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“In a post-pandemic age when design expertise is in high demand, Simunich, Gregg, and Ralston-Berg offer the experience of working with an instructional designer to any faculty member. Written in an accessible ‘workshop’ tone, this book systematically guides instructors through 8 practical steps with handson design documents and faculty-ID collaboration scenarios. With the help of HIDOC, new and seasoned instructors can successfully take their online courses from inception to launch, using resources typically made available only through consultation with an ID. This text is a must-have for institutions, schools, and departments interested in scaling quality online course design.”

—Rae Mancilla, Ed.D., Assistant Director of Online Learning, Office of Online Learning, University ofPittsburgh

“What I love about the HIDOC model and this book is its flexible, adaptable, and pragmatic approach to designing online courses. The eightstep model can be applied incrementally, in an agile manner, or on an adhoc basis. This adaptability empowers you to create online courses quickly, focusing on the essential elements that will best support your students. The authors provide a plethora of practical examples to help guide the reader in designing their own online courses.”

—Wendy

Tietz

, Ph.D., CPA, CMA, CGMA, CSCA, Professor, Ambassador Crawford College of Business andEntrepreneurship, KentState University

“Laid out in an easy-to-follow fashion with wonderful tips for the entire design process, HIDOC promises to be a great addition to anyone’s library of ‘how to’ for online course design, whether you’re a new or experienced online instructor. The book also does a wonderful job of differentiating true online course design from the ‘emergency remote’ courses that happened during the pandemic. One of my favorite parts, though, is scenarios at every step of the process between a faculty member and an instructional designer. The faculty/ID team is so crucial to successful course design, yet the roles are often misunderstood; these scenarios help clarify those roles and how to work together effectively.”

—Barbara W. Altman, Ph.D., Associate

Professor of Management, College of Business Administration, Texas A&MUniversity–CentralTexas

“This is the book on online course design and development that you didn’t know you needed, and that you should now never be without! It is immensely practical, and focused on how to accomplish an excellent, engaging online course with a new model drawn from research and best practice. The highly experienced authors have created a practical and pragmatic guided ‘how to’ that is sure to be used by faculty and students of instructional design alike.” —Sasha Thackaberry, Ph.D., Senior Vice PresidentofWave, D2L

“The HIDOC handbook is a must-have for any instructor developing an online course. What makes this book unique is that it focuses on the design of online course instruction, using a model specific to the online format, and providing a solid pathway for the course development process. In addition, HIDOC is responsive to the current cultural context, with an emphasis on inclusive design. While this handbook is likely to be helpful to instructors of all disciplines, those teaching STEM in particular may appreciate the very organized, step-by-step process of how to create highquality online education.” —Sarah

Zappe

, Ph.D., Assistant Dean for Teaching and Learning, College of Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University

“Whether you’re creating an online course for the first time, or wanting to improve the quality of your online teaching experience, HIDOC meets you where you are and guides you through the pedagogical planning of course design with added tips that will greatly enhance your teaching interactions and your students’ learning experience. This research-based, but very practical guide, turns the challenge of designing a quality online course into an easily obtainable, and perhaps even enjoyable, experience. The book itself is a great fit for individual faculty, faculty cohort/collaborative design approaches, IDs and ID teams, as well as centers for teaching and learning. I also strongly recommend it for senior leadership who want to better understand the deep and challenging work of designing quality online learning.”

—Valerie Kelly, Associate Vice-President, Kent State Online, KentState University

Bethany Simunich

Andrea Gregg

Penny Ralston-Berg

Access the HIDOC Course Blueprint, Design Documents, and other resources at: https://hidocmodel.com/

First published 2024 by Routledge

605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 and by Routledge

4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

The right of Bethany Simunich, Andrea Gregg, and Penny Ralston-Berg to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

ISBN: 9781032577951 (hbk)

ISBN: 9781032580654 (pbk)

ISBN: 9781003442370 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781003442370

Typeset in Times New Roman

Publisher’s note

This book has been prepared from camera-ready copy provided by the authors. Cover created by the authors with Canva Icons licensed through The Noun Project

Access the Design Documents and other resources: https://hidocmodel.com/

Forbusyinstructorsanddesignerseverywhere

Preface

Introducing HIDOC

Section I - Designing Your Course with HIDOC

Step 1 - Learner Analysis

Step 2 - Learning Outcomes

Step 3 - Course Structure

Step 4 - Assessments & Activities

Step 5 - Instructional Materials

Step 6 - Technology & Tools

Step 7 - Online Learner Support

Step 8 - Continuous Improvement

Bonus Chapter - Design Execution

Design Doc Library

Section II – HIDOC-in-Action: Course Design Cases

#1: The Case of the Third-Party Tool and Technology Issues

#2: The Case of Lab Kit Logistics and a Heavy Workload

#3: The Case of Assignment Choice Leaving Too Much to Chance

#4: The Case of a Hands-on Headache

#5: The Case of Learner-Curated Content Complications

#6: The Case of Copyright Complications and Tough Topics

#7: The Case of Multimedia Simulation That’s Difficult in Reality

#8: The Case of High Anxiety and the Absentee Professor

#9: The Case of the Peer Collaboration Calamity

#10: The Case of the Dual-Mode Disparity Index

Detailed Contents

Preface

This Book in Historical Context

Remote Teaching versus Intentional Course Design

Your Virtual IDs

Course Modalities

Face-to-Face

Fully Online Asynchronous

Fully Online Synchronous

Hybrid

Dual-Mode and HyFlex

Audience for this Book

Instructors

Instructional Designers

Visual Notations

Design Docs & HIDOC Course Blueprint

Faculty-ID Collaborations

Inclusive Design

Examples

Reminders

Further Explanations

Starting Where You Are

Let’s Get Started!

Introducing HIDOC

Starting with the “Why” of HIDOC

Key Differences between F2F and Online Learning

Preface

This book arrives at the intersection of a multi-century history of distance education (which includes online education) and a relatively recent global pandemic that forced educators worldwide to rapidly pivot to remote teaching and learning. The need for this book existed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic; however, it is even more urgent now. With the emergency shift to remote teaching, nearly every educator had some experience teaching at a distance. At the same time, this experience often took place without the necessary guidance to most effectively design those online offerings. This meant that for many, remote teaching during the pandemic reinforced, rather than challenged, problematic beliefs about the poor quality of online education. For those of you whose first “online experience” was during the emergency shift to remote learning, we applaud your heroic efforts! However, we also hope that through this book we can help you to never again feel confused, frantic, or unsupported when teaching online because you will have learned how to design high-quality online courses.

