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diff --git a/17811-8.txt b/17811-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e113c1 --- /dev/null +++ b/17811-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7189 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Grace Harlowe's Junior Year at High School, by +Jessie Graham Flower + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Grace Harlowe's Junior Year at High School + Or, Fast Friends in the Sororities + +Author: Jessie Graham Flower + +Release Date: February 20, 2006 [EBook #17811] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRACE HARLOWE'S JUNIOR YEAR *** + + + + +Produced by Sigal Alon, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + +Grace Harlowe's Junior Year +at High School + +OR + +Fast Friends in the Sororities + +By +JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A.M. + + Author of Grace Harlowe's Plebe Year at High School, Grace Harlowe's + Sophomore Year at High School, Grace Harlowe's Senior + Year at High School, etc. + + Illustrated + + PHILADELPHIA + HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY + + COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY HOWARD E. ALTEMUS + +[Illustration: Grace Snatched Off the White Mask. + _Frontispiece--High School Girls No. 3._] + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I. A NEW ARRIVAL 7 + + II. CONFIDENCES 20 + + III. AN AUTUMN WALKING EXPEDITION 30 + + IV. GRACE MAKES A DISCOVERY 42 + + V. THE PHI SIGMA TAU 53 + + VI. A VISIT TO ELEANOR 68 + + VII. THE CLAIM OF THE "ARTISTIC TEMPERAMENT" 78 + + VIII. ELEANOR THROWS DOWN THE GAUNTLET 85 + + IX. THE RESCUE PARTY 96 + + X. JULIA PERFORMS A SACRED DUTY 106 + + XI. WORRIES AND PLANS 121 + + XII. A RECKLESS CHAUFFEUR 129 + + XIII. A THANKSGIVING FROLIC 137 + + XIV. ELEANOR FINDS A WAY 145 + + XV. A WOULD-BE "LARK" 150 + + XVI. THE JUNIORS FOREVER 163 + + XVII. THE LAST STRAW 173 + +XVIII. THE PLAY'S THE THING 182 + + XIX. THE TRY OUT 191 + + XX. THE ANONYMOUS LETTER 199 + + XXI. BREAKERS AHEAD 208 + + XXII. AS YOU LIKE IT 215 + +XXIII. THE JUNIOR PICNIC 235 + + XXIV. CONCLUSION 252 + + + + +Grace Harlowe's Junior Year at High School + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A NEW ARRIVAL + + +"Next to home, there is really nothing quite so satisfying as our +dear old High School!" exclaimed Grace Harlowe, as she entered the +locker-room and beamed on her three friends who stood near by. + +"It does seem good to be back, even though we have had such a perfectly +glorious summer," said Jessica Bright. "We are a notch higher, too. +We're actually juniors. This locker-room is now our property, although +I don't like it as well as the one we had last year." + +"We'll get accustomed to it, and it will seem like home inside of two +weeks," said Anne Pierson philosophically. "Everything is bound to +change in this world, you know. 'We must put ourselves in harmony with +the things among which our lot is cast.'" + +"Well, Marcus Aurelius, we'll try to accept your teaching," laughed +Grace, who immediately recognized the quotation as coming from a tiny +"Marcus Aurelius Year Book" that Anne kept in her desk and frequently +perused. + +"I wonder what school will bring us this year?" mused Nora O'Malley, as +she retied her bow for the fifth time before the mirror and critically +surveyed the final effect. "We had a stormy enough time last year, +goodness knows. Really, girls, it is hard to believe that Miriam Nesbit +and Julia Crosby were at one time the banes of our existence. They come +next to you three girls with me, now." + +"I think that we all feel the same about them," replied Grace. "Miriam +is a perfect dear now, and is just as enthusiastic over class matters as +we are." + +"It looks as though everything were going to be plain sailing this +year," said Jessica. "There isn't a disturbing element in the class that +I know of. Still, one can never tell." + +"Oh, here come Eva Allen and Marian Barber," called Grace delightedly, +and rushed over to the newcomers with outstretched hands. + +By this time girls began to arrive rapidly, and soon the locker-room +hummed with the sound of fresh, young voices. Coats of tan were compared +and newly acquired freckles deplored, as the girls stood about in +groups, talking of the delights of the summer vacation just ended. + +To the readers of "GRACE HARLOWE'S PLEBE YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL," and +"GRACE HARLOWE'S SOPHOMORE YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL," the girl chums have +become familiar figures. It will be remembered how Grace Harlowe and her +friends, Nora O'Malley and Jessica Bright, during their freshman year, +became the firm friends of Anne Pierson, the brilliant young girl who won +the freshman prize offered each year to the freshmen by Mrs. Gray. The +reader will recall the repeated efforts of Miriam Nesbit, aided by Miss +Leece, the algebra teacher, to disgrace Anne in the eyes of the faculty, +and the way each attempt was frustrated by Grace Harlowe and her +friends. Mrs. Gray's house party, the winter picnic in Upton Wood, and +Anne Pierson's struggles to escape her unworthy father all contributed +toward making the story stand out in the reader's mind. + +In "GRACE HARLOWE'S SOPHOMORE YEAR," the girl chums were found leading +their class in athletics. Here, Miriam Nesbit, still unsubdued, endeavored +once more to humiliate Anne Pierson, and to oust Grace from her position +as captain of the basketball team, being aided in her plan by Julia +Crosby, captain of the junior team, against whom the sophomores had +engaged to play a series of three games. Grace's brave rescue of Julia +Crosby during a skating party and the latter's subsequent repentance +restored good feeling between the two classes, and the book ended with +the final conversion of Miriam after her long and stubbornly nursed +enmity. + +David Nesbit's trial flight in his aëroplane, Grace's encounter with the +escaped lunatic, who imagined himself to be Napoleon Bonaparte, were +among the features which made the book absorbing from start to finish. + +The clang of the first bell broke in upon the chattering groups, and +obedient to its summons, the girls moved slowly out of the locker-room +and down the corridor, talking in subdued tones as they strolled toward +the study hall. + +Miss Thompson stood at her desk, serene and smiling, as the girls filed +in. + +"How well Miss Thompson looks," whispered Grace to Anne as they neared +their seats. "Let's go up and see her when this session is over. It's +sure to be short this morning." + +It was customary on the opening of school for the members of the various +classes to take their seats of the previous year. Then the sections were +rearranged, the seniors taking the seats left by the graduates, and the +other classes moving up accordingly. The first day of school amounted to +really nothing further than being assigned to one's seat and getting +used to the idea of school again. Miss Thompson usually addressed the +girls on the duty of High School students, and the girls went forth full +of new resolutions that last for at least a week. + +Grace looked curiously about her. She wondered if there were to be many +new girls that year. The present freshmen, direct from the Grammar +Schools, sat on the front seats looking a trifle awed at the idea of +being academic pupils, and feeling very strange and uncomfortable under +the scrutiny of so many pairs of eyes. + +Her glance wandered toward the new sophomore class, as though in search +of some one, her eyes brightening as she caught sight of the brown-eyed +girl who had won the freshman prize the previous June. The latter looked +as helpless and friendless as when Grace first saw her step up on the +platform to receive her money. "I shall certainly find out more about +that child," she decided. "What is her name? I heard it at commencement, +but I have forgotten it." + +Taking a leaf from a little note-book that she always carried, Grace +wrote: "Do you see the freshman-prize girl over among the sophomores? +What is her name? I can't remember." Then, folding the paper, she tossed +it to Anne, who nodded; then wrote, "Mabel Allison," and handed it to +the girl sitting opposite her, who obligingly passed it over to Grace. + +With a nod of thanks to Anne, Grace glanced at the paper and then at the +owner of the name, who sat with her hands meekly folded on her desk, +listening to Miss Thompson as though her life depended upon hearing +every word that the principal uttered. + +"I want all my girls to try particularly this year to reach a higher +standard than ever before," Miss Thompson concluded, "not only in your +studies, but in your attitude toward one another. Be straightforward +and honorable in all your dealings, girls; so that when the day comes +for you to receive your diplomas and bid Oakdale High School farewell, +you can do so with the proud consciousness that you have been to your +schoolmates just what you would have wished them to be to you. I know of +no better preparation for a happy life than constant observation of the +golden rule. + +"And now I hope I shall have no occasion to deliver another lecture +during the school year," said the principal, smiling. "There can be no +formation of classes to-day, as the bulletins of the various subjects +have just been posted, and will undoubtedly undergo some changes. It +would be advisable, however, to arrange as speedily as possible about +the subjects you intend to take, as we wish to begin recitations by +Friday at the latest, and I dare say the changes made in the schedule +will be slight." + +Then the work of assigning each class to its particular section of the +study hall began. The seniors moved with evident pride into the places +reserved for the first class, while the freshmen looked visibly relieved +at having any place at all to call their own. Immediately after this the +classes were dismissed, and a general rush was made to the end of the +great room, where the bulletins were posted. + +Grace, Nora, Anne and Jessica wished to recite in the same classes as +far as could be arranged, and a lively confab ensued as to what would +be best to take. They all decided on solid geometry and English reading, +as they could be together for these classes, but the rest was not so +easy, for Nora, who loathed history, was obliged to take ancient history +to complete her history group, the other girls having wisely completed +theirs the previous year. Jessica wanted to take physical geography, +Anne rhetoric, and Grace boldly announced a hankering for zoölogy. + +"How horrible," shuddered Jessica. "How can you bear to think of cutting +up live cats and dogs and angleworms and things." + +"Oh, you silly," laughed Grace. "You're thinking of vivisection. I wouldn't +cut up anything alive for all the world. The girls did dissect crabs and +lobsters, and even rabbits, last year, but they were dead long before +they ever reached the zoölogy class." + +"Oh," said Jessica, somewhat reassured, "I'm glad to hear that, at any +rate." + +"That makes three subjects," said Nora. "Now we want one more. Are any +of you going to be over ambitious and take five?" + +"Not I," responded Grace and Jessica in chorus. + +"I shall," said Anne quietly. "I'm going to learn just as much as I can +while I have the chance." + +"Well," said Jessica, "you're different. Five studies aren't any harder +for you than four for us." + +"Thank the lady prettily for her high opinion of your ability, Anne," +said Grace, laughing. "She really seems to be sincere." + +"She's too sincere for comfort," murmured Anne, who hated compliments. + +"We haven't settled on that fourth subject yet," interposed Nora. + +"Why don't you all take French, it is such a beautiful language," said +a soft voice behind them. "I'm sure you'd like it." + +The four girls turned simultaneously at the sound of the strange, soft +voice, to face a girl whose beauty was almost startling. She was a +trifle taller than Grace and beautifully straight and slender. Her hair +was jet black and lay on her forehead in little silky rings, while she +had the bluest eyes the girls had ever seen. Her features were small and +regular, and her skin as creamy as the petal of a magnolia. She stood +regarding the astonished girls with a fascinating little smile that was +irresistible. + +"Please excuse me for breaking in upon you, but I saw you from afar, and +you looked awfully good to me." Her clear enunciation made the slang +phrase sound like the purest English. "I have just been with your +principal in her office. She told me to come here and look over the list +of subjects. Do you think me unpardonably rude?" She looked appealingly +at the four chums. + +"Why, of course not," said Grace promptly, recovering in a measure from +her first surprise. "I suppose you are going to enter our school, are +you not? Let me introduce you to my friends." She named her three chums +in turn, who bowed cordially to the attractive stranger. + +"My name is Grace Harlowe. Will you tell me yours?" + +"My name is Eleanor Savell," replied the new-comer, "and I have just +come to Oakdale with my aunt. We have leased a quaint old house in the +suburbs called 'Heartsease.' My aunt fell quite in love with it, so +perhaps we shall stay awhile. We travel most of the time, and I get very +tired of it," she concluded with a little pout. + +"'Heartsease'?" cried the girls in chorus. "Do you live at 'Heartsease'?" + +"Yes," said the stranger curiously. "Is there anything peculiar about +it?" + +"Oh, no," Grace hastened to reply. "The reason we are interested is +because we know the owner of the property, Mrs. Gray, very well." + +"Oh, do you know her?" replied Eleanor lightly. "Isn't she a dainty, +little, old creature? She looks like a Dresden shepherdess grown old. +For an elderly woman, she really is interesting." + +"We call her our fairy godmother," said Anne, "and love her so dearly +that we never think of her as being old." There had been something about +the careless words that jarred upon Anne. + +"Oh, I am sure she is all that is delightful," responded Miss Savell, +quickly divining that Anne was not pleased at her remark. "I hope to +know her better." + +"You are lucky to get 'Heartsease,'" said Grace. "Mrs. Gray has refused +over and over again to rent it. It belonged to her favorite brother, who +willed it to her when he died. She has always kept it in repair. Even +the furniture has not been changed. I have been there with her, and +I love every bit of it. I am glad to know that it has a tenant at last." + +"Mrs. Gray knew my aunt years ago. They have kept up a correspondence +for ever so long. It was due to her that we came here," said Eleanor. + +"Is your aunt Miss Margaret Nevin?" asked Anne quietly. + +"Why, how did you know her name?" cried Eleanor, apparently mystified. +"'This is getting curiouser and curiouser.'" + +The four girls laughed merrily. + +"Anne is Mrs. Gray's private secretary," explained Jessica. "She tends +to all her correspondence. I suppose you have written more than one +letter to Miss Savell's aunt, haven't you, Anne!" + +"Yes, indeed," replied Anne. "Her name is very familiar to me." + +"What class are you girls in?" said Eleanor, abruptly changing the +subject. "Or aren't you all in the same class?" + +"We are all juniors," laughed Nora, "and proud of it. Our green and +callow days are over, and we have entered into the realm of the upper +classes." + +"Then I shall enter the junior class, too, for I choose to hob-nob with +you girls. Don't say you don't want me, for I have made up my mind; and +it is like the laws of the Medes and Persians, unchangeable." + +"We shall be glad to welcome a new classmate, of course," responded +Grace. "I hope you will soon be one of us. Did Miss Thompson say that +you would have to take examinations?" + +"She did, she did," answered Eleanor ruefully. "Still I'm not much +afraid. I've studied with a tutor, so I'm pretty well up in mathematics +and English. I can speak French, German, Italian and Spanish almost as +well as English. You know I've lived most of my life abroad. I'll manage +to pass somehow." + +"I should think you would," exclaimed Anne admiringly. "I hope you pass, +I'm sure. Perhaps you'll be too far advanced for our class." + +"Never fear, my dear," said Eleanor. "My heart is with the juniors, and +leave it to me not to land in any other class. But, really, I've bothered +you long enough. I must go back to your principal and announce myself +ready to meet my fate. I hope to know you better when examinations have +ceased to be a burden and the weary are at rest. That is, if I survive." + +With a gay little nod, and a dazzling smile that revealed almost perfect +teeth, she walked quickly down the long room and out the door, leaving +the girl chums staring after her. + +"What an extraordinary girl!" said Jessica. "She acts as though she'd +known us all her life, and we never set eyes on her until she marched in +and calmly interrupted us ten minutes ago." + +"It doesn't seem to make much difference whether or not we like her. She +has decided she likes us, and that settles it," said Grace, smiling. +"What do you think of her, Anne? You are a pretty good judge of +character." + +"I don't know yet," replied Anne slowly. "She seems charming. She must +be awfully clever, too, to know so many languages, but----" + +"But what?" queried Nora. + +"Oh, I don't know just what I want to say, only let's proceed slowly +with her, then we'll never have anything to regret." + +"Come on, girls," said Jessica impatiently. "Let's hurry. You know we +promised to meet the boys as soon as school was over." + +The girl chums walked out of the study hall, each with her mind so full +of the new girl, who had so suddenly appeared in their midst, that the +proposed call upon Miss Thompson was entirely forgotten. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +CONFIDENCES + + +"I am the bearer of an invitation," announced Anne Pierson as the four +girls collected in one corner of the locker-room during the brief recess +allowed each morning. + +"Mrs. Gray wishes to see us all at four o'clock this afternoon. We are +to dine with her and spend the evening, and the boys are invited for the +evening, too. So we will have just time enough after school to go home +and dress." + +"You had better meet at my house, then," said Grace, "for it's on the +way to Mrs. Gray's. Good-bye. Be sure and be there at a quarter of four +at the latest." + +Promptly at the appointed time the girls hurried up the Harlowe walk. +They were met at the door by Grace, who had been standing at the window +for the last ten minutes with hat and gloves on, impatiently waiting +their arrival. + +As they neared Mrs. Gray's beautiful home, Anne said in a low tone to +Grace, who was walking with her, "I suppose Mrs. Gray has a double +motive in asking us up here to-day. I believe she wants to talk to us +about Eleanor Savell. Miss Nevin called on Mrs. Gray yesterday and they +were in the parlor together for a long time. After Miss Nevin had gone, +Mrs. Gray told me that Miss Nevin was anxious that Eleanor should +associate with girls of her own age. That is the reason she brought her +to Oakdale." + +"Hurry up, you two," called Nora, who had reached the steps. "How you do +lag to-day." + +"You will hear more of this later," whispered Anne. + +Mrs. Gray stood in the wide hall with hands outstretched in welcome. She +kissed each girl affectionately, but her eyes lingered upon Anne, who +was plainly her favorite. The old lady had become so accustomed to the +sympathetic presence of the quiet, young girl that it seemed, at times, +as though her own daughter had come back to her once more. + +"Come right into the library and make yourself comfy," cried Mrs. Gray +cheerily. "I spend most of my time there. The view from the windows is +so beautiful, and as one grows old, one resorts more and more to book +friendships." + +"What shall we do with you, Mrs. Gray, if you keep on insisting that you +are old?" said Grace. "You're not a day older at heart than any of the +rest of us. Here, sit down in this nice, easy chair, while we take turns +telling you just how young you are." + +"It is due to my adopted children that I am not a cross, crotchety, +complaining old woman," said Mrs. Gray, allowing Grace to seat her in +the big leather-covered arm chair. + +"Now, what does your Majesty crave of her loyal subjects?" inquired +Grace, bowing low before the little, old lady. + +"Very well, if I am queen, then I must be obeyed. Draw up your chairs +and sit in a circle. I want to tell you a little story. That is partly +my reason for inviting you here this afternoon, although you know you +are welcome whenever you choose to come." + +"Is it a fairy story, dear Mrs. Gray, and does it begin with 'Once upon +a time'?" queried Jessica. + +"It is a story of real life, my child, but I'll begin it like a fairy +tale if you wish it." + +"Oh, please begin at once," said Grace, who, at eighteen, was as fond of +a story as she had been at six. + +"Well, 'once upon a time,' there were two sisters. They were really only +half sisters, and the one was almost twenty years older than the other. +The mother of the elder sister had died when she was about fifteen years +of age, and two years later the father had married a beautiful young +Irish girl of very good family, who loved him dearly in spite of the +difference in their ages. + +"After they had been married a little over two years, a little girl came +to them, and the older sister loved the tiny baby as dearly as she loved +her beautiful, young step-mother." + +"Why, that sounds very much like Grimm's fairy tales!" exclaimed Nora. +"Only the book people are all kings and queens, but this is even better +because the heroine is actually Irish." + +There was a general laugh over Nora's remark in which Mrs. Gray joined. + +"It's a case of Ireland forever, isn't it Nora?" said Grace teasingly. + +"'Fine and dandy are the Irish,'" said Nora with a grin, quoting from a +popular song she had heard in a recent musical comedy. "But stop teasing +me, and let Mrs. Gray go on with her story." + +"When the baby sister, whose name was Edith, was about three years old, +the beautiful young mother died and left the husband inconsolable. A +year later he was killed in a railroad accident, and the elder sister, +named Margaret, was left with only little Edith to comfort her. The +father had been a rich man, so they had no anxiety about money, and +lived on year after year in their beautiful old home, with everything +heart could wish. + +"As Edith grew older, she developed a decided talent for music, and +when she was fifteen Margaret decided to take her abroad and allow her +to enter one of the great conservatories of Europe. They went to +Leipsic, and Edith, who had high hopes of one day becoming a concert +pianiste, continued her studies under the best instructors that money +could procure. Things ran along smoothly until Edith met a young Italian +named Guido Savelli, who was studying the violin at the same +conservatory. His brilliant playing had already created a sensation +wherever he appeared, and he gave promise of being a virtuoso. + +"He fell violently in love with Edith, who had her mother's beautiful blue +eyes and the combination of white skin and black hair that go to make an +Irish beauty. She returned his love, and after a brief engagement they +were married, much against the wishes of Margaret, who thought them both +too young and impressionable to know their own minds." + +"And did they live happy ever after?" asked Grace eagerly. + +"That is the sad part of my story," said Mrs. Gray, sighing. "They were +anything but happy. They both had too much of the artistic temperament +to live peaceably. Besides, Guido Savelli was thoroughly selfish at +heart. Next to himself, his music was the only thing in the world that +he really cared for. When they had been married for about a year and a +half he played before the king, and soon became the man of the hour. He +neglected his beautiful young wife, who, in spite of their frequent +quarrels, loved him with a pure and disinterested affection. + +"Finally he went on a concert tour through the principal European +cities, and she never saw him again. She wrote him repeatedly, but he +never answered her letters, and she was too proud to follow him. She had +one child, a baby girl, named Eleanor, who was the sole comfort of the +heartbroken mother." + +At this juncture Anne and Grace exchanged significant glances. + +"When Eleanor was about a year old, the mother wrote Guido Savelli once +more, begging him to come to her, if only for the sake of his child, but +either he never received the letter or else paid no attention to it, for +she received no reply. She relapsed into a dull, apathetic state, from +which the repeated efforts of her sister failed to arouse her. The +following winter she contracted pneumonia and died, leaving her sister +the sole guardian of Eleanor." + +"How long ago did all this happen, dear Mrs. Gray?" queried Nora +eagerly, "and is little Eleanor living?" + +"It was sixteen years ago, my dear," replied Mrs. Gray, "and the reason +that I have told you this long tale is because the baby girl is almost a +woman now, and----" + +"The girl is Eleanor Savell and we met her the other day," broke in +Grace excitedly, forgetting for an instant that she had interrupted Mrs. +Gray. "She is going to live at 'Heartsease' and---- oh, Mrs. Gray, +please pardon me for interrupting you, I was so excited that I didn't +realize my own rudeness." + +"Granted, my dear," smiled the old lady. "But how did you happen to meet +Eleanor? They arrived only a few days ago." + +Grace rapidly narrated their meeting and conversation with Eleanor, +while Mrs. Gray listened without comment. When Grace repeated Eleanor's +remark about having made up her mind, the old lady looked a little +troubled. Then her face cleared and she said softly: + +"My dear Christmas children, I am very anxious that for her own sake you +should become well acquainted with Eleanor. Her aunt was here yesterday, +and we had a long talk regarding her. Eleanor is an uncommon girl in +many respects. She has remarkable beauty and talent, but she is +frightfully self-willed. Her aunt has spoiled her, and realizes too +late the damage she has done by having allowed her to grow up on the +continent. They have lived in France, Germany, Italy and Spain, with an +occasional visit to America, and Eleanor has always done just as she +pleased. For years her aunt has obeyed her slightest whim, but as she +grows older she grows more like her father, and her aunt wants her to +have some steadying influence that will put a curb on her unconventional +tendencies. + +"When she wrote me of Eleanor, I wrote her about my girls, and offered +her 'Heartsease.' She was delighted with the whole thing and lost no +time in getting here. So now you understand why I have told you all +this. I want you to promise me that you will do what you can for this +motherless girl." + +"But we felt sure we should like her when we saw her the other day," +said Nora. "She seemed so sweet and winning." + +"So she is. She has her father's winning personality, and a good deal of +his selfishness, too," replied Mrs. Gray. "You won't find her at all +disagreeable. But she is reckless, self-willed, defiant of public +opinion and exceedingly impulsive. I look to you girls to keep her out +of mischief." + +"Well, we'll try, but I never did pride myself on being a first-class +reformer," said Grace, laughing. + +"Where is her father now?" asked Anne. "Is it possible that he is the +great Savelli who toured America two years ago?" + +"He is the man," said Mrs. Gray. "He is a wonderful musician. I heard +him in New York City. I shall never forget the way he played one of +Liszt's 'Hungarian Rhapsodies.' I must caution you, girls, never to +mention Eleanor's father to her. She has been kept in absolute ignorance +of him. When she is twenty-one her aunt will tell her about him. If she +knew he was the great Savelli, she would rush off and join him +to-morrow, she is so impulsive. She has the music madness of both father +and mother. Her aunt tells me she is a remarkable performer on both +violin and piano." + +"But why shouldn't she go to her father if he is a great musician?" said +Jessica. "And why is she called Savell, if her name is Savelli?" + +"Because, my dear, her father has never evinced the slightest desire to +look up his own child. Even if he had, he is too irresponsible and too +temperamental to assume the care of a girl like Eleanor," Mrs. Gray +answered. "No, Eleanor is better off with her aunt. As to her name, her +aunt hates everything Italian, so she dropped the 'I' and made the name +Savell." + +"My," said Nora with a sigh. "She is almost as remarkable as a fairy +princess, after all." + +"Oh, I don't know," replied Grace quickly. "Her life, of course, has +been eventful, but I believe if we are to do her any good we shall just +have to act as though she were an everyday girl like the rest of us. If +we begin to bow down to her, we shall be obliged to keep it up. Besides, +I have an idea that I am as fond of having my own way as she is." + +"Dinner is served," announced John, the butler. + +The four girls arose and followed Mrs. Gray to the dining room. During +the dinner Eleanor was not again mentioned, although she occupied more +or less of the four girls' thoughts. + +Later on, David, Hippy and Reddy appeared and a merry frolic ensued. It +was after ten o'clock before the little party of young folks prepared to +take their departure. + +"Remember, I rely upon you," whispered Mrs. Gray to Grace as she kissed +her good night. Grace nodded sympathetically, but went home with an +uneasy feeling that playing the guardian angel to Eleanor would be +anything but a light task. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +AN AUTUMN WALKING EXPEDITION + + +"It is simply too lovely to go home to-day," exclaimed Grace Harlowe to +her three chums as they strolled down High School Street one sunny +afternoon in early October. "I move that we drop our books at my house +and go for a walk." + +"I'm willing to drop my books anywhere and never see them again," +grumbled Nora O'Malley, who was not fond of study. + +"I ought to go straight home," demurred Anne Pierson, "but I'll put +pleasure before duty and stay with the crowd." + +"What about you, Jessica?" asked Grace. + +"You couldn't drive me home," replied Jessica promptly. + +"Very well," laughed Grace, "as we are all of the same mind, let's shed +these books and be off." + +After a brief stop at Grace's home, the four girls started out, keenly +alive to the beauty of the day. The leaves on the trees were beginning +to lose their green and put on their dresses of red and gold. Though the +sun shone brightly, the air was cool and bracing, and filled one with +that vigor and joy of living which makes autumn the most delightful +season of the year. + +Once outside the gate, the chums unconsciously headed in the same +direction. + +"I believe we all have the same place in mind," laughed Grace. "I was +thinking about a walk to the old Omnibus House." + +"'Great minds run in the same channel,'" quoted Jessica. + +"I haven't been out there since the spread last year," said Anne. + +"I have," said Grace, with a slight shudder. "I am not likely to forget +it, either." + +"Well we are not apt to meet any more Napoleon Bonapartes out there," +said Nora, referring to Grace's encounter with an escaped lunatic, fully +narrated in "GRACE HARLOWE'S SOPHOMORE YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL." + +They were nearing their destination when Anne suddenly exclaimed: "Look, +girls. Some one is over at the old house. I just saw a man go around the +corner!" + +The girls looked quickly in the direction of the house. Just then a +figure appeared, stared at the approaching girls and began waving his +hat wildly, at the same time doing a sort of war dance. + +"It's another lunatic," screamed Jessica. "Run, girls, run!" + +"Run nothing," exclaimed Nora. "Don't you know Reddy Brooks when you see +him? Just wait until I get near enough to tell him that you mistook him +for a lunatic. Hurrah! David and Hippy are with him." + +"Well, well, well!" exclaimed Hippy as the girls approached. "Here is +Mrs. Harlowe's little girl and some of her juvenile friends. I'm very +glad to see so many Oakdale children out to-day." + +"How dare you take possession of the very spot we had our eye on?" asked +Grace, as she shook hands with David. + +"I came over to try my bird before I have it sent home for the winter," +replied David. "I was just locking up." + +"And the exhibition is all over," cried Grace in a disappointed tone. +"I'm so sorry. You see, I still have a hankering for aëroplanes." + +"There wasn't any exhibition, after all," said David. "It wouldn't fly +worth a cent to-day. I shall have to give it a complete overhauling when +I get it back to my workshop. What are you girls doing out this way?" + +"Oh, we just came out to walk, because it was too nice to stay indoors," +said Anne. "And now we are particularly glad we came." + +"Not half as glad as I am," replied David, looking at her with a smile. + +"Speaking of walking," remarked Hippy, "I have decided to go in for a +little on my own account. Object, to become a light weight. Is there any +one who will encourage me in this laudable resolution, and beguile me +while I go 'galumphing' over the ground?" + +"Oh, I know something that would be perfectly fine!" exclaimed Nora, +hopping about in excitement. + +"Watch her," cried Hippy. "She is about to have a conniption. She always +has them when an idea hits her. I've known her for years and----" + +"Make him stop," appealed Nora to David and Reddy, "or I won't tell any +of you a single thing." + +"I'll desist, merely to please the Irish lady, not because I'm afraid of +you two long, slim persons," said Hippy, cleverly dodging both David and +Reddy. + +"Suppose we go on a walking expedition," said Nora. "We can start early +some Saturday morning, with enough lunch to last us all day, and walk to +the other side of Upton Wood and back. My sister would be glad to go +with us, so that will settle the matter of having an older person along. +We can have the whole day in the woods, and the walk will do us all +good. We won't have many more chances, either, for winter will be upon +us before we know it. It's a shame to waste such perfect days as these." + +"What a perfectly lovely stunt!" exclaimed Grace. "We'll write to Tom +Gray, and see if he can't come, too. The walking expedition wouldn't be +complete without him." + +"I'll write to him to-night," said David. "I certainly should like to +see the good old chap." + +"Will there be plenty to eat?" asked Hippy. "I always feel hungry after +such strenuous exercise as walking. I am not very strong, you know." + +"Hear him," jeered Reddy. "One minute he vows to walk until he reaches +the skeleton stage, and the next he threatens to kick over all his vows +by overeating." + +"I didn't say anything about overeating," retorted Hippy. "I merely +stated that there are times when I feel the pangs of hunger." + +"Stop squabbling," said Jessica, "and let's lay some plans." + +"Where shall we lay them?" innocently asked Hippy. + +"Nowhere, if you're not good," said Nora eyeing him severely. + +Then an animated discussion began, and the following Saturday was agreed +upon, the weather permitting, as the best time to go. + +Saturday turned out fair, and by nine o'clock the entire party were +monopolizing the Harlowe's veranda. + +"Well, are we all ready?" said Tom Gray, as he glanced at his watch. +"Everybody scramble. One, two, three, walk." + +Eight highly excited boys and girls accompanied by Miss Edith O'Malley, +hustled down the steps, waving good-bye to Mrs. Harlowe as she stood on +the veranda and watched them out of sight. + +The lunch had been divided into four packages and each boy strapped a +package to his shoulder. Grace wore a little knapsack fitted to her back +with two cross straps. "There's nothing in it but some walnut fudge that +I made last night, but I couldn't resist wearing it. It belonged to my +grandfather," she confided to the girls when they had exclaimed over it. + +"My, but it's great to be here," said Tom Gray to Grace as they entered +Upton Wood. "I'm so glad I could come." + +"So are we," she replied. "A lark in the woods wouldn't be half the fun +with our forester missing." + +"Back to nature for me, every time," he exclaimed, taking a deep breath +and looking about him, his face aglow with forest worship. + +"I love the woods, too," said Grace, "almost enough to wish I were a +gypsy." + +On down the shady wood road they traveled, sometimes stopping to watch a +squirrel or a chipmunk or to knock down a few burrs from the chestnut +trees they occasionally found along the way. Once they stopped and +played hide and seek for half an hour. By one o'clock they were +ravenously hungry. Hippy clamored incessantly for food. + +"Let us feed him at once, and have peace," exclaimed Nora. "I'm hungry, +too. It seems an age since breakfast." + +A halt was made and the contents of two of the lunch packages were +arranged on a little tablecloth at the foot of a great oak. The hungry +young folks gathered around it and in a short time nothing remained of +the lunch excepting the packages reserved for supper. + +"I move we all take a half hour's rest and then go on," said David. "We +still have a mile to go before we are through the wood. We'll feel more +like walking after we've rested a little." + +"Let us all sit in a row with our backs against this fallen tree and +tell a story," said Grace. "Hippy, you are on the end, so you can begin +it, then after you have gone a little way, Nora must take up the +narrative, and so on down the line until the story is finished." + +"Fine," said Hippy. "Here goes:" + +"Once upon a time, in the heart of a deep forest, there lived a most +beautiful prince. He had all that heart could wish; still he was not +happy, for, alas, he was too fat." + +At this statement there was a shout of laughter from his listeners, at +which Hippy, pretending anger, glared ferociously and vowed that he +would not continue. Nora thereupon took up the narrative and convulsed +her hearers with the remedies tried by the fat prince to reduce his +weight. Then the story was passed on to Anne. With each narrator it grew +funnier, until the party screamed with laughter over the misfortunes of +the ill-starred prince. + +Hippy ended the tale by marrying the hero to a princess who was a golf +fiend and who forced the poor prince to be her caddy. + +"From the day of his marriage he chased golf balls," concluded Hippy, +"and the habit became so firmly fixed with him that he even rose and +chased them in his sleep. He lost flesh at an alarming rate, and three +months after his wedding day they laid him to rest in the quiet +churchyard, with the touching epitaph over him, 'Things are not what +they seem.'" + +Hippy buried his face in his handkerchief and sobbed audibly until David +and Reddy pounced upon him and he was obliged to forego his lamentations +and defend himself. + +"It's time to move," said Tom Gray, consulting his watch. "I don't +believe we'd better go on through the wood. We'll have to about face if +we expect to get home before dark." + +So the start back was made, but their progress was slow. A dozen things +beguiled them from the path. Tom's trained eye spied a wasp's nest +hanging from a limb. It was as large as a Japanese lantern and a +beautiful silver-gray color. Anne stopped to pick some ground berries +she found nestling under the leaves. Then they all started in wild +pursuit of a rabbit, and in consequence had difficulty in finding the +road again. Finally they all grew so hungry they sat down and disposed +of the remaining food. + +"How dark it is growing," exclaimed Jessica, as they again took the +road. "It must be very late." + +"It's after four o'clock," replied David, "and there's a storm coming, +too. I think we had better hurry. I don't fancy being caught in the +woods in bad weather. Hustle, everybody." + +As they hurried along the path a blast of wind blew full in their faces. +The whole forest seemed suddenly astir. There were strange sounds from +every direction. The branches creaked and the dry leaves fell rattling +to the ground by hundreds. Another gust of wind filled their eyes and +nostrils with fine dust. + +"Don't be frightened," called Tom. "Follow me." + +He led the way with Reddy, but the storm was upon them before they had +gone ten steps. The wind almost blew them off their feet and black +darkness settled down over the woods. They could just see the outlines +of the trees as they staggered on, a blinding rain drenching them to the +skin. + +Tom divided the party into two sections, four in one and five in the +other. They were to hold each other's hands tightly and keep together. +Frequent flashes of lightning revealed the woods in a tremendous state +of agitation and it seemed better to be moving than to stand still and +watch the terrifying spectacle. + +On they stumbled, but suddenly came to grief, for the four in front fell +headlong over a tree that had been blown across the path, and the other +five hearing their cries of warning too late, followed after. + +By the time they had picked themselves up the storm had grown so furious +that they could only press miserably together and wait for it to pass. + +Suddenly Tom amazed them all by putting his hands to his mouth and +blowing a strange kind of hollow whistle that sounded like the note of a +trumpet. + +He repeated the whistle again and again. "You may not believe it," he +said between calls, "but the hunter who taught me this, told me never to +use it unless I was in dire need. Then help of some sort would surely +come. It is called the Elf's Horn." + +"Did you ever try it before," asked Reddy curiously. + +"No," he answered, "I never did. I suppose it's only superstition, but +I love hunter's lore. Perhaps it may work. Who knows?" + +"Hello-o-o!" cried a voice seemingly close by. "Hello-o-o!" + +"Where are you?" called Tom. + +"This way," answered the voice, and a light flashed a little distance +off, revealing to them a man waving a lantern with one hand and +beckoning with the other. One and all dashed toward the light, feeling +that shelter was at hand. + +"It must be a hunter," panted Tom, "and he has heard the Elf's Horn." + +It was a hunter, and none other than old Jean. Their blind wandering had +taken them straight to the hunter's cabin. + +"It is Mademoiselle Grace and her friends," cried the old man with +delight. "When the sky grow so dark, I take my lantern and go out to my +trap I have set this morning. Then I hear a strange whistle, many +times, and I think some one get lost and I cry 'hello,' and you answer +and I find mademoiselle and her friends." + +"That was the Elf's Horn, Jean," replied Tom, "and you heard because you +are a hunter." + +"I know not what monsieur mean by Elf Horn, but I hear whistle, anyhow, +and come," remarked the old man, smiling. + +The others laughed. + +"It's a shame to spoil it," replied David, "but I am afraid your Elf's +Horn and Jean's helloing were just a coincidence." + +"Coincidence or not," replied Tom good-naturedly, "my faith in the fairy +horn is now unshakable. I shall use it again if I ever need to." + +Before a blazing fire kindled by Jean in the big fireplace, the whole +party dried themselves. The old hunter listened to the story of their +mad scramble through the woods with many expressions of sympathy. + +It was eight o'clock when the storm had abated sufficiently to allow +them to sally forth, and in a short time they were in Oakdale. + +Fifteen minutes later they were telling Mr. and Mrs. Harlowe just how it +all happened. