“There, that is the last thing!” and Dolly drew a breath of relief, “the trunks are empty anyway. What shall I do with them now, Miss Newby?”
“In the name of goodness, don’t call me Miss Newby. I’m Elizabeth. I’ll let Patrick know that they are ready, and he will carry them off to the trunk-room at once. I’ve only been here twenty-four hours, but I’ve found out that this college would never run without Patrick. And Patrick knows it.”
She started from the room on her self-appointed errand, but put her head back to call out; “If you have any specially stunning gown, just get it out. Tonight will be a good time to wear it. Hustle the rest of your things away and dress.”
“Now, why–,” commenced Dolly. But Elizabeth had vanished and Dolly was questioning the empty air.
“I suppose I had better do as she says,” Dolly soliloquized. “I like her immensely. I should be sitting on the bed dissolved in tears if she had not come in. I wonder where she lives. Here I have told her all about home, and Mother and Father and Fred, and she has not said a word about herself. How long she is getting back.”
In fact, before Elizabeth returned, Dolly had put away all of her belongings, and had donned a pretty white dress which the warm day rendered appropriate.
She was giving a last pat to her hair, when a knock came at the door, and a moment later Elizabeth’s face peered into the bedroom.
“Oh, I see why you were so long returning. I concluded that you had forgotten me and had gone off to help some other Freshman unpack.”
“No, thanks,” and Elizabeth gave a little shrug that Dolly soon learned to be characteristic. “I’m not in the missionary business. I just took a fancy to you, and I saw that you had no friends here any more than I did. We were two of a kind. Do you like my dress?”
“Immensely. That shade of blue is just your color. But why are we dressing up, please? Is this a daily performance?”