This Book in Historical Context

While the COVID-19 pandemic has certainly brought online learning into a new spotlight, online higher education was already a prominent learning modality with individual online courses, complete online programs, and fully online colleges and universities. In recent years, online learning has also been recognized as the primary driver for growth within higher education (Lederman, 2019). Enrollment in online courses has exceeded growth in enrollment in residential education since 2012 (Seaman et al., 2018). Additionally, its broader container of “distance education,” defined as education when faculty and students are physically, and often temporally, separated has been around in different forms for centuries (Kentnor, 2015). Distance education modalities have included postal correspondence courses, radio and TV educational broadcasts, individualized computer-based training, early online text-based learning with limited opportunities for interaction, streamed courses, and, more recently, rich multimedia online courses with the integration of web conferencing (Anderson & Dron, 2011; Anderson & Dron, 2012).

Fortunately, this progression of distance and online education has also been accompanied by a robust research base covering online learning theory, instructional design models, and empirical work in areas like the efficacy of online modalities, online instructor and student satisfaction, learning outcome achievement in online courses, and design and technology best practices and impacts. In addition to foundational texts and a multitude of scholarly journals, there are key research centers and accompanying research databases central to the field, which include comparison studies to F2F learning (e.g., No Significant Difference Database; Online Learning Efficacy Research Database). While conversations during the pandemic frequently referenced “when things get back to normal,” the reality is that in the “new normal”—whether due to another global pandemic, weather disruptions that require campus closures, or the need for additional ways to reach students—online learning will continue to play a vital role in higher education.

There is already a solid literature base for online and distance education. There is much we already know and plenty that we continue to investigate. Be wary of research that positions online learning as “new”or less effective, as wellas researchthatconflates emergency remote learning with purposefully designed online learning.

Remote Teaching versus Intentional Course Design

There are significant, impactful differences between a course intentionally designed for online learning versus a course rapidly

transitioned for emergency remote instruction (Carr-Chelman, 2021; Hodges et al., 2020). Typically, remote delivery essentially attempts to replicate the classroom model as much as possible (e.g., moving from in-person lectures to Zoom lectures). In contrast, intentional course design relies on learning theory, empirical findings specific to online distance education, instructional design models, and the realities of learning at a distance within an online medium. Intentional design, then, attends to the whole course, identifying learning outcomes along with selecting the best aligned content, activities, and assessments, as well as strategically integrating appropriate educational technologies.

An intentionally designed online course also frequently involves collaboration between a faculty member who is a subject matter expert in the discipline and an instructional designer (ID) who is an expert in designing quality learning experiences and typically holds an advanced degree in fields like educational technology, learning design and technology, or learning experience design. Most IDs are also specifically knowledgeable about designing online courses and are skilled in using educational technology and instructional design to maximize the learning environment and educational experience to promote student success. (For more information on instructional design, please see the Further Explanations section toward the end of the Preface.) The challenge is that many instructors have limitedornoinstructionaldesignsupport.

Despite having taught remotely, many faculty haven’t yet done intentional online course design. The remote teaching experience is not akin to a well-designed, quality online course—either for instructors or students.

Your Virtual IDs

Rest assured that, with this book and its companion website, you do have instructional design help! You can think of us as virtual IDs who will guide you through the process of designing your course, just as we would via a workshop or individual consultations. At this point, you may be wondering why you should invest your trust (and more importantly, your time) in us. Below, we summarize our collective professional experience relevant to leading busy instructors such as yourselves through online course design.

1. WehavedesignedALOTofonlinecourses.

With a combined 60+ years of experience working closely with faculty members across all disciplines and levels, we have collectively collaborated on the design and development of over three hundred online and hybrid courses. Disciplines we have worked with include, but are not limited to, engineering, communication, sociology, business, math, education, lab-based sciences, English, computer science, health sciences, accounting, psychology, anthropology, religious studies, and history. Courses we’ve worked on range from remedial to advanced levels and include dialogue-intensive graduate seminars, project-based courses, writing-intensive courses, laboratory courses, dual-enrollment courses, and more. We

have also hired, managed, and mentored dozens of instructional designers. Throughout our years of experience, we have developed and refined processes and accompanying worksheets to support faculty members as they create their online courses. The process and practices promoted in this book rely on this collective experience of what has worked and been most effective for a variety of faculty in developing high-quality online courses, across all disciplines and levels.

2. We are grounded in the research base of instructional designandonlinedistanceeducation. We each have advanced degrees, have published and presented widely in the field of online learning, and currently hold professional positions that require our work to be researchsupported. Where appropriate, we will reference supporting literature. Ultimately, though, this book is written to be a practical guide rather than an academic text or scholarly research. While the design practices we advocate here have solid theoretical and empirical support, you don’t necessarily need all the academic backstory to be able to apply them. For those of you who might be interested, we do provide some key pieces of research and theory that can be explored more deeply on your own.

3. Webelievein“learningfirst,technologysecond.”

Collectively, we have taught online, hybrid, and in-person undergraduate and graduate university courses. We have also facilitated and led many faculty workshops and, therefore, understand first-hand the experience of transitioning from in-person to online teaching and learning. We believe that online education is,

first and foremost, about learning, rather than the technology that supports it. After working with instructors to design online courses, we often hear from faculty that the design process made their inperson courses better as well. This is because much of the process requires clarifying teaching and learning intentions and aligning all the parts of the course, including content, activities, and assessments. While we emphasize this in the context of an online modality, the core design principles apply across settings.

We’re excited to be your guides on this rewarding journey!

Course Modalities

Course modality refers to how a course is offered. While this book focuses foremost on fully online asynchronous courses, it is helpful to know all the different ways courses can be offered. We also realize that there is no universal definition for course modalities, and institutions (and faculty) can have different definitions for the same term. These are some of the important reasons we wanted to state and define the modality terms we’ll be using in this book. If you or your institution uses different terms, that’s absolutely fine—by using the definitions, you’ll be able to “translate” information in a way that makes sense for you and your work.

