THE BELATED FRESHMAN
"The first thing I shall do this morning after breakfast is to unpack,"
announced Grace Harlowe with decision, as she gave her hair a last pat
preparatory to going downstairs to breakfast. "Last year I was so
excited over what studies I intended to take and meeting new girls that
I unpacked by fits and starts. It was weeks before I knew where to find
things. But I've reformed, now. I'm going to put every last article in
place before I set foot outside Wayne Hall. Do you wish the chiffonier
or the bureau this year, Anne, for your things?"
"The chiffonier, I think," replied Anne, after due reflection. "I
haven't as much to stow away as you have. It will do nicely for me."
"There goes the breakfast bell!" exclaimed Grace. "Come along, Anne, I'm
hungry. Besides, I'd like the same seat at the table that I had last
year."
Outside their door they were joined by Miriam and Elfreda, and the four
friends stopped to talk before going downstairs.
"Were you haunted by nightmares in which glowering Anarchists pranced
about?" asked Miriam, her eyes twinkling.
"No," replied Grace. "I slept too soundly even to dream."
"I dreamed that I went into the registrar's office to get my chapel
card," began Elfreda impressively. "When she handed it to me it was
three times larger than the others. On it in big red letters was
printed, 'The Anarchist, Her Card.' I thought I handed it back to her
and tried to explain that I wasn't an anarchist because I had neither
bushy eyebrows nor a scowl. She just sat and glared at me, saying over
and over, 'Look in your mirror, look in your mirror,' until I grew so
angry I threw the card at her. It hit her and she fell backward. That
frightened me, although it seemed so strange that a little, light piece
of pasteboard could strike with such force. I tried to lift her, but she
grew heavier and heavier. Then--"
"Yes, 'then,'" interposed Miriam, "I awoke in time to save myself from
landing on the floor with a thump. Elfreda mistook me for the registrar.
She was walking in her sleep."
"Of course I didn't mean to," apologized Elfreda, "You know that, don't
you, Miriam? I can't help walking in my sleep. I've done it ever since I
was a little girl."
"I forgive you, but you must promise not to dream," laughed Miriam.
"Otherwise I am likely to find myself out the window or being dropped
gently downstairs while you dream gaily on, regardless of what happens
to your long-suffering roommate."
As they entered the dining room several girls already seated at the
table welcomed them with joyful salutations. It was at least ten minutes
before any one settled down to breakfast. Grace observed with secret
relief that Miss Atkins was not at the table. The three freshmen who
were to fill the last available places in Wayne Hall had not yet
arrived. During breakfast a ceaseless stream of merry chatter flowed on.
Everyone wished to tell her neighbor about her vacation, of what she
intended to take during the fall term, or of how impossible it was to
get hold of her trunk. Then there was the usual amount of wondering as
to why the four freshmen hadn't appeared.
"One of them is here--that is, she's in the house," remarked Elfreda
laconically.
"She is!" exclaimed Emma Dean, opening her eyes. "I didn't see her
yesterday."
"You were consoling your homesick cousin, so how could you know what
went on here?" reminded Grace. It had been decided that nothing should
be said regarding the events of the previous day.
"So I was," said Emma. "She made me think of Longfellow's 'Rainy Day.'
She looked so 'dark and dreary.'"
"What a unique comparison," chirped a wide-awake sophomore. "That will
be so appropriate for the freshman grind book."
"It is our turn this year," exulted Elfreda. "I shall be on the lookout
for good material, too. I know one freshman who will be a candidate for
honors."
"Who?" inquired Emma Dean curiously.
Grace looked appealingly at the stout girl. A slight shake of the head
reassured her. Elfreda abandoned her intention of mentioning names, and
parried Emma's question so cleverly that the latter became interested in
something else and forgot that she had asked it.
The instant she had finished her breakfast, Grace reannounced her
intention of unpacking her trunk and rose to leave the table. Anne
followed her, a curious smile on her face. The majority of the girls
rose from the table at the same time, or immediately after, and went
their various ways.
"Now," declared Grace energetically, "I am going to begin my labor."
"What did you say you were going to do?" asked Anne innocently.
"Unpack my trunk. I--why--I--haven't any trunk to unpack!" exclaimed
Grace in bewilderment. Then catching sight of Anne's mirthful face, she
sprang forward, caught Anne by the shoulders and shook her playfully.
"Anne Pierson, you bad child, you heard me make all my plans for
unpacking, yet you wouldn't remind me that my trunk was still at the
station."
"I couldn't resist keeping still and allowing you to plan," confessed
Anne. "What a joke that would be for the grind book!"
"Yes, wouldn't it though?" agreed Grace sarcastically. "However, we are
not freshmen, and as my roommate I strictly forbid you to publish my
stupidity broadcast. Having the unpacking fever in my veins, I shall
console myself with unpacking my bag and suit case. I'll keep on wishing
for my trunk and perhaps it will come." Grace walked to the window. She
leaned out, peering anxiously down the road. Then, with a cry of
delight, she exclaimed: "Come here, Anne."
Anne walked obediently to the window.
"'Tell me, Sister Anne, do you see anything?'" quoted Grace.
"You are saved, Fatima," returned Anne dramatically. "It is an express
wagon."
Grace darted out of her door and down the stairs, meeting the expressman
on the veranda, her trunk on his shoulder. Anne, having notified Elfreda
and Miriam that the trunks had arrived, went downstairs to look after
hers.
"Now I can carry out my plan, after all," declared Grace, with great
satisfaction. "'He who laughs last, laughs best,' you know," she added
slyly.
"Before unpacking, first find your trunk," retorted Anne.
"Thank goodness, we don't have to think about entrance examinations this
year," said Grace, as she knelt before her trunk, fitting the key to the
lock.
"Yes, it does make considerable difference," returned Anne. "We shall
have more time to ourselves. Besides, we won't have to worry our heads
off the first week about whether we survived or perished."
The sound of an automobile horn caused Grace to run to the window. "It's
the bus!" she cried. "Three strange girls are getting out of it.
Evidently our freshmen have arrived. That tall girl looks interesting.
One of them is as stout as Elfreda. The little girl is cunning. I think
I like her the best of the three. Oh dear!" she exclaimed ruefully,
hastily drawing back from the window, "she looked straight up and saw me
standing here. What will she think of me?"
"You shouldn't be so curious," teased Anne.
"I know it," admitted Grace. "I'm not over curious as a rule. I hope the
tall girl is to room with the Anarchist. She looks capable of keeping
her in order."
"That task will, no doubt, be handed over to you," said Anne, who had
been making rapid progress in unpacking, while Grace had been occupied
in looking over the newcomers. "You'd better get your unpacking done, so
that you'll be ready for it--the task, I mean."
Grace sat down before her trunk with a little impatient sigh. For the
space of an hour the two girls worked rapidly, almost in silence. Both
trunks had been emptied and the greater part of their contents stored
away when the sound of an angry, protesting voice outside the door
caused them to look at each other wonderingly.
"What can have happened?" asked Anne.
Even as Anne spoke a never-to-be-forgotten voice said impressively,
"What you prefer is immaterial to me, I prefer to room alone." The
emphatic closing of a door followed. There was a sound of hurrying
footsteps on the stairs, then all was still.