!" whooped Tad. "Sip nectar! That beats! Thornton, this rural maiden has knocked you silly!"

"Wait till you see her, and you will not wonder, my boy."

"I'll go something you do not see her again."

"Oh, but I have her promise!"

"Ah, she was giving you a jolly!"

"You'll see!" cried Tom, piqued. "Just wait a while."

Two days passed, and Thornton began to think he would not hear anything from his "mash." Then came an invitation to spend an evening at Winnie Lee's, and Winnie hinted that among her guests there was to be a young lady from the country who wished to apologize for intruding upon Mr. Thornton in his room.

"It's Grace Darling!" thought Tom, exultantly. "She will be introduced to me! And she must be of fine people to be accepted as a guest at Miss Lee's, for the Lees belong to the Élite of the town. Oh, Gracie is all right, if she is from the country!"

On the evening of the party Tom arrayed himself in his finest, used perfumery liberally—too liberally—on his handkerchief and his clothes, and set out with a light heart for Miss Lee's.

As old readers know, Winnie Lee and Frank Merriwell were very friendly. As Winnie was of a lively disposition and enjoyed a joke thoroughly, it was not difficult for Frank to induce her to aid him in carrying out his plan.

Winnie was all the more ready to do so because she disliked Tom Thornton, who had made himself offensive by having declared that he could "catch" her without a struggle if he so desired, but she was not his style.

This had been repeated to Winnie, and she had treated Thornton with the utmost disdain since hearing it; but Frank had urged her to consent to invite Tom to the party that the joke might be carried out, and she finally had consented.

For a moment Thornton wondered when he received the invitation, and then he decided that "Grace Darling" must have induced Miss Lee to offer it.

Tom little dreamed of the surprising events that were to take place before the evening was passed.