Face-to-Face

We use the term face-to-face (or F2F) to reflect the traditional, classroom-based form of teaching and learning that takes place on a campus with students and instructors in the same physical space at the same time. Other terms to describe this modality that we use interchangeably are on-ground, on-campus, or in-person. A F2F

course can also sometimes be “web-enhanced,” meaning it is augmented with online learning technology—usually the LMS (learning management system) or a content repository. A F2F course that uses a flipped pedagogical approach would fall here, for example, if students watch instructional videos outside of class, then use class time for hands-on application. A traditional F2F class that uses the LMS for digital documents, to turn in assignments, and for an online gradebook would also fall in this category.

Fully Online Asynchronous

An online asynchronous course is 100% online—traditionally, there are no required live/real-time class meetings, whether F2F or synchronously, though some online degree programs may have an in-person inaugural session, for example. This has been the most common type of online course since the early 1990s. An online asynchronous course relies on a full and robust web-based design that is nearly always more time-intensive to create since it requires developing the complete course structure in the LMS and digitizing all course materials. It is, therefore, easier to adapt this design to other modalities by scaling back which aspects occur in the LMS. By designing an asynchronous online course first, regardless of what online modality you will be teaching in, you will be better prepared for any modality change or emergency.

The big takeaway here is that we recommend as a bestpractice to design an asynchronous online course first whenever possible, as it is easiestto adaptthatdesign to any other modality.

Fully Online Synchronous

An online synchronous course is one in which the course is offered entirely online and includes regular, online class meetings that students are required to attend. The structure is similar to a F2F course, but the online modality strongly impacts design choices. Class meetings are most often held via web-conferencing software, such as Zoom, or collaboration software built into the LMS, and there are no required F2F meetings. The course structure is built in the LMS, which is also used for things like sharing digital materials and turning in assignments. An online synchronous class is NOT simply a remote in-person class and should be well-designed and purposefully designed for online learning.

Hybrid

A hybrid course is a hybrid or blend of F2F class sessions and asynchronous online instructional content and materials. The precise ratio of how much time students spend online interacting with materials compared to in-class can vary (and is often dictated by the state or institution), but a general gauge that reflects most hybrid courses is that at least 50% of the course is online. This course type is best designed as an asynchronous course, with consideration for where and when students will interact with course materials. If the pedagogical approach of a “flipped classroom” is used, students will interact with materials asynchronously and use the F2F class time for active, applied learning (a flipped F2F class is similar in structure, but hybrid students usually do not spend as much time together in person). If it’s not designed as a “flipped” class, the students will spend their F2F class time listening to the instructor lecture and

doing in-class activities and will do most of their applied work via the LMS.

Dual-Mode and HyFlex

A dual-mode course has two distinct audiences: both in-class students and students participating at a distance. Online students might be attending the class synchronously, through a live, streamed video conference of the F2F course, or asynchronously, based on a recording of the F2F class session. Students typically enroll in either the F2F or online section(s) and stay in their section for the term.

A HyFlex course is one in which each class session is offered in two or three distinct ways, and students can choose how they will attend each session. They can attend live, in-class; they can connect live, synchronously online; or they can participate in the class asynchronously online, if the course is offered in all three modalities (some HyFlex courses, however, offer only one online mode in addition to the F2F option; for more on HyFlex courses, see Brian Beatty’s publicly available book on HyFlex courses, listed in the references for this chapter).

Both dual-mode and HyFlex courses soared in popularity after the Spring 2020 remote pivot re-introduced the synchronous modality to a new generation of learners, and faculty and students alike enjoyed the flexibility of teaching and learning in multiple modalities. Your institution may have different names and definitions for these multimodal online courses, including different requirements or registration options. While courses offered in multiple modalities provide best-fit options for students, it’s vital to understand that designing and teaching a multimodal course is more complex in

terms of technology, teaching, classroom management, and more. If you’re newer to online teaching, we don’t recommend that you dive head-first into teaching students in multiple modalities simultaneously.

Audience for this Book

Instructors

Put simply, this book is for any instructor designing an online course. Whether you are brand-new to online teaching or an experienced veteran, designing or revising your course with the HIDOC model will allow you to “step back” to gain a fresh perspective, reflect on the needs of your students, and consider the unique realities of designing a quality online course. Even very experienced online instructors will find a new idea, inspiration, or consideration! And for those who are adapting to online learning from an emergency remote teaching experience, this book will help ease the transition to creating a high-quality online course. The book is written “workshop style,” with accessible information and advice that isn’t technology-heavy. And while the HIDOC model is researchsupported, and this book includes some select references, this isn’t a literature review or a heavy, academic tome—we did our best to create a readable, welcoming experience for you.

Instructional Designers

Asecondaryaudienceforthisbookisinstructionaldesigners (IDs)whocollaboratewithfacultytodesignonlinecourses. HIDOC provides IDs with a practical, research-based instructional

design process to use in their own collaborative work with faculty. Additionally, throughout the book are “Faculty-ID Collaborations” that, while serving to answer common questions and illustrate some big takeaways for our faculty readers, also provide examples for our ID audience for modeling their own consultations. IDs can use the HIDOC framework and activity sheets as-is, or use them as inspiration to create documents that work best for the faculty with whom they work.

Visual Notations

We wanted this book to be friendly in both tone and layout; therefore, we’ve designed it with visual notations to distinguish key types of content you’ll encounter throughout. Below are descriptions of these visual cues and icons.

Design Docs & HIDOC Course Blueprint

On our companion website—https://hidocmodel.com-you will find supporting documents for this book. We want to briefly draw your attention here to two documents that will be referenced throughout the book: Design Docs and the HIDOC Course Blueprint. These will both be explained in greater detail in the next chapter but in brief are the documents you will use to actually design your course. When you see either of the following notations in the book, it is a sign that you can find a downloadable version of the referenced document on the companion HIDOC website: DESIGN DOCS

Another random document with no related content on Scribd:

come and see justice done on these base tormentors of youth and beauty.”

“All right,” agreed Marie calmly, scrambling down from her uncertain perch and losing off a slipper again in the process.

Susanna picked it up and handed it to her meekly.

“You’re a champion bluffer, if you don’t know what it means,” Fluffy told her admiringly “I suppose you knew all the time that they were coming, and that was why you just giggled at everything and let us do our worst.”

Montana Marie O’Toole smiled vaguely back at Fluffy. “Oh, no, I didn’t know——” she began.

“Of course she didn’t know,” cut in a black domino. “Do you think we ask the advice of freshmen——”

“Straight Dutton,” cried Fluffy indignantly, “what are you doing helping a lot of juniors? You belong with us.”

