“Oh, I don’t know,” replied Grace quickly.  “Her life, of course, has been eventful, but I believe if we are to do her any good we shall just have to act as though she were an everyday girl like the rest of us.  If we begin to bow down to her, we shall be obliged to keep it up.  Besides, I have an idea that I am as fond of having my own way as she is.”

“Dinner is served,” announced John, the butler.

The four girls arose and followed Mrs. Gray to the dining room.  During the dinner Eleanor was not again mentioned, although she occupied more or less of the four girls’ thoughts.

Later on, David, Hippy and Reddy appeared and a merry frolic ensued.  It was after ten o’clock before the little party of young folks prepared to take their departure.

“Remember, I rely upon you,” whispered Mrs. Gray to Grace as she kissed her good night.  Grace nodded sympathetically, but went home with an uneasy feeling that playing the guardian angel to Eleanor would be anything but a light task.

CHAPTER III

AN AUTUMN WALKING EXPEDITION

“It is simply too lovely to go home to-day,” exclaimed Grace Harlowe to her three chums as they strolled down High School Street one sunny afternoon in early October.  “I move that we drop our books at my house and go for a walk.”

“I’m willing to drop my books anywhere and never see them again,” grumbled Nora O’Malley, who was not fond of study.

“I ought to go straight home,” demurred Anne Pierson, “but I’ll put pleasure before duty and stay with the crowd.”

“What about you, Jessica?” asked Grace.

“You couldn’t drive me home,” replied Jessica promptly.

“Very well,” laughed Grace, “as we are all of the same mind, let’s shed these books and be off.”

After a brief stop at Grace’s home, the four girls started out, keenly alive to the beauty of the day.  The leaves on the trees were beginning to lose their green and put on their dresses of red and gold.  Though the sun shone brightly, the air was cool and bracing, and filled one with that vigor and joy of living which makes autumn the most delightful season of the year.

Once outside the gate, the chums unconsciously headed in the same direction.

“I believe we all have the same place in mind,” laughed Grace.  “I was thinking about a walk to the old Omnibus House.”

“‘Great minds run in the same channel,’” quoted Jessica.

“I haven’t been out there since the spread last year,” said Anne.

“I have,” said Grace, with a slight shudder.  “I am not likely to forget it, either.”

“Well we are not apt to meet any more Napoleon Bonapartes out there,” said Nora, referring to Grace’s encounter with an escaped lunatic, fully narrated in “Grace Harlowe’s sophomore year at high school.”