“Can’t we manage some way?” urged Miss Howard for the tenth time that day. “She’s a bright little thing. If she were only a boy now, and yet the boys are coming in at a great rate this year; it’s wonderful!”
“Let me think.” The dean’s smooth forehead wrinkled in perplexity. “Well,” with a sudden inspiration, “if that girl from Kerby Knob doesn’t put in an appearance—she wrote me that her mother was sick and she was afraid she couldn’t—I’ll keep Gincy, but if Urilla does come back we shall be obliged to give her precedence because she will be a junior this year.”
So the matter rested, and blissfully ignorant of the fact that her good fortune was another girl’s misfortune, Gincy arose in the morning supremely happy. She was not to remain long a stranger, for Talitha was a person who made friends—hosts of them—she had such a way of forgetting Talitha Coyle, and in a few hours they were Gincy’s also. She laughed and chatted among the girls as she helped wipe the great stacks of dishes after the early breakfast. There were no lessons yet, but when the morning’s work was done and the services at the chapel over, Kizzie Tipton proposed a walk.
“You know the dean said you needn’t hurry to get registered,” added her new friend. “I’ll meet you on the front porch in five minutes,” and Kizzie ran to her room.
Gincy opened the hall door also in haste. She had thought of something she wished to say to Talitha—who was just going down the steps with her books—and nearly ran against a tall, pale-faced girl carrying a heavy handbag. “Oh!” Gincy ejaculated with a swift glance at the wan face. “Jest let me ketch a holt. I ’most tuk you down, I reckon.”
The weary eyes brightened. “You’re a new girl,” asserted the late arrival confidently as Gincy deposited the baggage in a corner of the hall.
“Yes,” she nodded, “I reckon I be, but I don’t seem ter sense hit much. Hit’s the nicest place I ever see fer findin’ friends,” and Gincy disappeared with a parting smile.
The newcomer sat down in thoughtful silence, forgetting that she had not made known her arrival to the dean. But that lady chanced to espy her from the top of the stairs and slowly descended, inwardly determined that her face should not reveal her embarrassment.
“Well, Urilla, you succeeded in getting here after all,” she said with a smile.
“Yes, ma’am,” answered the girl, rising respectfully. “Mother’s able to sit up most of the time, and she wouldn’t hear to my staying home now Sally’s big enough to help. If I can only manage to stay another year.” Urilla gave a long sigh.