The black domino, thus reproached, shrugged her shoulders defiantly. “You spoiled my nap and made me mad.” Then she laughed. “You won’t be a bit mad after we’ve finished with you. Truly you won’t. We’ve got lovely stunts and the weirdest eats. Forward march, captives,—and hurry, or we shan’t have time for everything.”

Enthroned on Timmy Wentworth’s writing table, with Eugenia Ford to coach her in the lines of her part, Montana Marie O’Toole acted as mistress of the Rescue ceremonies.

“Fluffy Dutton, turn your dress backside front and inside out and speak a piece.”

“Eugenia Ford, tell us the whole and complete story of the Winsted men you have flirted with since last week Wednesday.”

“Mary Mason, sing the Rosary without stopping to laugh.”

“Tilly Ann Leavitt, do your Chantecler stunt—all through.”

Montana Marie announced each “lovely stunt,” after Eugenia had whispered it to her, with much dignity. She watched its performance

gaily, and greeted its climax with a gurgle of appreciative laughter

When the sun—it was a big jack-o’-lantern, and it had been hastily sent for from Tilly Ann’s room, to make her Chantecler stunt complete—when the sun came up over Timmy Wentworth’s screen and sent long, streaming rays of orange ribbon over the room and the audience, Montana Marie O’Toole lay back gasping in Eugenia’s arms.

“I saw that play acted in French, in dear old Paree. Did Miss Leavitt see it there too? Did she make up that take-off herself? Oh, my, I feel so perfectly at home here now!” Montana Marie rocked back and forth in an ecstasy of mirth and satisfaction.

“The world is such a small place,” she added with much originality, and smiled impartially on all classes present.

Then they turned out the lights and had the “weird eats”—the largest raw oysters to be bought in Harding, dipped in very thick, very hot chocolate sauce. And then they had “real food,” namely: Cousin Kate’s cookies and pineapple ice. Eugenia had requisitioned the “real food” of Betty Wales, at Straight’s instigation.

“If we gallantly rescue her freshman, she certainly ought to do something nice for us,” Straight had declared. “Tell her that we prefer ice to ice-cream, because we—I—have recently had a headache, and I feel for ice. Tell her she will be an angel to send the things because we haven’t had a dessert that I like this whole long week.”

And Betty, who understood all about campus fare, smilingly promised, and was better than her word to the extent of a huge pitcher of lemonade.

Montana Marie was proving rather an amusing protégée, she reflected that evening, after Thomas, the new door and errand boy, had been dispatched to the Belden with the “real eats.” The girls liked her, in spite of her queerness, and so did the faculty; at least several of them had spoken of her to Betty in very friendly terms. College had been open nearly a month now, but Montana Marie had not asked for any help from her official tutor except with her entrance conditions. The one in history she was almost ready to pass off,

Betty thought. She made a note on her engagement pad: “Ask M. M. how freshman work is going, specially math.” Betty smiled to herself, as she remembered how scared all the Chapin House crowd had been over their freshman math. And then in the end nobody had been even warned except Roberta, and that was because she was always too frightened that first year to try to recite; Roberta was labeled a “math. shark” before she graduated.

Betty wondered how the Rescue party was progressing. She wished she were not a “near-faculty,” with faculty dignity to sustain. She longed to borrow a black domino and a mask and join the Rescue party incognito. She thought of a deliciously funny “stunt” to suggest as Susanna Hart’s penalty for having instigated Montana Marie’s hazing party. She hoped her freshman would be game—would make them keep on liking her—now that they had begun.

She stayed late at the Tally-ho working on her accounts, and reached the campus just in time to run into Montana Marie O’Toole being escorted home,—at top speed, owing to the exigencies of the ten o’clock rule,—by Eugenia, the Dutton twins, reunited without loss of time, and Susanna Hart.

Straight detached herself from escort duty to tell Betty all about the party “Part two, the Rescue, was a grand, extra-special success,” she explained, “and the sophs say that part one was just as good. I say, Betty, did you give us away? Did you tell Montana Marie about the Rescue?”

Betty hadn’t even seen her freshman for two days, until to-night’s brief encounter.

Straight considered. “I wonder if somebody else told her. She didn’t act a bit surprised. But then she never does act surprised, no matter what happens or what wild tales we stuff her with. Betty, have you noticed how you can’t ever tell what she thinks?”

Betty laughed. “I never can tell what people think, Straight, unless they tell me. It’s only Madeline and you clever twins who can read people’s minds.”

“Only some people’s,” Straight corrected modestly “And I don’t believe even the wonderful Madeline could read Montana Marie’s. She’s queer. That’s the only word that describes her,—except pretty, of course,—just queer. First you laugh at her, then you like her, and before you get tired of her foolishness you get awfully interested in studying her out. And you can’t. Can’t make her out, I mean. Betty ——” Straight paused at the door of Morton Hall.

“Yes,” laughed Betty.

“Ask her if she knew about to-night’s Rescue party, will you?”

“Of course,” Betty promised. “Fly now, Straight, or you’ll be locked out.”

“Never.” Straight prepared to fly her fastest. “I’ll bet you anything, Betty Wales, that you won’t ever find out. Whether she knew, I mean. Good-night, Betty.”

Straight had flown.

CHAPTER IV

MONTANA MARIE TAKES A RIDE

G A had missed Montana Marie’s initiation party, having been engaged that evening in helping to console Mary Brooks Hinsdale for the temporary loss of her husband.

“Clever husbands are so intermittent,” Mary had sighed plaintively. “Now you have them to provide tea for, and other amusements, and now they’re off to the ends of the earth to deliver a lecture. And mine won’t ever take me along, because my frivolous aspect rattles him when he gets up to speak. I presume,” Mary smiled serenely, “that he also thinks said frivolous aspect would queer him with his learned friends; only he’s too polite to put it to me so baldly. And the moral of all this, Georgia, my child, is: Don’t marry a professor, unless you are prepared to take the consequences. The immediate consequence is that you’ve got to be Georgia-to-the-Rescue for me this time, and come up to spend Saturday night.”

“And so,” Georgia explained to Betty later, “I wasn’t on hand to be Georgia-to-the-Rescue for your freshman. But then she didn’t need me. She really didn’t even need rescuing. And just to show her how I admire her pluck, I’ve made the riding-party I’m going off with ask her to come on our Mountain Day trip.”

“But she can’t possibly get a horse so late in the day,” objected Betty. “Belle Joyce has sprained her ankle and gone home, so somebody else can have the Imp.”

