



Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Rod Crawford, Dave Morgan,
eagkw and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net






[Illustration: "I think my trunk is on this train," she
said.--_Page 7._]




  MOLLY BROWN'S
  FRESHMAN DAYS

  By
  NELL SPEED

  _WITH FOUR HALF-TONE ILLUSTRATIONS
  BY CHARLES L. WRENN_

  NEW YORK
  HURST & COMPANY
  PUBLISHERS




  Copyright, 1912,
  BY
  HURST & COMPANY




CONTENTS


  CHAPTER                                            PAGE

      I.  WELLINGTON                                    5

     II.  THEIR NEIGHBOR                               19

    III.  THE PROFESSOR                                32

     IV.  A BUSY DAY                                   46

      V.  THE KENTUCKY SPREAD                          62

     VI.  KNOTTY PROBLEMS                              75

    VII.  AN INCIDENT OF THE COFFEE CUPS               86

   VIII.  CONCERNING CLUBS,--AND A TEA PARTY           99

     IX.  RUMORS AND MYSTERIES                        115

      X.  JOKES AND CROAKS                            130

     XI.  EXMOOR COLLEGE                              140

    XII.  SUNDAY MORNING BREAKFAST                    152

   XIII.  TRICKERY                                    164

    XIV.  AN INSPIRATION                              177

     XV.  PLANNING AND WISHING                        188

    XVI.  THE MCLEAN SUPPER                           204

   XVII.  A MIDNIGHT ADVENTURE                        216

  XVIII.  THE FOOTBALL GAME                           230

    XIX.  THREE FRIENDS                               241

     XX.  MISS STEEL                                  255

    XXI.  A BACHELOR'S POCKET                         266

   XXII.  CHRISTMAS--MID-YEARS--AND THE WANDERTHIRST  276

  XXIII.  SOPHOMORES AT LAST                          291




ILLUSTRATIONS


  "I think my trunk is on this train," she said.    _Frontispiece_

                                                              PAGE
  "I wish you would tell me your receipt for making friends,
  Molly," exclaimed Nance.                                      51

  "I'm scared to death," she announced. Then she struck a
  chord and began.                                              60

  It was quite the custom for girls to prepare breakfasts in
  their rooms.                                                 152




Molly Brown's Freshman Days




CHAPTER I.

WELLINGTON.


"Wellington! Wellington!" called the conductor.

The train drew up at a platform, and as if by magic a stream of girls
came pouring out of the pretty stucco station with its sloping red
roof and mingled with another stream of girls emptying itself from the
coaches. Everywhere appeared girls,--leaping from omnibuses; hurrying
down the gravel walk from the village; hastening along the University
drive; girls on foot; girls on bicycles; girls running, and girls
strolling arm in arm.

Few of them wore hats; many of them wore sweaters and short walking
skirts of white duck or serge, and across the front of each sweater was
embroidered a large "W" in cadet blue, the mystic color of Wellington
University.

In the midst of a shouting, gesticulating mob stood Mr. Murphy, baggage
master, smiling good naturedly.

"Now, young ladies, one at a time, please. We've brought down all the
baggage left over by the 9.45. If your trunk ain't on this train, it'll
come on the next. All in good time, please."

A tall girl with auburn hair and deep blue eyes approached the group.
There was a kind of awkward grace about her, the grace which was hers by
rights and the awkwardness which comes of growing too fast. She wore a
shabby brown homespun suit, a shade darker than her hair, and on her
head was an old brown felt which had plainly seen service the year
before.

But knotted at her neck was a tie of burnt-orange silk which seemed to
draw attention away from the shiny seams and frayed hem and to cry
aloud:

"Look at me. I am the color of a winter sunset. Never mind the other old
togs."

Surely there was something very brave and jaunty about this young girl
who now pushed her way through the crowd of students and endeavored to
engage the attention of the baggage-master.

"I think my trunk was on this train," she said timidly. "I hope it is.
It came from Louisville to Philadelphia safely, and when I re-checked it
they told me it would be on this train."

Now, Murphy, the baggage master, had his own peculiar method of
conducting business, and it was strictly a partial and prejudiced one.
If he liked the face of a student, he always waited on her first,
regardless of how many other students were ahead of her; and, as he told
his wife later, he "took a fancy to that overgrown gal from the fust."

"I beg your pardon, but Mr. Murphy is engaged," put in a haughty looking
young woman with black eyes that snapped angrily.

"Now, Miss Judith," said the baggage master, who knew many of the
students by name, "don't go fer to git excited. I ain't made no promises
to no one. It's plain to see this here young lady is a newcomer, and, as
sich, she gits my