Page:Cornelia Meigs--The Pool of Stars.djvu/19

 there was a rumble of thunder, followed by the sharp spatter of rain on the little new leaves above her head. The low-hanging branches sheltered her like a roof so that she had only to sit there with her hands clasped about her knee, waiting for the shower to pass and for her puzzled thoughts to set themselves in order. She was wishing greatly for her father's advice, but that it would be impossible to get in time. Anna, good-natured and interested as she was, could offer little more than, "Sure it would be grand to go to college and learn so much," or, if the talk happened to turn in another direction, "Sure it would be grand to go to California and see all the pretty flowers," so that her opinions were of no very great help.

Elizabeth could see below her, as she sat there, rolling stretches of field and meadow and patches of woodland turning from brown to fresh spring green. Almost too far away to be visible on this day of fitful lights and shadows, were the crowded roofs and spires of a distant town and, to the east of them, the high, gray towers of that very college about which her dreams and ambitions had clustered so long.

"But it will be so lonely here!" she cried almost aloud, all her thoughts rising to sudden protest. She had friends of her own age at school, plenty of them, but what older person was there to whom she could