{"product_id":"2940013106390","title":"MARJORIE DEAN, HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMAN","description":"CHAPTER I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE PARTING OF THE WAYS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"What am I going to do without you, Marjorie?\" Mary Raymond's blue eyes\u003cbr\u003elooked suspiciously misty as she solemnly regarded her chum.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"What am I going to do without _you_, you mean,\" corrected Marjorie\u003cbr\u003eDean, with a wistful smile. \"Please, please don't let's talk of it. I\u003cbr\u003esimply can't bear it.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"One, two--only two more weeks now,\" sighed Mary. \"You'll surely write\u003cbr\u003eto me, Marjorie?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Of course, silly girl,\" returned Marjorie, patting her friend's arm\u003cbr\u003eaffectionately. \"I'll write at least once a week.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMarjorie Dean's merry face looked unusually sober as she walked down the\u003cbr\u003ecorridor beside Mary and into the locker room of the Franklin High\u003cbr\u003eSchool. The two friends put on their wraps almost in silence. The\u003cbr\u003emajority of the girl students of the big city high school had passed out\u003cbr\u003esome little time before. Marjorie had lingered for a last talk with Miss\u003cbr\u003eFielding, who taught English and was the idol of the school, while Mary\u003cbr\u003ehad hung about outside the classroom to wait for her chum. It seemed to\u003cbr\u003eMary that the greatest sorrow of her sixteen years had come. Marjorie,\u003cbr\u003eher sworn ally and confidante, was going away for good and all.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen, six years before, a brown-eyed little girl of nine, with long\u003cbr\u003egolden-brown curls, had moved into the house next door to the Raymonds,\u003cbr\u003eMary had lost no time in making her acquaintance. They had begun with\u003cbr\u003eshy little nods and smiles, which soon developed into doorstep\u003cbr\u003econfidences. Within two weeks Mary, whose eyes were very blue, and whose\u003cbr\u003eshort yellow curls reminded one of the golden petals of a daffodil, had\u003cbr\u003ebecome Marjorie's adorer and slave. She it was who had escorted Marjorie\u003cbr\u003eto the Lincoln Grammar School and seen her triumphantly through her\u003cbr\u003efirst week there. She had thrilled with unselfish pride to see how\u003cbr\u003equickly the other little girls of the school had succumbed to Marjorie's\u003cbr\u003echarm. She had felt a most delightful sense of pardonable vanity when,\u003cbr\u003eas the year progressed, Marjorie had preferred her above all the others.\u003cbr\u003eShe had clung to Mary, even though Alice Lawton, who rode to school\u003cbr\u003eevery day in a shining limousine, had tried her utmost to be best\u003cbr\u003efriends with the brown-eyed little girl whose pretty face and lovable\u003cbr\u003epersonality had soon made her the pet of the school.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYear after year Mary and Marjorie had lived side by side and kept their\u003cbr\u003echildish faith. But now, here they were, just beginning their freshman\u003cbr\u003eyear in Franklin High School, to which they had so long looked forward,\u003cbr\u003eand about to be separated; for Marjorie's father had been made manager\u003cbr\u003eof the northern branch of his employer's business and Marjorie was going\u003cbr\u003eto live in the little city of Sanford. Instead of being a freshman in\u003cbr\u003edear old Franklin, she was to enter the freshman class in Sanford High\u003cbr\u003eSchool, where she didn't know a solitary girl, and where she was sure\u003cbr\u003eshe would be too unhappy for words.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDuring the first days which had followed the dismaying news that\u003cbr\u003eMarjorie Dean was going to leave Franklin High School and go hundreds of\u003cbr\u003emiles away, the two friends had talked of little else. There was so much\u003cbr\u003eto be said, yet now that their parting was but two weeks off they felt\u003cbr\u003ethe weight of the coming separation bearing heavily upon them. Both\u003cbr\u003eyoung faces wore expressions of deepest gloom as they walked slowly down\u003cbr\u003ethe steps of the school building and traversed the short space of stone\u003cbr\u003ewalk that led to the street.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was Marjorie who broke the silence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"No other girl can ever be as dear to me as you are. You know that,\u003cbr\u003edon't you, Mary?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMary nodded mutely. Her blue eyes had filled with a sudden rush of hot\u003cbr\u003etears.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"But it won't do any good,\" continued Marjorie, slowly, \"for us to mourn\u003cbr\u003eover being separated. We know how we feel about each other, and that's\u003cbr\u003egoing to be a whole lot of comfort to us after--I'm gone.\" Her girlish\u003cbr\u003etreble faltered slightly. Then she threw her arm across Mary's shoulder\u003cbr\u003eand said with forced steadiness of tone: \"I'm not going to be a silly\u003cbr\u003eand cry. This is one of those 'vicissitudes' of life that Professor\u003cbr\u003eTaylor was talking about in chapel yesterday. We must be very brave.\u003cbr\u003eWe'll write lots of letters and visit each other during vacation, and\u003cbr\u003eperhaps, some day I'll come back here to live.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Of course you will. You must come back,\" nodded Mary, her face\u003cbr\u003ebrightening at the prospect of a future reunion, even though remote.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Can't you come with me to dinner?\" coaxed Marjorie, as they paused at\u003cbr\u003ethe corner where they were accustomed to wait for their respective\u003cbr\u003estreet cars. \"You know, you are one of mother's exceptions. I never have\u003cbr\u003eto give notice before bringing you home.\"","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47147499028720,"sku":"2940013106390","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013106390_p0.jpg?v=1763576869","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013106390","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}