MIRIAM'S UNWELCOME SURPRISE
The two days that followed were busy ones for Grace, Anne and Miriam.
The morning after their arrival Mabel Ashe and Frances Marlton appeared
at half-past eight o'clock to conduct them to Overton Hall. There they
registered and were then sent to the room where the examination in
French was to be held. Examinations in the other required subjects
followed in rapid succession and it was Friday before they had settled
themselves in Wayne Hall, the house in which they were to live as
students of Overton College.
Wayne Hall was a substantial four-story brick house, just a block from
the campus. It was looked upon as a strictly freshman house, but
occasionally sophomores lived there, as the rooms were well-furnished
and the matron, Mrs. Elwood, had a reputation for looking out for the
welfare of her girls.
To their delight Grace and Anne had been allowed to room together, while
Miriam had by lucky chance secured a room to herself across the hall.
"If that poor little yellow-haired freshman hadn't failed in all her
examinations I shouldn't be rooming alone," said Miriam rather soberly
as she dived into the depths of the now almost emptied trunk.
"Did you meet her?" asked Grace, who, seated on the bed beside Anne,
watched Miriam's unpacking with interested eyes.
"No," replied Miriam. "One of the freshmen at the table told me about
her. She said that the poor girl cried all day yesterday and last night.
She didn't dare write her father, who, it seems, is very severe, that
she had failed. He won't know she's coming until she reaches home."
"What a pity," said Anne sympathetically. "It must be dreadful to fail
and know that one must face not only the humility of the failure, but
the displeasure of one's family too."
"If I had failed in my examinations neither Father nor Mother would have
said one reproachful word," said Grace.
"Of course I'm sorry for her," said Miriam, "but considering the fact
that I am now going to room alone, I shall write to Mother and ask her
to send me the money to furnish this room as I please. I'd like to have
a davenport bed, and I want a chiffonier and a dressing table to match.
There's room here for a piano, too. I'll have it over in this corner and
then I'll----"
Rap, rap, rap! sounded on the door.
"Come in," called Miriam frowning at the interruption.
The door opened to admit Mrs. Elwood, and following in her wake, laden
with a bag and two suit cases, her hat pushed over her eyes, a
half-suspicious, half-belligerent expression on her face, was J. Elfreda
Briggs.
"Well I never!" she gasped in astonishment, dropping her belongings in a
heap on the floor and making a dive for the nearest chair. "You're the
last people I ever expected to see. Where have you been, anyway? I
supposed you'd all flunked in your exams, given up the job, and gone
back to Glendale, Hilldale--what's the name of that dale you hail from?"
"Oakdale," supplemented Anne slyly.
"Yes, that's it. Oakdale. Foolish name for a town, isn't it?"
During this outburst Mrs. Elwood had stood silent, looking at J. Elfreda
with doubtful eyes. Now she said apologetically, "I'm very sorry, Miss
Nesbit, but could you--that is--would you mind having a roommate after
all? My sister, Mrs. Arnold, who manages Ralston House just down the
street from here, took Miss Briggs because she thought one of her girls
wasn't coming back. Now the girl is here and she has no place for Miss
Briggs. Of course, if you insist on not having a roommate, my sister and
I will see that Miss Briggs secures a room in one of the other college
houses." Mrs. Elwood paused and looked questioningly at Miriam, who
stood silent, an inscrutable expression on her face. Grace and Anne,
remembering Miriam's dislike for the stout girl, wondered what her
answer would be.
The settling of the question was not left to Miriam, for during the
brief silence that followed Mrs. Elwood's deprecatory speech J. Elfreda
had been making a comprehensive survey of her surroundings. "It's all
right, Mrs. Elwood," she drawled. "Don't worry about me. I like this
room and I guess I can get along with Miss Nesbit. You may telephone the
expressman to have my trunk sent here. I'm not going back to Ralston
House with you. I'm too tired. I'm going to stay here."
Mrs. Elwood looked appealingly at Miriam, as though mutely trying to
apologize for J. Elfreda's disregard for the rights of others.
Miriam's straight black brows drew together. She stared at their
unwelcome guest with a look that caused a slow flush to rise to the
stout girl's face. Suddenly her face relaxed into a smile of intense
amusement, and extending her hand to J. Elfreda, she said, "You are
welcome to half this room, if you care to stay."
"Well, I never!" exclaimed the other girl for the second time, as she
shook the proffered hand. "Honestly, I thought you were going to give me
a regular freeze out. You looked like a thunder cloud for a minute. I
expect it won't be all sunshine around here, this year, for I'm used to
having things go my way, and I guess you are, too."
"Then perhaps learning to defer to each other will be good practice for
both of us," suggested Miriam.
"Perhaps it will, but I doubt if we ever practise it," was the
discouraging retort.
"I'll notify my sister that you are to be here, Miss Briggs," broke in
Mrs. Elwood. "Then I'll see that this room is made ready for two. Thank
you, Miss Nesbit." She turned gratefully to Miriam.
"All right," answered J. Elfreda indifferently. "You can fix it up if
you want to, but I warn you that I'll probably buy my own furniture and
throw out all this." She waved a comprehensive hand at the despised
furniture.
"You are at liberty to make whatever changes you wish," Mrs. Elwood
responded rather stiffly, and without further remark left the room.
"She didn't like my remark about her furniture," commented the stout
girl, "but I'm not worrying about it. It's funny that I should run into
you girls, though. What kind of a time have you been having here, and
did you pass all your exams?"
The girls replied in the affirmative, then Grace asked the same question
of Elfreda.