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +GRACE MAKES A DISCOVERY + + +The Monday after the walking expedition, Grace Harlowe set out for +school full of an idea that had been revolving in her busy brain for +weeks. The time had come for herself and for her three chums to bind +themselves together as a sorority. As charter members, they would +initiate four other girls, as soon as proper rites could be thought of. +It should be a Greek letter society. Grace thought "Phi Sigma Tau" would +sound well. Aside from the social part, their chief object would be to +keep a watchful eye open for girls in school who needed assistance of +any sort. + +Mrs. Gray's anxiety over Eleanor Savell had set the bee in Grace's +bonnet buzzing, and now her plans were practically perfected. All that +remained to be done was to tell her three friends, and consult them as +to what other four girls would be eligible to membership. + +Her proposition was hailed with acclamation by Anne, Nora and Jessica. +Miriam Nesbit, Marian Barber, Eva Allen and Eleanor Savell were chosen +as candidates and promptly notified to report at Jessica's home the next +Thursday evening for initiation. They at once accepted the invitation +and solemnly promised to be there. + +"'Where are you going, my pretty maid?'" said David Nesbit, stopping +directly in front of Grace Harlowe as she hurried toward the Bright home +the following Thursday evening. + +Grace laughed merrily, dropped a little curtsy and recited, "I'm going +to an initiation, sir, she said." + +"'And may I go with you, my pretty maid?'" replied David, bowing low. + +"No boys allowed there, sir, she said." + +"That settles it," sighed David. "I suppose a sorority is about to come +to the surface. Am I right, and will you take me along?" + +"Yes, we are going to initiate members into our new sorority, but you +can't come, so you might as well be resigned to fate," retorted Grace. +"We didn't receive invitations to your fraternity initiations." + +"Be kind to Anne, won't you. Tell her she has my sympathy," said David +solemnly. + +"Anne is a charter member, if you please," laughed Grace. "She is spared +the ordeals of initiation. But Miriam will not escape so easily. She is +one of the candidates." + +"Ah, ha!" exclaimed David. "That's what she was so mysterious over. +I tried to find out where she was going, but she wouldn't tell me. By +the way, where does the affair take place?" he added, trying to look +innocent. + +"Don't you wish you knew?" teased Grace. "However, you shan't find out +from me. I know too well what would happen if you boys traced us to our +lair. But I must go or I shall be late. Good night, David. Please be +good and don't follow me. Promise me you won't." + +"I never make rash promises," answered David, smiling. "Be merciful to +the candidates." Lifting his cap, the young man hurried off and turned +the corner without looking back. + +"I wonder what I had better do," Grace mused. "I know perfectly well +that David Nesbit won't go away. He will wait until he thinks I am far +enough up the street and then he'll follow me. As soon as he finds out +where I am going he'll rush back and hunt up Hippy Wingate and Reddy +Brooks. Goodness knows what the three of them will plan." + +She decided to turn down a side street, go back one block and into the +public library. She could easily leave the library by the side entrance +and cut across Putnam Square. That would mislead David, although no +doubt he would find them before the evening was over. + +Grace lost no time in putting her plan into action. As she hurried into +the library she looked back, but saw no sign of David. When she reached +Putnam Square she almost ran along the broad asphalt walk. It was +fifteen minutes past seven by the city hall clock, and she did not wish +to be late. The girls had agreed to be there by half past seven. She was +almost across the square when her ear caught the sound of a low sob. +Grace glanced quickly about. The square was practically deserted, but +under one of the great trees, curled up on a bench, was a girl. Without +an instant's hesitation Grace made for the bench. She touched the girl +on the shoulder and said, "You seem to be in distress. Can I do anything +to help you?" + +Then Grace gave a little surprised exclamation. The face turned toward +her was that of Mabel Allison, the freshman prize girl. The glare from +the neighboring light revealed her tear-swollen eyes and quivering lips. +She gave Grace one long, agonized look, then dropped her head on her arm +and sobbed harder than ever. + +"Why, Miss Allison, don't cry so," soothed Grace. "Tell me what your +trouble is. Perhaps I can be of some service to you. I've wanted to know +you ever since you won the freshman prize last June, and so has Anne +Pierson. She won the prize the year before, you know." + +The girl nodded, but she could not sufficiently control herself to +speak. + +Grace stood silently waiting until the other should find her voice. A +moment more and Mabel Allison began to speak in a plaintive little voice +that went straight to Grace's heart: + +"You are Grace Harlowe. I believe every girl in Oakdale High School +knows you. I have heard so much about you, but I never dreamed that +you'd ever speak to me." + +"Nonsense," replied Grace, laughing. "I'm just a girl like yourself. +There isn't anything remarkable about me. I'm very glad to know you, +Miss Allison, but I am sorry to find you so unhappy. Can't you tell me +about it?" she coaxed, sitting down on the bench and slipping one arm +around the shabby little figure. + +Mabel's lip quivered again. Then she turned impulsively toward Grace and +said: "Yes; I will tell you, although no one can help me. I suppose you +don't know where I live or anything about me, do you?" + +"No," replied Grace, shaking her head, "but I'd be glad to have you tell +me." + +"Well," continued Mabel, "I'm an orphan, and I live with Miss Brant. +She----" + +"Not that horrible, miserly Miss Brant who lives in that ugly yellow +house on Elm Street?" interrupted Grace in a horrified tone. + +"Yes, she is the one I mean," continued Mabel. "She took me from an +orphan asylum two years ago. I hated her the first time I ever saw her, +but the matron said I was old enough to work, that I'd have a good home +with her and that I should be paid for my work. She promised to send me +to school, and I was wild to get a good education, so I went with her. +But she is perfectly awful, and I wish I were dead." + +Her voice ended almost in a wail. + +"I don't blame you," said Grace sympathetically. "She has the reputation +of being one of the most hateful women in Oakdale. I am surprised that +she even allows you to go to school." + +"That's just the trouble," the girl replied, her voice husky. "She's +going to take me out of school. I shall be sixteen next month, and +exempt from the school law. So she is going to make me stop school and +go to work in the silk mill. I worked there all through vacation last +summer, and she took every cent of my wages. She took my freshman prize +money, too." + +"What a burning shame!" exclaimed Grace indignantly. "Haven't you any +relatives at all, Miss Allison, or any one else with whom you could +stay?" + +Mabel shook her head. + +"I don't know anything about myself," she said. "I was picked up on the +street in New York City when I was three years old, and as no one +claimed me, I was put in an orphanage. There was one woman at the +orphanage who was always good to me. She remembered the day they brought +me, and she said that I was beautifully dressed. She always believed +that I had been stolen. She said that I could tell my name, 'Mabel +Isabel Allison,' and that I would be three years old in November, but +that I couldn't tell where I lived. Whenever they asked me I cried and +said I didn't know. She wanted to save my clothes for me, thinking that +by them I might some day find my parents, but the matron took them away +from her, all but three little gold baby pins marked 'M.I.A.' She hid +them away from the matron. When she heard I was to go with Miss Brant, +she kissed me, and gave them to me. She was the only person that ever +cared for me." + +The tears stood in Grace's eyes. + +"You poor, little thing!" she cried. "I care for you, and I'm going to +see if I can do something for you. You shan't stop school if I can help +it. I can't stay with you any longer, just now, because I am going to +Miss Bright's and I am late. It is eight o'clock, you see." + +The girl gave a little cry of fright. + +"Oh, I didn't think it was so late. I know Miss Brant will be very +angry. She will probably beat me. I am still carrying the marks from the +last whipping she gave me. She sent me out on an errand, but I felt as +though I must be alone, if only for a few minutes. That's why I stopped +in the square." + +"Beat you!" exclaimed Grace. "How dare she touch you? Why, I never had a +whipping in my life! I won't keep you another minute, but wait for me +outside the campus when school is out to-morrow. I wish to talk further +with you." + +"I'll come," promised Mabel, her face lighting up. Then she suddenly +threw both arms around Grace's neck and said, "I do love you, and I feel +that some one cares about me at last." Then, like a flash, she darted +across the square and was soon lost to Grace's view. + +"Well, of all things!" Grace remarked softly to herself. "I think it's +high time we organized a sorority for the purpose of aiding girls in +distress." + +"You're a prompt person. Did you really decide to come?" were the cries +that greeted her from the porch as she opened the Bright's gate. + +"Save your caustic comments," said Grace as she handed Jessica her hat. +"I have a tale to tell." + +"Out with it!" was the cry, and the girls surrounded Grace, who began +with her meeting with David, and ended with the story of Mabel Allison. + +"You haven't heard anything of those boys yet, have you?" she asked when +she had finished. + +"Not yet," said Nora, "but never fear, the night is yet young." + +"Where is Eleanor Savell?" asked Grace, noticing for the first time that +Eleanor was not present. "You promised to go for her, didn't you, Anne?" + +"I did go," replied Anne, "but she wouldn't come. She said she'd come +sometime when she felt like it. She was playing on the violin when the +maid let me in, and how she can play! She wanted me to stay there with +her and didn't seem to understand why I couldn't break my engagement +with you girls. She said that she always kept her engagements unless the +spirit moved her to do something else." + +"Is Eleanor Savell the girl who comes into the study hall every morning +after opening exercises have begun?" asked Marian Barber. + +"Yes," Grace answered. "I forgot for a moment that you and Eva and +Miriam hadn't met her. She is really very charming, although her ideas +about punctuality and school rules are somewhat hazy as yet. She lives +at 'Heartsease,' Mrs. Gray's property. I am disappointed because she +will not be here to-night. She seemed delighted when I asked her to join +our society." + +"As long as we know she isn't coming, don't you think we should begin +the initiation?" asked Nora. "It is after eight o'clock and we can't +stay out too late, you know." + +"Very well," said Grace. "Blindfold the candidates." + +The three girls meekly submitted to the blindfolding, and the chums were +about to lead them to the initiation chamber, when the ringing of the +door bell caused them to start. + +"It's David and the boys," said Jessica. "Shall I tell them that they +can't come in?" + +"Of course," responded Nora. "You and Grace go to the door, while Anne +and I stay here with our victims. Be careful they don't play you a +trick." + +The two girls cautiously approached the door, opening it very slowly, +and saw--not the three boys--but Eleanor. She smiled serenely and said: +"Good evening. I decided, after all, that I would come." + +"Come right in," said Jessica cordially. "I am so glad you changed your +mind and came. The initiation is about to begin. Have you ever belonged +to a secret society?" + +"Never," replied Eleanor. "But now that I'm here, I am willing to try +it." + +"Come this way." + +"Girls," said Grace, addressing the three blindfolded girls, "this is +Eleanor Savell. You can't see her yet, but you may all shake hands with +her. She is to be your companion in misery." + +Eleanor laughed, shook hands with the others and graciously allowed Nora +to tie a handkerchief over her eyes. + +"All ready! March!" called Grace, and the eight girls solemnly proceeded +to the initiation chamber. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE PHI SIGMA TAU + + +At the door a halt was called. + +"Prepare to jump," commanded Grace in a deep voice. "One, two, three! +Jump down! Be careful!" + +The four candidates gave four uncertain jumps and experienced the +disagreeable sensation usually felt in attempting to jump downward when +on level ground. This was one of the oldest and mildest forms of +initiation, but Nora had insisted upon it, and giggled violently as the +four girls prepared for a long leap. Even Grace, who was conducting the +ceremony with the utmost seriousness, laughed a little at the picture +they made. + +"They'll do anything you tell them," whispered Nora. Which was perfectly +true. To show fear or reluctance in obeying the demands made upon one, +was to prove one's self unworthy of membership in the Phi Sigma Tau. + +"Let the music begin," said Grace. + +There was a faint snicker as Anne, Nora and Jessica raised three combs, +wrapped in tissue paper, to their lips and began the "Merry Widow" +waltz, with weird effect. + +"You must waltz around the room fifteen times without stopping," +continued Grace, "and then sit down in the four opposite corners of the +room, on the cushions provided for you." + +The girl chums retreated to the doorway of the room, that had previously +been cleared of almost all the furniture, to watch the movements of +their victims as they endeavored to circle the room the required number +of times. They lost their count, bumped each other at every turn, and +at last staggered dizzily toward what they thought were the corners of +the room. Miriam Nesbit made straight for the door in which the chums +stood, and Grace was obliged to take her by the shoulders and gently +steer her in the opposite direction. Eleanor, after groping along one +side of the room for a corner, was the first to find one, and sank with +a sigh of relief upon the pile of cushions. The other girls had not been +so successful. They all endeavored to sit in the same corner at once, and +Grace was obliged to go to the rescue, and lead two of them to opposite +sides of the initiation chamber. + +"In order to become successful members of this society, it is necessary +for you to sing. You may all sing the first verse and the chorus of any +song you know, only be sure that you don't choose the same song, and don't +stop until you have finished," directed Grace. "Begin after I have counted +three. I will wait for a minute while you choose your song. The orchestra +will accompany you." + +There was considerable subdued laughter from the orchestra, who had been +instructed to play "The Star Spangled Banner," oblivious of whatever the +candidates might sing. + +"One, two, three!" counted Grace, and the concert began. + +Eva Allen chose "John Brown's Body." Miriam Nesbit, "Old Kentucky Home." +Marian Barber, "Schooldays," while Eleanor contributed "The Marseillaise" +in French. The orchestra dutifully burst forth with "The Star Spangled +Banner," and the effect was indescribable. + +The orchestra broke down before they reached their chorus, and the +accompaniment ended in a shriek of suppressed mirth, but the candidates +went stolidly on without a smile and finished almost together. + +"Very well done," commended Grace. "I see you will be valuable additions +to the society." + +The girls were then put through a series of ridiculous tests that the +four chums had devised. They were made to dip their hands in water +charged with electricity, caress a mechanical rubber snake that wriggled +realistically, drink a cup of boneset tea apiece, and were directed +finally to bare their arms for the branding of the letters of the +society. + +The branding was done with a piece of ice, pressed hard against their +bare arms, and the shock made the victims gasp for a second and wonder +if they really were being burned. + +"You will now hold up your right hands and repeat after me," said Grace, +"I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute my duties as a +member of the Phi Sigma Tau, and will, to the best of my ability, +preserve, protect and defend its laws." + +This done, the girls received the grip of the society, the handkerchiefs +were removed from their eyes and they were pronounced full-fledged +members. + +"That oath has a rather familiar sound," remarked Miriam Nesbit, trying +to recollect where she had heard it before. + +"I know," she said at last. "It's the oath of office taken by the +President of the United States at inauguration, only you changed it to +suit this sorority." + +"You've guessed it exactly," replied Grace. "I chose it because it +sounded so much more expressive than to say, 'May my bones be crushed +and my heart cut out if ever I am unfaithful to my vows.'" + +There was a general laugh at this, the girls agreeing that Grace's +choice was infinitely less blood-thirsty. + +"Now that you have so bravely endured the trials of initiation, you +shall receive your reward," declared Jessica. "Follow me." + +She led the way to the dining room, where a bountiful lunch awaited +them, to which, after the manner of hungry school girls, they did full +justice. + +"By the way," said Grace, after they had returned to the sitting room +and were comfortably settled, "you never said one word about my freshman +prize girl. I thought you would be awfully interested in her. For the +benefit of the new members, I will say that this society was organized +with a definite object, that of helping others. We are to look after +girls who have no one to make things pleasant or happy for them. Why, do +you know that there are quite a number of girls attending High School +who come from other places, and who have to spend the holidays at their +boarding houses without any fun at all? Look at this poor, little +Allison girl. She works for her board in the winter, and in the mill in +the summer, and now that miserable Miss Brant is going to take her out +of school, and she is getting along so well, too." + +"Isn't it a pity," said Anne, "that people like her can't understand +that if a girl were allowed to finish her education, she could earn so +much more in the long run than she could by working year after year in a +mill?" + +"We might go to Miss Brant and explain that to her," said Nora. "Perhaps +she would listen to us." + +"I don't believe so," replied Grace. "Besides, she might be very angry +and take her spite out on poor Mabel. If we could only get Mabel away +from her. But if she has legally adopted her we couldn't do anything. +Besides, where would she go if we did get her away?" + +"I'll tell you what I'll do," said Jessica thoughtfully. "I'll ask papa +about it. Lawyers always know everything about such things. Maybe he +could find out if Miss Brant has any real claim upon her." + +"That's a good idea," said Miriam Nesbit. "If we can get her away from +that hateful old wretch, the sorority could adopt her. She could stay +with each one of us for a month. That would be eight months, and at the +end of that time she would have finished her sophomore year. Then she +could get something pleasant to do through the summer vacation. That +would give her some money for clothes for next year. Perhaps by that +time we could find some nice people for her to stay with, or if we +liked her well enough, we could go on having her with us. I'll ask my +mother to-morrow, and you girls might do the same." + +"Miriam Nesbit, what a perfectly lovely plan!" exclaimed Grace Harlowe +with rapture. "I feel sure mother would let me have her." + +"She can come here any time," said Jessica. "Papa allows me to do as +I like." + +"'First catch your bird,'" said Nora wisely. "Don't plan too much, until +you find out whether you can snatch her from the dragon's claws." + +"I feel sure we shall win," replied Grace confidently. "What do you +girls think of it?" she asked, turning to Eva, Marian and Eleanor, who +had so far expressed no opinion. + +"Count us in," said Eva and Marian in a breath. + +"And you, Eleanor?" asked Grace. + +"She can live at our house forever, if she doesn't disturb me," replied +Eleanor lazily. "My aunt won't care, either. When we lived in Spain she +used to help every beggar we came across, and Spain is a land of +beggars. She never can resist an appeal for charity." + +There was a sudden silence. Then Grace said gently, although she felt +irritated at Eleanor's careless speech: "I don't think Mabel Allison +could really be called a beggar; and if we adopt her, we ought never to +let her think that we consider her a dependent. Of course we know very +little about her yet, but I think she will prove worthy. I am to see her +to-morrow, and perhaps it would be better to talk a little more with her +before we tell Jessica's father about it." + +Eleanor looked at Grace with an amused smile. + +"How serious you girls are," she said. "Is it school that makes you so? +If it is, I don't think I shall stay long. I like to drift along and do +only what my inclination prompts me to do. I hate responsibility of any +sort." + +"Perhaps you will feel differently about school after a while," said +Anne quietly. "This is my third year in Oakdale High School, and I never +had any good times until I came here. As for responsibility, it is a +good thing to learn to be responsible for one's self, if for no one +else." + +"Well, perhaps you are right, but I am sure that if you had never lived +long enough in one country to become acclimated, you wouldn't feel very +responsible, either," said Eleanor in such rueful tones that the girls +laughed, although they secretly disapproved of Eleanor's inconsequential +attitude. + +"Did you think the examinations hard?" asked Jessica of Eleanor. + +"Oh, no," replied Eleanor lightly. "I had an English governess who was +with us for five years. She drilled me thoroughly in English and +mathematics. I loathed them both, but studied them merely to show her +that I could master them. Miss Thompson said my work was good, and that +if I were ambitious she would put me in the senior class, but I held out +for the juniors and finally got my own way. If you are going to take +such a serious view of this gay world, however, perhaps I'll wish +I had joined the seniors, after all. No, I don't mean that. I'm awfully +glad to know you, and feel honored at being a member of your sorority. +Only I don't expect to ever be a very useful one. My aunt has spoiled +me, and I frankly admit it. So, you see, there is no hope for me." She +spread out both hands in a deprecating manner and shrugged her shoulders +exactly as a French woman might have done. + +"I am sure we like you, just as you are," said Eva Allen warmly. She had +been rather impressed with Eleanor. + +"Do you see the time?" said Nora, suddenly pointing to the old-fashioned +clock in the corner. "Half past ten! I must go this minute. Sister will +be worried." + +She immediately made for her hat and coat, the others following suit, +with the exception of Eleanor, who was to wait until the coachman came +for her. + +Once the girls were outside the gate, Marian Barber broke out with: +"What a queer girl that Eleanor Savell is. She is beautiful and +fascinating, but I don't know whether I like her or not." + +"You must like her," said Grace. "You know the members of this society +must stand by each other." + +"But why did you ask her to join, Grace?" persisted Marian. "She is +different from the rest of us. I don't believe we shall get along with +her very well." + +"I'll tell you girls a secret," replied Grace. "Anne and Nora already +know it. Mrs. Gray wants us to be nice to Eleanor for a number of +reasons, and, of course, we wish to please her. Anne, Jessica, Nora and +I were talking about it the other day, and while we were laying plans +for this sorority, we decided to ask Eleanor to join. We thought we +could learn to know her better, and she would eventually become a good +comrade." + +"It sounds ridiculous to talk about helping a clever girl like Eleanor, +but from her conversation to-night you can see that she needs some +wholesome advice occasionally," said Nora bluntly. "Mrs. Gray seems to +think we can be of some use in that direction, so we are trying to carry +out her theory." + +"I think I understand the situation," said Miriam Nesbit, "and will do +all I can to be nice to her, if she doesn't attempt to patronize me. +I couldn't stand that. I know I used to do it. I suppose that's why it +seems so unendurable to me now." + +"David Nesbit didn't disturb us, after all," remarked Eva Allen. "It's a +wonder those boys didn't put tick-tacks on the windows or do something +like that." + +The girls had come to the turn of the street, and were about to pass the +only really lonely spot during their walk. It was an old colonial +residence, the surrounding grounds extending for a block. It had been +untenanted for some time, as the owners were in Europe, although both +house and grounds were looked after by a care-taker. On the other side +of the street was a field where the small fry of Oakdale usually held +their ball games. + +"I always hate passing this old house," said Marian Barber. "It is so +terribly still back there among those pines. I don't----" + +She stopped short, an expression of terror overspreading her +good-natured face, as she mutely pointed toward the old house. Three +ghostly figures swathed in white stole out from the shadow of the pines +and glided down the wide, graveled drive toward the gate. Their +appearance was terrifying. Their faces were white as their robes, and +blue flames played about their eyes. They carried out in every +particular the description of the regulation churchyard ghost. + +For an instant the six girls stood still, regarding those strange +apparitions with fascinated terror. Then Eva Allen and Marian Barber +shrieked in unison and fled down the street as fast as their legs would +carry them. Grace, Nora, Anne and Miriam stood their ground and awaited +the oncoming spectres, who halted when they saw that the girls did not +intend to run. + +"High School boys, on a lark," whispered Grace to her friends. "Let's +charge them in a body." + +With a bound she reached the drive, closely followed by the other girls. +The ghostly three evidently considering discretion the better part of +valor, left the drive and took to their heels across the lawn. But +Grace, who was well in the lead, caught the last fleeing ghost by its +robe and held on for dear life. There was a sound of rending cloth as +the apparition bounded forward, then it caught its spectre toe on a +tuft of long grass and fell forward with a decidedly human thud. + +The girls surrounded it in an instant. Before it had time to rise, Grace +snatched off a white mask smeared around the eye-holes with phosphorus, +which explained the flamelike effect, and disclosed the sheepish face of +James Gardiner, one of the sophomore class. + +"Oh, let a fellow up, will you?" he said, with a sickly grin. + +"You bad boy!" exclaimed Grace. "What do you mean by dressing up like +this? Don't you know you might frighten some timid person terribly?" + +"Initiation," said the youth, with a grin, rising on his elbow and +looking as though he would like to make a sudden break for liberty. +"Part of the sacred obligations of the 'Knights and Squires' frat. Three +fellows of us were initiated to-night. This was the last stunt." + +"Well, I suppose under those circumstances we shall have to forgive you. +Did you appear to any one else?" asked Grace. + +"Only to that old crank Miss Brant. She was scared out of her wits," +replied James, laughing. "Two of your crowd got out in a hurry, too, +didn't they?" + +"I suppose I shall have to confess that they did," replied Grace. "If +I were you, James, I'd take off that costume and hurry away. Miss Brant +is liable to inform the police, and they might not look at initiation +stunts as we do." + +"That's right," said James, looking a trifle alarmed. "Wonder where the +fellows went. I'd better put them on. We never thought of that. If you +girls will excuse me, I'll hunt them up." + +"Certainly," said the girls. "Good night, James." + +"Good night," replied the youth. "You girls are all right. Can't scare +you." With a nod to them he started across the grass on the run, his +ghostly garments trailing behind him. + +"I'm glad that wasn't David," said Anne as James disappeared. "I was +afraid when first I saw them that they might be our boys. I didn't feel +frightened at all, after what Grace had said about meeting David." + +"Eva and Marian didn't show any great amount of courage," said Nora, +laughing. "I wonder if they ran all the way home." + +"There they are ahead of us," said Anne. + +True enough, the two girls stood on the corner waiting for the others to +come up. + +"Why don't you hurry on home?" called Nora. "'The goblins will git you, +ef you don't watch out.'" + +"Don't tease," said Marian Barber, looking rather foolish. "We are +awfully sorry we ran away, but when I saw those awful white figures +coming toward us, I just had to run and so did Eva. Who on earth were +they, and where did they go?" + +In a few words Grace told her what had happened. + +"That horrid James Gardiner. I'll never speak to him again," cried Eva +Allen. "I hope he didn't recognize us. He'll tell every one in school +about it." + +"I don't think he did," replied Grace. "Oh, look, girls! Here comes +Officer Donavan! I was right when I said that Miss Brant would notify +the police." + +"I hope she got a good scare," remarked Nora wickedly. "As for the +ghosts, they are very likely at home by this time." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A VISIT TO ELEANOR + + +The next day, when Grace, in company with her chums, left the school +building, they beheld the shabby little figure of Mabel Allison waiting +for them just outside the campus. She looked shy and embarrassed when +she saw the four girls bearing down upon her, and seemed half inclined +to run away. Grace greeted her cordially and introduced her to her +chums, whose simple and unaffected manners soon put her at her ease. + +"I am so glad you waited," said Grace cordially. "I have told my three +friends about you, as I knew they would be as much interested in you as +I am. We have made a plan and if we can carry it out, you will be able +to go to school until you graduate." + +"You are very good to take so much trouble for me," said Mabel, the +tears springing to her eyes; "but I'm afraid it won't do any good." + +"Don't be down-hearted," said Nora sympathetically. "You don't know +Grace Harlowe. She always does whatever she sets out to do." + +"She's a regular fairy godmother," said Anne softly. "I know from +experience." + +"Such flattery is overwhelming," murmured Grace. "I regret that I'm too +busy to bow my thanks. But to get down to the business of the hour--tell +me, Mabel, dear--did this Miss Brant legally adopt you when she took you +from the orphanage, or are you bound to her in any way?" + +"I don't know," said the girl, her eyes growing big with wonder. "I never +thought about it. I don't believe, however, that she has any legal claim +upon me." + +"Is there any way in which you can find out?" asked Anne. + +"Why, yes," replied Mabel. "I could write the woman at the orphanage who +was good to me. She is still there, and several times she has written to +me, but Miss Brant read her letters first and then tore them up. Her +name is Mary Stevens, and she would surely know!" + +"Then write to her at once," said Grace, "and tell her to send her +letter in an outside envelope addressed to me. Your whole future depends +upon her answer." + +Grace thereupon related to her their conversation of the previous night. + +"As soon as you find out about Miss Brant's claim, we shall take the +matter to Jessica's father, who is a lawyer. He will help us," Grace +concluded. "Then when you are free, we shall have something else to +tell you. Just be patient for a few days, and don't be afraid. +Everything will come right." + +"How can I ever thank you all?" said Mabel, taking one of Grace's hands +between hers and looking at her with a world of gratitude in her eyes. +"I will write to-night. I must go now or I shall be home late. Forgive +me for hurrying away, but I daren't stay," she added piteously. "You +know that I should like to. Good-bye, and thank you again." + +"Good-bye," called Grace. "I'll let you know as soon as I hear from Mary +Stevens." + +"What a sweet little girl she is," said Jessica. "I should like to keep +her with me all the time." + +"She is a nice child," said Grace, "and she deserves something better +than her present fate." + +"To change the subject," said Nora, "has any one seen Eleanor to-day? +She was not in English or geometry, although she may have come in late." + +"I don't believe she was in school at all," said Anne. "Maybe the +initiation was too much for her." + +"Oh, I don't know. She didn't seem to mind it," remarked Jessica. "She +will hear from Miss Thompson if she makes a practice of staying out of +school. Attendance is one of the chief requisites in Miss Thompson's +eyes." + +"I suppose we ought to call on Eleanor before long," mused Grace. "She +has invited us, and it's our duty to call on her first. Anne has already +been there. Suppose we go over now; that is, unless you girls have +something else to do." + +It was decided at once that they could go, and soon the four chums were +walking briskly down the street in the direction of "Heartsease." It was +an Indian summer day and the girls congratulated themselves on having +taken advantage of it. As school had closed at half past two, it was not +yet four o'clock. They would have plenty of time for their call without +hurrying themselves. So they strolled along, laughing and chatting in +the care-free manner that belongs alone to the school girl. + +As they neared the house one and all exclaimed at the beauty of the +grounds. The lawn looked like a great stretch of green velvet, while the +trees were gorgeous in their autumn glory of crimson and gold, with here +and there a patch of russet by way of contrast. Over at one side were +clumps of pink and white anemones; while all around the house and in the +garden beds that dotted the lawn many-colored chrysanthemums stood up in +brave array. + +"What a delightful place 'Heartsease' is," cried Grace as she paused +just inside the gate to feast her eyes upon its beauty. "Sometimes +I think that autumn is the finest season of the year, and then again +I like spring better." + +"What difference does the season make, so long as we have a good time?" +said Nora blithely. "I haven't any preference. They're all good." + +"Eleanor will be surprised to see us," remarked Grace, as she rang the +bell. + +"Let's hope she will appreciate the honor of having four such +distinguished persons descend upon her at one time," said Anne. + +"Is Miss Savell in?" asked Grace to the trim maid who answered her ring. + +"Yes, miss," replied the maid. "Come in. Who shall I say is here?" + +"Say to Miss Savell that Grace Harlowe and her friends would like to see +her." + +The maid soon reappeared and led the girls down the wide, old-fashioned +hall, and, somewhat to their surprise, ushered them into the dining +room, where they beheld Eleanor, arrayed in a dainty white house gown, +dining alone. + +She arose as they entered and came forward with both hands outstretched. +"How are the Phi Sigma Taus to-day?" she asked. "It was awfully nice of +you to come and see me." + +"We thought you might be ill," said Nora. "We missed you at school +to-day." + +"Oh, no," replied Eleanor serenely. "I am perfectly well. I really +didn't feel like going to school to-day, so I stayed in bed until eleven +o'clock. I am just having lunch now. Won't you join me? I am keeping +house by myself this afternoon. My aunt is dining with Mrs. Gray." + +"Thank you," said Grace, speaking for the girls. "We all have supper at +half past six and must save our appetites for that." + +"We usually dine about eight o'clock," said Eleanor. "We acquired the +habit of dining late from living on the continent. But, come, now. +I have finished my lunch. I want you to see where I live, almost entirely, +when in the house." + +The girls followed her up the broad staircase and down the hall. Every +inch of the ground was familiar to Grace. She had been there so often +with Mrs. Gray. "Oh, you have the suite at the back," she exclaimed. +"I love those two rooms." + +"You will find them somewhat changed," remarked Eleanor as she opened +the door and ushered the girls into the most quietly luxurious apartment +they had ever seen. Even Miriam Nesbit's room could not compare with +it. + +"What a beautiful room!" exclaimed Grace, looking about her with +delight. "I don't wonder you like to spend your time in it. I see you +have your own piano." + +"Yes," replied Eleanor. "My aunt sent to New York for it. The one +downstairs in the drawing room is all right, but I like to have this one +handy, so that I can play whenever the spirit moves me. This is my +bedroom," she continued, pushing aside the silken curtains that +separated the two rooms. The girls exclaimed over the Circassian walnut +furniture and could not decide as to which room was the prettier. + +"Eleanor," said Grace solemnly, "you ought to be a very happy girl. You +have everything a heart can wish. Think of poor little Mabel Allison." + +"Oh, don't let's think about disagreeable things," said Eleanor lightly. +"Sit down and be comfy and I'll play for you. What shall I play?" + +"Do you know the 'Peer Gynt' suite?" asked Grace. "I love 'Anitra's +Dance.'" + +Without answering, Eleanor immediately began the "Peer Gynt" music and +played the entire suite with remarkable expression. + +"How well you play!" exclaimed Jessica with eager admiration in her +voice, as Eleanor turned around on the stool after she had finished. +"I should love to hear you play on the violin. Anne heard you the +other night, and told us about it." + +"I love the violin better than the piano, but it sounds better with a +piano accompaniment. Don't you girls play?" + +"Jessica does," chorused her friends. + +"Oh, I never could play, after hearing Eleanor," said Jessica blushing. + +"Come on," said Eleanor, taking her by the arm and dragging her over to +the piano. "You can accompany me. What do you play?" + +"Do you know Raff's 'Cavatina'?" asked Jessica a trifle shyly. + +"By heart," answered Eleanor. "I love it. Wait and I'll get the music +for you." + +After a moment's search she produced the music, picked up her violin, +and, after tightening a string, announced herself ready. + +The girls listened, spellbound. It seemed as though Eleanor's very soul +had entered into the violin. They could not believe that this was the +capricious Eleanor of half an hour before. + +"Whatever she may do in future," thought Grace, as she listened to the +last plaintive notes of the "Cavatina," "I'll forgive her for her +music's sake. One has to make allowances for people like her. It is the +claim of the artistic temperament." + +"Please play once more," begged Nora. "Then we must go. It's almost six +o'clock." + +Eleanor chose Nevin's "Venetian Love Song," and Jessica again +accompanied her. + +"You play with considerable expression," said Eleanor, as Jessica rose +from the piano stool. + +"How could I help it?" replied Jessica, smiling. "You inspired me." + +Eleanor accompanied the four girls down the walk to the gate and +repeatedly invited them to come again. + +"It's your turn to come and see us now," said Grace. "Do you think you +will go to school to-morrow, Eleanor? Miss Thompson dislikes having the +girls stay out." + +"I can't help what Miss Thompson dislikes," returned Eleanor, laughing. +"What I dislike is of more importance to me. I dare say I shall go +to-morrow, providing I get up in time." + +"What an irresponsible girl Eleanor is," remarked Anne, as they walked +along. "I am afraid we can't do much for her. She doesn't seem much +interested in school and I don't think she is particularly impressed +with our sorority." + +"Anne," said Jessica, "you have seen Miss Nevin, her aunt. Tell us how +she looks." + +"She is tall," replied Anne, "and has beautiful dark eyes. Her hair is +very white, but her face looks young, only she has the saddest +expression I ever saw on any one's face." + +"I should think she would look sad after seventeen years of Eleanor's +whims," remarked Nora bluntly. "It would wear me out to be with her +continually, she is so changeable." + +"Mrs. Gray told me," remarked Anne, "that Miss Nevin's life had been one +long sacrifice to the pleasure of others. First her father, then her +step-sister and now Eleanor. She was engaged to be married to a young +English officer, and he died of fever while stationed in India. So, +there is reason for her sad expression." + +"I once read, somewhere," said Jessica sentimentally, "that ''Tis better +to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.'" + +"Humph!" said Nora. "If I am ever foolish enough to fall in love, +I certainly don't want to lose the object of my devotion." + +"You can't very well," said Grace slyly, "for from all present +indications I should say that he is too fat to get lost." + +And Nora was obliged to explain elaborately to the laughing girls, all +the way home, that the object of her future devotion would not be a fat +man. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE CLAIM OF THE "ARTISTIC TEMPERAMENT" + + +When Eleanor returned to school the following morning, she found that +what Miss Thompson "disliked" was, after all, of considerable +importance. Directly after opening exercises the principal sent for her +and asked the reason for her absence of the day before. On finding that +Eleanor had no plausible excuse, but had absented herself merely because +she felt like it, Miss Thompson thereupon delivered a sharp little +lecture on unnecessary absence, informing Eleanor that it was the rule +of the school to present a written excuse for absence, and that a verbal +excuse would not be accepted. + +"I will overlook it this time, Miss Savell," Miss Thompson said, +"because you are not as yet thoroughly acquainted with the rules of this +school, but do not let it occur again. And I must also insist upon +punctuality in future. You have been late a number of times." + +With these words the principal turned to her desk and resumed the +writing she had been engaged in when Eleanor entered. + +For a second, Eleanor stood regarding Miss Thompson with angry eyes. No +one had ever before dared to speak sharply to her. She was about to tell +the principal that she was not used to being addressed in that tone, but +the words would not come. Something in the elder woman's quiet, resolute +face as she sat writing checked the wilful girl, and though she felt +deeply incensed at the reprimand, she managed to control herself and +walked out of the office with her head held high, vowing to herself that +Miss Thompson should pay for what Eleanor termed "her insolence." + +All morning she sulked through her classes, and before closing time had +managed to incur the displeasure of every teacher to whom she recited. + +"What ails her to-day?" whispered Nora to Jessica. + +It was geometry hour, and Miss Ames, the geometry teacher, had just +reproved Eleanor for inattention. + +Nora shook her head. She dared not answer, as Miss Ames was very strict, +and she knew that to be caught whispering meant two originals to work +out, and Nora hated originals. + +When the bell rang at the close of the hour, Eleanor walked haughtily by +Miss Ames, giving her a contemptuous look as she passed that made the +teacher tighten her lips and look severe. Grace, who was directly +behind her, saw both the look and the expression on the teacher's face. +She felt worried for Eleanor's sake, because she saw trouble ahead for +her unless she changed her tactics. If Eleanor could only understand +that she must respect the authority of her various teachers during +recitation hours and cheerfully comply with their requests, then all +might be well. Since Miss Leece had left the High School at the close of +Grace's freshman year, she could not conscientiously say that she +disliked any of her teachers. They had been both kind and just, and if +Eleanor defied them openly, then she would have to take the +consequences. To be sure, Eleanor might refuse to go to school, but +Grace had an idea that, lenient as Miss Nevin was with her niece, she +would not allow Eleanor to go that far. Grace decided that she would +have a talk with Eleanor after school. It would do no harm and it might +possibly do some good. + +She hurried down to the locker-room that afternoon in order to catch +Eleanor as she left school. She had just reached there when Eleanor +walked in, looking extremely sulky. She jerked her hat and coat from her +locker, hastily donned them, and, without looking at Grace, left the +room. + +"She looks awfully cross," thought Grace. "Well, here goes," and she +hurried after Eleanor, overtaking her at the entrance to the school +grounds. + +"What's the matter, Eleanor?" she asked. "Didn't you care to wait for +me?" + +Eleanor looked at her with lowering brows. "I hate school," she said +vehemently. "I hate the teachers, and I hate Miss Thompson most of all. +Every one of those teachers are common, low-bred and impertinent. As for +your Miss Thompson, she is a self-satisfied prig." + +"You must not say such things of Miss Thompson, Eleanor," said Grace +firmly. "She doesn't deserve them. She is one of the finest women I have +ever known, and she takes a warm interest in every girl in school. What +has she done that you should speak of her as you do?" + +"She called me into her office this morning and made a whole lot of +fuss because I didn't have a written excuse for yesterday's absence," +said Eleanor angrily. "When I told her that I stayed at home because +I felt inclined to do so, she almost had a spasm, and gave me another +lecture then and there, ending up by saying that it must not occur +again. I should like to know how she knew I was absent yesterday." + +"Miss Thompson always knows when a girl is absent," replied Grace. +"The special teachers report to her every day. It is the rule of this +school for a girl to present her excuse at the office as soon as she +returns; then her name is taken off the absent list. If she is absent +the second day, then a messenger is sent to her home to find out the +cause. I suppose that when Miss Thompson looked over the list, she +remembered seeing you at opening exercises, so of course sent for +you." + +"She is a crabbed old maid," said Eleanor contemptuously, "and I despise +her. I'll find some way to get even with her, and all the rest of those +teachers, too." + +"You will never get along in school, Eleanor," answered Grace gently, +"if you take that stand. The only way to be happy is to----" + +"Please don't preach to me," said Eleanor haughtily. "It is of no use. +I am not a child and I understand my own business thoroughly. When I saw +you girls the first day of school, I thought that you were full of life +and spirit, but really you are all goody-goodies, who allow those +teachers to lead you around by the nose. I had intended to ask Aunt +Margaret to take me out of this ridiculous school, for some of the +people in it make me tired, but I have changed my mind. I shall stay for +pure spite and show that stiff-necked principal of yours that I am a law +unto myself, and won't stand her interference." + +"Stop a moment, Eleanor. I am going no farther with you," said Grace, +flushing, "but I should just like to say before I leave you that you are +taking the wrong view of things, and you'll find it out sooner or later. +I am sorry that you have such a poor opinion of myself and my friends, +for we cherish nothing but the friendliest feelings toward you." + +With this, Grace walked away, feeling more hurt over Eleanor's rudeness +than she cared to show. + +As she turned out of High School Street she heard a familiar call, and, +glancing up the street, saw her three chums waiting for her on the +corner. + +"We saw you just as you tackled Eleanor," said Nora, "so we kept away, +for we thought after to-day's performances she wouldn't be in a very +good humor." + +"What was the matter with her to-day?" asked Jessica curiously. "She +behaved like a bad child in English this morning, followed it up in +geometry; and Anne says that in rhetoric class Miss Chester lost all +patience with her and gave her a severe lecturing." + +"I might as well tell you at once that Eleanor's opinion of us is far +from flattering," said Grace, half laughing, although there was a hurt +look on her face. "She says we are all goody-goodies and that we make +her tired. She also requested me to mind my own business." + +"She said that to you? Just wait until the next time I see her," +blustered Nora, "I'll tell her what I think of her." + +"On the contrary, we must treat her better, if anything, than before," +said Anne quietly. "Don't you remember we promised Mrs. Gray that we +would try to help her?" + +"Yes, I remember all that; but I can't bear to have any one say horrid +things to Grace," grumbled Nora. + +"What a queer girl she is," said Jessica. "Yesterday she treated us as +though we were her dearest friends, while to-day she scorns us utterly. +It's a case of 'blow hot, blow cold.'" + +"That is because she has the artistic temperament," replied Anne, +smiling. + +"You may say what you like about the artistic temperament," said Nora, +"but in my opinion it's nothing more nor less than just plain temper." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +ELEANOR THROWS DOWN THE GAUNTLET + + +"The Phi Sigma Tau is to have a special meeting to-night at Jessica's," +called Grace Harlowe to Nora O'Malley as the latter entered the +locker-room at the close of school one day about two weeks after the +initiation at Jessica's. + +"Does Jessica know it?" inquired Nora. + +"Not yet," replied Grace, "but she will as soon as she comes in. +I rushed down here the minute the last bell rang, because I wanted +to be here when the girls come in. You are the first, however." + +"Why are we to hold a meeting?" asked Nora, her curiosity aroused. + +"Wait and see," replied Grace, smiling. "Of what use is it to hold a +meeting, if I tell you all the business beforehand?" + +"All right," said Nora, "you keep your secrets and I'll keep mine." + +"What have you heard that's new?" asked Grace. + +"Wait and see," replied Nora, with a grin of delight. "I am saving my +news for the meeting." + +By this time the remaining members of the Phi Sigma Tau, with the +exception of Eleanor Savell, had come into the locker-room, and had been +promptly hailed by Grace. Marian Barber, Miriam Nesbit and Eva Allen +after agreeing to be at Jessica's, at eight o'clock, had gone their +separate ways. + +"Every one excepting Eleanor has been told," said Grace. "I really don't +know how to approach her. She has been so distant of late." + +"Don't wait to ask her," said Nora decidedly. "She won't attend the +meeting." + +"How do you know?" asked Jessica. + +"I'll tell you to-night," answered Nora mysteriously, "but I know +positively that she won't come, because she is going to have company at +'Heartsease.' Now I've told you more than I intended to, and I shall not +say another word until to-night." + +"Come on then," said Grace, "we won't wait any longer. Jessica, will you +ask your father if he will be at liberty for a few minutes this +evening?" + +"Certainly," replied Jessica. + +"Oh, I know now whom it's all about," cried Nora gleefully. "Mary +Stevens." + +"You have guessed it," said Grace, "but, like yourself, I decline to +talk until to-night." + +Before eight o'clock the seven girls had taken possession of the +Bright's big, comfortable sitting room and were impatiently waiting for +Grace to tell her news. + +"Before I tell you what is on my mind," said Grace, "we ought to have +a president, vice president and secretary for this worthy organization. +I move therefore that we choose Miriam Nesbit for president of this +sorority. Those in favor say 'aye.' We'll dispense with seconding the +motion." + +There was an instant's pause, then a chorus of "ayes" burst forth. + +"Contrary, 'no.'" + +The only "no" was from Miriam. + +"We appreciate the fact that you are too polite to vote for yourself, +Miriam," said Grace, "but your 'no' doesn't amount to a row of pins. +You're elected, so come over here and occupy the chair of state. Long +live the president of the Phi Sigma Tau." + +Miriam, flushed with pleasure, then took the seat that Grace had +vacated. She had not expected this honor and was deeply touched by it. +Her summer with her girl chums at Lake George had made her an entirely +different girl from the Miriam of old. Admiration for Grace and her +friends had taken the place of the old animosity. Although the chums had +not taken her into their inner circle, still they made much of her, and +she came nearer to being one of them than any other girl in the junior +class. + +"I am sure I thank you all," began Miriam, "and now we must have a vice +president and a secretary." + +Grace and Anne were elected with enthusiasm to the respective offices, +then Miriam requested Grace to tell the other members what was on her +mind. + +After addressing the chair, Grace began: "I know you will all be glad to +hear that Mabel has received a letter from Mary Stevens. It was +addressed to me on the outside envelope and Mabel has given me +permission to open and read it to you. She is willing for us to do +whatever we think best. I won't attempt to read all the letter, only +that part that interests us. + +"Here it is: 'I am so sorry about the way in which you are treated, but +glad to know that you have found friends at last. Miss Brant has no +claim on you whatever. She took you from the orphanage with the +understanding that if you did not suit her she was to be allowed to send +you back. The matron asked her why she did not adopt you, or at least +appoint herself your guardian, and she said that under no circumstances +would she do so; that she wanted a good maid of all work, not a +daughter. I enclose a statement from the matron to this effect. I would +have advised you before this to leave her, but you are too young to +drift about the world alone. I hope that when I next hear from you, you +will be in happier surroundings. I have always believed that your +parents were people of means and that you were lost or stolen when a +baby. Perhaps if they are still living you will find them some day.'" + +"That is about all we need," said Grace, as she folded the letter and +put it back in the envelope. "The next thing to do is to see Mr. +Bright." + +"I'll go for him at once," said Jessica, and darted off to the library, +where her father sat reading. He rose, and, tucking his daughter's arm +in his, walked out to the sitting room, where the Phi Sigma Tau eagerly +awaited him. + +"Well, well!" he exclaimed, smiling at the circle of girls. "What's all +this? Am I invited to be present at a suffragette's meeting or is +Jessica simply anxious to show me what nice friends she has?" + +"No compliments allowed," laughed Grace. "We wish to ask your advice +about something." + +"I am at your service," said Jessica's father, making her an elaborate +bow. "Command me as you will." + +"'Tis well, most reverend sir. I thank you," said Grace, with a curtsy. +"Now sit you down, I pray, for presently I have a tale to tell." + +Having conducted Mr. Bright with great ceremony to the arm chair in the +corner, Grace established him with many low bows, much to the amusement +of the girls, with whom Jessica's father was a great favorite. Then +Grace began with her meeting with Mabel Allison and ended with the +letter from Mary Stevens, enclosing the matron's statement. + +"Now, those are all the facts of the case, Mr. Bright," she concluded. +"Will it be possible for us to get Mabel away from Miss Brant, or can +Miss Brant hold her against her will?" + +"Miss Stevens' letter and the matron's statement are sufficient," +answered Mr. Bright. "This woman cannot hold your little friend. Miss +Brant will in all probability be very angry, and attempt to brave the +matter out. Suppose you and Jessica and I go down there together, Grace, +and see what we can do?" + +"O Mr. Bright!" cried Grace, clasping her hands delightedly, "will you, +truly? Then let's go to-morrow and bring Mabel back with us." + +"Very well; you and Jessica meet me at my office at four o'clock +to-morrow afternoon," said Mr. Bright. "But what do you girls intend to +do with her, once you get her? You can't adopt her, you know." + +"She is to take turns living with us, papa," said Jessica, slipping her +hand into her father's. "May she come here first? I'd love to have her." + +Mr. Bright drew Jessica to his side. "My dear child, you know that you +may do as you please about it. I feel sure that she must be the right +sort of girl, or you and your friends wouldn't have become interested in +her. Try her, and if you like her, then she is welcome to stay as long +as she chooses. I think it would do you good to have a girl of your own +age in the house." + +"Three cheers for Mr. Bright," cried Nora. + +The cheers were given with a will, then the girls joined hands and +danced around Jessica's father, sounding their class yell until he broke +through the circle and made a rush for the library, his fingers to his +ears. + +"Now that we have that question settled," said Miriam Nesbit, after the +girls were once more seated, "I think we ought to have a sorority pin." + +"I think," began Eva Allen, "that my brother would design a pin for us. +He is very clever at that sort of thing." + +"Let's have a monogram," exclaimed Grace. "Old English letters of gold +on a dull-green enamel background. We can get them up for about two +dollars and a half apiece. Is that too expensive?" + +The girls, who, with the exception of Anne, had small allowances of +their own, expressed themselves satisfied; while Anne determined that +for once she was justified in yielding to wild extravagance. + +"That's settled," said Miriam. "The next thing to do is----" + +But a loud ring of the door bell interrupted her speech and caused the +whole party to start. + +"Some one to see papa," said Jessica. "Go on with what you were saying, +Miriam." + +But before Miriam had a chance to continue, the maid entered the room, a +letter in her hand. + +"Here's a letter, Miss Jessica," she said. "But it's such a quare name +on the outside, I be wondering if it's fur yerself and no other?" + +Jessica looked at the envelope. It was addressed to the "Phi Sigma Tau, +care of Miss Jessica Bright." + +"Why, who in the world can this be from? I thought no one outside knew +the name of our society as yet," said Jessica as she opened the end of +the envelope. Then she turned the page, glanced at the signature, and +gave a little cry of surprise. + +"Just listen to this, girls!" she exclaimed, and read: + + "'TO THE PHI SIGMA TAU: + + "'After initiating me into your ridiculous society, + you have seen fit to call a meeting of the members + without directly notifying me, therefore I wish to + withdraw from your sorority, as I feel that I have + been deeply insulted. I have this satisfaction, + however, that I would not have met with you to-night, + at any rate. I am entertaining some girls in your + class this evening, whom I find far more congenial + than any previous acquaintances I have made in + Oakdale. We are about to organize a sorority of our + own. Our object will be to enjoy ourselves, not to + continually preach to other people. I am deeply + disappointed in all of you, and assure you that + I am not in the least desirous of continuing your + acquaintance. + + "'Yours sincerely, + "'ELEANOR SAVELL.'" + +"Well, of all things!" exclaimed Nora O'Malley. "She says she is deeply +insulted because we didn't invite her, but that she didn't intend to +come, at any rate. There's a shining example of consistency for you!" + +"Who on earth told her about the meeting?" said Jessica. "We didn't wait +to ask her to-day." + +"I shall have to confess that I am the guilty one," said Eva Allen. "You +didn't say anything to Miriam, Marian and me about Eleanor, and when +I left the locker-room I went back upstairs after a book I had forgotten. +I met Eleanor on the stairs and told her about the meeting, and that you +were waiting in the locker-room for her. You must have left before she +got there, and, of course, she thought you did it purposely." + +"Oh, dear, what a mess," sighed Grace. "I didn't mean to slight her. But +Nora said she knew, positively, that Eleanor was entertaining some +guests to-night, so I didn't wait. By the way, Nora, what was that news +of yours that you were so mysterious about this afternoon?" + +"Just this," replied Nora. "That Edna Wright told me, that I needn't +think we were the only people that could have a sorority. I asked her +what she meant, and she said that she and Rose Lynton and Daisy Culver +had been invited out to Eleanor's to-night for the purpose of forming a +very select club of their own. I am sorry I didn't tell you while in the +locker-room, but you would insist on having secrets, so I thought I'd +have one, too." + +"Well, it can't be helped now," said Grace. "It is a pity that Eleanor +has taken up with Edna Wright. She is the only girl in the class that +I really dislike. She is frivolous and empty-headed, and Eleanor is +self-willed and lawless. Put them together, and they will make a bad +combination. As to the other two girls, they are sworn friends of +Edna's." + +"I think," said Nora, "that our reform movement is about to end in a +glaring fizzle." + +"How can we reform a person who won't have anything to do with us?" +asked Jessica scornfully. + +"Let us hold her place in this sorority open for her, and let us make it +our business to be ready to help her if she needs us," said Anne +thoughtfully. "Like all spoiled children, she is sure to get into +mischief, and just as sure to come to grief. Mark my words, some day +she'll be glad to come back to the Phi Sigma Tau." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE RESCUE PARTY + + +It was with mingled feelings of excitement and trepidation that Grace +Harlowe and Jessica Bright hurried toward the office of the latter's +father the following afternoon. Now that they were fairly started on +their mission of rescue, they were not quite so confident as to the +result. To be sure they had unlimited faith in Jessica's father, but it +was so much easier to talk about taking Mabel away from Miss Brant than +to do it. + +"I'm terribly afraid of facing her," confided Jessica to Grace. "She is +the terror of Oakdale, you know." + +"She can't hurt us," said Grace. "Your father will do all the talking. +All we need to do is to take charge of Mabel, after Miss Brant gives her +up." + +"Well, young ladies," said Mr. Bright, as the two girls entered his +office, "I see you are prompt in keeping your appointment. Let us go at +once, for I must be back here at five o'clock." + +"What are you going to say to that terrible woman, papa?" shuddered +Jessica as they neared the Brant home. "I'm afraid she'll scratch your +eyes out." + +"Am I really in such serious danger?" asked Mr. Bright in mock alarm. +"I am glad I brought you girls along to protect me." + +"You haven't any idea what a crank she is, Mr. Bright," laughed Grace. +"She fairly snarled at us the other day, when we were coming from +school, because she said we were taking up the whole sidewalk. Poor +little Mabel, no wonder she has a scared look in her eyes all the time." + +"Well, here we are," responded Mr. Bright, as he rang the bell. "Now for +the tug of war." + +As he spoke the door was opened by Mabel, who positively shook in her +shoes when she saw her visitors. "Don't be frightened," whispered Grace, +taking her hand. "We have come for you." + +"May I speak with Miss Brant?" asked Mr. Bright courteously, as they +stepped into the narrow hall. + +Before Mabel had time to answer, a tall, raw-boned woman, with a hard, +forbidding face, shoved her aside and confronted them. It was Miss Brant +herself. + +"Well, what do you want?" she said rudely. + +"Good afternoon," said Mr. Bright courteously. "Am I speaking to Miss +Brant?" + +"I guess likely you are," responded the woman, "and you better state +your business now, for I've no time to fool away on strangers." + +"You have a young girl with you by the name of Mabel Allison, have you +not?" asked Mr. Bright. + +"Yes, I have. What's the matter with her? Has she been gettin' into +mischief? If she has, I'll tan her hide," said Miss Brant, with a +threatening gesture. + +"On the contrary," replied Mr. Bright, "I hear very good reports of her. +Has she lived with you long?" + +"That's none of your business," snapped Miss Brant. "If you've come here +to quiz me and pry around about her, you can get right out, for I'm not +answering any fool questions." + +"I will not trouble you with further questions," replied Mr. Bright, +"but will proceed at once to business. I have come to take Miss Mabel +away with me. She has found friends who are willing to help her until +she finishes her education, and she wishes to go to them." + +"Oh, she does, does she?" sneered the woman mockingly. "Well, you just +take her, if you dare." + +"Have you legally adopted her?" asked Mr. Bright quietly. + +"That's none of your business, either. You get out of my house or I'll +throw you out and these two snips of girls with you," almost screamed +Miss Brant. + +"That will do," said Mr. Bright sternly. "We will go, but we shall take +Miss Mabel with us. I am a lawyer, Miss Brant, and I have positive proof +that this child is not bound to you in any way. You took her from the +orphanage on trial, exactly as you might hire a servant. You did not +even take the trouble to have yourself appointed her guardian. You +agreed to pay her for her work, but blows and harsh words are the only +payment she has ever received at your hands. She wishes to leave you +because she can no longer endure life with you. You haven't the +slightest claim upon her, and she is perfectly free to do as she +chooses. She is not of age yet, but as you are not her guardian, you had +no right to take money that she has earned from her, and she can call +you to account for it if she chooses. However, you have imposed upon her +for the last time, for she shall not spend another hour under your +roof." + +"You touch her if you dare. She shan't leave this house," said the woman +in a furious tone. + +"Mabel," said Mr. Bright to the young girl, who was cowering at one end +of the hall, "get your things and come at once. We will wait for you. +As for you," turning to Miss Brant, "if you try to stop her, you will +soon find yourself in a most unpleasant position. I am certain that if +you think back for an instant you will realize that you have forfeited +all right to object." + +For a moment Miss Brant stood speechless with anger, then in her wrath +she poured forth such a flood of abuse that the rescue party stared in +amazement. Never had they seen such an exhibition of temper. When Mabel +appeared, her shabby hat in her hand, Miss Brant reached forward and +tore the hat from her. + +"Don't you dare leave my house with any of my property, you baggage," +she hissed. "I paid for that hat and for the clothes you're wearing, and +you'll send every stitch you've on back to me, or I'll have you arrested +for stealing." + +[Illustration: "Don't You Dare Leave This House With My Property."] + +"Come on, Mabel," said Grace, putting her arm around the shrinking +little figure. "Don't pay any attention to her. She isn't worth +bothering over. You can send her back her ridiculous things. You are +going to be happy now, and forget all about this cruel, terrible woman." + +"You brazen imp, you," screamed the woman, and rushed at Grace, who +stood perfectly still, looking the angry woman in the face with such +open scorn in her gray eyes that Miss Brant drew back and stood scowling +at her, her hands working convulsively. + +"Come, girls," said Mr. Bright. "We have no more time to waste. If you +have anything to say to me, Miss Brant, you can always find me at my +office on East Main Street. The clothing now worn by Miss Mabel will be +returned to you in due season. Good afternoon." + +Mr. Bright, bowing politely, motioned to the three young girls to +precede him, and the party went quietly down the walk, leaving Miss +Brant in the open door, shaking her fist and uttering dire threats. + +As for Mabel, she collapsed utterly, crying as though her heart would +break. Grace and Jessica exerted every effort to quiet her sobs, and +after a little she looked up, and, smiling through her tears, said +brokenly: "I can't believe that it's all true--that I shall never have +to go back there again. I'm afraid that it's all a dream and that I'll +wake up and find her standing over me. Can she get me again?" she said, +turning piteously to Mr. Bright. + +"My dear little girl," he said, taking her hand, "she can't touch you. +I'll adopt you myself before I'll let you go back to her. Now run along +with Jessica and forget all about what has passed. Good-bye, Grace. You +see, your rescue party proved a success. Good-bye, daughter. Take good +care of Mabel. I'll have to hurry now, or miss my appointment." + +Mr. Bright beamed on the three girls, raised his hat and hurried down +the street, leaving them to proceed slowly toward Jessica's home. +Passersby glanced curiously at the hatless, shabby young girl, as she +walked between Grace and Jessica, clinging to their hands as though +expecting every minute to be snatched from them. + +"Well, girls," said Grace, "here is my street. I must leave you now. Be +good children, and----" + +She was interrupted by an exultant shriek, and a second later five girls +appeared as by magic and gleefully surrounded the rescue party. The Phi +Sigma Tau was out in full force. + +"Hurrah!" shrieked Nora, waving her school bag. "'We have met the enemy +and they are ours.' Tell us about it quickly. Why didn't you let me go +along? I was dying to cross swords with that old stone face." + +Then everyone talked at once, surrounding Mabel and asking her questions +until Grace said, laughing: "Stop it, girls; let her get used to you +gradually. Don't come down on her like an avalanche." + +Mabel, however, was equal to the occasion. She answered their questions +without embarrassment, and seemed quietly pleased at their +demonstrations. + +"You are the child of the sorority now, Mabel," said Miriam Nesbit, "and +we are your adopted mothers. You will have your hands full trying to +please all of us." + +"Stop teasing her," said Anne, "or she'll run away before she is fairly +adopted." + +"It is very uncertain as to whether she will ever go further than my +house," said Jessica calmly. "I need Mabel more than do the rest of you, +but perhaps if you're good I'll loan her to you occasionally. Come on, +Mabel, let's go home before they spoil you completely." + +"Considering the fact that the Bright family did two thirds of the +rescuing, I suppose we shall have to respect your claim," said Nora, +"but remember, Jessica, that generosity is a beautiful virtue to +cultivate." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +JULIA PERFORMS A SACRED DUTY + + +"What have we ever done that we should be so neglected?" said David +Nesbit, swinging himself from his motorcycle and landing squarely in +front of Grace Harlowe and Anne Pierson while they were out walking one +afternoon. + +"Why, David Nesbit, how can you make such statements?" replied Grace, +looking at the young man in mock disapproval. "You know perfectly well +that you've been shut up in your old laboratory all fall. We have +scarcely seen you since the walking party. You have even given football +the go by, and I'm so sorry, for you were a star player last year." + +"I see you have discovered the secrets of my past life," replied David, +laughing. "That's what comes of having a sister who belongs to a +sorority. However, you folks are equally guilty, you've all gone mad +over your sorority, and left Hippy and Reddy and me to wander about +Oakdale like lost souls. I hear you've adopted a girl, too. Reddy is +horribly jealous of her. He says Jessica won't look at him any more." + +"Reddy is laboring under a false impression," said Anne. "He is head +over heels in football practice and has forgotten he ever knew Jessica. +As for Hippy, Nora says that he is studying night and day, and that he +is actually wearing himself away by burning midnight oil." + +"Yes, Hippy is studying some this year," replied David. "You see this is +our senior year, and we are going to enter the same college next year, +if all goes well. You know Hippy never bothered himself much about +study, just managed to scrape through. But now he'll have to hustle if +he gets through with High School this year, and he's wide awake to that +fact." + +"Under those circumstances, Hippy is forgiven, but not you and Reddy!" +said Grace severely. "You'll have to have better excuses than football +and experiments." + +"I'll tell you what we'll do to square ourselves," said David, smiling. +"We'll take you girls to the football game next Thursday. It's +Thanksgiving Day, you know, and Oakdale is going to play Georgetown +College. Reddy's on the team, but Hippy and I will do the honors." + +"Fine," replied Grace. "But are you willing to burden yourselves with +some extra girls? You see it's this way. One of the things that our +sorority has pledged itself to do this year is to look up the stray +girls in High School, and see that they are not lonely and homesick +during holiday seasons. I used to know nearly all the girls in school, +but ever so many new ones have crept in, and some of them have come here +from quite a distance, on account of the excellence of our High School. +After we adopted Mabel Allison, we began looking about us for other fish +to fry, and found out about these girls. So every girl in the sorority +has invited one or more of these lonely ones for Thanksgiving Day. They +are to come in the morning and stay until the lights go out, which will +be late, for mother has consented to let me have a party and all those +new girls are to be the guests of honor. + +"Mrs. Gray is in it, too. She insists on having Anne with her on +Thanksgiving, although Anne had invited two girls to her house," +continued Grace. "Mrs. Gray had planned a party for us, but when we told +her what we were about to do, she gave up her party and agreed to go to +mine instead, on condition that Anne's family, plus Anne's two guests, +should have dinner with her." + +"Bless her dear heart," said David, "she is always thinking of the +pleasure of others. Now about the football game. Bring your girls along +and I'll do my best to give them a good time, although I'm generally +anything but a success with new girls. However, Hippy makes up for what +I lack. He can entertain a regiment of them, and not even exert himself. +Now I must leave you, for I have a very important engagement at home." + +"In the laboratory, I suppose," said Anne teasingly. + +"Just so," replied David. "Good-bye, girls. Let me know how many tickets +you want for the game." He raised his cap, mounted his machine and was +off down the street. + +"It will seem good to have a frolic with the boys again, won't it?" said +Grace to Anne as they strolled along. + +"We do seem to be getting awfully serious and settled of late," replied +Anne. "Why, this sorority business has taken up all our spare time +lately. We've had so many special meetings." + +"I know it," replied Grace, "but after Thanksgiving we'll only meet once +in two weeks, for I must get my basketball team in shape, and you see +all the members belong to the society." + +"You ought to do extra good work this year," observed Anne, "for the +team is absolutely harmonious. Last season seems like a dream to me +now." + +"It was real enough then," replied Grace grimly. "I have forgiven, long +ago, but I have not forgotten the way some of those girls performed last +year. It was remarkable that things ever straightened themselves. The +clouds looked black for a while, didn't they?" + +Anne pressed Grace's hand by way of answer. The sophomore year had been +crowded with many trials, some of them positive school tragedies, in +which Anne and Grace had been the principal actors. + +"What are you two mooning over?" asked a gay voice, and the two girls +turned with a start to find Julia Crosby grinning cheerfully at them. + +"O Julia, how glad I am to see you at close range!" exclaimed Grace. +"Admiring you from a distance isn't a bit satisfactory." + +"Business, children, business," said Julia briskly. "That's the only +thing that keeps me from your side. The duties of the class president +are many and irksome. At the present moment I've a duty on hand that +I don't in the least relish, and I want your august assistance. Will you +promise to help before I tell you?" + +"Why, of course," answered Grace and Anne in the same breath. "What is +it you want us to do?" + +"Well, it seems that some of your juniors are still in need of +discipline. You remember the hatchet that we buried last year with such +pomp and ceremony?" + +"Yes, yes," was the answer. + +"This morning I overheard certain girls planning to go out to the +Omnibus House after school to-morrow and dig up the poor hatchet and +flaunt it in the seniors' faces the day of the opening basketball game, +simply to rattle us. Just as though it wouldn't upset your team as much +as ours. It's an idiotic trick, at any rate, and anything but funny. Now +I propose to take four of our class, and you must select four of yours. +We'll hustle out there the minute school is over to-morrow, and be ready +to receive the marauders when they arrive. Select your girls, but don't +tell them what you want or they may tell some one about it beforehand." + +"Well, of all impudence!" exclaimed Anne. "Who are the girls, Julia? Are +you sure they're juniors?" + +"The two I heard talking are juniors. I don't know who else is in it. +They'll be very much astonished to find us 'waiting at the +church'--Omnibus House, I mean," said Julia, "and I imagine they'll feel +rather silly, too." + +"Tell us who they are, Julia," said Grace. "We don't want to go into +this blindfolded." + +"Wait and see," replied Julia tantalizingly. "Then you'll feel more +indignant and can help my cause along all the better. I give you my word +that the girls I overheard talking are not particular friends of yours. +You aren't going to back out, are you, and leave me without proper +support?" + +"Of course not," laughed Grace. "Don't worry. We'll support you, only +you must agree to do all the talking." + +"I shall endeavor to overcome their insane freshness with a few +well-chosen words," Julia promised. "Be sure and be on hand early." + +Grace chose Anne, Nora, Jessica and Marian Barber, the latter three +being considerably mystified at her request, but nevertheless agreeing +to be on hand when school closed. They were met at the gate by Julia and +four other seniors, and the whole party set out for the Omnibus House +without delay. + +Grace walked with Julia, and the two girls found plenty to say to each +other during the walk. Julia was studying hard, she told Grace. She +wanted to enter Smith next year. + +"I don't know where I shall go after I finish High School," said Grace. +"Ethel Post wants me to go to Wellesley. She'll be a junior when I'm a +freshman. You know, she was graduated from High School last June and she +could help me a lot in getting used to college. But I don't know +whether I should like Wellesley. I shall not try to decide where I want +to go for a while yet." + +"Wherever we are we'll write and always be friends," said Julia, and +Grace warmly acquiesced. + +As they neared the old Omnibus House they could see no one about. + +"We're early!" exclaimed Julia. "The enemy has not arrived. Thank +goodness, it's not cold to-day or we might have a chilly vigil. Now +listen, all ye faithful, while I set forth the object of this walk." She +thereupon related what Grace and Anne already knew. + +"What a shame!" cried Marian Barber. "It isn't the hatchet we care for, +it's the principle of the thing. Give them what they deserve, Julia." + +"Never fear," replied Julia. "I'll effectually attend to their case. Now +we'd better dodge around the corner and keep out of sight until they get +here. Then we'll swoop down upon them unawares." + +The avengers hurriedly concealed themselves at the side of the old house +where they could not be seen by an approaching party. + +They had not waited long before they heard voices. + +"They're coming," whispered Julia. "There are eight of them. Form in +line and when they get nicely started, we'll circle about them and hem +them in. I'll give you the signal." + +The girls waited in silence. "They have trowels," Julia informed them +from time to time. "They have a spade. They've begun to dig, and they +are having their own troubles, for the ground is hard. All ready! +March!" + +Softly the procession approached the spot where the marauders were +energetically digging. Grace gave a little gasp, and reaching back +caught Anne's hand. + +The girl using the spade was Eleanor. + +"Now I'm in for it," groaned Grace. "She's down on me now, and she'll be +sure to think I organized the whole thing." For an instant Grace +regretted making the promise to Julia, before learning the situation; +then, holding her head a trifle more erect, she decided to make the best +of her unfortunate predicament. + +"It isn't Julia's fault," she thought. "She probably knows nothing about +our acquaintance with Eleanor; besides, Eleanor has no business to play +such tricks. Edna Wright must have told her all about last year." + +Her reflections were cut short, for one of the girls glanced up from her +digging with a sudden exclamation which drew all eyes toward Julia and +her party. + +"Well, little folks," said Julia in mock surprise, "what sort of a party +is this? Are you making mud pies or are you pretending you are at the +seashore?" + +At Julia's first words Eleanor dropped the small spade she held and +straightened up, the picture of defiance. Her glance traveled from girl +to girl, and she curled her lip contemptuously as her eye rested on +Grace and Anne. The other diggers looked sheepishly at Julia, who stood +eyeing them in a way that made them feel "too foolish for anything," as +one of them afterwards expressed it. + +"Why don't you answer me, little girls?" asked Julia. "Has the kitty +stolen your tongue?" + +This was too much for Eleanor. + +"How dare you speak to us in that manner and treat us as though we were +children?" she burst forth. "What business is it of yours why we are +here? Do you own this property?" + +"Mercy, no," replied Julia composedly. "Do you?" + +"No," replied Eleanor a trifle less rudely, "but we have as much right +here as you have." + +"Granted," replied Julia calmly. "However, there is this difference. +You are here to make mischief and we are here to prevent it, and, +furthermore, are going to do so." + +"What do you mean?" retorted Eleanor, her eyes flashing. + +"Just this," replied Julia. "Last year the girls belonging to the +present senior and junior classes met on this very spot and amicably +disposed of a two-year-old class grudge. Emblematic of this they buried +a hatchet, once occupying a humble though honorable position in the +Crosby family, but cheerfully sacrificed for the good of the cause. + +"Yesterday," continued Julia, "I overheard two juniors plotting to get +possession of this same hatchet for the purpose of flaunting it in the +faces of the seniors at the opening basketball game. Therefore I decided +to take a hand in things, and here I am, backed by girls from both +classes, who are of the self-same mind." + +"Really, Miss Crosby," said Edna Wright, "you are very amusing." + +"My friends all think so," returned Julia sweetly, "but never mind now +about my amusing qualities, Edna. Let's talk about the present +situation." + +She looked at Edna with the old-time aggravating smile that was always +warranted to further incense her opponent. It had its desired effect, +for Edna fairly bristled with indignation and was about to make a +furious reply when she was pushed aside by Eleanor, who said loftily, +"Allow me to talk to this person, Edna." + +"No," said Julia resolutely, every vestige of a smile leaving her face +at Eleanor's words. "It would be useless for you to attempt to be +spokesman in this matter, because you are a new girl in High School and +know nothing of past class matters except from hearsay. But you have +with you seven girls who do know all about the enmity that was buried +here last spring, and who ought to have enough good sense to know that +this afternoon's performance is liable to bring it to life again. + +"If you girls carry this hatchet to school and exhibit it to the seniors +on the day of the game you are apt to start bad feeling all over again," +she said, turning to the others. "There are sure to be some girls in the +senior class who would resent it. Neither class has played tricks on the +other since peace was declared, and we don't want to begin now. + +"That's the reason I asked Grace to appoint a committee of juniors and +come out here with me. I feel sure that under the circumstances the +absent members of both classes would agree with us if they were present. +Digging up a rusty old hatchet is nothing, but digging up a rusty old +grudge is quite another matter. We didn't come here to quarrel, but I +appeal to you, as members of the junior class, to think before you do +something that is bound to cause us all annoyance and perhaps +unhappiness." + +There was complete silence after Julia finished speaking. What she had +said evidently impressed them. Eleanor alone looked belligerent. + +"Perhaps we'd better let the old hatchet alone," Daisy Culver said +sullenly. "The fun is all spoiled now, and everyone will know about it +before school begins to-morrow." + +"Daisy, how can you say so?" exclaimed Grace, who, fearing a scene with +Eleanor, had hitherto remained silent. "You know perfectly well that +none of us will say anything about it. Why, we came out here simply to +try to prevent your doing something that might stir up trouble again +between the senior and junior classes. There isn't a girl here who would +be so contemptible as to tell any one outside about what has happened +to-day." + +This was Eleanor's opportunity. Turning furiously on Grace, her eyes +flashing, she exclaimed: "Yes, there is one girl who would tell +anything, and that girl is you! You pretend to be honorable and +high-principled, but you are nothing but a hypocrite and a sneak. +I would not trust you as far as I could see you. I have no doubt Miss +Crosby obtained her information about this affair to-day from you, and +that everyone in school will hear it from the same source. You seem +determined to meddle with matters that do not concern you, and I warn +you that if you do not change your tactics you may regret it. + +"You seem to think yourself the idol of your class, but there are some +of the girls who are too clever to be deceived. They do not belong among +the number who trail tamely after you, either. And now I wish to say +that I despise you and all your friends, and wish never to speak to any +of you again. Come on, girls," she said, turning to the members of her +party, who had listened in silent amazement to her attack upon Grace. +"Let us go. Let them keep their trumpery hatchet." + +With these words she turned and stalked across the field to the road, +where her runabout stood. After an instant's hesitation, she was +followed by Edna, Daisy Culver and those who had come with her. +Henceforth there would again be two distinct factions in the junior +class. + +"Good gracious," exclaimed Julia Crosby. "Talk about your human +whirlwinds! What on earth did you ever do to her, Grace?" + +But Grace could not answer. She was winking hard to keep back the tears. +Twice she attempted to speak and failed. "Never mind her, dear," said +Julia, slipping her arm about Grace, while the other girls gathered +round with many expressions of displeasure at Eleanor's cruel speech. + +"I can't help feeling badly," said Grace, with a sob. "She said such +dreadful things." + +"No one who knows you would believe them," replied Julia. "By the way, +who is she? I know her name is Savell and that she's a recent arrival in +Oakdale, but considering the plain and uncomplimentary manner in which +she addressed you, you must have seriously offended her ladyship." + +"I'll tell you about her as we walk along," replied Grace, wiping her +eyes and smiling a little. + +"Yes, we had better be moving," said Julia. "The battle is over. No one +has been killed and only one wounded. Nevertheless, the enemy has +retired in confusion." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +WORRIES AND PLANS + + +Although the girls belonging to Julia's party were silent concerning +what happened at the Omnibus House, the story leaked out, creating +considerable discussion among the members of the two upper classes. +Julia Crosby had a shrewd suspicion that Edna Wright had been the +original purveyor of the news, and in this she was right. Edna had, +under pledge of secrecy, told it to a sophomore, who immediately told it +to her dearest friend, and so the tale traveled until it reached +Eleanor, with numerous additions, far from pleasing to her. She was +thoroughly angry, and at once laid the matter at Grace's door, while her +animosity toward Grace grew daily. + +But Grace was not the only person that Eleanor disliked. From the day +that Miss Thompson had taken her to task for absence, she had +entertained a supreme contempt for the principal of which Miss Thompson +was wholly unaware until, encountering Eleanor one morning in the +corridor, the latter had stared at her with an expression of such open +scorn and dislike that Miss Thompson felt her color rise. A direct slap +in the face could scarcely have conveyed greater insult than did that +one insolent glance. The principal was at a loss as to its import. She +wisely decided to ignore it, but stored it up in her memory for future +reference. + +The sorority that Eleanor had mentioned in her letter to the Phi Sigma +Tau, was now in full flower. The seven girls who had accompanied her to +the Omnibus House were the chosen members. They wore pins in the shape +of skulls and cross bones, and went about making mysterious signs to +each other whenever they met. The very name of the society was shrouded +in mystery, though Nora O'Malley was heard to declare that she had no +doubt it was a branch of the "Black Hand." + +Eleanor was the acknowledged leader, but Edna Wright became a close +second, and between them they managed to disseminate a spirit of +mischief throughout the school that the teachers found hard to combat. + +Grace Harlowe watched the trend that affairs were taking with +considerable anxiety. Like herself, there were plenty of girls in school +to whom mischief did not appeal, but Eleanor's beauty, wealth and +fascinating personality were found to dazzle some of the girls, who +would follow her about like sheep, and it was over these girls that +Grace felt worried. If Eleanor were to organize and carry out any +malicious piece of mischief and they were implicated, they would all +have to suffer for what she would be directly responsible. Grace's heart +was with her class. She wished it to be a class among classes, and felt +an almost motherly anxiety for its success. + +"What does ail some of our class?" she exclaimed to Anne and Nora one +day as they left the school building. "They seem possessed with imps. +The Phi Sigma Tau girls and a few of the grinds are really the only ones +who behave lately." + +"It's largely due to Eleanor, I think," replied Anne. "She seems to have +become quite a power among some of the girls in the class. She is +helping to destroy that spirit of earnestness that you have tried so +hard to cultivate. I think it's a shame, too. The upper class girls +ought to set the example for the two lower classes." + +"That's just what worries me," said Grace earnestly. "Hardly a +recitation passes in my class without some kind of disturbance, and it +is always traced to one of the girls in that crowd. The juniors will get +the reputation among the teachers this year that the junior class had +last, and it seems such a pity. I overheard Miss Chester tell Miss Kane +the other day that her junior classes were the most trying of the day, +because she had to work harder to maintain discipline than to teach her +subject." + +"That's a nice reputation to carry around, isn't it!" remarked Nora +indignantly. "But all we can do is to try harder than ever to make +things go smoothly. I don't believe their society will last long, at any +rate. Those girls are sure to quarrel among themselves, and that will +end the whole thing. Or they may go too far and have Miss Thompson to +reckon with, and that would probably cool their ardor." + +"O girls!" exclaimed Grace. "Speaking of Miss Thompson, reminds me that +I have something to tell you. What do you suppose the latest is?" + +"If you know anything new, it is your duty to tell us at once, without +making us beg for it," said Nora reprovingly. + +"All right; I accept the reproof," said Grace. "Now for my news. There +is talk of giving a Shakespearian play, with Miss Tebbs to engineer it, +and the cast to be chosen from the three lower classes. The seniors, of +course, will give their own play later." + +"How did you find out?" asked Anne. + +"Miss Thompson herself told me about it," replied Grace. "She called on +mother yesterday afternoon, and, for a wonder, I was at home. She said +that it was not positively decided yet, but if the girls did well with +the mid-year tests, then directly after there would be a try out for +parts, and rehearsals would begin without delay." + +"How splendid!" exclaimed Anne, clasping her hands. "How I would love to +take part in it!" + +"You will, without doubt, if there is a try out," replied Grace. "There +is no one in school who can recite as you do; besides, you have been on +the stage." + +"I shall try awfully hard for a part, even if it is only two lines," +said Anne earnestly. "I wonder what play is to be chosen, and if it is +to be given for the school only?" + +"The play hasn't been decided upon yet," replied Grace, "but the object +of it is to get some money for new books for the school library. The +plan is to charge fifty cents a piece for the tickets and to give each +girl a certain number of them to sell. However, I'm not going to bother +much about the play now, for the senior team has just sent me a +challenge to play them Saturday, December 12th. So I'll have to get the +team together and go to work." + +"We're awfully late this year about starting. Don't you think so?" asked +Nora. + +"Yes," admitted Grace. "I am just as enthusiastic over basketball as +ever, only I haven't had the time to devote to it that I did last year." + +"Never mind, you'll make up for lost time after Thanksgiving," said Anne +soothingly. "As for me, I'm going to dream about the play." + +"Anne, I believe you have more love for the stage than you will admit," +said Grace, laughing. "You are all taken up with the idea of this play." + +"If one could live in the same atmosphere as that of home, then there +could be no profession more delightful than that of the actor," replied +Anne thoughtfully. "It is wonderful to feel that one is able to forget +one's self and become some one else. But it is more wonderful to make +one's audience feel it, too. To have them forget that one is anything +except the living, breathing person whose character one is trying to +portray. I suppose it's the sense of power that one has over people's +emotions that makes acting so fascinating. It is the other side that +I hate," she added, with a slight shudder. + +"I suppose theatrical people do undergo many hardships," said Grace, +who, now that the subject had been opened, wanted to hear more of Anne's +views of the stage. + +"Unless any girl has remarkable talent, I should advise her to keep off +the stage," said Anne decidedly. "Of course when a girl comes of a +theatrical family for generations, like Maud Adams or Ethel Barrymore, +then that is different. She is practically born, bred and brought up in +the theatre. She is as carefully guarded as though she lived in a little +village, simply because she knows from babyhood all the unpleasant +features of the profession and how to avoid them. There is some chance +of her becoming great, too. Of course real stars do appear once in a +while, who are too talented to be kept down. However, the really great +ones are few and far between. When I compare my life before I came here +with the good times I have had since I met you girls, I hate the very +idea of the stage. + +"Only," she concluded with a shame-faced air, "there are times when the +desire to act is irresistible, and it did make my heart beat a little +bit faster when I heard about the play." + +"You dear little mouse," said Grace, putting her arm around Anne. "I +was only jesting when I spoke about your love for the stage. I think +I understand how you feel, and I hope you get the best part in the play. +I know you'll make good." + +"She certainly will," said Nora. "But, to give the play a rest and come +down to everyday affairs, where shall we meet to go to the football +game?" + +"Let me see," said Grace. "The game is to be called at three o'clock. +I suppose we shall all be through dinner by half past two. You had better +bring your girls to my house. Each of you is to have two and Jessica has +one besides Mabel. I am to have three; I found another yesterday. David +promised to get me the tickets. I wonder how he and Hippy will enjoy +chaperoning thirteen girls?" + +"I won't have the slightest chance to talk to Hippy," grumbled Nora, +"and he has neglected us shamefully of late, too." + +"Never mind, you can have him all to yourself at my party," consoled +Grace. "By the way, girls, do you think it would be of any use to invite +Eleanor?" + +"Eleanor?" exclaimed Nora. "After what she has said to you! You might as +well throw your invitation into the fire, for it's safe to say that she +will do so when she receives it." + +Nevertheless, Grace wrote a cordial little note to Eleanor that evening, +and two days later she received Eleanor's reply through the mail. On +opening the envelope the pieces of her own note fell out, with a half +sheet of paper containing the words, "Declined with thanks." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A RECKLESS CHAUFFEUR + + +Thanksgiving Day dawned bright and clear, with just enough frost in the +air to make one's blood tingle. It had been a mild fall, with a late +Indian summer, and only one or two snow flurries that had lasted but a +few hours. This was unusual for Oakdale, as winter generally came with a +rush before the middle of November, and treated the inhabitants of that +northern city to a taste of zero weather long before the Christmas +holidays. + +It was with a light heart that Grace Harlowe ate her breakfast and +flitted about the house, putting a final touch here and there before +receiving her guests. Before eleven o'clock everything was finished, and +as she arranged the last flower in its vase she felt a little thrill of +pride as she looked about the pretty drawing room. Before going upstairs +to dress, she ran into the reception hall for the fourth time to feast +her eyes upon a huge bunch of tall chrysanthemums in the beautiful +Japanese vase that stood in the alcove under the stairs. They had come +about an hour before with a note from Tom Gray saying that he had +arrived in Oakdale that morning, had seen the boys and would be around +to help David and Reddy at the "girl convention," as he termed it. + +Grace was overjoyed at the idea of seeing Tom Gray again. They had been +firm friends since her freshman year, and had entertained a wholesome, +boy-and-girl preference for each other untinged by any trace of foolish +sentimentality. + +As she dressed for dinner, Grace felt perfectly happy except for one +thing. She still smarted a little at Eleanor's rude reply to her +invitation. She was one of those tender-hearted girls who disliked being +on bad terms with any one, and she really liked Eleanor still, in spite +of the fact that Eleanor did not in the least return the sentiment. + +Grace sighed a little over the rebuff, and then completely forgot her +trouble as she donned the new gown that had just come from the +dressmaker. It was of Italian cloth in a beautiful shade of dark red, +made in one piece, with a yoke of red and gold net, and trimmed with +tiny enameled buttons. It fitted her straight, slender figure perfectly +and she decided that for once she had been wise in foregoing her +favorite blue and choosing red. + +The party that evening was to be a strictly informal affair. Grace had +suspected that the girls whom the members of the Phi Sigma Tau were to +entertain were not likely to possess evening gowns. In order to avoid +any possibility of hurt feelings, she had quietly requested those +invited to wear the afternoon gowns in which they would appear at the +game. + +Before one o'clock her guests had arrived. They were three shy, quiet +girls who had worshiped Grace from a distance, and who had been +surprised almost to tears by her invitation. Two of them were from +Portville, a small town about seventy miles from Oakdale, and had begun +High School with Grace, who had been too busy with her own affairs up to +the present to find out much about them. + +The other girl, Marie Bateman, had entered the class that year. She had +come from a little village forty miles south of Oakdale, was the oldest +of a large family, her mother being a widow of very small means. As her +mother was unable to send her away to school, she had done clerical work +for the only lawyer in the home town for the previous two years, +studying between whiles. She had entered the High School in the junior +class, determining to graduate and then to work her way through Normal +School. By dint of questioning, Grace had discovered that she lived in a +shabby little room in the suburbs, never went anywhere and did anything +honest in the way of earning money that she could find to do. + +The realization of what some of these girls were willing to endure for +the sake of getting an education made Grace feel guilty at being so +comfortably situated. She determined that the holidays that year should +not find them without friends and cheer. + +After a rousing Thanksgiving dinner, in which the inevitable turkey, +with all its toothsome accompaniments, played a prominent part, the +girls retired to Grace's room for a final adjustment of hair and a last +survey in the mirror before going to the game. High School matters +formed the principal theme of conversation, and Grace was not surprised +to learn that Eleanor had been carrying things with a high hand in +third-year French class, in which Ellen Holt, one of the Portville +girls, recited. + +"She speaks French as well as Professor La Roche," said Miss Holt, "but +she nearly drives him crazy sometimes. She will pretend she doesn't +understand him and will make him explain the construction of a sentence +over and over again, or she will argue with him about a point until he +loses his temper completely. She makes perfectly ridiculous caricatures +of him, and leaves them on his desk when class is over, and she asks him +to translate impertinent slang phrases, which he does, sometimes, +before he realizes how they are going to sound. Then the whole class +laughs at him. She certainly makes things lively in that class." + +The sound of the bell cut short the chat and the four girls hurried +downstairs to greet Jessica, Mabel and the girls who were the Bright's +guests. Nora and Anne, with their charges, came next, and last of all +David, Tom and Hippy paraded up the walk, in single file, blowing +lustily on tin horns and waving blue and white banners. A brief season +of introduction followed, then Grace distributed blue and white rosettes +with long streamers that she had made for the occasion, to each member +of the party. Well supplied with Oakdale colors, they set out for the +football grounds, where an immense crowd of people had gathered to see +the big game of the season. + +"I shall never forget the first football game I saw in Oakdale," said +Anne to David as they made their way to the grandstand. "It ended very +sensationally for me." + +"I should say it did," replied David, smiling. "Confidentially, Anne, do +you ever hear from your father?" + +"Not very often," replied Anne. "He is not liable to trouble me again, +however, because he knows that I will not go back to the stage, no +matter what he says. He was with the western company of 'True Hearts' +last year, but I don't know where he is now, and I don't care. Don't +think I'm unfeeling; but it is impossible for me to care for him, even +though he is my father." + +"I understand," said David sympathetically. "Now let's forget him and +have a good time." + +"Hurrah! Here comes the band!" shouted Hippy. + +The "Oakdale Military Band" took their places in the improvised +bandstand and began a short concert before the game with the "Stars and +Stripes," while the spectators unconsciously kept time with their feet +to the inspiring strains. + +When the two teams appeared on the field there were shouts of enthusiasm +from the friends of the players, and the band burst forth with the High +School song, in which the students joined. + +After the usual preliminaries, the game began, and for the next hour +everything else was forgotten save the battle that waged between the two +teams. + +Miriam Nesbit, Eva Allen and Marian Barber, with their guests, joined +Grace's party, and soon the place they occupied became the very center +of enthusiasm. Reddy, who was playing left end on the home team, +received an ovation every time he made a move, and when towards the end +of the game he made a touchdown, his friends nearly split their loyal +throats in expressing their approval. + +It was over at last, and Oakdale had won a complete victory over the +Georgetown foe, who took their defeat with becoming grace. As soon as +Reddy could free himself from the grasp of his school fellows, who would +have borne him from the field in triumph if he had not stoutly resisted, +he hurried to his friends, who showered him with congratulations. + +"O you Titian-haired star!" cried Hippy, clasping his hands in mock +admiration. "You are the rarest jewel in the casket. Words fail to +express my feelings. + + "'O joy, O bliss, O rapture! Let happiness now hap! + I am a sea of gurgling glee, with ecstacy on tap.'" + +Hippy recited this effusion in a killing falsetto voice, and endeavored +to embrace Reddy fervently, but was dragged back by Tom and David, to +Reddy's visible relief. + +"He's the idol of the hour. Don't put your irreverent hands on him," was +David's injunction. + +"But I adore idols," persisted Hippy. "Let me at him." + +"Quit it, fat one!" growled Reddy, with a grin. "I'll settle with you +later." + +With gay laughter and jest, the young folks made their way from the +grounds and started down the road toward home. + +The whole party, walking four abreast, had just turned the curve where +the road ended and Main Street began, when there was a hoarse honk! +honk! and a runabout decorated in blue and white, containing Eleanor and +Edna Wright, bore down upon them at lightning speed. The girls, uttering +little cries of alarm, scattered to both sides of the road, with the +exception of Mabel Allison, who, in her hurry to get out of the way, +stumbled and fell directly in the path of the oncoming machine. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A THANKSGIVING FROLIC + + +But sudden as had been Mabel's fall, Grace Harlowe was equal to the +emergency. With a bound she reached the middle of the road, seized Mabel +and dragged her back just as the runabout passed over the place where +she had fallen. It almost grazed her outstretched hand, then shot on +down the road without slackening its speed for an instant. + +There was a cry of horror from the young folks that ended in a sigh of +relief. David and Tom Gray quickly raised Mabel to her feet and turned +to Grace, whose face was ghastly, while she trembled like a leaf. The +reaction had set in the moment she realized that Mabel was safe. Jessica +and Nora had both begun to cry, while the faces of the others fully +expressed their feelings. + +"Grace," said Tom in a husky voice, "that was the quickest move I ever +saw any one make." + +Grace drew a long breath, the color returned to her pale face and in a +measure she recovered herself. + +"Some one had to do something," she said weakly. "I was the nearest to +her, that's all. Are you hurt, Mabel, dear?" she asked, turning to the +young girl, who stood by Jessica, looking white and dazed. + +"It came so suddenly," she faltered, "I couldn't get up. It was awful!" +She shuddered, then burst into tears, burying her face in Jessica's +shoulder. + +"There, there," soothed Jessica, wiping her own eyes. "It's all right +now. Stand up straight and let me brush your coat. You are all mud." + +"Here come the would-be murderesses now," cried Hippy. "They actually +managed to stop and turn around, and now they are coming this way. One +of them is my pet abomination--Miss Wright. She used to call me 'fatty' +when I was little, and I've never forgiven her. But who is the reckless +young person playing chauffeur? She ought to be put in jail for +exceeding the speed limit." + +"Hush!" said Grace. "Here she is." + +The runabout had stopped and Eleanor alighted. Ignoring the four chums, +she walked up to Miriam Nesbit. + +"Will you please tell me if any one is hurt?" she asked pettishly. +"I saw some one fall, but couldn't stop the machine. I supposed the +highway was for vehicles, not pedestrians four abreast." + +"Miss Savell, you have just missed running over Miss Allison," said +Miriam coldly. "Had it not been for Miss Harlowe, there would have been +a serious accident. I should advise you to drive more carefully in +future, or you may not escape so easily another time." + +Eleanor flushed at these words and said haughtily, "I did not ask for +advice, I asked for information." + +"Very true," replied Miriam calmly, "but you see I have given you both." + +"You are the most ill-bred lot of girls I have ever seen," returned +Eleanor crossly, "and I think you are making a great deal of unnecessary +fuss over a small matter. Why didn't your prize orphan get out of the +way with the rest of you? Besides, you have no right to block a public +highway, as you did. I am very sorry I came back at all." + +Turning on her heel, she walked back to the runabout, climbed in and +drove down the road like the wind, apparently indifferent as to what +comment her heartless behavior might create. + +"Who on earth is that girl?" inquired Reddy Brooks. "She has about as +much sympathy as a stone." + +"That is Eleanor Savell," replied Anne Pierson, "and she can be nice if +she wishes, but she doesn't like us very well. That's why she was so +hateful." + +"So that's the famous Eleanor?" said Tom Gray in a low tone to +Grace. "Aunt Rose was telling me about her this morning at breakfast. +I supposed she was a great friend of yours." + +"She was, but she isn't," returned Grace. "That's rather indefinite. +However, I'll tell you about it as we go back." + +"She certainly can't complain as far as looks are concerned," said +Hippy. "She must have yards of blue ribbon that she won at baby shows +when but a mere infant." + +"Attention, boys and girls," cried Grace. "Let us forget what has +happened and have just as good a time to-night as we can. We mustn't +spoil the party." + +"I move that we give Grace Harlowe a special round of applause for being +a heroine," cried Hippy. "Hurrah!" + +His example was quickly followed and the noise of the cheering brought +people to their doors to see what the excitement was about. + +"Do stop," protested Grace. "People will begin asking all sorts of +questions." + +"Don't interfere with our simple pleasures," expostulated Hippy. "Let us +howl in peace. High School yell next, please." + +By the time the party had reached the center of the town where their +ways parted, the shadow cast by the near accident had almost +disappeared. + +By eight o'clock that evening the last guest had arrived, and the +Harlowe's hospitable home was the scene of radiant good cheer. Mrs. +Gray, enthroned in a big chair in one corner of the drawing room, was in +her element, and the young folks vied with each other in doing her +homage. The sprightly old lady was never so happy as when surrounded by +young folks. She had a word or smile for each one, and the new girls who +had at first felt rather timid about meeting her, were soon entirely at +ease in her presence. + +The greater part of the furniture had been removed from the big living +room and the floor had been crashed; while a string orchestra that made +a specialty of playing for parties had been hired for the pleasure of +those who cared to dance. + +As dancing was the chief amusement at nearly all of the young people's +parties in Oakdale, the floor was filled from the beginning of the first +waltz until supper was announced. This was served at two long tables in +the dining room, Mrs. Gray occupying the seat of honor at the head of +one, and Miss Thompson, who was a favorite at High School parties, the +other. There were miniature ears of corn, turkeys, pumpkins and various +other favors appropriate to Thanksgiving at each one's place. In the +center of one table stood two dolls dressed in the style of costume worn +by the Pilgrim fathers and mothers. They held a scroll between them on +which was printed the Thanksgiving Proclamation. In the center of the +other table were two dolls, one dressed in football uniform, a miniature +football under its arm, while the other, dressed as a High School girl, +held up a blue banner with O. H. S. on it in big, white letters. + +This had been Grace's idea. She had dressed the dolls with the idea of +contrasting the first Thanksgiving with that of to-day. There was a +great craning of necks from those at the one table to see the central +figures on the other, but soon every one settled down to the discussion +of the dainties provided for them. + +The supper ended with a toast to their young hostess, which was drunk +standing, and then the guests repaired to the drawing room, where +impromptu stunts were in order. Every one was obliged to do something, +if only to make a remark appropriate to the occasion. Nora sang, Anne +recited, Grace and Miriam did a Spanish dance that they had practised +during vacation with remarkable spirit and effect. Jessica was then +detailed to play, and under cover of her music, Tom, Reddy, David and +Hippy left the room, Tom returning presently to announce solemnly that +an original one-act drama, entitled "The Suffragette," written by Mr. +Wingate and presented by a notable cast, would be the next offering. + +After a moment's wait, Hippy, Reddy and David appeared, and were greeted +with shouts of laughter. Reddy minced along in a bonnet and skirt +belonging to Mrs. Harlowe, while Hippy wore a long-sleeved gingham +pinafore of Grace's, which lacked considerable of meeting in the back, +and was kept on by means of a sash. After deliberately setting their +stage in full view of the audience at one end of the room, the play +began, with David as the meek, hen-pecked husband, Hippy as the +neglected child, who wept and howled continuously, while Reddy played +the unnatural wife and mother, who neglected her family and held woman's +suffrage meetings in the street. + +The dialogue was clever, and the action of the sketch so ridiculous that +the audience laughed from the first line until the climax, especially +when the suffragette was hustled off to jail by Tom Gray, in the rôle of +a policeman, for disturbing the peace, while her husband and child +executed a wild dance of joy as she was hauled off the scene, protesting +vigorously. + +The applause was tremendous and the cast were obliged to bow their +thanks several times before it subsided. Songs, speeches and recitations +followed rapidly until everyone had contributed something in the way of +a stunt. Then the guests formed two long lines from the living room +straight through the big archway into the drawing room, and soon a +Virginia reel was in full swing, led off by Mr. Harlowe and Mrs. Gray, +who took her steps as daintily as when she had danced at her first party +so many years before. + +After the reel, the young folks romped through "Paul Jones," and then +the party broke up, all declaring that never before had they had quite +such a good time. + +As Grace sleepily prepared for bed, she felt a little thrill of pride at +the success of her party, and her only regret was the fact that of all +those invited, Eleanor was the only one who had refused to be present. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +ELEANOR FINDS A WAY + + +Now that Thanksgiving was past, basketball became the topic of the hour. +The juniors had accepted the challenge of the senior class, and had +agreed to play them on Saturday, December 12, at two o'clock, in the +gymnasium. Only two weeks remained in which to practise. Their sorority +enthusiasm had so completely run away with them that they had even +neglected basketball until now. Therefore Grace Harlowe lost no time +in getting Miss Thompson's permission to use the gymnasium, and promptly +notified her team and the subs. to meet there, in gymnasium suits, +prepared to play, that afternoon. + +The instant the last bell sounded on lessons, ten girls made for their +lockers, and fifteen minutes later the first team and the subs. were +moving toward the gymnasium deep in the discussion of the coming game +and their chances for success over their opponents. + +A brief meeting was held, and the girls were assigned to their +positions. Grace had fully intended that Miriam should play center, but +when she proposed it, Miriam flatly refused to do so, and asked for her +old position of right forward. + +"You are our captain," she declared to Grace, "and the best center +I ever saw on a girls' team. It would be folly to change now. Don't +you agree with me, girls?" + +Nora was detailed as left forward, while Marian Barber and Eva Allen +played right and left guards. The substitutes were also assigned their +positions and practice began. + +Before they had been on the floor twenty minutes the girls were +thoroughly alive to the joy of the game and worked with the old-time +dash and spirit that had won them the championship the previous year. +Now that they were in harmony with each other, they played with +remarkable unity, and after an hour's practice Grace decided that they +were in a fair way to "whip the seniors off the face of the earth." + +"I never saw you girls work better!" she exclaimed. "It will be a sorry +day for the seniors when we line up on the twelfth." + +"There'll be a great gnashing of senior teeth after the game," remarked +Nora confidently. + +"Do you know, girls," said Grace, as they left the gymnasium that +afternoon, "I am sorry that Eleanor won't be peaceable. I wanted her to +like every bit of our school life and thought she'd surely be interested +in basketball. I suppose she will stay away from the game merely +because we are on the team. It is really a shame for her to be so +unreasonable." + +"Grace Harlowe, are you ever going to stop mourning over Eleanor?" cried +Miriam impatiently. "She doesn't deserve your regret and is too selfish +to appreciate it. I know what I am talking about because I used to be +just as ridiculous as she is, and knowing what you suffered through me, +I can't bear to see you unhappy again over some one who is too trivial +to be taken seriously." + +"You're a dear, Miriam!" exclaimed Nora impulsively. + +It was the first time that the once haughty Miriam had ever referred +publicly to past shortcomings, although from the time she and Grace had +settled their difficulties at the close of the sophomore year, she had +been a changed girl. + +"Where are Anne and Jessica to-day?" asked Eva Allen. + +"Anne and Jessica have refused point blank to honor us with their +presence during practice," announced Nora. "I asked Jessica to-day, and +she said that they didn't want to know how we intended to play, for then +they could wax enthusiastic and make a great deal more noise. It is +their ambition to become loud and loyal fans." + +"What a worthy ambition," said Marian Barber, with a giggle. "They are +such noisy creatures already." + +There was more laughing at this, as Anne and Jessica were by far the +quietest members of the sorority. + +"Remember, we practise to-morrow after school," called Grace as she +separated from her team at her street. + +As she walked slowly down the quiet street, deep in thought, her ear +caught the sound of an approaching automobile, and she looked up just in +time to see Eleanor drive by in her machine. Grace nodded to her, but +her salutation met with a chilly stare. + +"How childish she is," thought Grace. "I suppose she thinks that hurts +me. Of course it isn't exactly pleasant, but I'm going to keep on +speaking to her, just the same. I am not angry, even if she is; although +I have far greater cause to be." + +But before the close of the week Grace was destined to cross swords with +Eleanor in earnest, and the toleration she had felt was swallowed up in +righteous indignation. + +During the winter, theatrical companies sometimes visited Oakdale for a +week at a time, presenting, at popular prices, old worn-out plays and +cheap melodramas. These companies gave daily matinées as well as +evening performances, and the more frivolous element of High School +girls had in time past occasionally "skipped school" to spend the +afternoon in the theatre. By the girls, this form of truancy was +considered a "lark," but Miss Thompson did not look at the matter in the +same light, and disciplined the culprit so severely whenever she found +this to be the cause of an afternoon's absence that the girls were slow +to offend in this respect. + +All this Eleanor had heard, among other things, from Edna Wright, but +had paid little attention to it when Edna had told her. Directly after +cutting Grace Harlowe, she had turned her runabout into Main Street, +where a billboard had caught her eye, displaying in glaring red and blue +lettering the fact that the "Peerless Dramatic Company" would open a +week's engagement in Oakdale with daily matinées. + +Eleanor's eyes sparkled. She halted her machine, scanning curiously the +list of plays on the billboard. "The Nihilist's Daughter" was scheduled +for Thursday afternoon, and Eleanor decided to go. She wasn't afraid of +Miss Thompson. Then, possessed with a sudden idea, she laughed +gleefully. At last she had found a way to effectually annoy the +principal. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A WOULD-BE "LARK" + + +Eleanor Savell and the seven girls who formed their sorority were the +first to enter the study hall on Tuesday morning. As soon as a girl from +any of the three lower classes appeared she was approached by some of +the former and a great deal of whispering and subdued laughter went on. +A few girls were seen to shake their heads dubiously, and a number of +those termed "grinds" were not interviewed. The majority, however, +appeared to be highly delighted over what they heard, one group standing +near one of the windows, of which Eleanor was the center, laughed so +loudly that they were sent to their seats. + +Among the number to whom nothing was said were the members of the Phi +Sigma Tau, and as the morning advanced they became fully aware that +something unusual was in the wind. Several times they caught sight of a +folded paper being stealthily passed from one desk to another, but as to +its contents they had no idea, as it was not handed to any one of them. + +At recess there was more grouping and whispering, and Grace was puzzled +and not a little hurt over the way in which she and her friends were +ignored. Such a thing had not happened since the basketball trouble the +previous year. + +"Eleanor started that paper, whatever it is," said Nora O'Malley to the +Phi Sigma Tau, who stood in a group around her desk. "She was here when +I came in this morning, and I was early, too. It is some masterpiece of +mischief on her part, or she wouldn't take the trouble to get here on +time." + +"Here comes Mabel," said Jessica. "Maybe she has seen the paper. Mabel, +dear, did you see that paper that has been going the rounds this +morning?" + +Mabel nodded. + +"What was written on it, Mabel?" asked Grace curiously. + +Mabel looked distressed for a moment then she said, "I wish I might +tell you all about it, but I gave my word of honor before I read it +that I wouldn't mention the contents to any one." + +"Then, of course, we won't ask you," said Anne Pierson quickly. "But +tell us this much--is it about any of us?" + +"No," replied Mabel. "It isn't. It is something I was asked to sign." + +"And did you sign it?" asked Jessica. + +"I certainly did not," responded Mabel. "It was----" she stopped, then +flushed. She had been on the point of telling. "I am sorry I ever saw +it," she continued. "I can't bear to have secrets and not tell you." + +"That's all right, Mabel," said Marian Barber, patting her on the +shoulder. "We don't want you to tell. If it doesn't concern us we don't +care, do we, girls?" + +"No, indeed," was the reply. + +Just then the bell sounded and the girls returned to their seats with +the riddle still unsolved. Nothing more was seen of the mysterious +paper, and Grace came to the conclusion that it had been nothing +important, after all. + +On Wednesday, aside from a little more whispering and significant +glances exchanged among the pupils, not a ripple disturbed the calm of +the study hall. It was therefore a distinct and not altogether pleasant +surprise when Miss Thompson walked into the room, dismissed the senior +class and requested the three lower classes to remain in their seats. + +After the seniors had quietly left the study hall, Miss Thompson stood +gravely regarding the rows of girls before her. Her eyes wandered toward +where Eleanor sat, looking bored and indifferent, and then she looked +toward Grace, whose steady gray eyes were fixed on the principal's face +with respectful attention. + +"I don't believe Grace is guilty, at any rate," thought Miss Thompson; +then she addressed the assembled girls. + +"Something has come to my ears, girls," said the principal, "that I find +hard to credit, but before you leave here this afternoon I must know who +is innocent and who is guilty." + +Miss Thompson paused and a number of girls stirred uneasily in their +seats, while a few glanced quickly toward Eleanor, who was looking +straight ahead, the picture of innocence. + +"You all know," continued the principal, "that it is strictly forbidden +for any pupil to absent herself from school for the purpose of attending +a circus, matinée or any public performance of this nature. I have so +severely disciplined pupils for this offence that for a long time no one +has disobeyed me. I was, therefore, astonished to learn that a number of +girls, regardless of rules, have taken matters into their own hands and +have decided to absent themselves from school to-morrow in order to +attend the matinée to be given in the theatre. Such a decision is worse +than disobedience--it is lawlessness. Unless a severe example is made of +the offenders, the standard of the school will be lowered. Therefore, +I intend to sift this matter to the bottom and find out what mischievous +influence prompted this act of insubordination. + +"Report says that this movement originated in the junior class, and that +a paper has been circulated and signed by certain pupils, who pledged +themselves to play truant and attend the matinée to-morrow." + +The eyes of Grace and her chums turned questioningly toward Mabel +Allison, who nodded slightly in the affirmative. + +So that was what all the whispering and mystery had meant. Grace +inwardly congratulated herself on having kept clear of the whole thing. +None of her friends were implicated, either. Even Mabel had refused to +sign. + +"I have dismissed the senior class, because I have been assured of their +entire ignorance of the plot. What I insist upon knowing now, is who are +the real culprits, beginning with the girl who originated the paper to +the last one who signed it. I am going to put every girl on her honor, +and I expect absolutely truthful answers. The girls who signed the paper +I have mentioned will rise." + +There was a moment of suspense, then Eleanor Savell proudly rose from +her seat. Her example was followed, until two thirds of the girls +present were standing. The principal stood silently regarding them with +an expression of severity that was decidedly discomfitting. + +"That will do," she said curtly, after they had stood for what seemed +to them an age, but was really only a couple of minutes. + +"You may be seated. The girl who composed and wrote that agreement will +now rise and explain herself." + +Without hesitating, Eleanor rose and regarded the principal with an +insolent smile. "I wrote it, Miss Thompson," she said clearly. "I wrote +it because I wished to. I am sorry you found out about it, because it +has spoiled all our fun." + +There was a gasp of horror at Eleanor's assertion. No one had ever +before spoken so disrespectfully to their revered principal. + +"Miss Savell," said the principal quietly, although her flashing eyes +and set lips showed that she was very angry, "if you have that paper in +your possession, bring it to me at once, and never answer me again as +you did just now. You are both disrespectful and impertinent." + +But Miss Thompson's anger toward Eleanor was nothing compared with the +tempest that the principal had aroused in Eleanor. The latter flushed, +then turned perfectly white with rage. Still standing, she reached down, +picked up a book from her desk and took from it a paper. "This," she +said, in a low tense voice, "is the paper you wish to see. I do not +choose to let you see it, therefore I shall destroy it." + +[Illustration: "I Do Not Choose to Let You See This Paper."] + +Then she deliberately tore the offending paper into shreds and scattered +them broadcast. + +"I hope you understand that I am not afraid of you or any other teacher +in this school," she continued. "I have never been punished in my life, +therefore I am not liable to give you the first opportunity. I despise +you, because you are a ridiculous prig, and I am glad of an opportunity +to tell you so. As for the persons who told you about our plan, words +cannot express my contempt for them, and right here I accuse Grace +Harlowe and her sorority of getting the information from Mabel Allison +yesterday and carrying it to you. They are all tale-bearers and sneaks." + +With these words, Eleanor angrily flung the book she held on the desk +and walked down the aisle toward the door, but Miss Thompson barred her +way. + +"Stop, Miss Savell," she commanded. "You shall not leave this room until +you have apologized to the girls whom you have unjustly accused and to +me. I will not tolerate such behavior." + +Eleanor glared at the principal, whose face was rigid in its purpose, +then sank into the nearest vacant seat, saying defiantly: "You may keep +me here all night if you like, but, I meant what I said, and I shall +retract nothing." + +Nevertheless she did not again attempt to leave the room. She had met +with a will stronger than her own and she realized it. + +Ignoring Eleanor's final remark, Miss Thompson once more turned her +attention to the matter in hand. + +"Those girls who are not in any way implicated in this matter are +dismissed," she said. + +About one third of the girls arose and prepared to leave the study hall, +the Phi Sigma Tau being among the number. Grace motioned the girls to +hurry. She wished to leave the room with her friends before Miss +Thompson noticed them. She knew the principal would insist on an apology +from Eleanor, and neither she nor her friends wished it. For the first +time since Eleanor had chosen to cut their acquaintance Grace was +thoroughly angry with her. She could not forgive Eleanor for having +accused her and her friends of carrying tales before almost the entire +school; therefore a forced apology would not appease her wounded pride. +She drew a breath of relief when the eight girls were safely outside the +study hall door. + +"Hurry up," she said. "We'll talk when we get outside school. Don't stop +for a minute. If Miss Thompson notices that we are gone, she'll send +after us." + +The girls silently donned their wraps and fled from the building like +fugitives from justice. Once on the street a lively confab ensued, all +talking at once. + +"Let's take turns talking," cried Grace, laughing. "We shall understand +each other a little better." + +"Now, what do you think of Miss Eleanor?" cried Nora. "She has certainly +shown her true colors this time." + +"I never heard of anything more unjust than the way she accused us, when +we knew nothing about her old plan," said Marian Barber. + +"It was abominable," said Eva Allen. + +The other girls expressed their disapproval in equally frank terms. + +"I suppose it did look as though I told you girls," said Mabel Allison, +who had joined them at the gate. "You know I was with you at recess, +right after the paper had been passed to me. I don't think Miss Savell +intended me to see it. It was passed to me by mistake." + +"Very likely," agreed Grace. "I wonder who did tell Miss Thompson. I saw +several girls with the paper, but hadn't the remotest idea what it was +all about. You know Miss Thompson is awfully down on 'skipping school.' +She threatened last year to suspend Edna Wright for it." + +"There will be weeping and wailing in the 'Skull and Crossbones' +crowd,'" exclaimed Nora. "They are all in this mix-up, and if they +aren't suspended, they'll be lucky." + +"Are you going to stand up for Eleanor now, in the face of what she said +about all of us before those girls, Grace?" asked Marian Barber hotly. + +"No," said Grace shortly. "She deserves to be punished. The things she +said to Miss Thompson were disgraceful, and I shall never forgive her +for the way she spoke of us." + +"I wouldn't say that, Grace," remarked Anne. "You can never tell what +may happen to change your views." + +"It will have to be something remarkable in this instance," replied +Grace grimly, as she bade the girls good-bye. "Remember, girls, +basketball practice again to-morrow, and the rest of the week. Miss +Thompson has promised me the gymnasium. Please make it a point to be on +hand." + +"Good-bye, Grace," chorused her friends, and went on down the street +discussing the probable fate of the would-be truants. + + * * * * * + +To return to those youthful transgressors. They were spending a most +uncomfortable half hour with Miss Thompson. She was merciless in her +denunciation of their conduct, and the terror of suspension arose in +more than one mind, as they listened to her scathing remarks. It had all +seemed a huge joke when they planned it, but there was nothing funny +about it now. When, with the exception of Eleanor, the principal +dismissed them, they filed decorously out, very uneasy in mind. Miss +Thompson had taken their names, but had not stated their punishment and +it was certain that they would be made to feel the full weight of her +displeasure. + +When the last girl had disappeared the principal turned to Eleanor. +"I will listen to your apology, Miss Savell," she said coldly. + +Eleanor looked scornfully at the principal, and was silent. + +"Do you intend to obey me, Miss Savell?" asked Miss Thompson. + +Still there was no answer. + +"Very well," continued Miss Thompson. "Your silence indicates that you +are still insubordinate. You may, therefore, choose between two things. +You may apologize to me now, and to-morrow to the girls you have accused +of treachery, or you may leave this school, not to return to it unless +permitted to do so by the Board of Education." + +Without a word Eleanor rose and walked haughtily out of the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE JUNIORS FOREVER + + +When the four classes assembled Thursday morning, every girl, with the +exception of Eleanor, was in her seat. Her absence created considerable +comment, and it was a matter of speculation as to whether she had +purposely absented herself or really had been suspended. + +After conducting opening exercises, Miss Thompson pronounced sentence on +the culprits. They were to forfeit their recess, library and all other +privileges until the end of the term. They must turn in two themes every +week of not less than six hundred words on certain subjects to be +assigned to them. If, during this time, any one of them should be +reported for a misdemeanor, they were to be suspended without delay. + +Their penalty was far from light, but they had not been suspended, and +so they resolved to endure it as best they might. + +Grace Harlowe felt a load lifted from her mind when Miss Thompson +publicly announced that she had not received any information from either +Mabel Allison or the Phi Sigma Tau. + +"Thank goodness, none of us were concerned in that affair," she told the +members of her basketball team at recess. "There are two girls on the +sophomore and three on the freshman team whose basketball ardor will +have to cool until after the mid-year exams." + +"You might know that some of those silly freshmen would get into +trouble," said Nora scornfully. + + "'Twas many and many a year ago, + In an age beyond recall, + That Nora, the freshman, lowly sat + At one end of the study hall." + +recited Anne Pierson in dramatic tones. + +There was a burst of laughter from the girls at this effusion, in which +Nora herself joined. + +"What a delicate way of reminding me that I once was a freshman!" she +exclaimed. + +"Anne has a new accomplishment," said Grace. "She can spout poetry +without trying." + +"Small credit is due me," said Anne, smiling. "Anyone can twist 'Annabel +Lee' to suit the occasion." + +"By the way, Anne," said Grace, "as you are a poet, you must compose a +basketball song to-day, and I'll see that the juniors all have copies. +It's time we had one. Let me see what would be a good tune?" + +"'Rally Round the Flag,'" suggested Miriam Nesbit. "That has a dandy +swing to it." + +Grace hummed a few bars. + +"The very thing," she exclaimed. "Now, Anne, get busy at once. You'd +better sing the tune to yourself all the time you're writing it, then +you'll be sure to put more dash and spirit into it." + +"I wish the day of the game were here," said Jessica plaintively. +"I have been practising a most encouraging howl. Hippy, David and +Reddy have a new one, too. Reddy says it's 'marvelously extraordinary +and appallingly great.'" + +"I can imagine it to be all that and more if Hippy had anything to do +with its origin," said Nora. + +"Wasn't it nice of Miss Thompson to exonerate us publicly?" asked Anne. + +"She is always just," replied Grace. "I can't understand how Eleanor +could be so rude and disagreeable to her. She has disliked Miss Thompson +from the first." + +"I wonder whether she apologized to Miss Thompson last night," mused +Grace. + +"I feel sure that she didn't, and I am just as sure that she won't get +back until she does." + +"We shall manage to exist if she doesn't," said Jessica dryly. She felt +a personal grudge against Eleanor for her accusation against Mabel, who +had grown very dear to her and whom she mothered like a hen with one +chicken. + +"She'll probably appear at the game in all her glory," said Miriam +Nesbit. "She can go to that, even though she is on bad terms with the +school." + +The recess bell cut short the conversation and the girls returned to +their desks with far better ideas of the coming game than of the +afternoon's lessons. + +Saturday, December 12, dawned cold and clear, and the girls on both +teams were in high spirits as they hustled into their respective +locker-rooms and rapidly donned their gymnasium suits. The spectators +had not yet begun to arrive, as it was still early, so the girls +indulged in a little warming-up practice, did a few stunts and skipped +about, overflowing with animal spirits. + +Julia Crosby and Grace took turns sprinting around the gymnasium three +times in succession, while Miriam Nesbit timed them, Grace finishing +just two seconds ahead of Julia. + +By a quarter of two the gallery was fairly well filled and by five +minutes of two it was crowded. The juniors, with the exception of +Eleanor Savell's faction, arrived in a body, gave the High School yell +the moment they spied their team, and then burst forth with the +basketball song, led by Ruth Deane, a tall junior, who stood up and beat +time with both hands. Anne had composed the song the week before. The +juniors had all received copies of the words and had learned them by +heart. They now sang with the utmost glee, and came out particularly +strong on the chorus, which ran: + + "The juniors forever, hurrah, fans, hurrah! + Our team is a winner, our captain's a star. + And we'll drive the senior foe, from the basket every time. + Shouting the war cry of the juniors." + +There was a great clapping of hands from the admirers of the juniors at +this effort, but the seniors promptly responded from the other end of +the gallery to the tune of Dixie, with: + + "The seniors are the real thing. + Hurrah! Hurrah! + Our gallant team now takes its stand, + And all the baskets soon will land. + We shout, we sing, the praises of the seniors." + +Hardly had the last notes died away, when the referee blew the whistle +and the teams hustled to their positions. Grace and Julia Crosby faced +each other, beamed amiably and shook hands, then stood vigilant, eyes on +the ball that the referee balanced in her hands. Up it went, the whistle +sounded and the two captains sprang straight for it. Grace captured it, +however, and sent it flying toward Miriam, who was so carefully guarded +that she dared not attempt to make the basket, and after a feint managed +to throw it to Nora, who tried for the basket at long range and missed. + +There was a general scramble for the ball, and for five minutes neither +team scored; then Marian Barber dropped a neat field goal, and soon +after Grace scored on a foul. The junior fans howled joyfully at the +good work of their team. The seniors did not intend to allow them to +score again in a hurry. They played such a close guarding game that, try +as they might, the juniors made no headway. Then Julia Crosby scored on +a field goal, making the score 3 to 2. This spurred the junior team on +to greater effort, and Miriam made a brilliant throw to basket that +brought forth an ovation from the gallery. This ended the first half, +with the score 5 to 2 in favor of the juniors. + +"They'll have to work to catch up with us now," said Nora O'Malley +triumphantly to the members of the team, who sat resting in the little +side room off the gymnasium. + +"We have the lead, but we can't afford to boast yet," replied Grace. +"The seniors played a fine game last half, and they'll strain every +nerve to pile up their score next half." + +"We shall win," said Miriam Nesbit confidently. "I feel it in my bones." + +"Let's hope that your bones are true prophets," laughed Marian Barber. + +"O girls!" exclaimed Eva Allen from the open door, in which she had been +standing looking up at the gallery. "Eleanor is here. She and her +satellites are sitting away up on the back seat of the gallery." + +"Where?" asked Nora, going to the door. "Oh, yes, I see her. She looks +as haughty as ever. It's a wonder she'd condescend to come and watch her +mortal enemies play." + +"I suppose she hopes we'll lose," said Marian Barber. "That would fill +her with joy." + +"Then we'll see that she goes away in a gloomy frame of mind," said +Nora, "for we're going to win, and don't you forget to remember it." + +Just then the whistle blew, and there was a scramble for places. This +time Julia Crosby won the toss-up, and followed it up with a field goal. +Then the seniors scored twice on fouls, tying the score. The juniors +set their teeth and waded in with all their might and main, setting a +whirlwind pace that caused their fans to shout with wild enthusiasm and +fairly dazed their opponents. Grace alone netted four foul goals, and +the sensational playing of Nora and Miriam was a matter of wonder to the +spectators, who conceded it to be the fastest, most brilliant half ever +played by an Oakdale team. The game ended with the score 15 to 6 in +favor of the juniors, whose loyal supporters swooped down upon them the +moment the whistle blew and pranced about, whooping like savages. + +"That was the greatest game I ever saw played under this roof," cried +David, wringing Grace's hand, while Hippy hopped about, uttering little +yelps of joy. Reddy circled about the victors almost too delighted for +words. He was filled with profound admiration for them. + +"The boys' crack team couldn't have played a better game," he said +solemnly, and the girls knew that he could pay them no higher +compliment, for this team was considered invincible by the High School +boys. + +"Perhaps we'll challenge you some day, Reddy," said Grace mischievously. + +"I believe you'd win at that," he said so earnestly that every one +laughed. + +"It was a great triumph," said Jessica proudly, as she stood with Mabel +and Anne in the locker-room while the girls resumed street clothing. +"And my new howl was a success, too." + +"Glad to know that," said Grace. "There were so many different kinds of +noises I couldn't distinguish it." + +"There was one noise that started that was promptly hushed," said Anne. +"You heard it, too, didn't you Jessica?" + +"Oh, yes, girls, I intended telling you before this," replied Jessica. +"Just before the last half started, Miss Thompson and Miss Kane came in +and walked to the other end of the gallery. Well, Eleanor and her crowd +saw them, and what do you suppose they did?" + +"Hard to tell," said Nora. + +"They hissed Miss Thompson. Very softly, you may be sure," continued +Jessica, "but it was hissing, just the same. For a wonder, she didn't +hear it, but every girl in the junior class did. They were sitting down +front on the same side as Eleanor's crowd. You know what a temper Ruth +Deane has and how ferocious she can look? Well, the minute she heard it +she went back there like a flash, looking for all the world like a +thunder cloud. She talked for a moment to Edna and Eleanor. They tossed +their heads, but they didn't hiss any more." + +"What did Ruth say to them?" asked Grace curiously. "It must have been +something remarkable, or they wouldn't have subsided so suddenly." + +"It was," giggled Jessica. "She told them that if they didn't stop it +instantly, the juniors would pick them up bodily, carry them downstairs +to the classroom and lock them in until the game was over." + +"How absurd!" exclaimed Grace. "They would never have dared to go that +far." + +"I don't know about that," said Nora O'Malley. "Ruth Deane is a terror +when she gets fairly started. Besides, she would have had both High +Schools on her side. Even the boys like Miss Thompson." + +"It was an effectual threat at any rate," said Jessica. "They left +before the game was over. Perhaps they were afraid of being waylaid." + +"I suppose they couldn't bear to see us win," said Grace. "But, +O girls, I am so proud of our invincible team. It was a great game +and a well-earned victory." + +"We ought to celebrate," said Miriam. "Come on. Here we are at +Stillman's." + +Without waiting for a second invitation, the Phi Sigma Tau trooped +joyfully into the drug store. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE LAST STRAW + + +The days glided by rapidly. The Christmas holidays came, bringing with +them the usual round of gayeties. Thanks to the Phi Sigma Tau, the +lonely element of High School girls did not lack for good cheer. As at +Thanksgiving, each member of the sorority entertained two or more girls +on Christmas and New Year's, and were amply repaid for their good deed +by the warm appreciation of their guests. + +Tom Gray came down for the holidays, bringing with him his roommate, +Arnold Evans, a fair-haired, blue-eyed young man of twenty, who proved +himself thoroughly likable in every respect. He lost no time in +cultivating Miriam's acquaintance, and the two soon became firm friends. + +Tom gave a dinner to his roommate, inviting "the seven originals," as he +expressed it, and Miriam, who felt that at last she really belonged in +the charmed circle. David was even more pleased than his sister over the +turn affairs had taken. To have Miriam a member of his own particular +"crowd" had always been David's dearest wish, and the advent of Arnold +Evans had done away with Miriam being the odd one. So the circle was +enlarged to ten young people, who managed to crowd the two weeks' +vacation with all sorts of healthful pleasures. + +There were coasting and sleighing parties, and on one occasion a walk to +old Jean's hut in Upton Wood, where they were hospitably entertained by +the old hunter, who had smilingly pointed to the wolf skins on the wall, +asking them if they remembered the winter day two years before when +those same skins held wolves who were far too lively for comfort. Then +the story of their escape had to be gone over again for Arnold's +benefit. + +They had stayed until the moon came up, and, accompanied by the old +hunter, had walked back to Oakdale in the moonlight. + +After the holidays came the brief period of hard study before the +dreaded mid-year examinations. Basketball enthusiasm declined rapidly +and a remarkable devotion to study ensued that lasted until examinations +began. By the last week in January, the ordeal was past. + +Eleanor Savell had not yet returned to school. Whether or not she would +be allowed to return was a question that occasioned a great deal of +discussion among three lower classes of girls. Edna Wright and the other +members of the sorority organized by Eleanor were loud in their +expressions of disapproval as to Miss Thompson's "severity" toward +Eleanor. They talked so freely about it, that it reached the principal's +ears. She lost no time in sending for them, and after a session in the +office, they emerged looking subdued and crestfallen; and after that it +was noted that when in conversation with their schoolmates, they made no +further allusion to Miss Thompson's methods of discipline. + +There was a faint murmur of surprise around the study hall one +morning, however, when Miss Thompson walked in to conduct the opening +exercises, accompanied by Eleanor, who, without looking at the school, +seated herself at the desk nearest to where the principal stood. + +When the morning exercises were concluded, Miss Thompson nodded slightly +to Eleanor, who turned rather pale, then rose, and, facing the school, +said in a clear voice: + +"I wish to apologize to Miss Thompson for impertinence and +insubordination. I also wish to publicly apologize to the members of the +Phi Sigma Tau for having accused them of treachery concerning a certain +matter that recently came up in this school." + +"Your apology is accepted, Miss Savell. You may take your own seat," +said the principal. + +Without looking to the right or left, Eleanor walked proudly up the +aisle to her seat, followed by the gaze of those girls who could not +refrain from watching her. The Phi Sigma Tau, to a member, sat with eyes +straight to the front. They had no desire to increase Eleanor's +discomfiture, for they realized what this public apology must have cost +her, although they were all equally puzzled as to what had prompted her +to humble herself. + +Eleanor's apology was not due, however, to a change of heart. She still +despised Miss Thompson as thoroughly as on the day that she had +manifested her open scorn and dislike for the principal. + +As for Grace and her friends, Eleanor was particularly bitter against +them, and laid at their door a charge of which they were entirely +innocent. + +Eleanor had told her aunt nothing of her recent trouble in school, but +had feigned illness as an excuse for remaining at home. After attending +the basketball game her aunt had told her rather sharply that if she +were able to attend basketball games, she was certainly able to continue +her studies. Eleanor had agreed to return to school the following +Monday, and had started from home at the usual time with no intention +whatever of honoring the High School with her presence. She passed the +morning in the various stores, lunched in town and went to a matinée in +the afternoon. In this manner she idled the days away until the holiday +vacation came, congratulating herself upon her success in pulling wool +over the eyes of her long-suffering aunt. + +But a day of reckoning was at hand, for just before the close of +vacation Miss Thompson chanced to call at Mrs. Gray's home while Mrs. +Gray was entertaining Miss Nevin, and the truth came out. + +When Miss Nevin confronted her niece with the deception Eleanor had +practised upon her, a stormy scene had followed, and Eleanor had accused +Grace Harlowe of telling tales to Mrs. Gray, and Mrs. Gray of carrying +them to her aunt. This had angered Miss Nevin to the extent that she had +immediately ordered Eleanor to her room without telling her from whom +she had received her information. + +For three days Eleanor had remained in her room, refusing to speak to +her aunt, who, at the end of that time, decreed that if she did not at +once apologize roundly and return to school her violin and piano would +both be taken from her until she should again become reasonable. + +In the face of this new punishment, which was the severest penalty that +could be imposed upon her, Eleanor remained obdurate. Her violin and +piano were removed from her room and the piano in the drawing room was +closed. Still she stubbornly held out, and it was not until the day +before the beginning of the new term that she went to her aunt and +coldly agreed to comply with her wishes, providing she might have her +violin and piano once more. + +Aside from this conversation they had exchanged no words, and Eleanor +therefore entered school that morning still believing the Phi Sigma Tau +to be at the bottom of her misfortune. + +In spite of her recent assertion that she could not forgive Eleanor, +Grace's resentment vanished at sight of her enemy's humiliation. A +public apology was the last thing that either she or her friends +desired. Her promise to Mrs. Gray loomed up before her. If Eleanor +really did believe the Phi Sigma Tau innocent, then perhaps this would +be the opportunity for reconciliation. After a little thought, she tore +a sheet of paper from her notebook and wrote: + + "DEAR ELEANOR: + + "The members of the Phi Sigma Tau are very sorry + about your having to make an apology. We did not + wish it. We think you showed a great deal of the + right kind of courage in making the public apology + you did both to Miss Thompson and to us. Won't + you come back to the Phi Sigma Tau? + + "YOUR SINCERE FRIENDS." + +At recess Grace showed the note to her friends. She had signed her name +to the note and requested the others to do the same. Here she met with +some opposition. Nora, Marian Barber and Eva Allen were strongly opposed +to sending it. But Jessica, Anne and Miriam agreed with Grace that it +would be in fulfillment of the original promise to Mrs. Gray to help +Eleanor whenever they could do so. So the Phi Sigma Tau signed their +names and the note was passed to Eleanor directly after recess. + +She opened it, read it through, and an expression of such intense scorn +passed over her face that Nora, who sat near her and who was covertly +watching her, knew at once that Grace's flag of truce had been trampled +in the dust. + +Picking up her pen, Eleanor wrote rapidly for a brief space, underlined +what she had written, signed her name with a flourish, and, folding and +addressing her note, sent it to Grace. + +Rather surprised at receiving an answer so quickly, Grace unfolded the +note. Then she colored, looked grave and, putting the note in the back +of the text-book she was holding, went on studying. + +By the time school was over for the day, the girls of the Phi Sigma Tau +knew that Eleanor had once more repudiated their overtures of friendship +and were curious to see what she had written. + +"Don't keep us in suspense. Let us see what she wrote," exclaimed Nora +O'Malley as the seven girls crossed the campus together. + +"Here it is," said Grace, handing Nora the note. + +Nora eagerly unfolded the paper and the girls crowded around, reading +over her shoulder, Grace walking a little apart from them. Then Nora +read aloud: + + "TO THE PHI SIGMA TAU: + + "Your kind appreciation of my conduct in the + matter of apology is really remarkable, coupled + with the fact that your inability to refrain from + discussing my personal affairs with Mrs. Gray + forced this recent humiliation upon me. To ask me + to return to your society is only adding insult to + injury. I am not particularly surprised at this, + however. It merely proves you to be greater + hypocrites than you at first seemed. + + "ELEANOR SAVELL." + +"Well, of all things!" exclaimed Marian Barber. "Grace Harlowe, if you +ever attempt to conciliate her again, I'll disown you." + +"What does she mean by saying that we discussed her affairs with Mrs. +Gray?" cried Jessica impatiently. "We have always tried to put her best +side out to dear Mrs. Gray, and you all know it." + +"The best thing to do," said Anne, smiling a little, "is to tell Mrs. +Gray all about it. We might as well live up to the reputation Eleanor +has thrust upon us. It isn't pleasant to admit that we have failed with +Eleanor, but it isn't our fault, at any rate. I am going there this +afternoon. I'll tell her." + +"May I go with you, Anne?" asked Grace. + +"You know I'd love to have you," Anne replied. + +"As long as I was the first to agree to look out for Eleanor, I have +decided I had better be with you at the finish," said Grace, as the two +girls walked slowly up the drive. + +"The finish?" asked Anne. "Why do you say that, Grace?" + +"You've heard about the last straw that broke the camel's back, haven't +you?" asked Grace. "Well, Eleanor's note is the last straw. I know I +said that once before, and I broke my word. I don't intend to break it +again, however. I am going to ask Mrs. Gray to release me from my +promise." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE PLAY'S THE THING + + +Excitement ran high in the three lower classes one morning in early +February when Miss Thompson requested that those interested in the +production of a Shakespearian play go to the library directly after +school, there to discuss the situation. + +When the gong sounded dismissal, about sixty girls with dramatic +aspirations made for the library. The Phi Sigma Tau entered in a body. +They had decided at recess to carry away as many laurels as possible, +providing they could get into the cast. + +Miss Tebbs, teacher of elocution; Miss Kane, teacher of gymnastics, and +Miss Thompson stood at one side of the library talking earnestly as they +noted each newcomer. + +"Oh, look!" whispered Jessica, clutching Nora's arm. "There's Eleanor +and her crowd." + +"Then look out for squalls," replied Nora. "She'll try to be the whole +cast, and will get a magnificent case of sulks if she can't have her own +way." + +"Sh-h-h," warned Eva Allen. "She'll hear you. Besides, Miss Thompson is +going to speak." + +The principal held up her hand for silence and the groups of girls +engaged in subdued conversation ceased talking and turned their +attention toward her. + +"You are all aware that each year the senior class gives a play, which +they choose, manage and produce with no assistance save that given by +Miss Tebbs," said the principal. "So far the three lower classes have +never given a play. Some time ago Miss Tebbs suggested that as we need +money for special books in the library which our yearly appropriation +does not cover, we might present a Shakespearian play with good effect, +choosing the cast from the freshman, sophomore and junior classes. + +"The first thing to be thought of is the play itself. After due +consideration, we decided that 'As You Like It' is better suited to our +needs than any of the other Shakespearian dramas. In it are twenty-one +speaking characters, besides numerous lords, pages and attendants. We +shall probably use about fifty girls, thus making it an elaborate +production. By the attendance this afternoon I should imagine that you +are heartily in favor of our project and that we shall have no trouble +in making up the cast. As Miss Tebbs has charge of the situation, I +yield the floor to her. She will explain to you about the giving out of +the parts." + +There was an enthusiastic clapping of hands as Miss Thompson smiled and +nodded to the girls, then left the room. Miss Tebbs then stated that on +Friday afternoon after school there would be a "try out" for parts in +the gymnasium, in order to find out what girls were most capable of +doing good work in the cast. Just what the test would be had not been +decided. It would be well, however, to study the chosen play and become +familiar with it; also each girl must bring a copy of the play with her. +If the girls wished to ask any questions, she would answer them as far +as possible. Miss Kane would help with the posing and coaching when the +thing was fairly started. + +The girls crowded around Miss Tebbs and Miss Kane, asking all sorts of +questions. + +"One at a time, girls," laughed Miss Tebbs. "I have not asked you to +enact a mob scene." + +Under cover of the confusion, Grace and her three friends slipped out of +the library. + +"'The play's the thing,'" quoted Nora, "and me for it." + +"That is for the judges to decide," said Jessica sagely. "Perhaps they +won't even look at you." + +"Do you think any one could see my Irish countenance and fail to be +impressed?" demanded Nora. + +"Really and truly, Nora, the more you travel with Hippy, the more you +talk like him," remarked Grace. + +"I consider that a compliment," replied Nora, laughing. "Hippy says +awfully funny things." + +"Look at our little Anne," said Jessica. "She is actually dreaming. Tell +us about it, dear." + +"I was thinking of the play," said Anne dreamily. "I do so want a part, +if only a little one." + +"You'll be chosen for Rosalind, see if you aren't," predicted Grace. + +"Oh, no," said Anne. "Some one else will be sure to get that. Besides, +I'm too short." + +"But, Anne, you've had stage experience," said Jessica. "You ought to +get it." + +"Not in a Shakespearian play," replied Anne, shaking her head. "I might +not do well at all with that kind of part." + +"Never fear, you'll be the star before you know it," said Nora. + +By Friday, there was nothing on the school horizon save the cherished +play. Before school, at recess, and even in classes it was the topic of +the hour. To the eager girls the day seemed particularly long, and a +heartfelt sigh went up when the dismissal gong rang. + +As the four chums hurried toward the gymnasium, Anne suddenly caught +Grace by the arm with a faint gasp of surprise. Glancing quickly down at +her friend to ascertain the cause of Anne's sudden agitation, Grace saw +her friend's eyes following the figure of a tall, distinguished-looking +man who was just disappearing down the corridor leading to the +gymnasium. + +"What's the matter, Anne?" asked Grace. "Do you know that man?" + +"No," replied Anne, "but I know who he is." + +"He must be a remarkable person, considering the way you gasped and +clutched me," laughed Grace. + +"That man is Everett Southard, the great Shakespearian actor," said Anne +almost reverently. "I saw him in 'Hamlet' and his acting is wonderful." + +"No wonder you were surprised," said Grace. + +"It fairly takes my breath. I've seen ever so many pictures of him and +read magazine articles about him. What do you suppose he is doing in +Oakdale, and at the High School--of all places?" + +"Time will tell," said Nora. Then she suddenly clasped her hands. "O +girls, I know! He's here for the try-out!" + +"Why of course he is," exclaimed Grace. "Now I remember Miss Tebbs +showed me a magazine picture of him one day last year, and told me that +she had known him since childhood. Besides, he is playing a three-night +engagement in Albany. I read it in the paper last night. It's as plain +as can be. Miss Tebbs has asked him to run up here and pick out the +cast." + +"Good gracious," said Jessica. "I shall retire in confusion if he looks +at me. I won't dare aspire to a part now, and I had designs on the part +of Phebe." + +"Don't be a goose," said Nora. "He's only a man. He can't hurt you. +I think having him here will be a lark. Won't some of those girls put +on airs, though. There he is talking with Miss Tebbs now." + +The girls entered the gymnasium to find there nearly all of those who +had attended the first meeting in the library increased by about a score +of girls who had decided at the last minute to try for parts. Eleanor +stood at one end of the great room, with Edna Wright and Daisy Culver. +Grace thought she had never seen Eleanor looking more beautiful. She was +wearing a fur coat and hat far too costly for a school girl, and carried +a huge muff. Her coat was thrown open, disclosing a perfectly tailored +gown of brown, with trimmings of dull gold braid. She was talking +animatedly and her two friends were apparently hanging on every word she +uttered. + +"No wonder Eleanor has an opinion of herself," said Nora. "Look at Daisy +and Edna. They act as though Eleanor were the Sultan of Turkey or the +Shah of Persia, or some other high and mighty dignitary. They almost +grovel before her." + +"Never mind, Nora," said Grace. "As long as you retain your Irish +independence what do you care about what other girls do?" + +"I don't care. Only they do act so silly," said Nora, with a sniff of +contempt. + +"Sh-h-h!" said Jessica softly. "Miss Tebbs is going to call the meeting +to order." + +A hush fell over the assembled girls as Miss Tebbs stepped forward to +address them. + +"I am very glad to see so many girls here," she said. "It shows that you +are all interested in the coming play. Although you cannot all have +parts, I hope that you will feel satisfied with the selection made this +afternoon. In order that each member of the cast may be chosen on her +merit alone, my old friend, Mr. Southard, kindly consented to come from +Albany for the sole purpose of giving us the benefit of his great +Shakespearian experience. Allow me to introduce Mr. Everett Southard." + +He was greeted with a round of applause, and after bowing his thanks, +the eminent actor plunged at once into the business at hand. + +He spoke favorably of the idea of an all-girl cast, saying that each +year many girls' colleges presented Shakespearian plays with marked +success. The main thing to be considered was the intelligent delivery of +the great dramatist's lines. The thing to do would be to find out what +girls could most ably portray the various characters, it would be +necessary to try each girl separately with a few lines from the play. In +order to facilitate matters, he suggested that those girls who really +desired speaking parts step to one side of the room, while those who +wished merely to make the stage pictures, step to the other. + +Out of the eighty girls, about thirty-five only stepped over to the side +from which the principal characters were to be chosen. Many of the girls +had no serious intentions whatever regarding the play, and the awe +inspired by Mr. Southard's presence made them too timid to venture to +open their mouths before him. Jessica, whose courage had fled, would +have been among the latter if Nora had not seized her firmly by the arm +as she prepared to flee and marched her over with the rest of the Phi +Sigma Tau. Eleanor and Edna Wright were among the junior contestants, +while there was a good showing of sophomores and freshmen. + +Mr. Southard took in the aspirants with keen, comprehensive glance. His +eyes rested a shade longer on Eleanor. She made a striking picture as +she stood looking with apparent indifference at the girls about her. +Then his quick eye traveled to Grace's fine face and graceful figure, +and then on to Anne, whose small face was alive with the excitement of +the moment. + +A breathless silence had fallen over the room. Every eye was fixed on +the actor, who stood with a small leather-covered edition of "As You +Like It" in his hand. Miss Tebbs stood by with a pencil and pad. The +great try-out was about to begin. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE TRY OUT + + +"Will the young lady on the extreme right please come forward?" said Mr. +Southard pleasantly, indicating Marian Barber, who rather timidly +obeyed, taking the book he held out to her. At his request, she began to +read from Orlando's entrance, in the first scene of the fourth act. She +faltered a little on the first two lines, but shortly regained her +courage and read on in her best manner. When she had read about a dozen +lines he motioned for her to cease reading, said something to Miss +Tebbs, who made an entry on her pad, and beckoned to the girl next to +Marian to come forward. + +Straight down the line he went, sometimes stopping a girl at her third +or fourth line, rarely allowing them to read farther than the eleventh +or twelfth. + +Nora was the second Phi Sigma Tau to undergo the ordeal. As she briskly +delivered the opening lines, the actor stopped her. Taking the book from +her, he turned to the part where Touchstone, quaintly humorous, holds +forth upon "the lie seven times removed." + +"Read this," he said briefly, holding out the book to Nora. + +Nora began and read glibly on, unconsciously emphasizing as she did so. +Down one page she read and half way through the next before Mr. Southard +seemed satisfied. + +Then he again held conversation with Miss Tebbs, who nodded and looked +smilingly toward Nora, who stood scowling faintly, rather ill-pleased at +attracting so much attention. + +"It looks as though Nora had made an impression, doesn't it!" whispered +Jessica to Grace, who was about to reply when Mr. Southard motioned to +her. Grace, who knew the scene by heart, went fearlessly forward, and +read the lines with splendid emphasis. Marian and Eva Allen followed +her, and acquitted themselves with credit. Then Eleanor's turn came. +Handing her coat, which she had taken off and carried upon her arm, to +Edna Wright, she walked proudly over, then, without a trace of +self-consciousness, began the reading of the designated lines. Her voice +sounded unusually clear and sweet, yet lacked something of the power of +expression displayed by Grace in her rendering of the same scene. When +she had finished she handed the book back with an air of studied +indifference she was far from feeling. She had decided in her own mind +that Rosalind was the part best suited to her, and felt that the honor +now lay between herself and Grace. No other girls, with the exception of +Nora, had been allowed to read as much of any scene as they two had been +requested to read. + +But Eleanor had reckoned without her host, for there was one girl who +had not as yet come to the front. The girl was Anne Pierson, who in some +mysterious manner had been all but overlooked, until Miss Tebbs spied +her standing between Grace and Nora. + +"Can you spare us a moment more, Mr. Southard?" said Miss Tebbs to the +actor, who was preparing to leave. "You have almost missed hearing one +of my best girls. Come here, Anne, and prove the truth of my words." + +Grace drew a long breath of relief. She had eagerly awaited Anne's turn +and was about to call Miss Tebbs's attention to Anne, just as that +teacher had observed her. + +As most of the girls present had heard Anne recite, there was a great +craning of necks and a faint murmur of expectancy as she took her place. +They expected her to live up to her reputation and she had scarcely +delivered the opening line before they realized that she would not +disappoint them. + +Her musical voice vibrated with expression and the mock-serious +bantering tones in which she delivered Rosalind's witty speeches caused +Mr. Southard to smile and nod approvingly as she gave full value to the +immortal lines. Her change of voice from Rosalind to Orlando was wholly +delightful, and so charmingly did she depict both characters that when +she ended with Orlando's exit she received a little ovation from the +listening girls, in which Mr. Southard and Miss Tebbs joined. + +"She's won! She's won! I'm so glad," Grace said softly to Nora and +Jessica. "I wanted her to play Rosalind, and I knew she could do it. +Look, girls! Mr. Southard is shaking hands with her." + +True enough, Anne was shyly shaking hands with the great actor, who was +congratulating her warmly upon her recent effort. + +"I have never before heard an amateur read those lines as well as you +have to-day, Miss Pierson," he said. "I am sure Rosalind will be safe +with you, for few professional women could have done better. If I am +anywhere near here when your play is enacted, I shall make it a point to +come and see it." + +Shaking hands warmly with Miss Tebbs and bowing to the admiring girls, +Mr. Southard hurriedly departed, leaving his audience devoured with +curiosity as to the chosen ones. + +Anne stood perfectly still, looking rather dazed. The unexpected had +happened. She was to have not only a part, but the best part, at that. +The girls gathered eagerly about her, congratulating her on her success, +but she was too overcome to thank them, and smiled at them through a +mist of tears. + +"Look at Eleanor," whispered Nora to Grace. "She's so angry she can't +see straight. She must have wanted to play Rosalind herself. I told you +she'd sulk if she couldn't be the leading lady." + +Grace glanced over toward Eleanor, who stood biting her lip, her hands +clenched and her face set in angry lines. + +"She looks like the 'Vendetta' or the 'Camorra' or some other Italian +vengeance agency, doesn't she?" said Nora with a giggle. + +Grace laughed in spite of herself at Nora's remark, but regretted it the +next moment, for Eleanor saw the glances directed toward her and heard +Nora's giggle. She turned white and half started toward Grace, then +stopped, and, turning her back upon the Phi Sigma Tau, began talking to +Edna Wright. + +Just then Miss Tebbs, who had been busy with her list, announced that +she would now name the cast, and all conversation ceased as by magic. + +Miriam Nesbit was intrusted with the "Duke," while Marian Barber was to +play "Frederick," his brother. Jessica was in raptures over "Phebe," +while Nora had captured "Touchstone," Eva Allen, "Audrey," and, to her +great delight, Grace was told that she was to play "Orlando," with +Eleanor as "Celia." The other parts were assigned among the sophomores +and freshmen who had made the best showing, Mabel Allison getting the +part of Jaques. + +"You will report for rehearsal next Tuesday afternoon after school, when +typewritten copies of your parts will be handed you," said Miss Tebbs, +as she was about to leave the room. + +The moment Miss Tebbs ceased talking the girls began, as they gathered +in little groups around the lucky ones and gave vent to their feelings +with many exclamations of approval and congratulation. Several girls +approached Eleanor, but she fairly ran from them and hurried out of the +gymnasium after Miss Tebbs with Edna Wright and Daisy Culver at her +heels. + +"There goes Eleanor after Miss Tebbs," observed Marian Barber. "What do +you suppose she's up to now?" + +"Oh, never mind her," said Nora impatiently. "You'll see enough of her +during rehearsal. It will be so pleasant to rehearse with her, +considering that she isn't on speaking terms with any of us." + +Had the girl chums known then what Eleanor "was up to," it would have +been a matter of surprise and indignation to all of them. After +imperiously commanding her satellites to wait for her in the corridor, +Eleanor overtook Miss Tebbs just outside Miss Thompson's office. + +"I want to speak to you, Miss Tebbs," said Eleanor as the teacher +paused, her hand on the doorknob. + +"Well, what can I do for you, Miss Savell?" + +"I want to speak to you about the play. I wish to play Rosalind," said +Eleanor with calm assurance. + +"But, my dear child, Anne Pierson is to play Rosalind," replied Miss +Tebbs. "Mr. Southard particularly commended her work. Did you not hear +what he said?" + +"Oh, yes; I heard him complimenting her," replied Eleanor complacently, +"but I feel sure that I can do more with it than she can. I did not do +my best work to-day. Besides, Miss Pierson is too short. I am certain of +making a better appearance." + +"What you say about appearance is quite true, Miss Savell," replied Miss +Tebbs frankly. "Beyond a doubt you would make a beautiful Rosalind; but +I am convinced that no other girl can enact the part with the spirit and +dash that Miss Pierson can. Your part of Celia is very well suited to +you, and you can win plenty of applause playing it. You must understand, +however, that once having given out a part, I should not attempt to take +it from the girl I had given it to simply because some other girl +desired it. That would be both unfair and unjust. The only thing I could +promise you would be to allow you to understudy Rosalind in case +anything happened to Miss Pierson. Would you care to understudy the +part?" + +Eleanor was silent for a moment. Miss Tebbs, looking a trifle impatient, +stood awaiting her reply. + +"I should like to do that," Eleanor said slowly, a curious light in her +eyes. "Thank you very much, Miss Tebbs." + +"You are welcome," replied the teacher. "Be sure and be prompt at +rehearsal next Tuesday." + +As Miss Tebbs entered the office, Eleanor turned and walked slowly down +the corridor. + +"So Miss Tebbs thinks I ought to be satisfied with 'Celia,'" she +muttered. "Very well, I'll rehearse Celia, but I'll understudy Rosalind, +and it will be very strange if something doesn't happen to Miss +Pierson." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE ANONYMOUS LETTER + + +After the parts had been given out, rehearsals for the play went merrily +on. There were many hitches at first, but finally things settled down to +smooth running order, and as the time for its presentation approached +Miss Tebbs had good reason to feel jubilant. Each girl seemed bent on +distinguishing herself, and that teacher was heard laughingly to declare +that she had an "all star cast." + +In spite of rehearsals, Grace Harlowe's team found time for a few +basketball games, and whipped the senior team twice in succession, much +to the disgust of Captain Julia Crosby, who threatened to go into deep +mourning over what she called "her dead and gone team." She even +composed a mournful ditty, which she sang in their ears in a wailing +minor key whenever she passed any of them, and practically tormented +them, until they actually did win one hard-fought victory over the +juniors, "just to keep Julia from perpetrating her eternal chant," as +one of them remarked. + +Eleanor had outwardly settled down to the routine of school work in a +way that surprised even her aunt. But inwardly she was seething with +rebellion toward Miss Thompson and hatred of the Phi Sigma Tau. She had +fully determined that Anne Pierson should never play Rosalind, and had +hit upon a plan by which she hoped to accomplish her ends. The Phi Sigma +Tau were completely carried away with Anne's impersonation of +Shakespeare's heroine, and any blow struck at Anne would be equally felt +by the others. Anne had been absent from one rehearsal and thus Eleanor +had had an opportunity to show her ability. She had done very well and +Miss Tebbs had praised her work, though in her secret heart Eleanor knew +that Anne's work was finer than her own. But the means of gratifying her +own personal vanity blinded her to everything except the fact that she +wanted to play Rosalind regardless of Anne's superior ability. + +To settle Miss Thompson was not so easy a matter, and though Eleanor +racked her brain for some telling method of vengeance, no inspiration +came until one afternoon in early March. Professor La Roche, irritated +to the point of frenzy, ordered her from his class, with instructions to +report herself to Miss Thompson. As she entered the open door of the +principal's office she noticed that the room was empty of occupants. She +stopped, hesitated, then went softly in, a half-formed idea in her mind +that did not at first assume definite shape. + +"If Miss Thompson comes in, I suppose I shall have to report myself," +thought Eleanor. "While I'm here, I'll just look about and see if +I can't find some way to even up that public apology she made me make." + +Gliding over to the open desk, she ran her eye hastily over the various +papers spread out upon it. At first she found nothing of importance, but +suddenly she began to laugh softly, her face lighted with malicious +glee. + +"Here's the wonderful paper that Miss Tabby Cat Thompson is going to read +before the 'Arts and Crafts Club' to-morrow," she murmured. "I heard her +telling Miss Chester about it yesterday. She said it took her six weeks +to prepare it on account of the time she spent in looking up her facts. +It will take me less than six minutes to dispose of it." + +Seizing the essay with both hands, she tore it across, and then tore it +again and again, until it was literally reduced to shreds. These she +gathered into a heap and left in the middle of the desk. Glancing about +to see that no one was near, she was about to step into the corridor +when she heard the sound of approaching footsteps. Quick as a flash she +flung open the door of the little lavatory just outside the office and +concealed herself just as a girl turned from the main corridor into the +short passage leading to the principal's office. Eleanor, holding the +door slightly ajar, peered stealthily out at the new-comer, who was none +other than Grace Harlowe. + +Having no recitation that hour, Grace had run up to the office to obtain +Miss Thompson's permission to use the gymnasium that afternoon for +basketball practice. A hasty glance inside the office revealed to Grace +that the principal was not there. She hesitated a moment, walked toward +the desk, then turned and went out again. + +The moment she turned the corner, Eleanor darted out of the lavatory and +fled down the corridor, just as the bell rang for the end of the period. +In a moment the main corridor was filled with girls from the various +classrooms, and, joining them, Eleanor entered the study hall without +reporting her dismissal from French class. + +She was somewhat nervous and trembled a little at the thought of her +near discovery, but felt not the slightest qualm of conscience at her +ruthless destruction of another's property. On the contrary, she +experienced a wicked satisfaction, and smiled to herself as she pictured +Miss Thompson's consternation when the latter should discover her loss. +Best of all, the principal would never find out who did it, for Eleanor +vowed never to admit her guilt. + +She decided to go at once to Professor La Roche and apologize, so that +he would not report her to Miss Thompson. Without a doubt an effort +would be made to find the culprit, and if it were proven that she did +not return to the study hall as soon as dismissed from French, she might +be asked to account for it, and thus call down suspicion upon herself. + +On her way to rhetoric recitation, she stopped at Professor La Roche's +door, greatly astonishing him by a prettily worded apology, which he +readily accepted and beamed upon her with forgiving good-nature. Feeling +that she had bridged that difficulty, Eleanor entered the classroom to +find Miss Thompson talking in low, guarded tones to Miss Chester, who +looked both, shocked and surprised. She caught the words "entirely +destroyed," "serious offence" and "investigate at once," Then the +principal left the room and Miss Chester turned to the class and began +the recitation. + +To Eleanor's surprise, nothing was said of the matter that day. School +was dismissed as usual, and the girls went out without dreaming that on +the morrow they would all be placed under suspicion until the person +guilty of the outrage was found. + +The following morning, after opening exercises, Miss Thompson stated +briefly the destruction of her paper. + +"I was out of my office barely ten minutes," she said, "yet when I +returned some one had ruthlessly torn the essay to bits and left the +pieces piled in the middle of my desk. As I had spent considerable time +and research in getting the subject matter together, the destruction of +the paper is particularly annoying. Whoever was contemptible enough to +engage in such mischief must have known this. It looks like a deliberate +attempt to insult me. It is hard to believe one of my girls guilty, yet +it is not probable that any one outside could be responsible. A girl who +would wilfully do such a thing is a menace to the school and should be +removed from it. I am not going to any extreme measures to find the +miscreant. Were I to question each girl in turn I fear the offender +might perjure herself rather than admit her guilt. But I am confident +that sooner or later I shall know the truth of the matter." + +As Miss Thompson concluded, she looked over the roomful of girls who sat +watching her with serious faces. Which one of them was guilty? Time +alone would tell. + +At recess that morning the subject of the play was for once forgotten in +the excitement occasioned by the principal's recent disclosure. Groups +of girls indignantly denied even the thought of such mischief. + +"I don't believe Miss Thompson would ever suspect us of any such thing," +remarked Jessica to her friends. + +"Of course not, goose," replied Grace. "She knows us too well for that." + +But it was with a peculiar apprehension of something unpleasant that +Grace answered a summons to the principal's office just before school +closed for the day. + +"Grace," she said, as the young girl entered the office, "were you in my +office yesterday afternoon between half past one and a quarter of two?" + +"Why, yes, Miss Thompson. I came to ask permission to use the gymnasium, +but you were out, so I came back and asked you just before school +closed." + +"Yes, I remember that you did," replied the principal. "However, I want +you to read this." + +Grace took the paper, looking rather perplexed, and read: + + "Ask Miss Harlowe what she was doing in your + office between half past one and a quarter of two + yesterday." + + "A PASSERBY." + +"Why--why----" stammered Grace, her eyes growing large with wonder. +"I don't understand. I came here at that time, for I looked at the +clock as I came in, but I was only here for a second." + +Then the truth dawned upon her. "Why, Miss Thompson," she cried, "you +surely don't think I tore up your essay?" + +"No, Grace, I don't," replied the principal. "But I believe that the one +who wrote this note is the one who did do it, and evidently wishes to +fasten the guilt upon you. It looks to me as though we had a common +enemy. Do you recognize either the paper or the writing?" + +"No," replied Grace slowly, shaking her head. "Vertical writing all +looks alike. The paper is peculiar. It is note paper, but different from +any I ever saw before. It looks like----" + +She stopped suddenly, a shocked look creeping into her eyes. + +"What is it, Grace?" said Miss Thompson, who had been closely watching +her. + +"I--just--had a queer idea," faltered Grace. + +"If you suspect any one, Grace, it is your duty to tell me," said the +principal. "I cannot pass lightly over such a piece of wanton +destruction. To clear up this mystery, should be a matter of vital +interest to you, too, as this letter is really an insinuation against +you." + +Grace was silent. + +"I am waiting for you, Grace," said the principal. "Will you do as +I wish?" + +The tears rushed to Grace's eyes. "Forgive me, Miss Thompson," she said +tremulously, "but I can tell you nothing." + +"You are doing wrong, Grace, in withholding your knowledge," said the +older woman rather sternly, "and I am greatly displeased at your +stubbornness. Ordinarily I would not ask you to betray any of your +schoolmates, but in this instance I am justified, and you are making a +serious mistake in sacrificing your duty upon the altar of school-girl +honor." + +"I am sorry, Miss Thompson," said Grace, striving to steady her voice. +"I value your good opinion above everything, but I can tell you nothing +you wish to know. Please, please don't ask me." + +"Very well," responded the principal in a tone of cold dismissal, +turning to her desk. + +With a half-stifled sob, Grace hurried from the room. For the first +time, since entering High School, she had incurred the displeasure of +her beloved principal, and all for the sake of a girl who was unworthy +of the sacrifice. For Grace had recognized the paper. It was precisely +the same style of paper on which Eleanor Savell had declined her +Thanksgiving invitation. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +BREAKERS AHEAD + + +The dress rehearsal for "As You Like It" was over. It had been well nigh +perfect. The costumes had for the most part been on hand, as the senior +class of five years previous had given the same play and bequeathed +their paraphernalia to those who should come after. Rosalind's costumes +had to be altered to fit Anne, however, on account of her lack of +stature. Also the lines in the text where Rosalind refers to her height +underwent some changes. The final details having been attended to, Miss +Tebbs and Miss Kane found time to congratulate each other on the +smoothness of the production, which bade fair to surpass anything of the +kind ever before given. There was not a weak spot in the cast. Anne's +work had seemed to grow finer with every rehearsal. + +She had won the repeated applause of the group of teachers who had been +invited to witness this trial performance. Grace, Nora, Eleanor and +Miriam had ably supported her and there had been tears of proud joy in +Miss Tebbs's eyes as she had watched the clever and spirited acting of +these girls. + +"Be sure and put your costumes exactly where they belong," called Miss +Tebbs as the girls filed off the stage into the dressing room after the +final curtain. "Then you will have no trouble to-morrow night. We want +to avoid all eleventh-hour scrambling and exciting costume hunts." + +Laughing merrily, the girls began choosing places to hang their costumes +in the big room off the stage where they were to dress. Anne, careful +little soul that she was, piled her paraphernalia neatly in one corner, +and taking a slip of paper from her bag wrote "Rosalind" upon it, +pinning it to her first-act costume. + +"The eternal labeler," said Nora, with her ever-ready giggle, as she +watched Anne. "Are you afraid it will run away, little Miss Fussbudget!" + +"No; of course not," said Anne, smiling. "I just marked it because----" + +"You have the marking habit," finished Jessica. "Come on, girls. Don't +tease Anne. Let her put tags on herself if she wants to. Then a certain +young man who is waiting outside for her will be sure to recognize her. +Has anyone seen that Allison child? It's time she put in an appearance." + +"Just listen to Grandmother Bright," teased Anne. "She is hunting her +lost chick, as usual." + +With merry laugh and jest the girls prepared for the street. Grace and +her friends were among the first to leave, and hurried to the street, +where the boys awaited them. + +"Hurrah for the only original ranters and barnstormers on exhibition in +this country," cried Hippy, waving his hat in the air. + +"Cease, Hippopotamus," said Nora. "You are mistaken. We are stars, but +we shall refuse to twinkle in your sky unless you suddenly become more +respectful." + +"He doesn't know the definition of the word," said David. + +"How cruelly you misjudge me," said Hippy. "I meant no disrespect. It +was a sudden attack of enthusiasm. I get them spasmodically." + +"So we have observed," said Nora dryly. "Let's not stand here discussing +you all night. Come on up to my house, and we'll make fudge and have +things to eat." + +"I have my car here," said David. "Pile into it and we'll be up there in +a jiffy." + +"It's awfully late," demurred Grace. "After ten o'clock." + +"Never mind that," said Nora. "Your mother knows you can take care of +yourself. You can 'phone to her from my house." + +In another minute the young people had seated themselves in the big car +and were off. + +"Did you see Eleanor's runabout standing there?" Nora asked Grace. + +"Yes," replied Grace. "I was rather surprised, too. She hasn't used it +much of late." + +"How beautiful she looked to-night, didn't she?" interposed Jessica. + +"Are you talking of the would-be murderess, who froze us all out +Thanksgiving Day?" asked Hippy. "What is her latest crime?" + +Grace felt like saying "Destroying other people's property and getting +innocent folks disliked," but refrained. She had told no one of her +interview with Miss Thompson. Grace knew that the principal was still +displeased with her. She was no longer on the old terms of intimacy with +Miss Thompson. A barrier seemed to have sprung up between them, that +only one thing could remove, but Grace was resolved not to expose +Eleanor--not that she felt that Eleanor did not richly deserve it, but +she knew that it would mean instant expulsion from school. She believed +that Eleanor had acted on the impulse of the moment, and was without +doubt bitterly sorry for it, and she felt that as long as Eleanor had at +last begun to be interested in school, the thing to do was to keep her +there, particularly as Mrs. Gray had recently told her of Miss Nevin's +pleasure at the change that the school had apparently wrought in +Eleanor. + +Could Grace have known what Eleanor was engaged in at the moment she +would have felt like exposing her without mercy. + +During the first rehearsals Grace, secretly fearing an outbreak on +Eleanor's part, had been on the alert, but as rehearsals progressed and +Eleanor kept strictly to herself, Grace relaxed her vigilance. + +Directly after the chums had hurried out of the hall to meet the boys, +Miss Tebbs had decided that opening the dressing room on the other side +of the stage would relieve the congestion and insure a better chance for +all to dress. Calling to the girls who still remained to move their +belongings to that side, Miss Tebbs hurried across the stage to find the +janitor and see that the door was at once unlocked. By the time the door +was opened and the lights turned on the remaining girls flocked in, +their arms piled high with costumes. + +Foremost among them was Eleanor. Hastily depositing her own costumes in +one corner of the dressing room, she darted across the stage and into +the room from which she had just moved her effects. + +It was empty. She glanced quickly about. Like a flash she gathered up a +pile of costumes marked "Rosalind," covered them with her long fur coat +and ran through the hall and down the steps to where her runabout was +stationed. Crowding them hastily into the bottom of the machine, she +slipped on her coat, made ready her runabout and drove down the street +like the wind, not lessening her speed until she reached the drive at +"Heartsease." + + * * * * * + +The young people passed a merry hour at Nora's, indulging in one of +their old-time frolics, that only lacked Tom Gray's presence to make the +original octette complete. + +"We'll be in the front row to-morrow night," said Hippy, as the young +folks trooped out to the car. "I have engaged a beautiful bunch of green +onions from the truck florist, Reddy has put all his money into carrots +of a nice lively color, the exact shade of his hair, while I have +advised Davy here to invest in turnips. They are nice and round and +hard, and will hit the stage with a resounding whack, providing he can +throw straight enough to hit anything. He can carry them in a paper bag +and----" + +But before he could say more he was seized by David and Reddy and rushed +unceremoniously into the street, while the girls signified their +approbation by cries of "good enough for him" and "make him promise to +behave to-morrow night." + +"I will. I swear it," panted Hippy. "Only don't rush me over the ground +so fast. I might lose my breath and never, never catch it again." + +"Oh, let him go," said Nora, who had accompanied them down the walk. +"I'll have a private interview with him to-morrow and that will insure +his good behavior." + +"Thank you, angel Nora," replied Hippy gratefully. "You will be spared +any obnoxious vegetables, even though the others may suffer." + +"For that you walk," said David, who had dropped Hippy and was engaged +in helping the girls into the machine. + +"Never," replied Hippy, making a dive for the automobile. "I shall sit +at the feet of the fair Jessica. Reddy will be so pleased." + +"Every one ready?" sang out David, as he took his place at the wheel +after cranking up the machine. + +"All ready, let her go," was the chorus, and the machine whizzed down +the street. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +AS YOU LIKE IT + + +The big dressing rooms on each side of the stage at Assembly Hall were +ablaze with light. There was a hum of girlish voices and gay laughter, +and all the pleasant excitement attending an amateur production +prevailed. The dressing had been going on for the last hour, and now a +goodly company of courtiers and dames stood about waiting while Miss +Tebbs and Miss Kane rapidly "made up their faces" with rouge and powder. +This being done to prevent them from looking too pale when in the white +glare of the footlights. + +Miriam Nesbit as the "Duke" looked particularly fine, and the girls +gathered around her with many exclamations of admiration. Nora's roguish +face looked out from her fool's cap in saucy fashion as she flitted +about jingling her bells. Grace made a handsome Orlando, while Jessica +looked an ideal shepherdess. + +"Where's Anne?" said Grace as Nora paused in front of her. "I haven't +see her to-night. I suppose she's over in the other dressing room. +Miss Tebbs said that some of the costumes were moved over there after +we left last night. What time is it? I didn't wear my watch to-night +because I didn't want to risk losing it." + +"It's almost half past seven," said Jessica. "I asked Miss Tebbs for the +time just a few minutes ago." + +"Let's go and find Anne at once, then," said Nora. "It's getting late, +and she surely is dressed by this time. Then we'll look through the hole +in the curtain at the house. People are beginning to arrive." + +"Wait a minute," said Jessica. "There's Mabel. Doesn't she look great as +Jaques? Come here, dear," called Jessica. + +Mabel Allison joined the three girls, who hurried across the stage to +the other dressing room in search of Anne Pierson. + +"Why, I don't see her here," cried Grace, making a quick survey of the +room. "She must be somewhere about, for----" + +"There she goes now," exclaimed Nora, who stood in the door, looking out +on the stage, "and she has her hat and coat on. How strange. I wonder if +she knows how late it is?" + +Sure enough, Anne was hurrying toward the opposite dressing room. + +The three girls made a rush for her. + +"Why, Anne," said Grace. "What is the matter? We thought you had dressed +over here and were looking for you." + +"Girls," replied Anne, "I've been on a wild-goose chase. I can't stop to +tell you about it now, but you shall hear as soon as I have a chance. +Will you help me with my costume and make-up? I'm awfully late, and +haven't a minute to spare." + +"Why of course we will," said Grace. "Give me your hat and coat, dear. +Where did you put your costumes? It won't take you long to dress, for +most of the girls are dressed and over on the other side, so you have +the place to yourself." + +"Over in that corner," replied Anne, taking off her collar and +unfastening her white shirt waist. "Don't you remember, I labeled them +and you laughed at me for doing so?" + +"Of course we do," said Nora, making a dive for the corner where Anne +had piled her costumes the previous night. "They're not here," she +announced after a brief but thorough search. "Miss Tebbs must have had +them moved to the other room. She opened it last night after we left. +Grace, you help Anne, and Jessica and Mabel and I will run across and +look for them." With these words, Nora was off, the other two girls at +her heels. + +"Tell me what kept you, Anne," said Grace, as the latter began arranging +her hair for the first act. + +"Grace," said Anne rather tremulously, "I won't wait until the others +come back to tell you why I came so late. Just after I had finished my +supper and was putting on my wraps a boy came to the door with this +note." Anne went over to where her coat hung and took out an envelope. +Drawing a note from it, she silently handed it to Grace, who read: + + "MY DEAR ANNE: + + "Will you come up to my house before going to the + hall? I wish to give you something to wear in the + play. + + "Yours affectionately, + "ROSE R. GRAY." + +"Why, how unlike Mrs. Gray to send for you at the eleventh hour," said +Grace in a puzzled tone. "No wonder you were late. What did she give +you?" + +"Nothing," replied Anne. "It was a trick. She never wrote the note, +although the writing looks like hers, and so does the paper. She was +very indignant over it and sent me back in the carriage, telling the +coachman to return for her, for of course she will be here to-night. +I would have arrived much later if I had been obliged to walk. I ran +almost all the way up there. You know Chapel Hill is quite a distance +from my house." + +"I should say so," replied Grace. "Who could have been so mean? Anne, +why do you suppose----" Grace stopped suddenly and stared at Anne. "Anne +do you think that Eleanor could have written it?" she said slowly, as +though reluctant to give voice to her suspicion. + +"I am afraid so," replied Anne. "She is the only one who could profit by +my being late. Yet if she did write the note, she should have realized +that going to Mrs. Gray's would scarcely keep me away long enough to +miss my first entrance. You know I don't come on until the second +scene." + +"There is something more behind this," said Grace, "and I'm going to +find out, too." She darted to the door and opened it upon Nora and +Jessica, who were on the threshold. + +"We can't find them," they cried in alarm, "but we told Miss Tebbs and +she'll be here in a minute." + +"We didn't say a word to any one else," said Nora, "because they must be +somewhere about, and there is no use in stirring up a lot of unnecessary +excitement." + +"Wise little Nora," said Grace, patting her on the shoulder. "Here comes +Miss Tebbs now." She stepped courteously aside to allow the teacher to +enter the dressing room, then, following her, closed the door. + +"What is this I hear about losing your costumes, Anne?" asked Miss Tebbs +rather impatiently. "I cautioned the girls last night about taking care +of their things." + +Anne flushed at the teacher's curt tones. + +"I put them all in that corner, plainly marked, before I left here last +night," she answered. "When I came here to-night they were gone." + +"That is strange," said the elder woman. "Have you made a thorough +search for them in the other room?" + +"We've gone over every inch of the ground," exclaimed Jessica, "and we +can't find a trace of them. We didn't ask any of the girls about them, +because if we couldn't find them we feel sure the others couldn't. So we +just kept quiet." + +"I don't know what is to be done, I'm sure," said Miss Tebbs in an +anxious tone. "It is eight o'clock now and the curtain is supposed to +run up at 8.15. I can hold it until 8.30, but no longer. The house is +already well filled. You might get through the first act in a borrowed +gown, Anne, but what can you do in the second? You know how that costume +had to be altered to fit you. If it can be found before the second act, +all will be well, but suppose you go on in the first act, and it can't +be found, what then? You will spoil the whole production by appearing +in an incorrect or misfit costume, besides bitterly disappointing the +two girls who will have to give up their costumes to you. It is doubly +provoking, because Mr. Southard is here to-night, and is particularly +anxious to see your work." + +"Miss Tebbs," exclaimed Grace, "Eleanor Savell has a complete 'Rosalind' +outfit. She had it made purposely. One of the girls told me so. You know +she understudies Anne. Couldn't Anne use that?" + +"Impossible, Grace," said Miss Tebbs. "Eleanor is taller than Anne. +Anne's lack of height is her one drawback. If she had not shown such +exceptional talent, 'Rosalind' would have certainly fallen to Miss +Savell or yourself. I am very sorry, but it looks as though Miss Savell +will have to play Rosalind after all, and she must be notified at once." + +The three chums turned to Anne, who was biting her lip and trying hard +to keep back her tears. Nora and Jessica looked their silent sympathy, +but Grace stood apparently wrapped in thought. + +Miss Tebbs moved toward the door, but as she placed her hand on the knob +Grace sprang eagerly forward. + +"Miss Tebbs," she cried, "don't ask Miss Savell. I believe I can find +those costumes yet. Wait here and in five minutes I'll tell you whether +I have succeeded. Please don't ask me what I am going to do. Just trust +me and wait. You will let me try, won't you?" she pleaded. + +"Certainly, my child," said Miss Tebbs, "but remember time is precious. +I'll give you five minutes, but if----" + +"I'll be back in that time," cried Grace, and was gone, leaving Miss +Tebbs and the three chums mystified but faintly hopeful. + +Across the stage she flew and into the other dressing room. The object +of her search was not there. Out she rushed and collided with a girl who +was about to enter. + +"Pardon me," said Grace, glancing up, then seized the girl by the arm. +"Eleanor Savell," she exclaimed sternly. "You know where Anne's costumes +are. Don't attempt to deny it." + +Eleanor looked contemptuously at Grace and tried to shake herself free, +but Grace's grasp tightened. + +"Answer me," she said. "Where are they?" + +[Illustration: "Where Are Anne's Costumes?" Cried Grace.] + +"Let me go," said Eleanor angrily. "You are hurting my arm. What do +I care about Miss Pierson's costumes?" + +"You will care," replied Grace. "For if you don't instantly tell me +where they are, I shall call the whole cast and expose you." + +"If you do, you will merely make yourself ridiculous," hissed +Eleanor, her eyes blazing. "What grounds have you for such an +accusation?" + +"I can't prove that you are responsible for their disappearance, but +I do know that you shall not play 'Rosalind,' if the costumes are never +found." + +"How can you prevent me!" asked Eleanor in insolent tones. "You are not +running this production." + +"I have no time to waste in arguing the matter," returned Grace with +admirable self-control. "What I want is the truth about the costumes and +you must answer me." + +"'Must,'" repeated Eleanor, raising her eyebrows. "That is putting it +rather strongly. No one ever says 'must' to me." + +"I say it to you now, Eleanor, and I mean it," said Grace. "I am fully +convinced that you have hidden Anne's costumes and I am equally certain +that you are going to produce them at once." + +"Then you are laboring under a delusion," replied Eleanor, with a +disagreeable laugh, "and I should advise you to devote that tireless +energy of yours, to minding your own business." + +"This is my business," replied Grace evenly, "and if you wish to avoid +any unpleasantness you will make it yours." + +"Your threats do not alarm me," sneered Eleanor. "I am not easily +frightened." + +"Very well," replied Grace, looking steadily at her enemy. "I see that +I shall be obliged to call Miss Thompson back here and tell her who +destroyed her essay. Knowing that, do you suppose you can make her +believe that you did not hide Anne's costumes?" + +Eleanor's insolent expression turned to one of fear. "No," she gasped, +"don't call Miss Thompson. You know she hates me, and will disgrace me +in the eyes of the girls." + +"And you richly deserve it, Eleanor," replied Grace, "but if you produce +Anne's costumes at once, I'll agree to say nothing. Hurry, for every +second is precious." + +"I can't get them," wailed Eleanor. "What shall I do?" + +"Where are they?" asked Grace, with compressed lips. + +"At--'Heartsease,'" said Eleanor, and burst into tears. + +"Oh, what a mess," groaned Grace. "It will take an hour to go there and +back. Oh, I must act quickly. Let me think. Mrs. Gray's coachman would +drive me out, but those horses are so slow. Eleanor," she exclaimed, +turning to the weeping girl, "is your runabout outside?" + +"Yes," sobbed Eleanor. + +"Then that settles it," cried Grace. "I will go after the things. Tell +me where to find them. Have you a latch key? I can't bother to ring +after I get there." + +"I'll go and get my key," said Eleanor, wiping her eyes. "They're in the +wardrobe in my bedroom." + +"All right, wait for me at the door and don't say a word. Here come some +of the girls." + +Though the time had seemed hours to Grace, her interview with Eleanor +had lasted barely five minutes. She hurried back to where Miss Tebbs and +the three chums awaited her, followed by the curious eyes of a number of +the cast, who wondered vaguely why Grace Harlowe was rushing around at +such a rate. + +"Borrow a gown for Anne, Miss Tebbs, for the first act," she cried. +"I'll have the missing costumes here in time for the second. Only +I can't play Orlando. Miriam will have to play it; she's my understudy, +you know. Ethel Dumont can play Miriam's part. They've rehearsed both +parts, and will be all right. Please don't refuse me, Miss Tebbs, but +let me go. It's for Anne's sake. Nora, please bring me my street +clothes." + +As she spoke, Grace began rapidly divesting herself of her costume. + +"Very well, Grace, have your own way," replied the teacher reluctantly. +"I'll go at once and get a gown for Anne. But don't dare to fail me." + +"Thank you, Miss Tebbs. I'll not fail." Slipping into her long coat and +seizing her fur hat, Grace made for the street, stopping for an instant +to take the key from Eleanor, who stood waiting at the door. + +"Can you manage the machine?" faltered Eleanor. + +"Yes," said Grace curtly. "Go in at once. If you are seen, the girls are +apt to ask questions that you may find hard to answer truthfully." + +"Thank goodness, David and Tom taught me something about automobiles +last summer," thought Grace as she prepared to start, "or I should have +been powerless to help Anne to-night. I am going to exceed the speed +limit, that's certain." A moment later she was well into the street and +on her way to "Heartsease." It was a memorable ride to Grace. It seemed +as though the runabout fairly flew over the ground. + +"I've only been ten minutes on the way," she breathed as she neared her +destination. Leaving the runabout outside the grounds, she ran up the +drive, and, inserting her key in the door, opened it softly and entered +the wide, old-fashioned hall. Up the steps she hurried, meeting no one, +for Miss Nevin was at Assembly Hall and the servants' quarters were at +the back of the house. Knowing the house as she did, Grace went straight +to Eleanor's room and to the wardrobe. Sure enough, Anne's missing +costumes were lying in a neat heap on the floor. Assuring herself that +everything was there, Grace piled them up in her arms and sped softly +down the stairs, opened the door, and in a twinkling was down the drive +and into the runabout. + +She drove back even faster than she had come. As she passed the city +hall clock she drew a breath of relief. It was ten minutes of nine. The +first act was hardly half over. Leaping from the machine with the lost +costumes she ran triumphantly into the dressing room. + +"Here she is," shrieked Nora in delight. "I knew she'd make good." + +"Are they all there, Grace," anxiously inquired Miss Tebbs. "You dear, +good child. Where did you find them?" + +"That is a mystery which even Sherlock Holmes can never solve," replied +Grace, laughing. "Where's Anne?" + +"She's on just now with Celia," replied Miss Tebbs, "and is playing up +to her usual form, but she is very nervous and almost broke down after +you left. She feels that you made too great a sacrifice for her in +giving up your part." + +"Nonsense," said Grace. "Why should I have sacrificed the star to my own +personal vanity? Miriam Nesbit can play Orlando as well as I, and makes +a more striking appearance at that." + +"I don't agree with you, Grace, for you were an ideal 'Orlando,'" +replied Miss Tebbs. "However it's too late for regret, and the best +I can do now is to make you assistant stage manager. Some of those girls +need looking after. Miss Savell had a bad case of stage fright and +almost had to be dragged on. She forgot her lines and had to be +prompted. She's all right now, but I am devoutly thankful she didn't +play 'Rosalind,' for she certainly would not have done justice to it." + +Grace smiled grimly as she listened to Miss Tebbs. She could not feel +sorry at Eleanor's recent agitation. Now that the excitement was over, +Grace felt her anger rising. Eleanor's thirst for glory and revenge had +been the means of losing Grace the part that she had so eagerly looked +forward to playing, not to mention the narrow escape Anne had run. +Still, on the whole, Grace felt glad that so far no one knew the truth. + +"I think I'll go into the wings. It's almost time for the curtain," she +said to Miss Tebbs. But before she could reach there, the curtain had +rung down and the audience were calling for Celia and Rosalind, who +took the call hand in hand. Then Rosalind took two calls and bowed +herself into the wings and straight into Grace's arms. + +"O Grace, how could you do it?" said Anne, with a half sob. "You gave +up your part for me. It's too much. I shan't----" + +"You shall," replied Grace, hugging her. "Run along and put on male +attire. I found your stuff and some time I'll tell you where, but not +now." + +The play progressed with remarkable smoothness, and the various actors +received unstinted applause from the audience, but from first to last +Anne was the star. Her portrayal of Rosalind left little to be desired. +Time after time Mr. Southard led the applause, and was ably seconded by +Hippy, Reddy, David and Tom, who fairly wriggled with enthusiasm. + +Next to Anne, Nora, perhaps, came second. Her delivery of Touchstone's +lines was delightful and she kept the audience in a gale of mirth +whenever she appeared. + +It was over at last. The closing line of the Epilogue had been spoken by +Rosalind, and she had taken five curtain calls and retired with her arms +full of flowers. The principal actors in the play had been well +remembered by friends, and the dressing rooms looked like a florist's +shop. + +"I'm so sorry. I'd like to begin all over again," said Nora, as she +rubbed her face with cold cream to take off her make-up. + +"There's an end to all things," said Jessica practically, "and really +I'm glad to get back into everyday clothes." + +"Hurry up, slowpokes," said Grace Harlowe, popping her head in the door. +"Tom Gray is here. He and David are waiting outside with their cars. We +are all going up to Nesbit's for a jollification given in honor of +Rosalind, who is at present dressed in everyday clothes and shaking +hands with the great Southard. He and Miss Tebbs are going, too, and so +is Mrs. Gray." + +"Come in, Grace, and tell us where you found Anne's costumes," said +Nora, giving her cheeks a final rub. "We're devoured with curiosity." + +"'Thereby hangs a tale,'" replied Grace, "but I refuse to be interviewed +to-night. I'll see you outside. If you're not there in three minutes, +I'll put Hippy on your trail." + +Closing the door, Grace walked slowly toward the entrance. The majority +of the girls had gone. Anne still stood talking with Mr. Southard and +Miss Tebbs. + +"Grace, come here and speak to Mr. Southard," called Miss Tebbs. "Has +Nora gone? Mr. Southard wishes to congratulate her and you, too." + +"She'll be out in a couple of minutes," said Grace, as she advanced to +greet the great actor. "But I am not in line for congratulations, as +I was not in the play." + +"I am very sorry that you could not play Orlando to-night. I remember +your work at the try-out," said Mr. Southard in his deep, musical voice. +"Miss Tebbs has told me of the sacrifice you made. You deserve double +congratulations for the part you played behind the scenes." + +"It was nothing," murmured Grace, her color rising. "If you are ready, +suppose we go. Mrs. Gray wishes you and Mr. Southard to go in her +carriage, Miss Tebbs. The rest of us will go in the two automobiles." + +As they moved toward the door, Grace left them. Going back to the +dressing room, she rapped sharply on the door. "Last call! Look out for +Hippy!" she cried, then hurried to catch up with the others. But before +she reached them she was confronted by Eleanor. + +"I've been waiting to see you ever since the play was over," said +Eleanor sullenly. + +Grace looked at her in silence. "Well?" she said coldly. + +"What are you going to do about to-night--and everything?" asked +Eleanor. "Are you going to tell Miss Thompson?" + +"So far I have told nothing, Eleanor," said Grace sternly. "You deserve +no clemency at my hands, however, for you have repeatedly accused myself +and my friends of carrying tales. Something we are above doing. You have +refused our friendship and have been the means of estranging Miss +Thompson and myself. + +"When first you came to High School, I promised Mrs. Gray that I would +help you to like High School life. For that reason I have overlooked +lots of things, but to-night caps the climax, and I tell you frankly +that I thoroughly despise your conduct, and if ever again you do +anything to injure myself or my friends, I shall not hesitate to bring +you to book for it." + +Eleanor stood clenching her hands in impotent rage. Grace's plain +speaking had roused a tempest in her. + +"I hate you, Grace Harlowe, fifty times more than ever before," she +said, her voice shaking with anger. "I intended to leave this miserable +school at the end of the year, but now I shall stay and show you that +you cannot trample upon me with impunity." + +Without answering, Grace walked away, leaving Eleanor to stare moodily +after her. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE JUNIOR PICNIC + + +With the first days of spring, the longing to throw down her books and +fairly live in the open returned to Grace Harlowe with renewed force. + +"I do wish school were over," she said with a sigh to her three chums, +as they strolled home one afternoon in May. "I don't mind studying in +the winter, but when the spring comes, then it's another matter. I long +to golf and play tennis, and picnic in the woods and----" + +"That reminds me," said Nora, interrupting her, "that last fall the +juniors talked about giving a picnic instead of a ball. We didn't give +the ball, so it's up to us to go picnicking." + +"That's a fine suggestion, Nora," said Jessica. "I move we post a notice +in the locker-room and have a meeting to-morrow after school. + +"I can't be there," said Anne regretfully. "To-morrow is one of my days +at Mrs. Gray's, but whatever you do will suit me." + +"Awfully sorry, Anne," said Grace. "We might call it for the day after +to-morrow." + +"No, no," protested Anne. "Please don't postpone it on my account." + +The notice was duly posted in a conspicuous place in the locker-room the +next day, and the entire class, with the exception of Anne, met in one +of the smaller rooms off the gymnasium at the close of the afternoon +session. + +"Esteemed juniors and fellow-citizens," said Grace, after calling the +meeting to order. "It is true that no one has particularly requested me +to take charge of this meeting, but as I posted the notice, I feel that +I am responsible for your presence here to-day. We have before us two +matters that need attention. One is the annual entertainment that the +junior class always gives, the other the election of class officers. +Last year we gave a ball, but this year so far we have done nothing. +I move that we proceed at once to elect our president, vice president, +secretary and treasurer, and then decide what form of entertainment +would be advisable." + +"Second the motion," said Nora. + +"All those in favor say 'aye,' contrary, 'no.'" + +"Carried," said Grace, as no dissenting voices arose. "Nominations for +president are now in order." + +"I nominate Grace Harlowe for president," exclaimed Miriam Nesbit, +springing from her seat. + +"Second the motion," said Eva Allen. + +It was carried with enthusiasm before Grace had time to protest. + +"I nominate Miriam Nesbit for president," said Grace. + +This was also seconded and carried. Then Edna Wright rose and nominated +Eleanor Savell. This closed the nominations for president, and the +matter when put to vote resulted in Grace's election by a majority of +ten votes over Miriam, Eleanor having received only five. It was plain +to be seen that in spite of the rival faction, Grace held first place in +the hearts of most of her class. Miriam Nesbit was elected vice +president, Marian Barber treasurer, and, rather to Grace's surprise, +Eleanor was chosen as secretary, Edna Wright again nominating her after +doing some vigorous whispering among the two back rows of girls. The +only other girl proposed being one who was not particularly popular in +the class. + +"I always suspected Edna Wright's lack of sense," whispered Nora to +Jessica. "The idea of nominating Eleanor for secretary when she knows +how Eleanor hates the Phi Sigma Tau, and doesn't speak to any of us. +I certainly didn't vote for her." + +"Nor I," responded Jessica. "Funny Grace would never tell us about that +costume business. I know Eleanor was mixed up in it." + +"Of course," nodded Nora, and turned her attention to the meeting just +in time to hear Grace put the motion for the picnic and say "aye" with +the others. + +The date for the affair was set for the following Saturday, the weather +permitting, and it was generally agreed that Forest Park, a natural park +about twelve miles from Oakdale, would be an ideal place to picnic. A +refreshment committee was appointed, also a transportation committee. +The girls were requested to pay fifty cents apiece to the treasurer. + +"If we find that this is not enough, we will levy another tax," Grace +announced. + +"I'm not positive about the first collection," muttered Nora. "I'm +perpetually broke." + +"So am I," said Jessica. "My allowance lasts about two days, and then +I am penniless for the rest of the month." + +The details having been disposed of, the members decided to meet in +front of the High School the following Saturday morning at nine o'clock. +The transportation committee was to have two big picnic wagons in +readiness and the juniors went home with pleasant anticipations of a day +in the woods. + +"Won't it be fun?" exclaimed Grace joyously, as she walked down the +street, the center of the Phi Sigma Tau. + +"Great," said Miriam Nesbit. "I suppose we could all squeeze into +David's automobile." + +"I believe we'd better not," replied Grace. "It might create bad feeling +among the girls. We don't want them to feel that we think ourselves too +exclusive to ride with them." + +"I'll wager anything Eleanor and Edna won't go with the crowd," said Eva +Allen. + +"I don't know about that," remarked Nora O'Malley. "Eleanor has just +been elected secretary, therefore it behooves her to keep on the right +side of those who elected her." + +"She owes her office to Edna Wright," said Marian Barber, "and also to +the fact that her opponent, Miss Wells, is not popular. For my part, +I think Miss Wells would have been a better secretary. We could at least +have gotten along peaceably with her. I can't see why Eleanor accepted, +knowing she would have to act with us in class matters." + +"I have noticed that ever since the play she has been trying to gain a +footing in the class," said Miriam Nesbit thoughtfully. "She has gone +out of her way to be nice to girls that she used to snub unmercifully. +We are the only ones she keeps away from. I believe she will try to +influence the rest of the class against us." + +"She'll have to hurry up if she does it this term," said Nora. + +"Perhaps she won't come back to school next year, she is so changeable," +said Jessica hopefully. + +"Yes, she will," said Grace, taking part in the discussion for the first +time since it had touched on Eleanor. + +"How do you know?" was the question. + +"She told me so the night of the play," was Grace's answer. "Girls, +I have never told you about what happened that night. Anne knows, but, +you see, it particularly concerned her. I was too angry at the time to +trust myself to tell any one else. As members of the same sorority, I +know that you can be trusted not to repeat what I shall tell you." + +In a few words Grace told the story of Eleanor's treachery, omitting, +however, the part concerning Miss Thompson. She had decided to reveal +that to no one. + +"Well, of all things," said Nora O'Malley. "I knew she was to blame. So +she threatened revenge, did she?" + +"Yes," replied Grace. "That is why I have told you this. Be careful what +you do. Never give her a chance to take advantage of you in any way, for +she is determined to make mischief. Now let us forget her, and talk +about the picnic." + +With the talk of the picnic, Grace's warning soon passed from the girls' +minds. They had no knowledge of the trials that their senior year was +to bring them or how fully the truth of Grace's words was to be proved. + + * * * * * + +The day of the picnic dawned fair and cloudless. By nine o'clock a merry +party of laughing, chattering girls had gathered in front of the High +School, where the two immense wagons generally used by Oakdale +picnickers, each drawn by four horses, awaited them. For a wonder every +one was on time, and the start was made with a great fluttering of +handkerchiefs, accompanied by enthusiastic cheers and High School yells. +As they rattled down the street people paused and looked smilingly after +them. Oakdale was very proud of her High School boys and girls, and +enjoyed seeing them happy. + +The Phi Sigma Tau were seated in one end of the second wagon, with the +exception of Grace, who had perched herself on the driver's seat, and +was holding an animated conversation with the driver, old Jerry Flynn, +whom every one knew and liked. Grace always cultivated old Jerry's +acquaintance whenever she had the chance. To-day he was allowing her to +drive, while, with folded hands, he directed her management of the +lines. Grace was in her element and gave a sigh of regret as they +sighted the park. "I could go on driving four horses forever, Mr. +Flynn," she exclaimed. "Do let me drive going back?" + +"Sure yez can, miss," said the good-natured Irishman, "and it's +meself'll hellup yez, and show yez how to do it." + +The committee on entertainment had provided a series of races and +contests for the morning. After lunch there would be a tennis match, and +then the girls could amuse themselves as they chose; the start home to +be made about six o'clock. + +Grace and Nora decided to enter the hundred-yard dash. "The prize is a +box of stationery bought at the ten-cent store, so I am anxious to win +it," Nora informed them. "In fact, all the prizes came from that useful +and overworked place. I was on the purchasing committee." + +"I shall enter the one-legged race. I always could stand on one foot +like a crane," announced Jessica, "and hopping is my specialty." + +There was an egg and spoon race, a walking match, an apple-eating +contest, with the apples suspended by strings from the low branch of a +tree, to be eaten without aid from the hands, and various other stunts +of a similar nature. + +The morning passed like magic. Each new set of contestants seemed +funnier than the preceding one. Nora won the coveted box of stationery. +Jessica ably demonstrated her ability to outhop her competitors, while +Eva Allen covered herself with glory in the apple contest. + +Grace, after losing the hundred-yard dash, laughingly refused to enter +the other contests. "I mean to win at tennis this afternoon," she said, +"so I'm not going to waste my precious energy on such little stunts." + +After the midday luncheon had been disposed of, the entire class +repaired to the tennis court at the east end of the park. A match had +been arranged in which Grace and Miriam Nesbit were to play against Ruth +Deane and Edna Wright, who was an indefatigable tennis player, and +therefore figured frequently in tennis matches held in Oakdale. At the +last minute, however, Edna pleaded a severe headache and recommended +Eleanor in her place. + +"But I never have played with her," protested Ruth Deane, "and how do +I know whether she can play?" + +"Try her," begged Edna. "I have played with her and she is a wonder." + +It was with considerable surprise and some misgiving that Grace +discovered that Eleanor was to play. "I seem fated to oppose her," Grace +thought. "I wonder at her consenting to play against us. I'll keep my +eye on her, at any rate, for I don't trust her." + +Grace's fears were, in this instance, groundless, for Eleanor played a +perfectly fair game from start to finish, and proved herself a powerful +antagonist. Her serves were as straight and accurate as a boy's, and she +played with great spirit and agility. Indeed, the sides were so evenly +matched that junior excitement rose high and numerous boxes of Huyler's +were wagered against the result. The game stood forty-all. Two vantages +scored in succession were needed by one side to win. Grace forgot +everything but the fact that she desired the victory. With her, going +into a game meant winning it. Five minutes later the match was over. She +and Miriam had won against worthy opponents. + +"That was an evenly matched game," exclaimed Nora, as Grace and Miriam +strolled to where their friends were seated upon the grass. "You played +like professionals." + +"Eleanor is a better player than Edna Wright," said Grace. "Her serves +are wonderful. We had all we could do to hold our own." + +"There's a trout brook over there," said Nora, "and I had forethought +enough to borrow a fishing rod and line from Hippy. It is jointed, so it +didn't get in any one's way. I left it with the lunch baskets. +Therefore, as I'm not afraid of angle worms, I'm going to dig some bait +and fish. Want to come?" + +"Not I," laughed Anne. "Miriam and I are going up under the trees and +read Browning." + +"The idea of going to a picnic and reading!" exclaimed Jessica. "Come +on, girls, let's go with Nora." She hastily rose, brushed off her gown +and followed in Nora's wake, accompanied by Eva and Marian. + +"Come with us, dear," said Anne to Grace, who stood looking dreamily +toward a patch of woods to the left. + +"No indeed," replied Grace. "I'm going to explore a little in those +woods yonder." + +"Don't go far," called Anne anxiously, as Grace turned to go. + +"I won't," she answered. "See you later." + +As she reached the cool shadows of the little strip of woods she drew a +long breath. How delightful it was to hear the rustle of the leaves over +her head, and tread upon Nature's green carpet of soft, thick moss. +Forgetful of her promise, Grace wandered farther and farther on, +gathering the wild flowers as she went. She found plenty of trilliums +and violets, and pounced with a cry of delight upon some wild pink +honeysuckle just opening. After stripping the bush, she turned into a +bypath that led straight up a little hill which rose before her. +Scrambling up the hill, Grace reached the top and looked about her. +Nestling at the foot of the elevation on the side opposite to the one +she had climbed stood a small one-story cottage. + +"How funny," thought Grace. "I didn't know there was a house anywhere +near here. I'm going down there for a drink of water. I'm awfully +thirsty." + +Suiting the action to the words, Grace hurried toward the cottage. As +she neared it she noticed that the door was wide open. "Some one is at +home, that's certain," she said to herself. "I hope they won't be cross +at my asking for a drink. Why," she exclaimed, "there's no one living +here at all. I think I'll venture in, perhaps there's a well at the back +of the house." + +Entering, she found that the cottage consisted of but two rooms. The +front one was absolutely bare, but the back one contained an old stove, +a broken-down sink and a rickety chair. At one side was a good-sized +closet. Opening it, Grace found nothing save a dilapidated old coat. +Just then she caught the sound of rough voices just outside the cottage. + +"I tell ye, Bill, we've got to do the job to-night and hike for the West +on that train that goes through Oakdale at 3.15 in the morning," said a +voice that was almost a growl. + +"I'm wid yer, Jim," answered another voice in correspondingly savage +tones. "Even to layin' a few out stiff if dey gets in de way." + +Grace listened. She heard heavy footsteps, and, peeping into the room, +she saw a burly figure outlined in the front door in the act of +entering. She glanced toward the back door. It was closed and fastened +with a bolt. If she could slip out that way, she could make a run for +the picnic grounds, but she dared not try to pass the two men who had +just appeared. The few words of their conversation proved them to be +lawless. Noiselessly she slipped into the closet and drew the door +almost shut. She would hide until they had gone. They were not likely to +linger long in the cottage. + +Minute after minute went by, but the intruders showed no signs of +leaving. + +"What shall I do?" Grace breathed, wringing her hands. "They're real, +downright burglars of the worst sort, and they're planning a robbery. +It's getting late, too, and the girls will soon be going back. Oh, +I must get out of here, but I won't try to go until I find out whose +house they're going to rob." + +The men talked on, but, listen as she might, Grace could get no clue. + +"There ain't a soul on the joint except the judge and one old servant," +growled Bill. "The rest o' the bunch'll be at the weddin' of one o' the +girls. I laid low and heard 'em talkin' about it to-day. The judge's got +money in the house, too. He always keeps it around, and that old Putnam +place is pretty well back from the road." + +Grace waited to hear no more. She had obtained the information she +sought. They were going to rob and perhaps murder good old Judge Putnam. + +Slipping quietly out of the closet, she approached the back door and +cautiously took hold of the bolt. To her joy it moved easily. Exercising +the greatest care in sliding it back, she lifted the latch. It made no +sound, and, holding her breath, she softly swung open the door and ran +on tiptoe around the corner of the house. Throwing away her bouquet as +she ran, she made for a clump of underbrush at one side of the cottage. +Here she paused, and hearing no disturbance from inside, she continued +her flight. But she had lost her sense of direction, and after fifteen +minutes' wandering was about to despair of finding her way, when she +espied the honeysuckle bush that she had stripped earlier in the +afternoon. This put her on the right track, but she was farther away +from the picnic grounds than she had supposed, and when tired and +breathless she at last reached them, it was only to find them deserted. +The party had gone back to town without her. + +Grace stood staring about her in blank dismay. It was nearing seven +o'clock, and she was twelve miles from Oakdale. Why hadn't the girls +waited? Grace felt ready to cry, then the vision of the poor old judge, +alone and at the mercy of the two ruffians, flashed before her. + +"I'll walk to Oakdale," she said, with a determined nod of her head. +"And I'll not stop for an instant until I notify the police." + +Grace never forgot that lonely walk. The darkness of a moonless night +settled down upon her before she had gone three miles, but she would not +allow herself to think of fear. She stumbled frequently as she neared +her journey's end, and her tired body cried out for rest, but she pushed +resolutely on, almost sobbing with relief as she entered the suburbs of +the town. It was nearly eleven by the city hall clock when she hurried +up the steps of the police station. + +"Well, well!" said Chief Burroughs, as Grace rushed unceremoniously into +his office. "Here's the lost girl now. I just received word that you +were missing. Your father and one of my men left here not five minutes +ago. They went to the livery to hire a rig." + +"Oh, try and stop them, Mr. Burroughs," cried Grace excitedly. "'Phone +the livery and tell them that I'm here. Then listen to me, for I've +walked all the way from Forest Park and there's no time to lose." + +"Walked from Forest Park?" exclaimed the chief, as he turned to the +'phone. "Why that's a good twelve miles and----" + +"I know," interrupted Grace, then was silent, for the chief had begun +talking to the livery. + +"It's all right," he said, hanging up. "They'll be here directly. Caught +them just in the nick of time, however. Now what's on your mind, Grace?" + +"They're going to rob old Judge Putnam," Grace burst forth incoherently. +"He's all alone. Oh, do send some one out there quickly, or it may be +too late. Isn't there a telephone in the judge's house? He ought to be +warned." + +"Who's going to rob the judge? What are you talking about, my child?" +asked the chief. "No, the judge has no 'phone. He thinks them a +nuisance." + +Grace rapidly told of her adventure in the woods, and her escape from +the cottage. Before she had finished Chief Burroughs had begun to act. +Summoning three special policemen, he narrated briefly what he had just +heard, and five minutes later Grace had the satisfaction of knowing +that, fully armed, they were well on their way to the Putnam estate. + +"I can't understand why the girls didn't miss me," she said to the +chief, as she sat awaiting her father's appearance. + +"Miss Bright and Miss O'Malley, who were in the second wagon, thought +you were in the first with Miss Pierson and Miss Nesbit, and vice +versa," replied the chief. "The second wagon broke down when about half +way home. It took over half an hour to get it fixed, so when it did +arrive the girls in the head wagon had all gone home. Your mother grew +uneasy when ten o'clock came, so she telephoned your friends, and on +comparing notes you were found to be among the missing." + +"What a mix-up," laughed Grace. "No wonder I wasn't missed. I'm sorry +mother was uneasy, but she'll forgive me when she hears my tale. Oh, +I hope nothing has happened to the poor old judge." + +"Well, we'll soon know," replied the chief. "Now, you just take it easy +and rest until your father comes. You need it after a twelve-mile walk. +Of all the brave little girls----" + +The ringing of the telephone cut the chief short. + +Grace gave a long sigh and leaned back in the big chair. She was so +tired. Her eyelids drooped---- + +"Well, I declare!" said the chief, as he turned from the telephone, for +Grace was fast asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +CONCLUSION + + +The special policemen sent out to the Putnam estate were not doomed to +disappointment. After an hour's waiting, their patience was rewarded, +and the two housebreakers appeared upon the scene. Before they could do +any damage they were apprehended and a bag containing a complete outfit +of burglar's tools was taken away from them. They fought desperately, +but without avail, and were marched to jail to await their hearing. + +Judge Putnam was greatly agitated over the affair. He had a large sum of +money in the house, not to mention old family silver and other +valuables. + +"I realize I've had a narrow escape," he exclaimed to the chief the next +day. "I might have been murdered in cold blood. I'll have a burglar +alarm put in at once and a telephone, too. I had no business to let all +the servants except old James go for the night. Who did you say brought +the news? Tom Harlowe's little girl? She always was a wide awake +youngster. I wonder what I can do for her to show her that I appreciate +her bravery?" + +"I don't believe she'd accept anything, Judge," replied the chief. +"She's not that sort." + +"We shall see. We shall see," said the judge, rubbing his hands. "I have +a plan I think she'll listen to." + +In the meantime, on reaching home Grace had been cried over by her +mother and put to bed as though she were a baby. The story had been told +by her chums throughout the school the next day, and Grace found herself +the "observed of all observers." + +"Any of you would have done the same," she said when surrounded by a +bevy of admiring schoolmates. + +"That's what you always say," exclaimed Nora. "But let me tell you +I should have been in hysterics if I had been left alone in the dark +twelve miles from nowhere." + +Judge Putnam did not at once make his plan known to Grace. He called, +thanking her and complimenting her on her bravery and presence of mind. + +"I shall have something to ask you when school closes, my dear child," +he said as he rose to go. "Something that concerns you and your friends, +and you mustn't say 'no' to an old man." + +"What on earth does he mean?" said Grace to her chums, as she repeated +the judge's words. "I shall be eaten up with curiosity until school +closes." + +"Wish to goodness it was over now," growled Nora O'Malley. "I don't +believe the last of June will ever come." + +The morning after commencement, eight highly excited girls gathered on +the Harlowe's veranda. Grace had received a note from Judge Putnam +requesting that the Phi Sigma Tau call upon him at ten o'clock that +morning. + +"Do hurry," said Jessica, as they neared the judge's beautiful home. +"The sooner we get there the sooner we'll know." + +"Good morning, young ladies," said the judge, bowing with old-time +gallantry as James ushered the eight girls into the library. "You look +like a garden of roses. There's nothing like youth; nothing like it. Sit +down and make yourselves comfortable while I tell you why I asked you to +come and see an old man." + +"You are just like Mrs. Gray, Judge," said Grace, "always imagining +yourself old, when you know you're just a great big boy." + +"Very pretty, my dear," chuckled the judge. "But if I am as young as you +say, then I must do something to keep young. Now, the way I propose +doing it is this: I have a camp up in the Adirondacks that needs +attention, so I wrote my youngest sister about it and she agrees with +me. She is going up there this week with a couple of servants to open +the bungalow and put it in readiness for eight girls who call themselves +the Phi Sigma Tau, providing their fathers and mothers can spare them +for a few weeks. Do you think they will care to go?" + +"Oh-h-h-h! How lovely!" breathed the eight girls in concert. + +"Care to go? Well I should say so. It will be the greatest lark ever," +cried Grace. + +"If you know any young men who can make themselves useful, we might +invite them. I don't like the idea of being the only boy, you know." + +"David and Tom," said Grace and Anne. + +"Hippy can go, I'm sure," said Nora. + +"Not to mention Reddy and Arnold Evans," murmured Jessica, with a glance +at Miriam. + +"It looks as though I shall not lack masculine company," remarked the +judge, with twinkling eyes. "Tell your parents that my sister will write +them." + +"I move that we give three cheers and the High School yell for Judge +Putnam, and then go straight home and get proper permission," cried +Grace. + +The cheers were given with a will, and after shaking hands with the +judge, the girls said good-bye. + +"How did Judge Putnam know about the Phi Sigma Tau; even to its name?" +asked Marian Barber curiously. + +"Lots of people know of it," remarked Eva Allen. + +"Girls," said Grace earnestly, "don't you think our society has been a +success so far?" + +"Yes, indeed," was the united answer. + +"Our sorority has made us fast friends, loyal to each other, through +good and evil report," she continued. "Let us resolve now, that during +our senior year we will stand firmly together, and make the Phi Sigma +Tau represent all that is best and most worthy in High School life." + +When next we meet Grace Harlowe and her girl chums, they will have +entered upon their senior year at High School. In "GRACE HARLOWE'S +SENIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; Or, The Parting of the Ways," we shall learn +how the Phi Sigma Tau kept their sorority pledge. Eleanor Savell will +again seek revenge, and Grace Harlowe will once more prove herself equal +to the occasion. Those who have followed the "High School Girls" through +three years of school life cannot fail to be interested in what befell +these lovable everyday girls during their senior year. + + +THE END + + + + +HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY'S +CATALOGUE OF + +The Best and Least Expensive + +Books for Real Boys +and Girls + + +Really good and new stories for boys and girls are not plentiful. Many +stories, too, are so highly improbable as to bring a grin of derision to +the young reader's face before he has gone far. The name of ALTEMUS is a +distinctive brand on the cover of a book, always ensuring the buyer of +having a book that is up-to-date and fine throughout. No buyer of an +ALTEMUS book is ever disappointed. + +Many are the claims made as to the inexpensiveness of books. Go into any +bookstore and ask for an Altemus book. Compare the price charged you for +Altemus books with the price demanded for other juvenile books. You will +at once discover that a given outlay of money will buy more of the +ALTEMUS books than of those published by other houses. + +Every dealer in books carries the ALTEMUS books. + + * * * * * + +Sold by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt of price + +=Henry Altemus Company= + +507-513 Cherry Street, Philadelphia + + + + +The Motor Boat Club Series + +=By H. IRVING HANCOCK= + +The keynote of these books is manliness. The stories are wonderfully +entertaining, and they are at the same time sound and wholesome. No boy +will willingly lay down an unfinished book in this series. + +1 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB OF THE KENNEBEC; Or, The Secret of Smugglers' +Island. + +2 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AT NANTUCKET; Or, The Mystery of the Dunstan Heir. + +3 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB OFF LONG ISLAND; Or, A Daring Marine Game at +Racing Speed. + +4 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AND THE WIRELESS; Or, The Dot, Dash and Dare +Cruise. + +5 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB IN FLORIDA; Or, Laying the Ghost of Alligator +Swamp. + +6 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AT THE GOLDEN GATE; Or, A Thrilling Capture in the +Great Fog. + +7 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB ON THE GREAT LAKES; Or, The Flying Dutchman of the +Big Fresh Water. + + Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + + + +The Range and Grange Hustlers + +=By FRANK GEE PATCHIN= + +Have you any idea of the excitements, the glories of life on great +ranches in the West? Any bright boy will "devour" the books of this +series, once he has made a start with the first volume. + +1 THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS ON THE RANCH; Or, The Boy Shepherds of +the Great Divide. + +2 THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS' GREATEST ROUND-UP; Or, Pitting Their +Wits Against a Packers' Combine. + +3 THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS ON THE PLAINS; Or, Following the Steam +Plows Across the Prairie. + +4 THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS AT CHICAGO; Or, The Conspiracy of the +Wheat Pit. + + Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + + + +Submarine Boys Series + +=By VICTOR G. DURHAM= + +These splendid books for boys and girls deal with life aboard submarine +torpedo boats, and with the adventures of the young crew, and possess, +in addition to the author's surpassing knack of storytelling, a great +educational value for all young readers. + +1 THE SUBMARINE BOYS ON DUTY; Or, Life on a Diving Torpedo Boat. + +2 THE SUBMARINE BOYS' TRIAL TRIP; Or, "Making Good" as Young Experts. + +3 THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE MIDDIES; Or, The Prize Detail at Annapolis. + +4 THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SPIES; Or, Dodging the Sharks of the Deep. + +5 THE SUBMARINE BOYS' LIGHTNING CRUISE; Or, The Young Kings of the Deep. + +6 THE SUBMARINE BOYS FOR THE FLAG; Or, Deeding Their Lives to Uncle Sam. + +7 THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SMUGGLERS; Or, Breaking Up the New Jersey +Customs Frauds. + + Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + + + +The Square Dollar Boys Series + +=By H. IRVING HANCOCK= + +The reading boy will be a voter within a few years; these books are +bound to make him think, and when he casts his vote he will do it more +intelligently for having read these volumes. + +1 THE SQUARE DOLLAR BOYS WAKE UP; Or, Fighting the Trolley Franchise +Steal. + +2 THE SQUARE DOLLAR BOYS SMASH THE RING; Or, In the Lists Against the +Crooked Land Deal. + + Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + + + +Ben Lightbody Series + +=By WALTER BENHAM= + +1 BEN LIGHTBODY, SPECIAL; Or, Seizing His First Chance to Make Good. + +2 BEN LIGHTBODY'S BIGGEST PUZZLE; Or, Running the Double Ghost to Earth. + + Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + + + +Pony Rider Boys Series + +=By FRANK GEE PATCHIN= + +These tales may be aptly described as those of a new Cooper. In every +sense they belong to the best class of books for boys and girls. + +1 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ROCKIES; Or, The Secret of the Lost Claim. + +2 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN TEXAS; Or, The Veiled Riddle of the Plains. + +3 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN MONTANA; Or, The Mystery of the Old Custer +Trail. + +4 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE OZARKS; Or, The Secret of Ruby Mountain. + +5 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ALKALI; Or, Finding a Key to the Desert +Maze. + +6 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN NEW MEXICO; Or, The End of the Silver Trail. + +7 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE GRAND CANYON; Or, The Mystery of Bright +Angel Gulch. + + Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + + + +The Boys of Steel Series + +=By JAMES R. MEARS= + +The author has made of these volumes a series of romances with scenes +laid in the iron and steel world. Each book presents a vivid picture of +some phase of this great industry. The information given is exact and +truthful; above all, each story is full of adventure and fascination. + +1 THE IRON BOYS IN THE MINES; Or, Starting at the Bottom of the Shaft. + +2 THE IRON BOYS AS FOREMEN; Or, Heading the Diamond Drill Shift. + +3 THE IRON BOYS ON THE ORE BOATS; Or, Roughing It on the Great Lakes. + +4 THE IRON BOYS IN THE STEEL MILLS; Or, Beginning Anew in the Cinder +Pits. + + Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + + + +West Point Series + +=By H. IRVING HANCOCK= + +The principal characters in these narratives are manly, young Americans +whose doings will inspire all boy readers. + +1 DICK PRESCOTT'S FIRST YEAR AT WEST POINT; Or, Two Chums in the Cadet +Gray. + +2 DICK PRESCOTT'S SECOND YEAR AT WEST POINT; Or, Finding the Glory of +the Soldier's Life. + +3 DICK PRESCOTT'S THIRD YEAR AT WEST POINT; Or, Standing Firm for Flag +and Honor. + +4 DICK PRESCOTT'S FOURTH YEAR AT WEST POINT; Or, Ready to Drop the Gray +for Shoulder Straps. + + Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + + + +Annapolis Series + +=By H. IRVING HANCOCK= + +The Spirit of the new Navy is delightfully and truthfully depicted in +these volumes. + +1 DAVE DARRIN'S FIRST YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; Or, Two Plebe Midshipmen at the +U. S. Naval Academy. + +2 DAVE DARRIN'S SECOND YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; Or, Two Midshipmen as Naval +Academy "Youngsters." + +3 DAVE DARRIN'S THIRD YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; Or, Leaders of the Second Class +Midshipmen. + +4 DAVE DARRIN'S FOURTH YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; Or, Headed for Graduation and +the Big Cruise. + + Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + + + +=The Young Engineers Series= + +=By H. IRVING HANCOCK= + +The heroes of these stories are known to readers of the High School Boys +Series. In this new series Tom Reade and Harry Hazelton prove worthy of +all the traditions of Dick & Co. + +1 THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN COLORADO; Or, At Railroad Building in Earnest. + +2 THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN ARIZONA; Or, Laying Tracks on the "Man-Killer" +Quicksand. + +3 THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN NEVADA; Or, Seeking Fortune on the Turn of a +Pick. + +4 THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN MEXICO; Or, Fighting the Mine Swindlers. + + Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + + + +Boys of the Army Series + +=By H. IRVING HANCOCK= + +These books breathe the life and spirit of the United States Army of +to-day, and the life, just as it is, is described by a master pen. + +1 UNCLE SAM'S BOYS IN THE RANKS; Or, Two Recruits in the United States +Army. + +2 UNCLE SAM'S BOYS ON FIELD DUTY; Or, Winning Corporal's Chevrons. + +3 UNCLE SAM'S BOYS AS SERGEANTS; Or, Handling Their First Real Commands. + +4 UNCLE SAM'S BOYS IN THE PHILIPPINES; Or, Following the Flag Against +the Moros. + +(_Other volumes to follow rapidly._) + + Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + + + +Battleship Boys Series + +=By FRANK GEE PATCHIN= + +These stories throb with the life of young Americans on to-day's huge +drab Dreadnaughts. + +1 THE BATTLESHIP BOYS AT SEA; Or, Two Apprentices in Uncle Sam's Navy. + +2 THE BATTLESHIP BOYS FIRST STEP UPWARD; Or, Winning Their Grades as +Petty Officers. + +3 THE BATTLESHIP BOYS IN FOREIGN SERVICE; Or, Earning New Ratings in +European Seas. + +4 THE BATTLESHIP BOYS IN THE TROPICS; Or, Upholding the American Flag in +a Honduras Revolution. + +(_Other volumes to follow rapidly._) + + Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + + + +The Meadow-Brook Girls Series + +=By JANET ALDRIDGE= + +Real live stories pulsing with the vibrant atmosphere of outdoor life. + +1 THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS UNDER CANVAS; Or, Fun and Frolic in the Summer +Camp. + +2 THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ACROSS COUNTRY; Or, The Young Pathfinders on a +Summer Hike. + +3 THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS AFLOAT; Or, The Stormy Cruise of the Red Rover. + + Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + + + +High School Boys Series + +=By H. IRVING HANCOCK= + +In this series of bright, crisp books a new note has been struck. + +Boys of every age under sixty will be interested in these fascinating +volumes. + +1 THE HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMEN; Or, Dick & Co.'s First Year Pranks and +Sports. + +2 THE HIGH SCHOOL PITCHER; Or, Dick & Co. on the Gridley Diamond. + +3 THE HIGH SCHOOL LEFT END; Or, Dick & Co. Grilling on the Football +Gridiron. + +4 THE HIGH SCHOOL CAPTAIN OF THE TEAM; Or, Dick & Co. Leading the +Athletic Vanguard. + + Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + + + +Grammar School Boys Series + +=By H. IRVING HANCOCK= + +This series of stories, based on the actual doings of grammar school +boys, comes near to the heart of the average American boy. + +1 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS OF GRIDLEY; Or, Dick & Co. Start Things +Moving. + +2 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS SNOWBOUND; Or, Dick & Co. at Winter Sports. + +3 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS IN THE WOODS; Or, Dick & Co. Trail Fun and +Knowledge. + +4 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS IN SUMMER ATHLETICS; Or, Dick & Co. Make Their +Fame Secure. + + Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + + + +High School Boys' Vacation Series + +=By H. IRVING HANCOCK= + +"Give us more Dick Prescott books!" + +This has been the burden of the cry from young readers of the country +over. Almost numberless letters have been received by the publishers, +making this eager demand; for Dick Prescott, Dave Darrin, Tom Reade, and +the other members of Dick & Co. are the most popular high school boys in +the land. Boys will alternately thrill and chuckle when reading these +splendid narratives. + +1 THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' CANOE CLUB; Or, Dick & Co.'s Rivals on Lake +Pleasant. + +2 THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS IN SUMMER CAMP; Or, The Dick Prescott Six +Training for the Gridley Eleven. + +3 THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' FISHING TRIP; Or, Dick & Co. in the Wilderness. + +4 THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' TRAINING HIKE; Or, Dick & Co. Making Themselves +"Hard as Nails." + + Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + + + +The Circus Boys Series + +=By EDGAR B. P. DARLINGTON= + +Mr. Darlington's books breathe forth every phase of an intensely +interesting and exciting life. + +1 THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE FLYING RINGS; Or, Making the Start in the +Sawdust Life. + +2 THE CIRCUS BOYS ACROSS THE CONTINENT; Or, Winning New Laurels on the +Tanbark. + +3 THE CIRCUS BOYS IN DIXIE LAND; Or, Winning the Plaudits of the Sunny +South. + +4 THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE MISSISSIPPI; Or, Afloat with the Big Show on +the Big River. + + Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + + + + +The High School Girls Series + +=By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A. M.= + +These breezy stories of the American High School Girl take the reader +fairly by storm. + +1 GRACE HARLOWE'S PLEBE YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; Or, The Merry Doings of the +Oakdale Freshman Girls. + +2 GRACE HARLOWE'S SOPHOMORE YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; Or, The Record of the +Girl Chums in Work and Athletics. + +3 GRACE HARLOWE'S JUNIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; Or, Fast Friends in the +Sororities. + +4 GRACE HARLOWE'S SENIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; Or, The Parting of the +Ways. + + Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + + + +The Automobile Girls Series + +=By LAURA DENT CRANE= + +No girl's library--no family book-case can be considered at all complete +unless it contains these sparkling twentieth-century books. + +1 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT NEWPORT; Or, Watching the Summer Parade. + +2 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS IN THE BERKSHIRES; Or, The Ghost of Lost Man's +Trail. + +3 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS ALONG THE HUDSON; Or, Fighting Fire in Sleepy +Hollow. + +4 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT CHICAGO; Or, Winning Out Against Heavy Odds + +5 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT PALM BEACH; Or, Proving Their Mettle Under +Southern Skies. + + Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Obvious printer's punctuation errors corrected. Varied hyphenation where +a consensus could not be ascertained, retained. + +Page 9, "friend" changed to "friends" (became the firm friends) + +Page 49, "its" changed to "it's" (I think it's high) + +Page 54, word "were" inserted into text (thought were the) + +Page 74, word "a" inserted into the text (You have everything a) + +Page 111, removed double word "to to" (want to go) + +Page 143, "entiled" changed to "entitled". + +Page 145, "Harlowe's" changed to "Harlowe" (Harlowe lost no) + +Page 175, word "ran" removed from text. Original read "surprise ran +around" (surprise around) + +Page 254, "your" changed to "you're" (you know you're) + +The Boys of Steel Series: Book list was missing the numerals 3 and 4. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Grace Harlowe's Junior Year at High +School, by Jessie Graham Flower + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRACE HARLOWE'S JUNIOR YEAR *** + +***** This file should be named 17811-8.txt or 17811-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/8/1/17811/ + +Produced by Sigal Alon, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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