Betty looked anxious. “But, Georgia dear, you know the Imp is a pretty lively horse. Are you sure that Marie rides well enough to go off on him with your experienced crowd?”

“Oh, I guess so,” Georgia answered easily. “She’s ridden a lot out West, she says. She’s telegraphed to Montana for her own saddle

and her riding things, and they ought to be here to-day When they come, I’ll take her out on a practice trip to be sure that she can ride. Nobody wants to kill off your amusing freshman, Betty; so don’t look so awfully solemn.”

Betty laughed heartily. “Well, you know I had a nice spill here once myself, and so I believe in being careful. But I think it was ever so nice of you to include Marie in your party, Georgia.”

“There isn’t a freshman in college who wouldn’t give her best hat for the chance of going off with our crowd,” Georgia declared modestly. “It’s funny, isn’t it, Betty, how much the girls care about getting in with the right college set?”

Betty nodded. “And I’m afraid it’s not because the right college set, as you call it, generally has the most fun. It’s very often only because they are silly enough to want the name of being popular.”

“Snobs!” muttered Georgia scornfully. “Well, Montana Marie is no snob, and thanks mostly to you there aren’t nearly so many snobs in Harding as there were when I first came up.”

“Really? Do you notice a difference?” demanded Betty eagerly.

“Yes, and lots of it,” declared Georgia, “so don’t work too hard this year creating the proper college spirit, because you don’t need to. And don’t worry about our killing off your freshman. Unless I see that she’s a very good rider on our trial trip, I’ll make her swap off the Imp with one of the girls who can surely manage him, and take old Polly. Old Polly wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

Montana Marie’s pet saddle and riding clothes did not come until just in time for Mountain Day, but Georgia took her, according to promise, for the practice ride, borrowing Straight Dutton’s skirt for her, and explaining that it was Harding custom not to bother about hats.

Montana Marie listened graciously to Georgia’s sage advice about being very careful until you knew your horse; and she made no objection to starting out on Polly, who was a meek-looking, gentlegaited bay with one white foot,—the idol of timid beginners in Harding riding circles. But before they had gone a mile, Montana

Marie drew rein and announced pleasantly that she couldn’t ride Polly a step further.

“I suppose I must be too heavy for her She seems so tired, and she lags behind so. Would you be willing to change with me, Miss Ames? You are lighter, and you are used to Polly’s ways. You don’t blame me, do you, for hating to use up a horse?”

So Montana Marie rode Georgia’s favorite Captain, who singlefooted by choice but would canter if crowded to it. He cantered with Montana Marie all the way to Far-away Glen, the destination of the party There they dismounted to drink out of a mountain spring, and Montana Marie somehow settled it that the groom from the stables should go back on Polly, Captain being restored to Georgia, and the skittish roan named Gold Heels left for herself. Georgia protested anxiously, but Montana Marie smiled and reassured her.

“Why, you can’t worry about me, Miss Ames. I’ve ridden all my life,” she said, making the roan curvet and prance on purpose. “I guess I rode before I walked. But these pancake saddles are the limit, I think. Just you wait till my own outfit comes, and then I’ll show you some real riding. My, but it seems like old times to be on a horse! I had just one ride all the time we were in Paris. Riding in a park is too slow for me, and besides I hate side-saddles—you can’t use anything else over there, you know—as I hate—select schools for girls,” added Montana Marie in an unwonted burst of confidence.

“So you’re glad to be back in America?” asked Georgia idly.

“I should say I am, Miss Ames. Some day you’ll know, maybe, just how glad I am.”

Georgia was too busy keeping Captain from imitating the roan’s pernicious tactics in the matter of shying at dead leaves to wonder exactly what Montana Marie was driving at so earnestly.

“She will be perfectly safe on the Imp,” Georgia reported later to Betty. “At least I think so, and anyhow she is perfectly set on riding him, and she said she’d never ride old Polly again, if there wasn’t another horse in the world. So we shall just have to let her decide

about the risks for herself. Your freshman has a mind of her own, hasn’t she, Betty?”

Betty agreed laughingly Montana Marie, when approached by her official tutor about her freshman class work, particularly freshman math., had reported easily that she guessed everything was going all right.

“But anyway, I’m planning to get my entrance conditions off first,” she announced. “Then I can devote my whole time to regular work. I believe in being systematic, don’t you, Miss Wales?”

Betty tried to explain that the entrance conditions were regarded by the Powers as extras, not to take the place or time of regular work.

Montana Marie listened good-naturedly.

“I never could do but one thing at once, Miss Wales,” she explained at last. “In Germany I forget every word I know of French, and in dear old Paree I actually almost forget my English. If I could only cut classes entirely for a week or so and get this entrance history and Latin prose off my mind!”

“Well, you can’t,” Betty told her decidedly. “Your having so many conditions will make all your teachers specially particular. The very least you can do, when President Wallace stretched a rule to let you in, is not to cut a single, single class, unless you are too ill to go, of course.”

Montana Marie sighed plaintively. “I never was ill in my life. I think I am doing fairly well in my studies, Miss Wales. I certainly try hard enough. After all the fuss I had about getting in, I don’t want to get out again yet a while. The great trouble is that there are so many social affairs all the time. When I’m looking forward to a dinner on the campus or a dance in the gym. or a walk with that cute little Miss Hart, why I just can’t settle down to study. It was lucky Miss Hart had an impromptu initiation for me. I shouldn’t have been able to learn a single lesson with an initiation to look forward to.”

“Then if it diverts your mind to go to things, you simply mustn’t go to so many, Marie.” Betty tried to look severe and to speak sternly. “You must refuse some of your invitations. Or else you must learn to

concentrate your mind on whatever you’re doing, work as well as play. Being able to jump straight from Greek to the sophomore reception and from chemistry lab. into managing a basket-ball team is one of the most valuable things you can learn at this college. And you’ve got to learn it early in freshman year, or you won’t ever get comfortably through your mid-years.” Betty surveyed Montana Marie’s unruffled calm rather despairingly.

Montana Marie smiled comfortingly back at her tutor, and then sighed faintly. “I’m not sure, Miss Wales, that I have any mind to concentrate. You see in the convent your soul was the most important thing, and in Miss Mallon’s Select School for American Girls your manners and the pictures in the Louvre were the most important. But I promise you that I won’t go everywhere I’m asked— not anywhere until I’ve passed off my history. And I promise not to cut, and I’ll ask my teachers right away if my work is satisfactory.”

