Just inside the door was the office of Miss Jane Romaine, the head of Laurel Hall.
"There's Miss Jane now," whispered Jessie Robinson. "We'll have to go in and report, and then she'll tell you about your rooms."
The room was beautifully furnished with a heavy-pile rug, mahogany desk and chairs.
"It looks more like a sitting room than an office," Nan whispered to Jo. "Dad's office never looked like this!"
Jo nodded, but a sudden unhappy thought left its shadow on her face. Nan had reminded her of her own father and of his grave trouble.
However, Miss Jane Romaine looked up from her papers just then, and with a smile beckoned the girls closer.
"Well, Jessie," said the tall, thin lady with the beautiful dark eyes and white hair, "I am glad to welcome you back, my dear. I rather expected you among the girls who arrived yesterday."
"I was delayed a day by sickness at home," Jessie explained, and drew her new friends forward.
Miss Romaine's manner to the newcomers was cordial, friendly, simple. She asked their names, welcomed them both officially and personally to Laurel Hall and assigned them their rooms.
"Because you want to occupy a room together I have made a special concession in your favor," she told them with her pleasant smile. "I am going to give you the big north room overlooking the lake. It has an alcove, and you should be very comfortable there."