"Of course," was the laconic answer. "I had a tutor all summer, besides
I told you on the train that I wasn't a wooden head."
"Where did you stay until you went to Ralston House?" asked Anne. "We
saw you go away from the station with two girls when you left the train,
and we've seen you twice at a distance during examinations, but this is
the first chance we've had to talk with you."
J. Elfreda stared at Anne, her eyes narrowing.
"Do you want to know just what happened to me?" she asked slowly. "Well,
I'll tell you three girls about it, because I've got to tell some one
and I don't believe you'll spread the story."
"We won't tell anyone," promised Grace.
"How about you two?" asked the stout girl.
"I'll answer for both of us," smiled Anne.
"All right then, I'll tell you. Now remember, you've promised."
The girls nodded.
"Well, it was this way," began Elfreda. "When I left the train I hadn't
gone six steps until two girls walked up to me and asked if I were a
freshman. They said they were on the committee to meet and look after
the girls who were entering college for the first time. I said that was
very kind of them and asked them to show me the way to Ralston House.
They picked up my suit cases and we started out. They asked me my name
and all sorts of questions and I told them a little about myself,"
continued the stout girl pompously. "They seemed quite impressed, too.
Then one of them said she thought I had better see the registrar before
going to Ralston House, for the registrar would be anxious to meet me.
They both said I was quite different from the rest of the new girls, and
made such a lot of fuss over me that I invited them into that little
shop across from the station to have ice cream."
"And then?" asked Miriam.
"Then," said J. Elfreda impressively, "after they had had two sundaes
apiece, at my expense, they played a mean trick on me. They took me into
a big building a little further down the street, down a long hall, and
left me sitting on a seat outside what I supposed was the registrar's
office. They said I must wait there and the registrar's clerk would come
out and conduct me to the registrar. They said that it was against the
rules to walk into the office and that it was the business of the clerk
to come out every half hour and conduct any one who was waiting into the
registrar's private office.
"Well, I sat there and sat there. It made me think of when I was a
kiddie and used to watch the cuckoo clock to see the bird come out. But
there wasn't even a bird came out of that door," continued Elfreda
gloomily. "People passed up and down the hall, and every once in a while
a man would walk right into the place without knocking, or seeing the
clerk, or anything else.
"After I had sat there for at least two hours, I made up my mind to go
in even if I were ordered out the next minute. I marched up to the door
and opened it and walked into the office. There was no one in sight but
a young woman who was putting on her hat. 'Where's the registrar?' I
asked. 'He hasn't been here to-day,' she said. 'I thought the registrar
was a woman,' I said. She seemed surprised at that and asked what made
me think so. I said that two of the students had told me so. Then she
looked at me in the queerest way and began to smile. 'Do you want to see
the registrar of Overton College?' she asked. 'Of course I do,' I said,
for I began to suspect that something was wrong. Then she stopped
smiling and said it was too bad, but whoever had sent me there had
played a trick on me and brought me to the office of the Register of
Deeds. Instead of Overton Hall I was in the county court house. Now can
you beat it?" finished Elfreda slangily.
"I should say not," cried Grace indignantly. "I think it was
contemptible in them to accept your hospitality and then treat you in
that fashion. No really nice girl would do any such thing, even in fun."
"I should say not," sympathized Miriam, forgetting that she did not
yearn for J. Elfreda as a roommate. "What did you do after you
discovered your mistake?"
"I left the Register's office, his deeds, and all the rest of that
building in pretty short order," continued Elfreda. "When I reached the
street I went straight back to the station and hired a carriage to take
me to Ralston House. Mrs. Arnold gave me my supper even though it was
late, and the next day I saw the registrar in earnest. I told her the
whole story and described the girls. I didn't know their names, but she
said she thought she knew who they were from the description. So I
suppose she'll send for me before long to identify them."
"But you're not going to?" questioned Grace in astonishment.
"Why not?" returned the stout girl calmly. "Do you think I'll let slip a
chance to get even with them? I guess not."
"But this will be carried to the dean and they will be severely
reprimanded and the whole college will know it," expostulated Grace.
"Well, the whole college should know it," stoutly contended Elfreda.
"I'll show those two smart young women that I'm not as green as I appear
to be."
Grace was on the verge of saying that J. Elfreda would have shown more
wisdom by keeping silent, but suddenly checked herself. She had no right
to criticize J. Elfreda's motives. To her the bare idea of telling tales
was abhorrent, while this girl gloried in the fact that she had exposed
those who annoyed her.
"I'm sorry you told the registrar," she said slowly. "Perhaps in the
rush of business she'll forget about it."
"She'd better not," threatened Elfreda, "or she'll hear it from me. When
it comes to getting even, I never relent. I'm just like Pa in that
respect. However, let's change the subject. Now that I'm here, show me
where I can put my clothes," she added, addressing Miriam. "Do you keep
your things in order? I never do. The morning I left home Ma said she
felt sorry for my future roommate."
Elfreda kept up a brisk monologue as she opened one of her suit cases
and began hauling out its contents. Miriam made a gesture of hopeless
resignation behind the stout girl's back.
"I must go to my room and get ready for dinner," said Grace, her eyes
dancing. "Coming, Anne?"
Anne nodded and the two girls beat a hasty retreat. Elfreda's calm
manner of appropriating things and Miriam's resigned air were too much
for them. Once inside their room they gave way to uncontrolled
merriment.
"I knew I'd laugh if I stayed there another second," confessed Anne.
"Poor Miriam. I heartily agree with Ma, don't you?"
"Yes," smiled Grace. Then, her face sobering, she added, "I am afraid
she is laying up trouble for herself. I wish she hadn't told."