Breathlessly chattering all the while, the two girls in blue serge, who had been room-mates last year at preparatory school, gathered up their suit-cases again and crossed the tracks to the other side of the station to wait for the Hampton train. Engines steamed along before and behind them, but neither looked away from the other’s glowing face during the crossing, nor did they cease both to talk at once until they were actually seated in their train some time later, packed in with a mob of laughing and attractive girls with suit-cases in the aisles, in the racks over their heads, and in their laps.
“Isn’t it wonderful that we met this way?” cried Katherine, while Peggy was trying to hand the remaining untraveled bits of their tickets to the perspiring conductor. “We’ll see our new rooms for the first time together, and we’ll make a very nice impression on the inhabitants of Ambler House because we can plan out some kind of grand entry to appeal to them.”
Peggy laughed. “It’s an awfully big place we’re going to,” she said, looking about at the swaying crowds of girls. “I’m just beginning to realize it. It will take more than our planning to make any impression at all, I think. And maybe nobody will ever notice us. It won’t be like Andrews.”
“You’re still Peggy Parsons, aren’t you? And I’m still your room-mate, Katherine Foster. And we’re going to live in one of the grandest suites on campus—oh, I don’t believe they will pass us by altogether.” And Katherine gave a little swaggering motion of her head that sent Peggy into gales of laughter.
“You’re conceited and snobbish, friend room-mate,” she giggled. “The summer has spoiled you.”
But Katherine smiled back complacently into her eyes.
Suddenly there was a curious stir all about them. The girls who had been standing in the aisle were all pushing toward the end of the car, and those seated were struggling up from under their luggage, their faces bright with anticipation.
“Katherine,” whispered Peggy, “I think we’re there!”
Oh, the world of meaning in that one sentence. The hopes, the expectations, the pleasures and good times for four whole years were summed up in it, and Katherine silently nodded her head, unable to speak.
The brakeman was already calling out something that he meant for “Hampton,” and he rounded out his shout with the long-drawn wail, “Don’t leave any articles in the car!”