Betty wrote her mother that night that Marie was developing wonderfully, quite as Mrs. Wales had prophesied, and that taking charge of her was really no trouble at all, because she was so anxious to carry out her part of the bargain she had made with Betty, to do her best.

“So tell Will to tell Tom Benson,” Betty wrote, “that Miss O’Toole isn’t a handful. I’m almost afraid she’ll turn out a dig or a prig or something of that kind, she seems so anxious to do good work. But all the nicest girls like her, so I guess I needn’t worry about her not having a good time.”

The day before Mountain Day the history condition was removed from Miss Montana Marie O’Toole’s record of scholarship, and Betty congratulated her freshman warmly and went off to spend the holiday in Babe’s wonderful house on the Hudson feeling as carefree and irresponsible as if she were a freshman herself.

Georgia’s riding-party was to take horse—this knowing expression was also Georgia’s—at the Belden at nine o’clock sharp. At a quarter before the hour Montana Marie, the only off-campus member, arrived at the rendezvous. Her habit was brown corduroy, her hat a flapping sombrero, her lovely hair was coiled in a soft knot in her neck. It

looked as if it would fall down before she had mounted, but not a lock was out of place that night, when Montana Marie rode the dripping, drooping Imp into his stable-yard half an hour ahead of the others, and sweetly asked the liveryman if he would mind giving her a real horse the next time she hired one.

“Because if you can’t, I guess I’ll ask my father to send one of his East to me,” she explained, reaching down to unbuckle her big saddle before she slipped easily out of it. “I don’t mean to compare this horse with old Polly or that silly roan,” she added politely. “But I do like a little real excitement when I go for a ride.”

If Montana Marie had found her Mountain Day tame, the rest of the party had not lacked for “real excitement” in generous measure. Montana Marie had ridden decorously enough between Georgia and Susanna Hart out of the town and up Sugar Hill to White Birch Lane. At the turn into the woods she had produced a magenta silk bandana and knotted it coquettishly at the back of her neck.

“Now I’m a real cow-girl,” she explained. “Ma can educate me all she wants, but she can’t educate the West out of me. She’d never have sent me this wild and woolly outfit. She’d have written her New York tailor to come right up here and fit me out. But I like these things best, so I just telegraphed to Dad, and he did as I said. He always does. Now why don’t we race up the next hill?” Montana Marie started off the Imp with a yodeling shout and a wildly waving arm that made even sedate old Polly take a keen interest in following. Susanna Hart’s horse reared, and Fluffy Dutton shrieked hysterically. Then the skittish roan Gold Heels bolted down a side-path with the groom from the stable, and before he could get back to his charges’ assistance, a Belden House sophomore, who was always unlucky with horses, carelessly fell off the Captain’s back. True to his training the big horse stopped dead in his tracks, and Montana Marie, having seen the accident over her shoulder, rushed the Imp back, dismounted, and assisted the unlucky sophomore to her feet with the sincerest apologies for having “made any one any trouble.”

“If you’d had a saddle like mine you wouldn’t have fallen off,” she ended regretfully. “You can’t enjoy a real wild ride on those little flat

seats.”

“We’re not out for a wild ride,” Georgia rebuked her sternly. “If you want to race and make a general disturbance you must ride way ahead alone. But if I were you——”

“Oh, I shouldn’t think of stirring up anything more,” declared Montana Marie demurely, pulling the Imp into a decorous park-trot beside the unlucky sophomore, who was luckily not a bit the worse for her tumble. “I’m only a little freshman, and I want to learn the college ways in riding as in other things.” She secreted her magenta neckerchief again, and “rode like a perfect lady,” to quote from Georgia’s account of the matter, all the way to Top Notch Falls, and all the way back against the sunset, until——

Little Eugenia Ford’s horrified description of what happened next was perhaps the most vivid of those furnished to eager inquirers.

“When we were down on the meadow-road,” Eugenia began that evening to an attentive audience of her house-mates, “it got a little bit dusky. We heard some horses coming fast behind us, and it was my Cousin John Ford, who is a senior at Winsted, and three men from his frat-house. They stopped to speak to me, and I introduced them to Fluffy and Montana Marie, who were riding beside me. We happened to be quite a little ahead of the others. John said something about Montana Marie’s queer Mexican saddle, and that freshman put on her awful magenta handkerchief again, and asked him if he liked cow-girls and ‘real exciting’ rides, and of course John said yes. And she said to come on then, and hit his horse with her whip, and they just tore off in the dark.” Eugenia’s big brown eyes were round with horror. “John is a splendid rider or he wouldn’t have stayed on, because his horse—it’s one of his own and a thoroughbred—had never been touched with a whip before, and it nearly went crazy when Montana Marie whacked it. So his horse flew and the Imp flew too, and John tried to stop, but she just shouted again and again, and egged both the horses on. John telephoned me as soon as I got home, to say that his neck wasn’t broken, and to inquire for hers. He seemed to think it was a joke, but for my part”—Eugenia looked as severe as so small and so pretty a

young lady was able to look—“for my part I think it was unladylike and dangerous, and I hope Georgia will never want to ask her to go riding with us again. My horse almost ran too.” Eugenia grew a shade more haughty. “She asked John to call and to bring his three friends. I—I’m afraid he’ll come.”

“I shouldn’t be much surprised if he did,” agreed a caustic senior, who roomed next door. “Montana Marie O’Toole is not exactly a lady, and she—well, I don’t know that she is ever exactly inconsiderate except on horseback. But she’s always interesting, foot or horseback. Were your crowd—were you thinking of dropping her because she messed up your ride?”

Eugenia flushed. “She’s asked the Mountain Day party to dinner tomorrow night at the Vincent Arms. She boards there, you know. She seems to be—very rich. I don’t know much about her family, but Betty Wales has met her mother and liked her. I—I do want to see the inside of that wonderful boarding-house.”

“Millionairesses’ Hall, isn’t it called?” asked the senior. “Yes, I’ve wanted to go there too, for dinner, but I don’t know anybody who’ll ask me. They have flowers on the tables every night, and seven courses. You’d better go.”

Eugenia considered. “It would be fun. Only—she was really horrid— racing off that way with John.”

“Maybe he won’t call on her, after all,” consoled the senior. “If he does—eat her dinner first, drop her afterward. But whether you drop her or not, she’s bound to stay in fashion here. She’s interesting, lady or no lady. Don’t go riding with her, if you don’t like her Western style. But for my part, I think she’s really too good to miss. Now isn’t it just like that lucky Betty Wales to have the most entertaining freshman, as well as the most fascinating tea-room, to amuse herself with?”

