ROOM-MATES Up in her orderly room, on opening day, Mary listened to the bustle of arrivals, and the stir of unpacking going on all over the house.

The cordial greetings called back and forth from the various rooms and the laughter in the halls made her long to have a part in the general sociability.

She wished that it were necessary for her to borrow a hammer or to ask information about the trunk-room and the porter, as the other new girls were doing.

That would give her an excuse for going into some of the rooms and making acquaintance with their occupants.

But everything was in absolute order, and she was already familiar with the place and its rules.