Courtney. Cora would not shut herself away from the other girls
just to please Linda.

Linda had even begun to try to cultivate the acquaintance of Rhoda
Hammond--especially when she had heard more about Rose Ranch. But
Rhoda refused to yield to the blandishments of the railroad
magnate's daughter.

"I suppose it might be good fun to take a trip across the continent
to your part of the country," Linda said to the Western girl on one
occasion. "You get up such a party, Rhoda, and I'll tease father
for his private car, and we will go across in style."

"Thank you," said Rhoda simply. "I prefer to pay my own way."

"No use for Linda to try to 'horn in'--isn't that the
Westernism--to our crowd," laughed Bess, when she heard of this.
"The 'Riggs Disease' is not going to afflict us this summer, I
should hope!"

Cora Courtney, too, had tried to cultivate an acquaintance with
Rhoda. But the girl from Rose Ranch made friends slowly. Too many
of the girls had ignored her when she first came to Lakeview Hall
for Rhoda easily to forget, if she did forgive.

The good-bys on the broad veranda of Lakeview Hall were far more
lingering than they had been at Christmas time. The girls were
separating for nearly three months--and they scattered like sparks
from a bonfire, in all directions.