At the very moment when the caustic senior was making this remark, Betty Wales sat at her desk in the fascinating tea-shop. The entertaining freshman sat beside her. For once she was not smiling. Spread out on the desk before Betty were three distinct and separate

warnings, in freshman math., freshman Latin, and freshman lit., respectively. Betty Wales had seen a few warnings before, but she did not remember any that were quite so frank and unqualified in their condemnation of the recipient’s scholastic efforts and attainments as the three euphemistically addressed to Miss M. M. O’Toole.

CHAPTER V

THE B. C. A.’S “UNDERTAKE” MONTANA MARIE

M A had come up to Harding to celebrate the acceptance of a novel by her favorite firm of publishers. Babbie Hildreth had come too, to help Madeline celebrate, and also to talk to Mr. Thayer about that most important topic, the date of “the” wedding. And so of course the “B. C. A.’s” had appointed a special tea-drinking, to celebrate the acceptance of the novel, the visits of Madeline and Babbie, the prospect of a wedding in their midst, and the general joys involved in the state of being “Back at the College Again,”—which is what B. C. A. stood for. Equally of course the teadrinking was to be held at the Tally-ho.

But when the hour of the grand celebration arrived, a damper was put on everything; Betty Wales had sent a hastily scribbled note, by an accommodating freshman who was going right past the Tally-ho, to say that she was too busy to come.

“She’s losing her sporting spirit,” declared Madeline sadly. “In days gone by you could depend on Betty’s turning up for any old lark. She might be late, if she happened to be pretty busy, but she always got there in the end.”

“And I wanted to ask her about wedding dates,” wailed Babbie plaintively. “I can’t have my wedding when Betty can’t come. She’s almost as important as the groom.”

“Betty is awfully important to such a lot of people,” complained Mary Brooks Hinsdale, who was looking particularly fascinating in her new fall suit, the christening of which had added an extra spice of interest to the grand tea-drinking. “She is altogether too capable for her own good. If she were only as lazy, or as unreliable, or as devoid of ideas and energy, as most of those here present, she wouldn’t find it so hard to escape for tea-drinkings and other pleasant festivities. Which

one of her dependents has her in its clutches this afternoon, I wonder?”

Babbie, to whom Betty’s note had been addressed, consulted it for further details. “She says she’s got to tutor a freshman,” Babbie explained after a minute. “I suppose she is helping along some one who can’t afford to pay for regular lessons. Seems to me there ought to be girls enough in college to do that sort of thing without putting it off on Betty. Betty is too valuable to be wasted on mere tutoring.”

“Poor girls ought not to need to be tutored,” announced Madeline, in her oracular manner “Unless they are bright and shining lights in their studies, they ought not to try to go through college at all.”

“But Madeline——” chorused the permanent B. C. A.’s—the ones who were always on hand in Harding, because they were either faculty or faculty wives. “But Babbie—you two don’t understand. Haven’t you heard about Betty’s freshman?”

“No, we haven’t,” chorused the new arrivals. “Tell us this minute.”

Mary finally got the floor. “My children,” she began in her most patronizing style, “our precious Betty Wales is not engaged in assisting some needy under classman along the royal road to learning, as you seem to suppose. She is acting as special tutor to the only daughter of a Montana mining magnate. Named Montana Marie after the mine, pretty as a picture, clever at horseback riding but not at mathematics,—and the grand sensation of Harding College just at present,” ended Mary proudly. Then the permanents told the “properly excited” newcomers the whole story of Montana

Marie O’Toole.

“She sounds extremely interesting,” said Madeline reflectively, when they had finished.

“Almost like a ready-made heroine,” suggested Mary, winking knowingly at the others.

Madeline nodded absently, and everybody laughed at what Mary called the egotism of the literary instinct.

“Why, haven’t you ever caught Madeline squinting at you to see if you’ll do for a book?” demanded Mary, elaborating her point. “She relates everything, even friends, to her Literary Career. I wore my new suit to-day in the frantic hope that she’d like my looks well enough to put me into a play. I should simply adore seeing myself in a play,” sighed Mary.

“Well, you never will,” Madeline assured her blandly. “Not while you call me ‘my child,’ and patronize me instead of my tea-shop.”

Mary listened, wearing her beamish smile. “Egotism of the literary instinct again—she makes a personal matter out of everything. Now, if you’ve quite finished explaining your methods of literary work, suppose we return to the business of the meeting, which is——”

“Which seems to be your frivolous methods of securing the attention of the wise and great by wearing new clothes,” cut in Madeline promptly. “A very interesting subject, too, isn’t it, my children?”

Mary faced the challenger coldly. “The real business of the meeting,” she announced, “is the rescue of Betty Wales from the clutches of her too-numerous jobs, charities, helpful ideas, and noble ambitions, including that interesting but heavily conditioned freshman, Montana Marie O’Toole.”

“But I thought Georgia had been regularly ‘elected’ to look out for Betty,” suggested Christy Mason.

“Well, Georgia is only one,” explained Helen Chase Adams seriously, “and being a prominent senior keeps her fairly busy, I imagine. And then Betty doesn’t want to be rescued. It’s very hard to look out for a person that doesn’t want you to look out for him—her,” amended Helen hastily, with a vivid blush that instantly created another digression among the B. C. A.’s.

“I thought you didn’t like men, Helen Chase.”

“Who is he? Who is your protégé who objects to being looked after, Helen?”

“When you said ‘him’ you were only trying to speak good English? Well, isn’t ‘her’ as good English as ‘him’?”

“You might as well own up to him right off and save yourself a lot of trouble. Detective Ayres will shadow you till you confess.”

But Helen displayed a hitherto unsuspected talent for clever sparring. “It’s just like you girls to make a lot out of a little,” she declared, so earnestly that everybody saw she meant it. “That’s why we have such good times,—because you make all the stupid little things in life seem interesting.”

“Well, don’t dare to deny that you’re a stupid little thing,” Mary told her, with an appreciative pat to emphasize that she was only joking. “And please be duly thankful that we can make even you seem interesting.”

“Oh, I am grateful,” Helen told her, with pretty seriousness. “But you ought to keep within the probabilities, and you ought to have more variety about your inventions. We’ve got romances enough on hand, without making up one for me.”

