Her mother patted the dark head that rested against her knee.

"Poor little woman! Remember it's just as hard for all the rest of us.
We've each got a burden to carry at present. Suppose we see who can be
pluckiest over it. We're fighting fortune now, instead of the Hun, and
we must show her a brave face. Won't you march with the family regiment,
and keep the colors flying?"

"I'll try," said Ingred, scrubbing her eyes with her
pocket-handkerchief.




CHAPTER II

Opening Day


The Girls' College at Grovebury, under its able head-mistress, Miss
Burd, had made itself quite a name in the neighborhood. The governors,
realizing that it was outgrowing its old premises, decided to erect
others, and had put up a handsome building in a good situation near the
Abbey. No sooner was the last tile laid on the roof, however, than war
broke out, and the new school was immediately commandeered by the
Government as a recruiting office, and it had been kept for that purpose
until after the Armistice.

The girls considered it a very great grievance to be obliged to remain
cramped so long in their old college. The foundation stone of the new