“How I should love to see Europe,” sighed Anne.  “I’m going there some day, though, if I live,” she added with a sudden resolution.

“Mother and father have promised me a trip across as a graduation gift.  Maybe you’ll be able to go, too, by that time, Anne,” said Grace hopefully.

“Perhaps I shall, but I’m afraid it’s doubtful,” said Anne, smiling a little.

“We’ve had a fine time, Miriam,” said Grace, “but we really must go.  Mother will worry if I stay any later.”

“Please come again soon,” said Miriam, kissing both girls affectionately.  “I have a plan to talk over with you, but I can’t say anything about it now.  I must consult mother first.  You’ll like it, I’m sure.”

“Of course we shall,” responded Grace.  “Good night, Miriam, and pleasant dreams.”

“They are the nicest girls in Oakdale, and I shall try hard to be like them,” thought Miriam, as she closed the door.  “David is right.  It certainly pays to be square.”

CHAPTER XXIII

GRACE MEETS A DISTINGUISHED CHARACTER

June had come, bringing with it the trials and tribulations of final examinations.  The days grew long and sunny.  Roses nodded from every bush, but the pupils of Oakdale’s two High Schools were far too busy to think about the beauty of the weather.  Golf, tennis, baseball and other outdoor sports were sternly put aside, and the usual season of “cramming” set in.  Young faces wore an almost tragic expression, and back lessons were reviewed with desperate zeal.

Grace Harlowe had crammed as assiduously as the rest, for a day or two.  She was particularly shaky on her geometry.  She went over her theorems until she came to triangles, then she threw the book down in disgust.  “What’s the use of cramming?” she said to herself.  “If I keep on I won’t even be able to remember that ’the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides.’  I’m in a muddle over these triangles now.  I’ll find the girls and get them to go to the woods with me.  I really ought to collect a few more botany specimens.”

Grace’s specimens were a source of keen delight to her girlish heart.  She didn’t care so much about pressing and mounting them.  It was the joy she experienced in being in the woods that, to her, made botany the most fascinating of studies.  She poked into secluded spots unearthing rare specimens.  Her collection was already overflowing; still she could never resist adding just a few more.

She was doomed to disappointment as far as Nora and Jessica were concerned.  Both girls mournfully shook their heads when invited to specimen-hunting, declaring regretfully they were obliged to study.  Anne was at Mrs. Gray’s attending to the old lady’s correspondence.  This had been her regular task since the beginning of the freshman year, and she never failed to perform it.