“The business of this meeting——” began Mary again at last, pounding hard on the table with one of the fascinating fat mustard jars which Madeline had summarily bought in London to start the Tally-ho Tea-Shop. “The business of this meeting——”

“Is just coming in at the door,” Rachel Morrison laughingly finished Mary’s sentence for her.

And sure enough, Betty Wales, looking very young, very pretty, also very care-free and happy for a person in dire need of rescue, was shutting the door with one hand, giving Emily Davis a handful of letters and memoranda with the other, and telling Nora about a special dinner order for that evening as she slipped off her ulster. Then she made a bee-line for Jack o’ Hearts’ stall and the Merry Hearts.

“Let me in—way in, please,” she begged, scrambling past Babbie, Helen, and Mary to the most secluded seat at the back of the stall. “I came after all, because I wanted some fun, and I won’t be dragged out to talk to anybody about dinners they want me to plan, or Student’s Aid things, or Morton Hall things—or even a conditioned

freshman,” she concluded with a particularly vindictive emphasis on the last phrase.

“Hear! Hear!” cried Christy Mason.

“Oh, now I think maybe she’ll run away again to come to my wedding,” sighed Babbie, in deep relief.

“After all, she hasn’t lost her sporting spirit,” Madeline rejoiced. “She’s the same old Betty Wales, better late than never, and quite capable of looking out for herself, as well as for all the bothering jobs and charities and incompetent friends and touchy millionaires and insistent suitors and helpful ideas and noble ambitions that clutch at her with octopus fingers and threaten to drag her down.”

“Don’t talk like a book, Madeline,” Mary criticized. “And don’t be too cock-sure that you’re right. Just because Betty couldn’t stand it another minute and has rushed to cover, so to speak, in our midst, I for one refuse to be convinced that she doesn’t need help in fighting the octopus.”

Betty brushed a rebellious curl out of her eyes with a tired little gesture, and stared curiously at the disputants. “What in the world are you talking about?” she demanded. “Mary dear, please explain, because Madeline’s explanations usually just mix things up more than ever.”

Mary explained, noisily assisted by all the other B. C. A.’s, including Madeline, who “explained” at length how forgiving she was by nature, advised Mary to adopt the proud peacock as her sacred bird, and finally demanded of Betty if she—Madeline—hadn’t been perfectly correct in saying that she—Betty—was perfectly capable of getting along all right, if only she was not hampered by one more bother,—the unasked advice and assistance of the B. C. A.’s.

“Of course you’re right, Madeline,” Betty assured her, stirring her tea absently and forgetting to eat any of her muffin. “I detest people who can’t get along alone. It’s silly to try to do a lot more than you can, and then expect somebody to come along and take it off your hands. I hope I’m not that kind.” Betty dropped her spoon with a clatter, and,

sitting up very straight, faced the table with a tragic look in her eyes and a desperate, determined set to her soft red lips.

“Girls,” she began, with a sudden change of tone that matched her changed expression, “can you remember solid geometry? I can’t. I never did know anything about Latin prose, so there’s no reason why I should now. But not knowing the geometry worries me. I think it’s getting on my nerves. And then,” she went on, as the little circle only stared at her in curious silence, “Marie’s lit. notes are just a mess. Mine were too, and anyhow I’ve lost my note-book. Is yours here, Helen? Could I take it, and Christy’s? I’m sure I could manage if I had a decent note-book or two.”

“Speaking of clear and lucid explanations——” began Madeline slowly. Then she reached across the table to hug Betty comfortingly.

“You shall have all the decent note-books in 19—, if you want them, you poor thing. And I’m truly sorry that mine isn’t one of them. As for solid geometry, I’ll wager that not a person in this crowd could demonstrate—is that the right word for it?—a single proposition. And as for Latin prose, it’s a gift from the gods. You can’t learn it. Even Professor Owen, who is a genius, can’t teach it. So stop worrying here and now, and eat that muffin before somebody is tempted beyond what she can bear, and a theft is committed in our midst.”

“Is all this trouble caused by Montana Marie O’Toole?” inquired Christy practically.

Betty nodded, being too busy with the muffin to speak.

“Then,” Mary announced with decision, “what she needs is three regular graduate tutors, who specialize in lit., math., and Latin prose, and who will come to her rescue at any hour or hours of the day or night, at about one-fifty per.”

Betty swallowed a mouthful hastily, to say, “They wouldn’t help her any, Mary. They’d give up in despair after about one lesson. She’s not stupid exactly, but she’s poorly prepared, and her mind is—well, queer. Besides, I promised President Wallace. I agreed to ‘undertake’ her, as Mrs. O’Toole calls it, before he agreed to let her enter with so many conditions. She’s going to be positively broken-

hearted if she fails at mid-years, and I think”—Betty hesitated—“I don’t think President Wallace will ever have any use for me again if she does. And I am busy with other things, and I never did know Latin prose, and—I’m about in despair.” Betty paused abruptly and attacked the remains of the muffin as if the eating of it would work a magic cure of all her woes.

“Betty,” asked Rachel after a minute, “does this freshman try? Does she want to get through enough to work for it?”

“She doesn’t know how to really work, Rachel, but she tries as hard as she can. She is awfully sweet and awfully sorry about making extra trouble. And of course you all understand,” Betty blushed a little, “that I’m being paid—altogether too much, I thought when they offered it—for looking after her.” Betty laughed suddenly. “Did you hear about her Mountain Day exploit? I had to speak to her about that, of course, to tell her that she mustn’t wear a magenta handkerchief, and shout so loud on the public highway, and otherwise make herself too conspicuous. And instead of being huffy, she thanked me and sent me violets. Oh, she’s a dear! She’s worth a lot of trouble, only I’m not bright enough to tutor her, and the regular ones would be sure to get provoked or discouraged at her queer ways, and just consider her hopeless, and let her drift along, and finally be flunked out at mid-years.”

“She ought to be flunked out, oughtn’t she?” inquired Helen Adams acutely. “I mean, she probably can’t ever keep her work up to the required standard without a lot of help.”

Betty admitted sadly that she never could. “But she needs the life here, Helen, almost more than any girl who ever came to Harding. And if I can help her to have a year or two of it, I shall,—as long as she keeps on trying to do her part.”

“Oh, yes, of course,” agreed Helen uncertainly.

“Is she in your freshman division, Helen?” demanded Mary Brooks, after a whispered conference with Babbie. “I judged not. Very well then. You are hereby elected to coach her in lit. No rule against a faculty’s doing a little friendly tutoring, is there? My husband hasn’t