"I think it is the best place, too, for the first two years, but see how the freshmen crowd in, and next year there will be fewer of our friends than are here now. I think when we become juniors we might venture out into a lodging or a boarding house. I think we ought to have all the experiences that are coming to us. Now, suppose instead of these two rooms, we could each have a bedroom and a common sitting room with an open fireplace; think how fascinating it would be."
"We'd miss Cordelia and Lee, and all the junketings that go on here," returned Edna doubtfully.
"We would, in a measure, but there are only Cordelia and Lee, and two or three more whom we would care for specially. Maybe we could get into a house where there would be room for our special crowd, and then there would be no end of good times. I mean to keep my eyes open for such a place, and I'll sound the other girls on the subject. Some of the seniors have lovely rooms outside, and they will be giving them up another year. I feel that I need an open fireplace more than anything in life; it is so conducive to thoughtfulness."
"Life isn't entirely made up of open fireplaces," said Edna, bending forward to tickle Mascot's ear.
"We could take Mascot with us," said Janet. "Think how he would enjoy an open fire."
"That settles it," said Edna, rising to open the door to a caller.
[CHAPTER X]
THE HERO
JANET had just received her morning's mail and sat absorbed in her letters on the steps of the gymnasium. Edna, near her, was looking over a newspaper from home, when she heard an exclamation from her roommate which made her put down her paper and look up.
"Oh, Ted, Ted," cried Janet, "what do you suppose will happen next? If I didn't want so awfully to be at home this summer, I'd accept the first invitation that would take me away."