Grace Harlowes First Year at Overton College | Page 7

And J. Elfreda Briggs, of
Fairview, slept peacefully on.

CHAPTER III
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
"Overton! Overton!" was the call that echoed through the car. After
handing down the hats of her friends, Grace reached to the rack above
her head for her broad brimmed panama hat. Obeying a sudden kindly
impulse, she carefully deposited J. Elfreda's hat in the sleeping girl's lap,
touched her on the shoulder and said, "Wake up, Miss Briggs. We are
nearing Overton."
J. Elfreda sleepily opened her eyes at the gentle touch, saying drowsily,
"Let me know when the train stops." Then closed her eyes again.
Miriam shrugged her shoulders with a gesture that signified, "Let her
alone. Don't bother with her."
At that moment the train stopped with a jolt that caused the sleeper to
awake in earnest. She looked stupidly about, yawned repeatedly, then
catching a glimpse of a number of girls on the station platform, clad in
white and light colored gowns, she became galvanized into action, and

pinning on her hat began quickly to gather up her luggage. "Good-bye,"
she said indifferently. "I'll probably see you later." Then, rapidly
elbowing her way down the aisle she disappeared through the open
door, leaving the chums to make their way more slowly out of the car.
As they stepped from the car to the station platform Grace caught sight
of her at the far end of the station in conversation with a tall
auburn-haired girl and a short dark one. A moment later she saw the
three walk off together.
"J. Elfreda found friends quickly," remarked Anne, who had also
noticed the stout girl's warm reception by the two girls. "I wonder what
we had better do first. What is the name of the hotel where we are to
stop?"
"The Tourraine," replied Miriam.
The newcomers looked eagerly about them at the groups of daintily
gowned girls who were joyously greeting their friends as they stepped
from the train.
"I had no idea there were so many Overton girls on the train," remarked
Grace in surprise. "The majority of them seem to have friends here, too.
I wonder which way we'd better go."
"By the nods and becks and wreathed smiles with which those girls
over there are favoring us, I imagine that we have been discovered,"
announced Miriam, rather sarcastically.
Grace and Anne glanced quickly toward the girls indicated by Miriam.
A tall, thin, fair-haired girl with cold gray-blue eyes and a generally
supercilious air occupied the center of the group. She was talking
rapidly and her remarks were eliciting considerable laughter. Amused
glances, half friendly, half critical, were being leveled at the Oakdale
trio of chums.
Grace flushed in half angry embarrassment, Anne merely smiled to
herself, while Miriam's most forbidding scowl wrinkled her smooth
forehead.

"I think we had better inquire the way to our hotel and leave here as
soon as possible," Grace said slowly. A sudden feeling of
disappointment had suddenly taken possession of her. She had always
supposed that in every college new girls were met and welcomed by the
upper classes of students. Yet now that they had actually arrived no one
had come forward to exchange even a friendly greeting with them.
"Well, if this is an exhibition of the true college spirit, deliver me from
college," grumbled Miriam. "I must say----"
Miriam's denunciation against college was never finished, for at that
juncture a soft voice said, "Welcome to Overton." Turning
simultaneously the three girls saw standing before them a young
woman of medium height. Her hand was extended, and she was smiling
in a sweet, friendly fashion that warmed the hearts of the disappointed
freshmen. She wore a tailored frock of white linen, white buckskin
walking shoes that revealed a glimpse of silken ankles, and carried a
white linen parasol that matched her gown. She was bareheaded, and in
the late afternoon her wavy brown hair seemed touched with gold.
"I am so glad to meet you!" exclaimed the pretty girl. "You are
freshmen, of course. If you will tell me your names I'll introduce you to
some of the girls. Then we will see about escorting you safely to your
boarding place. Have you taken your examinations yet?"
"No," replied Miriam. "We have that ordeal before us." Her face
relaxed under the friendly courtesy accorded to them by this attractive
stranger. She then introduced Grace and Anne. Their new acquaintance
shook hands with the two girls, then said gayly, "Now tell me your
name."
Miriam complied with the request, then stated that through a friend of
her mother's they had engaged a suite of rooms at the Tourraine, an
apartment hotel in Overton, until their fate should be decided.
"The Tourraine is the nicest hotel in Overton," stated Mabel. "I am
always in the seventh