“Oh, yes, we are fearfully late, and the others have gone into the dining hall.”
“Well, come this way,” said Annie. “I’ll squeeze you into a seat by me, if you like, for this evening, Leslie Gilroy.”
[CHAPTER XIII—A COCOA PARTY.]
Nearly one hundred girls were in the great dining hall. They were all seated at the different tables when Annie Colchester and Leslie Gilroy appeared. Annie went straight up to her own table, bowed somewhat awkwardly to Miss Frere the tutor, who was at the head, and then, seeing that the teacher’s eyes were fixed on Leslie, said in an abrupt voice:
“This is my roomfellow, Miss Leslie Gilroy, Miss Frere.”
“How do you do, Miss Gilroy?” said Miss Frere in a pleasant voice. “I think you will find a seat next to Miss Colchester. Move down a little, please, Jane,” she continued, turning to another girl with a rosy face and dark eyes. “Yes, there is plenty of room now. I will have a talk with you after dinner, if you like, Miss Gilroy.”
“Thank you, I shall be very glad,” replied Leslie. Her bright eyes and lovely face, her whole manner and pleasant expression, made many of the girls turn and glance at her; but nobody stared in at all an unpleasant manner.
The girl called Jane began to talk to Leslie, and told her some of the rules of the place. Leslie was glad to learn what she could; but her eyes anxiously glanced from table to table in the hope of once more seeing her two companions of the cab. Presently she observed Marjorie and Eileen seated at a table at the other end of
the room. They were together, looking already quite at home and perfectly contented. They talked to one another; when they caught Leslie’s eyes they nodded to her in a pleasant, hail-fellow-well-met manner.
“Who are those two girls?” said Jane Heriot suddenly. “They are freshers like yourself, are they not?”